(Clearwisdom.net) I was startled to hear that our fellow practitioner, Mr. Bi Wenming, was tortured to death in September 2004 by guards at the Dingxi Prison in Gansu Province. I feel very sorrowful. We lost another great fellow practitioner under the persecution by Jiang's regime.

Mr. Bi Wenming had used the aliases Yang Fan and "201." He was an intelligent, honest, kind and bright person. He had cultivated very diligently. He exercised his legal right to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in February 2000. He wanted to tell people from his heart that, "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance is good! Falun Dafa is a righteous law!" For this he was illegally detained in Longxi County Detention Center for a month. He went to Beijing again to appeal in December 2000. He was illegally detained in Beijing for another month. He was forced to become homeless afterwards to avoid further persecution.

In 2001, Bi Wenming came to Lanzhou City, Gansu Province and immediately joined the mighty current of validating Dafa in the Lanzhou area. In early February 2002, He was arrested by police from the Qilihe Branch of the Lanzhou City Police Station. He was illegally detained in a detention center in Xiguoyuan, Lanzhou City. He refused to answer any questions, and did not reveal his name. He was assigned the number "201," and this became his name during his nearly one year imprisonment in the First Detention Center of Lanzhou City in Xiguoyuan, and the Second Detention Center in Hualinping. When he was imprisoned in the detention center in Xiguoyuan, he went on hunger strike a few times to protest against the illegal imprisonment and persecution of Dafa practitioners, and he requested to be released unconditionally. In late September 2002, Mr. Bi and a few other Dafa practitioners (including An Xiwen, Su Anzhou, Li Wenming, Zhang Jin, Zhang Zhenmin and Li Fubin) were transferred from the detention center in Xiguoyuan to another detention center in Hualinping. When guards found that Mr. Bi was studying the Fa and practicing the Falun Gong exercises from their monitors, they tortured him with a brutal torture means named "Back Fasten" (1) for more than 20 days. However, Mr. Bi was very steadfast, and refused to compromise with the authorities. He held a hunger strike. Dr. Yang Linquan from the prison clinic ordered several prisoners to torture Mr. Bi with force-feeding. During his illegal imprisonment, Mr. Bi demonstrated his compassion and peaceful mind that he had cultivated from Dafa. His faith in Dafa and his calmness facing the evil scared those who persecuted him. Many prisoners who had contact with him admired him from their hearts. He had touched them with the truth and beauty of Dafa.

In November 2002, the authorities lied to him saying that they would release him, then trapped him and forcibly transferred him to the Longxi County Detention Center. In 2003, he was illegally sentenced to three years of imprisonment, and was imprisoned in Lanzhou Prison. In 2004, he was transferred to Dingxi Prison and was persecuted there. In a few short months, he was tortured to death in Dingxi Prison.

In 2001, Mr. Bi Wenming's mother, who lived in his hometown in Longxi, far away from Lanzhou, heard that he was in Lanzhou. She went to Lanzhou with Mr. Bi's 9-year old son to see him. When she finally met Mr. and Mrs. Bi, whom she had missed for such a long time, she held Mr. Bi's hand tightly with one hand, and Mrs. Bi's hand with the other. She feared that they would be persecuted again and asked them to go back to their hometown. Mr. and Mrs. Bi had a long talk with her. They told her earnestly, "The merciful Teacher saved us with Falun Dafa when we were suffering. We benefited a lot both in mind and body. Now Dafa is suffering from persecution, it's our responsibility to stand up and bring justice to Dafa and to Teacher. We need to clarify the truth to people, to help them understand the truth and to save them." He finally comforted his mother, "Mom, please return home. Nothing will happen to us. If anything indeed happens, please remember, I will never regret dying for Dafa!" Mr. Bi's mom finally understood their choice when she saw their firm resolve. She went back to her hometown with her grandson.

Mr. Bi Wenming, you were a great practitioner. Although you have left us, we will continue with your unfinished wish to save sentient beings.

(1) "Back Fasten": A torture means. (Reference: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/5/28/36234.html) The guards chain the victim's feet together, force his hands behind his back and cuff his hands together tightly with handcuffs fashioned from re-bar (steel rods used to reinforce concrete). Then they tightly fasten his leg shackles and handcuffs together with heavy-gauge steel wire. The victims of this torture cannot stand up straight and or squat down, only kneel on the ground. The wrists are in extreme pain from the pulling of the foot chain. To reduce the pain, the victim has to lie on his side, trying to lift his feet up toward his back. This leaves him unable to eat, drink, use the bathroom, or do anything by himself. After being tortured this way for a long time, the victim's hands become swollen, the cuffs cut into the flesh and the wrist wounds become infected and festered.