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80-Year-Old Retired Physician Recounts Persecution for Her Faith

June 29, 2020 |   By a Minghui correspondent in Chongqing, China

(Minghui.org) Ms. Chen Shufang, an 80-year-old retired physician in Chongqing, credits Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline, for improving her health. Because she refused to renounce her faith after the communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she has been repeatedly targeted in the past 21 years.

Below is her own account.

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In December 2000, I was arrested and held at a brainwashing center for three weeks. I was forced to watch propaganda demonizing Falun Gong every day and write statements to renounce my faith.

I was arrested again in 2003 for distributing Falun Gong materials. I was detained at Jiangbei District Detention Center for seven days.

In 2004, I was taken to a brainwashing center in Shapingba District and held there for more than six months. I was followed by two monitors around the clock and deprived of all freedom and privacy. The authorities ransacked my home and confiscated my Falun Gong books while I was detained.

I was arrested again in 2005 and detained for 15 days.

Police officers broke into my home on June 2, 2008, and confiscated my Falun Gong books and related materials. I was then taken to Lushancun Brainwashing Center.

Liang Shibin, the head of the Domestic Security Division, tried to force me to report on other practitioners. I refused. After spending two weeks at the brainwashing center, I was charged with “undermining law enforcement” and put in criminal detention at Jiangbei District Detention Center on June 17.

The police took me to Chongqing City Mental Hospital on July 8 and claimed that I had mental issues, but the doctors refused to accept me. The police then took me to Chongqing City Women’s Forced Labor Camp to serve a one-year term.

I was arrested again in August 2010 while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The police gave me a second one-year labor camp term.

Because I refused to give up practicing Falun Gong, the guards ordered the inmates to beat me and forced me to squat for long hours. When I couldn’t squat anymore, one inmate stepped on my calves. The pain was excruciating.

I had swelling and bruises all over my body after the beatings. My hair was pulled out. My teeth loosened. When I screamed from the pain, inmates blamed me for making noise and disturbing their rest.

The inmates also physically abused me in other ways, including denying me water and use of the restroom. One inmate named Xiao Tihui once said to me, “I want to beat you to death, and I don’t care if my term is ended.”