Name: Zhang Yan (张艳)
Gender: Female
Age: 65
Address: Xing'an District, Hegang City, Heilongjiang
Occupation: Housewife
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 15, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin Women's Prison (哈尔滨女子监狱)
City: Hegang
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, extortion, fired from workplace, physical restraint, detention in mental hospital, home ransacking, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use.
(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Yan, a 65 year old housewife in Xing'an District, Hegang City, improved her health after she began to cultivate in Falun Gong. She was subsequently held in prison for seven years after the Jiang regime began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. She was forced to undergo brainwashing, and was rendered mentally disoriented through persecution.
Ms. Zhang had been frail since she was young. She had emphysema, asthma, backaches, bladder infection, itchy throat, headaches, and tonsillitis. Her lower jaw was often swollen, her hands felt numb, and her scalp was itchy and often hurt. She relied heavily on drugs, and used inhalers so she could breathe. Every day was a struggle for her. With her husband as the only breadwinner, large medical bills caused great difficulties in their lives.
One day in August, 1997, Ms. Zhang chatted with a female Falun Gong practitioner, who told her about the miraculous healing power of Falun Gong, and suggested she join them the next day. Ms. Zhang was happy to hear that it could cure her illnesses without medicine, and went to the practice site to try her luck. In the two hours of doing the exercises, she felt no discomfort, which was unusual for her. It wasn't until 9:00 p.m. that she realized she hadn’t taken any pills for the entire day, but she was fine. She said, “This was the happiest day of my life. I learned what it feels like to not have any illness. I cried out loud in my mind to thank the Teacher of Dafa. It was just miraculous. From then on, the illnesses that had troubled me for over fifty years were gone. I was so happy. My entire family was happy for me too. I did not have enough words to describe my thanks to Teacher.”
Below are Ms. Zhang’s experiences of being persecuted by the CCP for cultivating in Falun Gong.
“The CCP began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. They slandered, lied, and denigrated Falun Gong. I was very upset upon hearing it and I cried. I met with practitioners every day. All of them practiced it for health and fitness, and everyone benefited. When we went to tell the officials our own experiences, the city government seized six hundred copies of Falun Gong books from us. We sat in front of the city hall overnight, and then sent two representatives to negotiate with them. They told them, 'We follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become good people, and that is how we obtained good health. After cultivating in Dafa, fathers and sons who had not gotten along became harmonious, mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law became amiable, and fighting neighbors became friendly. Being such a good practice and having such a good teacher, why do people forbid us to practice? Why are we not allowed to be good people?'
“On March 15, 2002, I went to distribute Falun Gong informational materials to neighbors and was arrested and taken to the No. 2 Detention Center by Officer Liu Baili and others from the Xingan District Criminal Police Division. Because they found many books and informational materials at my home, they took me as a coordinator. They forced me to recite the jail rules every day and forbade me from doing the exercises or studying the Fa. I stressed that I followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become a good person and committed no crime. The jail regulations were for criminals to recite and had nothing to do with us practitioners. Dozens of practitioners were beaten, cuffed, and shackled. The jail guards also tortured them by cuffing all four limbs and forcing them to lie on the floor facing up. They were kept in this position for a week, two weeks, or even a month.
“One of the most brutal tortures was the guard stretching practitioners’ legs open and keeping them that way for weeks by using a frame made with no. 8 wires. In the meantime, they poured a bucket of water on the ground to wet the practitioner’s buttocks, causing their flesh to fester in the hot weather. When the person was finally loosened up, his legs were distorted and he could not walk. They also used electric batons to shock practitioners, and one could smell the charred flesh. Ms. Jia Qiumei and her brother were beaten to death.
“All I knew was that Teacher is good and Falun Dafa is good. I could never understand why they persecuted good people. Aren’t those who persecute good people bad people? How could this party be so evil? In the jail, every day they made us watch videos that slandered Teacher and Dafa. They were all lies. We finally all resisted and they stopped playing them. It was hell in the human world. They lied themselves, and in the meantime forbade practitioners from spreading the truth. You were tortured if we told the truth, but we were unwilling to lie. Such mental torture was no less painful than the physical torture. I was just a housewife who had never attended any social activities. I just wanted to be peaceful and keep only one thought in my mind, that Teacher is good and Dafa is good. This way I struggled in the detention center for nine months. About thirty people slept on a platform of less than 100 square feet. At night, we lined up on a platform, with one facing one end and the next facing the other and squeezed together. You would lose your spot if you used the toilet, which was in the same room. Washing your face and clothes was all done here. The meal was only a cornmeal bun. They also used cornmeal to force-feed practitioners, and caused them to cough up blood.
“One midnight after nine months, they announced that I had been sentenced to seven years in prison. They took me and Liu Xia, Wang Shusen, Xu Xianping, Liu Yaqin, as well as a practitioner whose name I don't know, to the Harbin Women’s Prison overnight. As soon as we walked into the prison, we were forced to line up and stand facing the wall. When I squatted because I felt tired, a female officer came up and slapped me, and another male officer from the 610 Office trampled my face and made it swell. They also hung practitioner Liu Yaqin up by her handcuffs, and cut her hair short.
“Because I didn't know how to make the quilt, a guard kicked me down, and while scolding me, pulled my pants off. Life was worse in prison. No one listened to our reasoning. I was scolded and beaten hard when I shouted 'Falun Dafa is good.' The clothes that my family brought in for me were all stamped with a big Chinese character “Fan” – meaning criminal.
“In my seven years of prison life, I saw the nature of the CCP clearly. They used their power to accuse anyone they wanted to persecute, and with whatever charges they wanted to make. Those who were persecuted by the CCP were all good people.
“Because of the huge pressure, and also because I was unable to study the Fa and do the exercises, I began to have illnesses again. They moved me to the No. 10 Ward, which was for sick people, in 2004, and I no longer needed to work.
“In July 2007, they intensified efforts to 'transform' practitioners. One inmate told me that my name was on the list and I would be moved from the fourth floor to the third, where they did the “transformation.” I was scared and could not fall asleep at night. I fell off the upper bed when they called my name at dawn. I was unable to walk and the inmates carried me downstairs. My sister and my daughter both came to visit me, and helped them to 'transform' me. My daughter said to me, 'If you don't “transform,” I will hit my head against the wall and kill myself.' They were trying to pressure me through my family members. I said, 'You all know how sick I was ten years ago. It was Falun Dafa that cured me. Teacher wants me to be a good person. Only then did I have a healthy body. I can do any work now, and do not need to suffer or take any medicine. The fact that you followed their instructions shows that you have lost your conscience. I believe Falun Dafa is good. I will not “transform.” Why do they want to “transform” good people into bad ones? Guard Zhang Xiaoying said she wanted to “transform” me. I insisted on following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person and will never be a bad person.'
A male officer (maybe from the riot-suppressing team) came up to me and kicked my hand, causing it to swell and bruise, and I was unable to lift it, as it was in great pain. Guard Liu Hong in the No. 4 Ward slapped my mouth with a bamboo strip. My throat swelled right away and I was unable to speak. Xiao Lin kicked my face, which made it numb. Under such pressure, I became muddle-headed, and began to say nonsense. In July 2007, I succumbed to the pressure, and I still feel chilly at the thought of it. I accuse the CCP for pressuring me to the point of losing my mind.
“I was taken home by my family on March 17, 2009. With the encouragement of fellow practitioners and under the care of my family members, my twisted mind returned to normal again and I began to study the Fa and do the exercises again. I learned that in the seven years I was in prison, my four children had come home and accompanied their father for the Chinese New Year. My eldest son cried hard on New Year’s Eve every year. At the New Year’s Eve dinner, they arranged a set of chopsticks for me and everyone missed me. The persecution was not just on me, it was on my entire family. My husband is seven years older than me. He was 62 when I went to prison, and almost 70 when I came out. He was very weak and pale.
“I was reported and then once again arrested when I went out to put up posters one night in November 2010, and was detained for a day and a night. In July 2012, I was followed by someone, and then officers from the Xinjian Police Station arrested me and detained me for six hours. Ma Baotai, the deputy chief of the Hegang City Police Department, participated in these incidents.
“Although I am home now, my four children are still concerned. They call me almost every day to make sure that I am being careful. My eldest son says that his livelihood depends on me. I feel that indeed our whole family is being persecuted.
“I believe the tribulations will not last too long. The day of reckoning for the villains will be here soon.”