(Clearwisdom.net)

On the night of July 19, 1999, the cops of Xiangyang Police Division locked me up on the second floor of a handicapped person's home, in the building in front of the City Police Department. A few other practitioners were detained there at that time. They arrested us using the excuse of "monitoring residences" They released me on August 3rd.

On February 2nd, 2000, Xiangyang Shengli Police Station abducted me around midnight, and they asked me if I still practice Falun Gong. I said yes and they locked me in the jail for almost 9 months. They didn't follow any legal procedure at all. Later because my body became weak they sent me to the hospital. When I was released for treatment the cops extorted 2,000 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China] "bail" from me and they didn't return this money until January 5th of 2002.

On January 4th, 2002, the police from Xiangyang Shengli Police Station and police divisions forcefully arrested me from my work unit. Then they ransacked my house and the houses of my elderly parents and my mother in law. That frightened my parents a great deal. That day was my father's 75th birthday. I passed out and when I woke up it was already next day's noon time. They said they would send me back during the afternoon, but they tricked me into going to the second detention center instead. They sent a few prisoners in and said that would find a blanket stained with the blood of a prisoner who had just been executed to wrap me and put into a small cell. On the second day they said I refused to eat and sent a gang of prisoners to force-feed me. They pressed me down on a wood board and inserted tubes into my nose. I don't know how many times they did that. I exerted the utmost strength to resist, but to no avail.

During that time the director of the detention center told those prisoners who were keeping surveillance on me that I wanted to kill people and kill myself. He even said that the persecution against me was the lightest [in the detention center]. They force-fed Zhang Shuxia from the Gongnong District Political Consultative Conference twice a day through a tube. They didn't even remove the tubes that were inserted into her stomach. The chain they put on her feet had a big knot in between, therefore she couldn't move her feet a bit. What's more, they made practitioners sit for extended periods right after breakfast until 11pm. If they closed their eyes during that period they were accused of practicing, and the leader would pick out a few that closed their eyes. They arrested 50 or so people and put torture devices on them. Some of them had to carry the device for over 17 days. On the 12th day, Chen Pingzhen of Xing'antai began to act incoherently. The vice director struck her with a leather whip more than 30 times. They also beat others like Gong Guihua, Li Yunxia and Xu Xianping. They beat Li Guoxia many times. If the practitioners blink at nighttime the prisoners in charge would pour cold water, beat the soles of the feet and pull their hair. The practitioners were forced to sit on cold floor which caused their buttocks to develop festering sores. The most severe case was festering sores about 3-4 inches in length . Some practitioners such as Leng Xiangmei, experienced symptoms of heart disease but the authorities wouldn't take off the device. They left her lying on the wet ground near the restroom and gave her an intravenous drip. Zhang Hua wanted to use the restroom before they put the torture device on, but no matter how many times she requested they refused her permission to use the restroom. Ultimately, she was forced to urinate in her pants.

The police arrested a lot of our close friends and family members. They detained them, send them to labor camps and sentenced them.

1. The Nanshan police took Li Jiangang and his wife Wang Fengjie of Nanshan away around 11 pm from the second detention center. They were gone for 3 days. They were deprived of sleep for three days. Can you imagine what had become of them? When Li Jiangang came back, no one could recognize him [due to the severity of the persecution].

2. They beat and ruptured the eardrums of Tan Yanjun and Han Ying from Gongnong District.

3. Tian Guiying of Xingshan was hung up and beaten. She almost passed out. The cops tortured her and attempted to force a false confession. When she refused they continued to beat her.

4. They beat Zhao Yuling of Xiangyang for almost the entire day while she was wearing nothing but her underwear. The wicked cops, afraid that people would see them, covered the windows with newspaper.

5. They beat Ding Fenglian of Dongshan four times. The longest beating lasted almost for an entire day. They cuffed one of her hands, and the cop got hold of the other end of the cuff and swung her around. The cuff bit into her wrist. The scars are still present today. The worse moment was when they pressed her down on an iron chair, and they had 8 people surrounding her and beat her at the same time as if they were trying to tear her body apart. Her body still hasn't recovered from the beatings. There's someone by the name of Zhang Yu from Dongshan District. Right after they sentenced him they took him and beat him for one hour. By the time they took Zhang Yu back he was on the verge of death.

6. They cuffed Zhang Yan of Xingantai from behind, hung her up in midair and beat her on three occasions. They threw her against the wall. In the end she fell to the floor from midair because of the beatings. Then they stomped on the handcuffs, during the beatings they said that if they killed her it would be reported as suicide. Finally when she passed out they forced her fingerprints on to a guarantee letter against her will. The torture is a few levels more severe for the male practitioners.

Why are the practitioners still practicing under such severe pressure? These are some of the examples:

1. Miao Yanjun formerly from a coal factory was handicapped because of a work-related injury. His left leg's muscle atrophied; His leg's nerve failed and caused the muscle to atrophy. He had to use two canes to walk. When he went to Shanghai for treatment, the famous doctors and scholars said that there's nothing they could do. His wife also lost interest in him. In desperation he began to practice Dafa. Now his legs are just like normal legs. He threw away his two canes and recovered his health.

2. The doctor determined that Hou Xiaoqiu from the coal factory had a rare disease. There was no one in the entire country who could help her. When she began to practice Falun Dafa she recovered her health immediately. She could go back to work. Her home became very peaceful again. She cried passionately, "Thank God! I've finally found the One who can save me!"

3. Li Chengyou from the electricity department is a party secretary. Because of his position he received a bonus of 20,000 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average salary for an urban worker in China]. A practitioner must follow the standard of "Truthfulness-Compassion- Tolerance," so he held an employee conference, and divided the money as a bonus for the workers. All the leaders and officials in the city know about this.

4. Zhao Fenghui of Construction Bank is also a construction worksite supervisor. When he was fixing up his house he didn't take anything from his work unit for himself. But because he practices Falun Gong he was fired in 1999 and twice sent to a labor camp. Some people advised his wife that it was in her best interest to divorce him. However his wife replied, "There is no way one can find someone as kind as Zhao Fenghui. I shall never leave him."

5. Zhang Jingliang, the contact person of the Hegang City Falun Gong practice site, opened a small cafe to make a living. He passionately helped whomever needed help. His kind wife and son had been sentenced to labor camp as well.

There are many other examples like these. Our Teacher said in A Brief Statement of Mine, "We are not against the government now, nor will we be in the future. Other people may treat us badly, but we do not treat others badly, nor do we treat people as enemies." All the genuine practitioners are like this.

By practitioner Liu Xia

Note: The local court had illegally sentenced Liu Xia to 7 years in prison. They are still detaining Liu in Hegang City Detention Center.