Ms. Yue Chunhua Detained Twice in a Forced Labor Camp

Name: Ms. Yue Chunhua (岳春华)
Gender: Female
Age: 53
Address: Huayan No. 1 Residential Area, Shapingba District, Chongqing
Occupation: Former president of the trade union and head of the labor section of Chongqing Standard Parts Manufactory Plant
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 12, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shimahe Women's Forced Labor Camp, Chongqing (重庆石马河女教所)
City: Chongqing
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, beatings, hung by handcuffs, solitary confinement, torture, sexual assault, force-feedings, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use

(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioner Ms. Yue Chunhua was the former president of the trade union and head of the labor section of the Chongqing Standard Parts Manufactory Plant. She has been detained many times and sentenced to forced labor twice in the past 12 years only because of her belief. The following is her account of the persecution to which she has been subjected.

I began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. Since then, I have set the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as the standard of my conduct and have experienced positive changes both mentally and physically. I cultivate my xinxing, treat others kindly, and work more diligently at my job. All of my illnesses disappeared without taking any medication and my family environment became more harmonious.

The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has now lasted 12 years. During this time, I have been detained many times, held in brainwashing centers, and sent to a forced labor camp twice. I was also forced to leave home and separate from my family to avoid further persecution.

I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in 2000 and was detained at the Chongqing Train Station by the railway police. I was then escorted back to Chongqing and held in the Jingkou Brainwashing Center for more than ten days. Afterwards, I was transferred to the Baihelin Detention Center in Shapingba and detained for 19 more days. I was then sentenced to forced labor in January 2001.

Tortured at Maojiashan Women's Detention Center in Chongqing

I was held at the Maojiashan Women's Forced Labor Camp in 2001 for one year and 18 days. I was beaten and subjected to other types of corporal punishment during my detention there. For more than four consecutive months, I was forced to get up at 5:00 a.m. and not allowed to go to sleep until midnight or after 1:00 a.m.

From May 10 to September 14, 2001, I was subjected to many types of torture. I was forced to stay awake for seven days and nights because I didn't cooperate with guard Shu Chang's requests. I was also forced to stand still for a long time in the hot summer and was not allowed to wash my face or brush my teeth. My arms were cuffed behind my back—one arm from above one shoulder and the other from behind—a torture method called “carrying a sword in the back”—for two hours because I refused to wear the uniform and shouted, “Falun Dafa is good!” to protest the persecution. Female guard Chen Ping once cuffed me behind my back and locked me in a small cell for seven days. I wasn't released from the detention center until 18 days after my scheduled release date. Instead of sending me home, Director Ren from the Xinqiao Neighborhood Committee and his men took me directly to the Geleshan Brainwashing Center in Chongqing Municipality.

Mental and Physical Torture at the Brainwashing Center

In attempts to force me to renounce Falun Gong, Xie Junwen, director of the brainwashing center, tortured me by denying me food except for a little rice. At the time, there were only two of us at the brainwashing center—practitioner Zhao Jiayu and I. We were given only a small amount of rice each day for four consecutive months. I became very weak from the torture. When the doctor gave me a medical examination, he couldn't even draw blood from my fingers. My pulse was also very weak. Nonetheless Li Fengjiu escalated the abuse and locked me in a small cell. Two male guards, Luo and Yi, cuffed my arms behind my back and held my head down. Then another male guard, Yue Haidong, along with Luo and Yi, dragged me to a small room and tortured me.

More than a dozen “aids” took turns monitoring me in the small room. Some of them loudly swore at Falun Dafa and its founder Master Li, while others slandered the practice and Master's books. They put a very bright light less than a meter away from my eyes so I couldn't fall asleep. This torture continued for several days and my health deteriorated. Even now my eyes still see blue. Under intense pressure, I became muddle-headed and wrote the three statements against my will.

Two or three days later, I became clearheaded again and realized that I had made a mistake. I immediately stated that the three statements I wrote earlier were null and void. I told the “aids” that I wrote the statements when I was not clearheaded. I told them, “Falun Dafa is good and I will continue to practice it.” As a result, they continued torturing me and locked me in solitary confinement. Four principals whose names I can't remember threatened me and tried to force me to admit I had been “transformed.” I wasn't moved and continued to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I was allowed to go home for three days on April 30.

I was emaciated and my hair had turned half-grey by the time I was able to go home. I looked like someone over 60 years old when I was actually only in my early forties. I also had blurry vision and couldn't eat. If I returned to the brainwashing center, I felt that I may have not come out alive. The persecution in the brainwashing center was very severe. It was really “a hell in this human world.” I was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.

Detained Again in 2009

I was reported to the authorities by someone who did not know the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. As a result, I was taken to the Rongchang Domestic Security Division by Wang Lijun and others.

Knowing I didn't violate any laws, I refused to cooperate with them. I didn't say a word or write anything. Wang Lijun subsequently grabbed my hair and smashed my head against the wall, hit me with a book, and pulled my hands up, which were cuffed behind my back. They tried to get a confession using torture, but failed. As a result, I was escorted me back to the Rongchang Detention Center in the evening.

At the detention center, I still refused to cooperate and held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Officials from the Rongchang Domestic Security Division and the County Police Department sentenced me to two years of forced labor. The name and the date of birth on their records were inconsistent with my personal information. They even used the name “anonymous person” in their documents.

Detained in Shimahe Women's Forced Labor Camp

I was transferred to Brigade No. 4 of the Shimahe Women’s Forced Labor Camp in Chongqing on May 5, 2009. When I refused to wear their uniform and shouted “Falun Dafa is good,” my mouth was tightly taped up, my hands were taped together, and I was locked in solitary confinement. I almost lost consciousness.

The perpetrators tried to cover up evidence of their detaining me by confiscating my copy of the sentencing notice. They didn't give it back to me until recently.

In June 2009, I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and was brutally force-fed by the guards and other inmates. Chen Yanyan cuffed my hands behind my back, while drug addict inmates held me down on the floor—one person holding my feet while another held down my body. Then Zhao Yuanyuan and prisoner Chen Zhi cruelly force-fed me a very thick soy milk powder. Guard Zhao Yuanyuan said spitefully, “Look at me. I am the one force-feeding you, so look carefully.” They force-fed me four times per day, from afternoon to evening. As a result, my stomach was full of water, but I was not allowed to use the restroom. I then developed serious bowel incontinence that caused my lower abdomen to bulge and my lower body to be in pain. I quietly endured this pain that lasted for about a month.

In the second half of 2009, I reported to brigade deputy chief Huang Xiaodong about guard Chen Xiaoqin torturing me. Deputy chief Hu Xiaoyan then angrily came to my cell and said, “You, Yue Chunhua, are accusing Chen Xiaoqin of torturing you!?” I replied that Chen Xiaoqin had beat me. She then said, “Show me your wounds. Go to the hospital for a check up. If nothing is found, then you are falsely accusing [Chen Xiaoqin].” Thus, in the forced labor camp, it is only called a beating if there is an injury to prove it.

In late January 2010, Li Yong, Wang Cheng, and another male guard were transferred to the Shimahe Women's Forced Labor Camp from the Xishanping Men's Forced Labor Camp that specially conducts brainwashing sessions on practitioners. When I refused to squat down or write a report, I was tortured in the study room that was only half the size of the cell room on the third floor. They closed the windows and doors in order to cover up their crimes. A female guard fiercely slapped my face many times. When she got tired, Chen Zhi and Ding Xia punched and kicked me to the ground and pulled my hair. They threw me to the ground many times. They also took off my shoes and covered my mouth and nose with it, trying to suffocate me.

They then humiliated me by taking off my pants and putting several small, balled-up pieces paper in my vagina, and made random drawings on my buttocks with a pen.

The second round of torture consisted of violent beatings and force-feedings. I was beaten for three to four days and then put in solitary confinement on the second floor where inmates took turns monitoring me. I wasn't allowed to use the restroom. I had to get up at 6:00 a.m. and was forced to stand until 2:30 a.m. Later, the time was extended to 3:00 a.m. When I went to bed, I wasn't allowed to close my eyes. This torture lasted four to five days. As a result, I became absent-minded. Around the afternoon of January 26, the force-feedings began.

Before they started, guard Tao Xin claimed that it was legitimate to act violently. So Chen Zhi and Chen Ting took me to an area with black ceramic tiles in the cell, since there wasn't a camera in that area. They pushed me against the wall and poured bottles of tap water into my mouth and ears. They forced me to stand against the wall in the beginning, then pushed me down to sit on the floor with my back against the wall. They continued to force-feed me with water while punching my face and head, kicking me and pouring water on my neck. It was very cold outside at the time, and my whole body and clothes were soaked. Guard Tao Xin ordered two people to drag me on the floor to clean up the water. Tao Xin told them to continue in the afternoon.

At around 5:00 p.m. when Tao Xin didn't show up, the two guards continued torturing me. At around 7:00 p.m., an on-duty guard Chen Lan wanted me to file a report, and I filed one against my will. The brainwashing session began on January 27. Two days later, I had written the first sentence on the guarantee statement, promising to stop practicing Falun Gong, against my will under the supervision of inmate Zheng Xiaolan. Several days later, I became clearheaded, and realized this wasn't right. It is not wrong to believe in Falun Dafa and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and to be a good person. I am fortunate to have learned Falun Dafa, and I should truly cherish it. I felt regretful and was determined to crawl up from where I had fell. Therefore, I wrote in the “thought report” that I wanted to keep practicing Falun Dafa and firmly practice to the end.

The brainwashing session lasted for over 20 days. When Tao Xin realized that I would not stop practicing Falun Gong and was not “transformed,” she increased the physical punishment and the so-called “training and consolidation” effort. She told the supervising inmates to be “strict” with me and forced me to squat and stand for longer periods of time. I once was forced to squat from 8:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. the following day. This type of torture lasted until May 13, at which time it changed to standing, sitting, or squatting from 6:30 a.m. (sometimes 7:00 a.m.) until midnight. This physical torture continued until December 2, 2010 when I was released for medical treatment.