My Dear Friend,

How are you?

I was arrested at Tiananmen Square on July 22. Everyone detained there was beaten mercilessly by the Beijing Public Security before being thrown into the Tiananmen Branch Station Jail. When I was at the station at noontime that day, there were a total of 200 or so Falun Gong practitioners taken there from time to time. All the practitioners appeared calm and peaceful, although some had been beaten bloody, with bruised and bloody faces. We were confined in a lobby where together we repeatedly recited the Teacher's poems (Hong Yin) and "Lunyu" (Preface to Zhuan Falun) or meditated. Among us were two ladies with two seven and eight-year-old practitioners. Those two kids seemed to get happier when more practitioners were brought in. At the Station, we practitioners formed a consensus not to tell the police our names or addresses so as firmly not to comply with the suppression of Falun Gong.

Around 8 p.m., about 20 other practitioners and I were sent to Beijing's Jail No.13. On board the transporting bus, we all shook hands to encourage each other. At the jail, they took away our personal belongings and money in the name of safeguarding us. We were not allowed to bring towels or toothbrushes into the cell. Our jailers informed us that they would deduct from our money a list of fees, such as RMB$10 (Chinese dollars- the monthly salary of an average worker in China is about RMB$500) for picture taking, RMB$30 for shirts, RMB$50 for each forced feeding. On the subject of force feeding, they did not just give us food but put some kind of drug in the nutrient solution. Every time after the forced feeding, we would feel drowsy or dizzy. In the jail, Falun Gong practitioners were denied the right to buy anything. However, out of respect to Falun Gong, other prisoners were willing to help buy the daily necessary items for us or even shared things such as toilet paper.

I was touched by the way things developed. The two other prisoners in my own cell already had some understanding of Falun Dafa. These two were able to recite Hong Yin and the Teacher's article "Toward Consummation," and occasionally would do meditation too. Because I had been practicing Dafa only since this February and not too familiar yet, I improved my memorization of the 72 poems in Hong Yin with the help of these two women. According to these two, the Public Security personnel here were very brutal and cruel. Practitioners refusing to reveal their names or addresses would be beaten severely, some were even beaten to death. The guards would often beat and electrocute practitioners; the adherent ones would be sent to mental hospitals. But in this jail we fought for the right to do Falun Gong exercises, study the Fa, and share experiences in the group. We all cherished so much the resulting environment that we all fought so hard to get. One guard said all this was due to previous practitioners who stepped forward; to keep up this learning environment inside the jail was to defend Dafa and validate the Fa. We all liked that guard; she was smiling all the time and very familiar with the Fa. She was only 23, four years older than me. Her mighty benevolence and forbearance was an inspiring spiritual and mental support to other practitioners.

Since we did not disclose our names or addresses, we all went through the Public Security's torture process. We realized that we should not go along with the vicious persecution. We were then detained in a mental hospital. Many guards tried in vain to tear down our strong willpower or firm belief. So they had to turn to the abuse of drugs to hurt innocent Falun Gong practitioners. In the mental hospital I met another group of practitioners who had been sent there two months earlier. We decided to expose this devilish process to the world: whoever got out first would blow the whistle on this evilness. Later I was recognized by my local Public Security and they took me back to my hometown.

Take care yourself!

A Mainland Dafa Practitioner on 08-08-2000

Note - The above letter was written by a young girl in China who became a Falun Dafa practitioner in February. In March, she was arrested due to her e-mailing to the People's Representatives and expounding the truth of Falun Gong. She and four other practitioners were thrown behind bars where they endured inhuman brutality. At that time, even the Public Security admired that Falun Gong practitioners were so tough. After her release from jail, she went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong and then was arrested again. This letter describing what happened to her and other practitioners was written at the risk of her own life while she was under house arrest in her hometown.