(Clearwisdom.net) I had gone to Beijing to appeal in September 1999, and was detained in brainwashing classes for three months. In December of 1999, I was illegally sentenced to two years of forced labor. In the beginning, I felt deeply that the greatest pain to a Dafa practitioner is neither the loss of freedom, nor the physical suffering; rather, it is being unable to study and strive vigorously in the Fa.
During that time, I managed to recite Hong Yin [Teacher's collection of poems] and the articles in Essentials for Further Advancement a few times. I recited them while I was working, and I could remain highly concentrated during the recitation. I regretted that I had not memorized Zhuan Falun. Later, I tried to obtain a photocopy of Zhuan Falun, and when I was successful, I was extremely excited. The security in the Forced Labor camp is very tight; on May 24 they searched and found the last two chapters of my Zhuan Falun. I immediately started a hunger strike to request the return of my Dafa book.
The experience of the hunger strike was unbearable, and while the pain increased daily, I started to memorize the book. Every day I woke up early, and after exercising for half an hour I would bring out Zhuan Falun, which I hid under my pillow. Using the very dim light from the window, I read and memorized each sentence one by one. Perhaps due to the hardship and the difficulty, I memorized the book with amazing speed. I could memorize 6-8 pages over a two-hour period, and I did not feel any sleepiness and fatigue the next day. In this fashion, I finished memorizing the first seven lectures. Altogether, I was hunger striking for 33 days, and even though the Forced Labor Camp guards inspected us thoroughly, they did not discover my copy of Zhuan Falun.
In the year 2000, I was transferred from the 4th to the 8th unit. The management was tighter, but this also gave me a chance to meet more Dafa practitioners. One of the practitioners had an incomplete Zhuan Falun, and in it were the last two lectures. One more time, I thanked our Master for his kind help. In the stillness of night, I finished memorizing the last two chapters of Zhuan Falun.
Inside the Forced Labor camp, every practitioner has at least two monitors closely watching them. They are also very strict in searching for articles written by Master. Under this extremely severe situation, Master's new articles were still successfully circulated in the Forced Labor Camp. I was able to read all of Master's new articles; I quickly memorized each one. At that time, there were six Falun Gong practitioners in our group. I recited the articles to them one by one.
All the steadfast Dafa practitioners have successfully organized group exercises at the Camp. One morning during the morning Camp exercises, when 200 people run laps around a field, one of the Dafa practitioners suddenly sat down. More than 10 other practitioners immediately ran over there and sat in two rows, crossing their legs and conjoining their hands. Although this resulted in much more serious acts of persecution against us, this great act of these Dafa practitioners greatly scared the evil and displayed the dignity of Dafa.
There were many people at the Camp who had predestined relationships with Dafa. Some prisoners instinctively helped Dafa practitioners, and some learned the exercises and read articles in Essential for Further Advancement. They expressed their determination to start a new life by abandoning evil ways and following goodness.
The above are some of my personal experiences in a forced labor camp. I wrote them down to validate the greatness and the magnificence of Dafa.