As New Year's Eve was approaching, many roads were closely monitored. We heard more and more stories of practitioners getting arrested for appealing for Falun Dafa. Some people who had thought of going to Beijing began to hesitate, but I thought to myself, "Isn't the purpose of cultivation to develop a righteous mind? In the past, even side path cultivators would bravely face danger and endure extreme hardship to validate their faith in their master's teachings. They would have no fear, even when encountering poisonous snakes or vicious beasts. What about today's Dafa practitioners? Should not we do even better? I must raise high the banner of Falun Dafa on Tiananmen Square -- to validate Dafa!"
On the evening of December 12, another practitioner and I took the train and then transferred to a bus before arriving in Beijing. The bus was stopped in the middle of the trip, and two policemen got onto the bus to check people's identification cards. At first I was nervous, but I calmed myself down immediately. I thought, "I must not be taken away by the evil forces. I must go to Tiananmen to protect the Fa." A policeman checked the people in front of us, behind us, and on the right side of us, but not us. He just looked at us for a moment and got off the bus.
We arrived at Tiananmen without any problem at noon on the first day of the New Year. As soon as we entered Tiananmen Square, we were stopped by two ugly plainclothes officers (we were later told by some practitioners that they were actually prisoners from jail). Without waiting to be interrogated, I immediately turned around and pulled out a banner that read, "Falun Dafa is Good," and shouted, "Falun Dafa is good! Return the good name of Falun Dafa! Return the reputation of our Master!" Before I finished, three policemen grabbed me by the hair and pushed me into a police van. In the van, a policeman ordered me to move to the back. When I refused, he punched me in the face. I told him, "It is against the law for the police to beat people." Then we were taken to the courtyard of the police department of Tiananmen Square. Many fellow practitioners were being held there already, and they were reciting Lunyu and Hongyin [Master Li's poem collection]. The scene was so touching. Moments later we were loaded onto two large buses and sent to Changping County Shelter. There were many iron cages there that were full of Dafa practitioners. At noon on the second day, we were sent to the detention center in Yanqing County. This detention center was also full of Dafa practitioners; thus we had to be held in the borrowed rooms of a near-by nursing center and sleep on the floor.
Upon our arrival at the detention center in Yanqing County, they made dozens of us stand in an open walkway with ice-cold wind blowing through it. When the police questioned us, most of the practitioners refused to reveal their identities. Angered by this, they forced us to take off our sweaters and stand barefoot on the cold concrete ground facing the freezing cold wind. When they questioned me the second time, they forced me to take off my clothes. I thought they were searching for something that would show my identity, but when I had only my underwear left, they ordered me to continue. I immediately realized what they were trying to do and refused. I said, "Isn't what you are doing abusing the law?" One of the policemen said, "What is the law? What I say is the law, if I order you to take off your clothes, you have to do it." He came at me and slapped my face several times. I was hit so hard that I began to blackout and then I saw sparks. I breathed heavily for a while. I made up my mind that even if I were beaten to death, I would not cooperate with them. Later on no matter how the police threatened me, I did not cooperate with them or answer their questions. They dragged me back to the walkway to make me suffer in the freezing cold wind. Around 11 or 12 o'clock midnight, they became exhausted and sent me back to my cell.
In the morning of the second day, the practitioners shared their experiences, and agreed there were many times that we did not do well while undergoing our tribulations. For example, when they took pictures of us, most of the practitioners cooperated with the evil forces; only a few did not. Through our discussion, we all agreed that we should refuse questioning, refuse being numbered, and resist all vicious persecutions. Later, when the police called our numbers to question us, none of us replied and we held onto each other tightly without cooperating with them. The police had to search hard using photos to look for the ones they wanted among dozens of us. After they found a person, we held onto him or her tightly, not letting them be taken away. They tried very hard, but could not take a single person away. A moment later, they called in more policemen, and they took whomever they saw. A policeman swung his fist towards my eyes and kicked me with his boots; then two policemen dragged me outside. Barefoot and without outer clothes, I was dragged into the street. The people passing by witnessed the assaults of these vicious police, as they did not try to hide any of their savage acts. After being dragged to the detention center's interrogation office, we were forced to stand in a line in the freezing wind. My whole body was shivering. I repeated in my mind, "When it's difficult to endure it, you can endure it. When it's impossible to do, you can do it." [Zhuan Falun] depending on Dafa for my strength. At noon, a practitioner wrapped my feet with a pair of gloves after seeing me standing on the concrete with bare feet. A hypocritical police officer questioned me, saying things like, "Why give yourself trouble and be frozen like this? If you tell your address, you can go home." I was not affected by his remarks and recited the Fa to myself. When they saw that passive coercion did not work, they became violent and began to shock me with an electric baton, shocking my sensitive areas. My lips were shocked so much that blisters blocked my nose. After 20 minutes, I felt unable to bear it any longer. I repeated in my mind, "Firm the heart to eliminate karma and cultivate xinxing (moral character)," [from Master's poem] to support myself. Then they stopped shocking me and once again dragged me out into the cold. Just as a policeman was about to pour cold water on my body, he was stopped by another. We were sent back at 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening. One police officer disappointedly said, "Today's case handling rate was 0."
The next day we were questioned again. No one cooperated and as we held each other tightly, together we were able to resist the assaults from the police. There was nothing they could do. We continued in this way, along with a hunger strike for 6 days, until the police finally gave up and released us. I later learned that two people who yielded to the evil forces and told their addresses, were taken back to their hometown. The local police were even worse, issuing large fines and harassing their friends and relatives. They were held in prison where they suffered all kinds of tortures and are suffering even to this day. Through this time of going to Beijing to safeguard the Fa, I realized that when facing the evil forces, we should strongly and bravely resist in order to stop them. Only by doing this can we be cultivating diligently.