(Clearwisdom.net)
At the beginning of September 1999, the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp started receiving Dafa practitioners who had been sentenced to forced labor camps. Dafa practitioners were not allowed to study the Fa, nor practice the Falun Gong the exercises at the forced labor camp, they were beaten, and forced to perform hard labor on a regular basis.
Since 2000, the persecution has escalated. For those steadfast Dafa practitioners, the persecution wasn't limited to physical forced hard labor, sleep deprivation, corporal punishment, shocking with electric batons, and beatings. Their spirits as well as their ears were filled with verbal abuse and all kinds of dirty and defamatory words. Those practitioners who didn't study the Fa very well couldn't stand being tortured, and as a result, they turned into collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture]. The collaborators started assisting the authorities in persecuting firm Falun Gong practitioners. However, there are more steadfast Dafa practitioners who have not yielded to the evil.
2001 was the first year that the evil persecution escalated in all directions. Dafa practitioners were abducted and taken to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. The first thing they were confronted with was a severe beating upon arrival. The more steadfast practitioners were seated in the very front row and as long as they moved just a little, they would receive a brutal beating. All of them were required to stay in one small room. They weren't allowed to speak from morning to night, and policemen kept swearing at them continually, they even attacked, defamed and swore at Dafa. The following are some examples:
- Dafa practitioner Liu Zhenling steadfastly believes in Dafa, he didn't yield to the evil. At first, Li Jinshan beat him, then forced him to sit on the cold concrete floor. He then took off his leather shoes to beat Liu's kneecaps. When he got tired of beating Liu, he forced him to hold the position known as "fly an airplane" [Torture method where the practitioner is forced to stand with his back against the wall, with his head dropped forward, and both hands raised straight up from behind.], until late at night. Seeing that Liu still wouldn't yield, he even beat Liu's chest, and back with a metal-wire coat hanger until he was covered in blood. Then Li Jinshan yelled, "If I can't transform you, then I'll beat you to death! Coming over to Chaoyanggou, you are meant to die." After that, he picked up a lit cigarette and pressed the burning end really hard against the back of Liu's hands. It sizzled, making a hissing sound. Liu fainted from the pain. To this day, Liu has a scar on his hand. Liu couldn't stand the torture and reported it to the jail guard, who did nothing about it. Seeing that the jail guards didn't do anything, Li was emboldened to an even greater extent; he gave Liu another severe beating later.
- To garner favor with jail guards, criminal Mada's fourth son, a thief, frequently reported to jail guards, and shared his ideas with them. Beating people was one of his bad ideas. Seeing that it didn't work, he then came up with another idea, which was to use sleep deprivation to torture practitioners. The police approved of his idea, so he didn't allow Dafa practitioners to sleep for five consecutive days (the guards took turns in shifts watching them around the clock). When that didn't work to get Dafa practitioners to renounce their belief either, he stuck lit cigarettes up practitioners' noses.
The police incited criminals to directly persecute and force practitioners to renounce their belief. They would then ask practitioners if they had been persecuted. If they said yes, the police would find the criminals and tell them, "When you beat Falun Gong (practitioners), don't let others see, and don't let other people notice that they have been beaten. Understand?" They then turned around and persecuted practitioners even more viciously. Dafa practitioners were beaten until they were unable to move. However, on the surface they didn't show obvious bruises. The police would laugh at them and say sarcastically, "Where is your wound? Come on, it's no use pretending." The police' actions were eventually exposed.
In order to persecute Falun Gong, the Jiang regime spared no expense or human resources. It allocated four million Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.] to build the new Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. On January 18, 2002, everyone was moved into the new site. At the original location, the number of Falun Gong practitioners in each team ranged from a few to over a dozen. At the new location Falun Gong practitioners from all over the province, who were illegally detained at forced labor camps were transferred to Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. The ratio of Dafa practitioners to criminals reached nearly 1 to 1. The No. 7 team, had all the practitioners who had yielded to the evil and renounced their belief. Criminals managed them. Those steadfast practitioners were still with each group. If they had given up cultivation before, and then changed their minds, they were transferred out from No.7 team to other teams to be persecuted.
In 2002, Dafa practitioners detained at Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp experienced the cruelest tribulation.
After March 5, 2002, the camp was heavily guarded and Dafa practitioners were closely watched around the clock. From the end of March, all Falun Gong practitioners were forbidden to have visitors.
April 12 was the most unforgettable day for all Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp Dafa practitioners. From that day on, the cruel persecution really began in earnest at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. It was the 1st so-called "break resistance" battle. Dafa practitioners' screams of pain echoed through the hallways. All the persecutors were gathered, screaming, shouting, swearing, the sound of electric batons striking practitioners bodies filled the entire Camp.
The police took Dafa practitioners to the guardroom, surrounded them with six or seven guards with either electric batons or pickaxes in their hands. They forced Dafa practitioners to "transform", and if they did, they would have to write the "five statements" [Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the statements include a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.] As for those steadfast Falun Gong practitioners, first of all, they beat them and if they would not yield, the guards would grab them by their hair and hit their heads against the walls, or knock them to the floor. If they still didn't give in, they would beat them with pickaxe handles, until they broke. When some Dafa practitioners fainted, they were sprayed with cold water until they regained consciousness, then they were threatened and terrorized again. Policeman Jiang Chencai specifically stepped on Dafa practitioners' toes with the heel of his shoes, or whipped practitioners' heads, chests, and backs with a rubber club. Urged by team leader Zhu Dechun, Tie, criminal Yu Changjiang beat Dafa practitioners. 7 or 8 people would beat a Dafa practitioner. A Dafa practitioner with the surname of Li was beaten for three days. Li fainted. He couldn't move, he suffered from bladder incontinence, and he was blinded in his right eye. Those criminals were somehow afraid. They were afraid of being held responsible. They were not so vicious with other Dafa practitioners. However to those steadfast Dafa practitioners, they had them stand for long periods of time, and deprived them of sleep.
The first "break resistance" campaign lasted two months; Dafa practitioners had undergone mental and physical torture. During the tribulation, some people unable to endure the pain gave up their cultivation practice. However, there were more Dafa practitioners steadfastly making it through, and they became clearer, more reasonable, and they could see more clearly the true color of the evil old forces.
In June, Chaoyanggou started the 2nd so-called "break resistance"campaign. What was notable about this time was they used a man named Gao, a team leader in the Execution Team of Administration division. Gao lead the collaborators, in debates with Dafa practitioners. If Dafa practitioners weren't clearminded enough, they were confused and became brainwashed.
First, during the day, the police forced Falun Gong practitioners to watch defamatory videotapes. Before they were played, Gao delivered a lecture full of biased theories, which were refuted righteously by Dafa practitioners. Dafa practitioners made use of the wisdom in the Fa, with their steadfast belief in the Fa and their benevolence to sentiment beings. The practitioners logic made the persecutors nod their heads in agreement to the practitioners words.
In order to carry out further the labor camp's brainwashing, a specific group was set up. It was composed of 12 people, who were led by Wang Zhi. Wang went to all the groups to deliver speeches for five consecutive days. The police found Wang Zhigang (who wrote two books defaming Dafa) to deliver a speech, and planned to brainwash Dafa practitioners for a long time. However, he came only once, because Dafa practitioners were able to refute his logic, and he dared not show up again.
Because the transformation rate target goal was set by the forced labor camp at 95%, after three months, those persecution strategies didn't help meet their target. The policemen couldn't stay calm (when they reached the transformation rate, they would have received a reward bonus of 400 Yuan per month). So the 3rd so-called "break resistance" persecution campaign was initiated in September. This time, the evil people carried out an even more brutal persecution against Dafa practitioners.
The policemen started off with those practitioners who had written "guarantee letters" but later changed their minds. They locked them up in the jail guard duty room. First, Falun Gong practitioners were called in. Then 6 or 7 guards came and stripped them of their clothes. The policemen used electric batons, and triangular leather whips to beat, threaten and frighten practitioners. If practitioners didn't give in they would receive a good beating all over with the leather whips and policemen took turns whipping them. Other people shocked them with electric batons, on their ears, heads, necks, and penises. They also poured water on the ground, and had practitioners stand in the puddle in their bare feet to cause more severe electric shock. Then they shocked them with the electric batons. Practitioners fell to the ground. As they continued to shock them, practitioners rolled all over the ground. Then they were beaten with pickaxe handles.
How many leather whips were destroyed beating practitioners and how many electric batons broke beating practitioners, heaven and earth is the witness! Dafa practitioners didn't yield to the evil, they shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" The police stuffed practitioners' mouths, then hung them up by their handcuffs. Then they were whipped again with leather whips. Some practitioners were hung up for three days. According to a practitioner who was released later, he said that the police beat a Falun Gong practitioner with a thick wooden board from head to foot until he died, which was horrific.
Dafa practitioners are one body. Whenever Dafa practitioners were called out, the other practitioners all knew that the persecution had started again. All of them started sending forth righteous thoughts. When Dafa practitioners came back, they were either carried by someone or helped to walk; every one of us supported them silently, and were sincerely proud of them for enduring such horrifying torture.
Of course, there were also practitioners who didn't do well. They wrote the repentance letters. They were ordered by jail guards to walk around all cells, and swear at Dafa as well as Master in front of everyone.
In front of the brutal persecution, Dafa practitioners stopped the evil one after another. When police beat people, Dafa practitioners shouted, "Do not beat people!" which made the evil afraid. When there was a management team auditing the situation, Dafa practitioners stood up and said, "I am innocent, I demand to be unconditionally released." In order to have other practitioners totally or partially exempted from persecution, they adopted different methods such as hunger strikes to resist persecution.
The third so-called "break resistance battle" lasted two months. No one was exempt. During the day, police persecuted them, at night they were not allowed to sleep. This went on until November.
After that, Dafa practitioners were faced with the 4th "break resistance battle". What made this one different the jail guards held a "studying class" (it was actually forced brainwashing"). The policemen got together all the steadfast Falun Gong practitioners, and carried out forced brainwashing. The jail guards were responsible for brainwashing; they especially brainwashed those practitioners who had omission. They talked for days and nights, trying to take advantage of practitioners' being tired physically and mentally. Dafa practitioners have gone through many tribulations, they became more mature, more rational, more clear-minded. Dafa practitioners took advantage of this great opportunity to clarify the truth. The 4th "break resistance battle" lasted two weeks before it was ended by leaving it without reaching the prison officials goals.
Around the 2003 Chinese New Year, many Dafa practitioners were able to leave the forced labor camp in a dignified manner. They came back to the Fa-rectification stream again, clarifying the truth, and saving sentiment beings.
