I am a 38-year-old female Dafa practitioner from Weifang City, Shandong Province. Since I took up practicing Falun Dafa in 1997, the benefits I have received from it are beyond words. However, because I was a Dafa practitioner I had been arrested many times since the commencement of the persecution of Falun Gong, and experienced various appalling forms of torture, which I would like to expose to the rest of the world.

In October 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Dafa. I was arrested and taken to a local police station where 2000 Yuan and a Dafa book I had with me were confiscated. After I returned to my hometown, I was illegally detained for fifteen days.

On January 5, 2000, while practicing the Falun Dafa exercises together, six of our fellow practitioners were arrested and forced into brainwashing classes at the Government Multi Disciplinary Office of Yuhe Town in Weichen District, Weifang City, Shandong Province. While we were there, ten or so thugs beat us up. Among these people was the Police Chief himself.

First, they punched and kicked us. Then, they tore off our coats and pushed us to the ground. One of them ripped the clothes off our back, and with a broomstick, they struck us on the back, screaming and shouting at the same time. "Do you still want to practice Dafa or not?" When we said yes, they would continue to beat us. When one broomstick broke into two, they changed to another one and continued. When four or five broomsticks were broken, they switched to a rubber club.

Because I refused to submit, some ten people all took turns beating me until I finally fainted. After waking me up with cold water, they continued the beating. My whole body had turned blue and purple. My back was so swollen that I could not move for the next few days. While I was being detained and tortured, my brother, who does not practice Falun Gong, was taken forcefully to the Railroad Police Station as well. As a bail for his release, they extorted 10,000 Yuan from him.

Ten days after our arrest and detention in Yuhe Town, another Dafa practitioner, Li Yongqian, was sent back to the Town Government Office also for appealing at Beijing. No sooner had he walked into the office, the Secretary of Political and Legal Committee, Wang Xinmin led a group of government officers, and took turns in beating him, until the 6x6 cm stick they used was finally broken. While beating him, Wang Xinmin shouted, " I will beat you to death. If you die, I will take responsibility." Under his direction, the other officers were even more vicious. Li eventually fell unconscious. With a bucket of cold water, they woke him up, and poured boiling water into his inner shirt through his neck. After stripping him down to only a T-shirt, they dragged him out to the snow, gave him another round of beatings, and left him lying on the snow for hours. When they discovered that Li had passed out, they quickly sent him to the hospital just in time to save his life. It was reported that two of his rib bones were broken, and no blood pressure was registered for forty minutes.

As for me, I was forced onto the ground. Grabbing my hair, they beat me again and again. Everywhere on the ground there was nothing but blood, water, and splinters broken sticks. For twenty-eight days we were locked in the cells. Apart from beating us, they put us through other forms of torture as well. They often forced us to stand outside on the snow, arms stretched out, for two to three hours on end.

Then on a summer day in 2000, while we were practicing the exercises in a friend's home, a few police from the Railroad Police Station suddenly barged into the house, arrested us and took us to the police station for questioning.

On another day in the same year in Autumn, I went to Wendeng City to conduct some business and that night, I stayed in a friend's home. Two police came in and took us to the local police station. The next day, they sent me under guard to Wendeng City Police Station, where I was put in detention after a round of beatings. Because they could not find anything to charge me with, they set me up with a copy of truth-clarifying materials and said it belonged to me. When I insisted that it was not mine, they punched me again and kicked me in the face until my face was swollen. For the Weifang police to take me back they needed evidence. Hence they planted a copy of truth clarifying material into my pocket as evidence and also an excuse for arresting me. After returning to Weifang, I was again beaten up. Four days of hunger strike put my physical body into an extremely weak state and I could hardly walk. As they did not want to be responsible in case I died, they finally released me.

Then at the end of September 2000, for no apparent reasons, the police came and confiscated everything from my home. Since then on, I was left homeless and had to move from place to place to avoid further persecution and arrest.

At the end of October, 2000, I went to appeal at Beijing again. The police took me to the Tiananmen Police Station where I was inhumanly treated. I was locked up in the same cell with another woman, in her fifties, a practitioner who came from Xinjiang Province. Using me as a scapegoat, they tried to coerce her into telling her address: "You are old. You can't take much beating. If you don't tell us where you live," then pointing at me, "I will beat her up as she is much younger." When she refused, they kept slapping me. From the woman's eyes, I could see that she was seeking my opinion. I shook my head to signal her not to give in. Then the police beat me up again. The process repeated many times.

The police officers said, "Whatever others can do, we police can do the same." Then, in front of my fellow practitioner, they attempted to remove my clothes and sexually assault me. I struggled very hard to resist and warned them, "You are not doing yourself any good by doing this." At that time, the other woman tried to force her head into the wall in an attempt to divert police's attention so they wouldn't keep torturing me. The police were alarmed and distracted from beating me. They quickly isolated the woman to another room and beat her up. Coming from the other side through the wall, I could hear shouting, screaming and moans of agony. And on this side, a police officer beat me on the head with an electric baton, and used different ways of abusing me until I finally collapsed on the ground. Then they ran a dirty mop over my face again and again. This went on until midnight. After over ten or more hours of punishment, I was more dead than alive and could hardly walk. Two officers then dragged me back into the cell.

The following afternoon, the police interrogated me again. After extracting my address by deceiving me, they informed the Weifang police to come and pick me up, and I was sent me back to the Railroad Police Station a few days later. It was six days, from the time I was arrested to when I was sent back to Weifang. All along, I went on a hunger strike to protest and my physical condition was seriously weak. As they did not want to take the responsibility in case I might die, they let me out that evening.

In February, 2001, on the way back home with my sister-in-law from Wendeng, we had to pass an entrance where some bad people put Teacher's picture on the ground and compelled all passersby to walk over it before letting them through. As I refused to cooperate, they detained me for two hours. Later I learnt that during the two hours, my sister-in law demanded my release. One officer threatened her by choking her neck, which nearly suffocated her. Under their threat, my sister-in-law was forced to tear up Teacher's picture before they would allow us to leave.

Then in August 2002, I went to Qingzhou City to distribute Dafa truth clarifying materials. I was discovered by a police officer and he took me to the Wangfen Police Station. As I refused to identify myself, I was again sent to Qingzhou Police Department "610 Office" (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems), where they put me in detention under the criminal act. That night they sent four scoundrels to beat me up. The next day, taking the opportunity while they were not watching, I slipped out from the handcuffs, and barefooted, I finally escaped from their evil den. This time, I was under arrest for four days, and during the four days, I kept protesting by going on hunger strike.

Over the three-year period, I was mentally and physically under torment. As the police from the Railroad Office kept looking for me, I was compelled to sell my business, and now I am suffering tremendous financial setbacks.

Since July 20, 1999, my family members had also been suffering from severe suppression. My mother, 66 this year, was detained for 15 days for appealing for justice in Beijing in October 1999. After returning to Yinma Town, she was again detained for a further twenty or so days. Even my non-practicing father was also detained for ten days after being lured into the Police Station. Since then, my home has been frequently disturbed and my father lives in a permanent state of fear.

Now, my twelve-year old daughter has lost her once warm and comfortable home. At present, she is often discriminated by her teachers and fellow students at school. Sometimes, while travelling on the road, some plainclothes police would harass her, which hurts her terribly.