(Clearwisdom.net August 1st) In 1996, Shi Jian began practicing Falun Dafa. He strictly lived by Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, striving to be a selfless and altruistic person. His body and mind were quickly purified, his body became healthier and his moral standard rose.

In the beginning of July 1999, we learned that CCTV (Chinese Central Television) would broadcast TV programs slandering Master and defaming Dafa. Practitioners took the initiative to write letters and send telegraphs to CCTV using their personal experiences to show that Falun Dafa is a good practice that would only bring benefits, and would do no harm to society or the country. Shi Jian thought that writing letters and sending telegraphs would not be as effective as talking face to face, so he decided to go to CCTV to clarify the truth about Falun Gong.

On July 13, 1999, Shi Jian arrived at the gate of CCTV in Beijing; many citizens came with various reasons to appeal, but many of them were not allowed to go in. A lot of practitioners had visited already. Some staff were specifically assigned to "receive" Falun Gong practitioners. Shi Jian was taken to a room, where the staff viciously asked, "What are you here for?" Shi Jian answered, "I heard CCTV was planning to broadcast programs defaming Falun Gong's founder and Falun Gong. Falun Gong teaches people to cultivate their heart and to be a good person; this kind of program shouldn't be broadcast." The staff person responded, "So what if it is broadcast? We will broadcast it no matter what." Shi Jian suppressed their bad thoughts with a Dafa practitioner's righteousness. They gave him a piece of paper to write a letter, and even promised to bring it up to the management. Shi Jian wrote down his purpose in coming to CCTV and then went home. However, this defense of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance later became "evidence of a crime."

On July 20, 1999, Jiang's regime started its mad suppression of Falun Gong practitioners. In October 1999, Shi Jian heard the suppression was going to escalate again. He went to appeal at Beijing State Department Appeals Bureau with another practitioner on October 25. When they arrived at the appeal bureau, they were detained and then taken to the liaison office in Beijing. Later, they were taken back by the local police and detained. When interrogated, he was asked if he provided the other practitioner's transportation cost to Beijing, and if he did, where had the money come from? (The practitioner didn't have the money to go to Beijing, so Shi Jian used money from his savings for the practitioner's trip. The practitioner had given police Shi Jian's name after being arrested). He said, "That is from my own savings." The police officer then brutally beat him. When he tired of beating him, he said, "Make up a person arbitrarily, even if this person doesn't exist." He firmly answered, "I will not make up a name." The police officer violently slapped his face over and over, yet he still refused to make up any name. The police put bullets in between his fingers and tightened ropes on his hands, then lit several cigarettes and held his head to choke him with the smoke. He suffered greatly and screamed in pain. Even so, he remained steadfast and wouldn't compromise. The police detained him in the detention center, tortured him for nearly two months and extorted 8,000 Yuan* from his family.

In May 2000, because of attending a Fa conference, Shi Jian was arrested by the police and detained at Jiamusi City Detention Center. He went on a hunger strike, taking no food or water for nine days to protest the persecution. After nine days, he was released unconditionally.

On June 2, 2000, a Fa conference was held with a few dozen practitioners. He was arrested again and detained at the city detention center. He resisted the persecution with a hunger strike right away. On the first day of the interrogation, when the police asked him who had notified him about the Fa conference, he wouldn't answer. The police made him sit on the "tiger bench"** and brutally beat him. On the second night, the police interrogated him again and kept asking him who organized the Fa conference. He still wouldn't talk. The police cuffed his hands behind his back, and used a wooden club to pry the cuffs; they stripped off his pants and used a rubber whip to lash his genitals, used a wooden club to brutally beat his shins, placed a cigarette butt on the electric heater to choke him with the smoke, placed papers on his chest, and hit him with a specially made hammer (designed to hide internal injuries from detection). The police tortured him the whole night, but he wouldn't give even one practitioner's name. In July 2000, he was illegally sentenced to 3 years of forced labor, and then imprisoned at the forced labor camp.

At the forced labor camp, Falun Gong practitioners were forced to work, and were prevented from practicing the exercises and studying the Fa. When a Falun Gong practitioner's imprisonment term expired, the police still didn't release him. They even added three months to his term. The practitioner went to a police captain to reason things out. The policeman threatened, "There is a document from the top not to release you. If you dare, you can commit suicide, go on a hunger strike or try to escape. Go ahead." Shi Jian and a few other practitioners realized that they should not be persecuted at the forced labor camp, and instead should be out of there, working to offer salvation to sentient beings. "A good or bad outcome comes from one thought" (Zhuan Falun). The electric power had never gone out at that forced labor camp before, but one night, the power suddenly went out, and more than a dozen practitioners broke out of that evil den, re-joining the current of Fa rectification.

On New Year's Eve 2002, Shi Jian went out to make truth clarifying materials. He was followed by police and arrested. He immediately searched his heart. After he found where his xinxing [moral character; mind or heart nature] had an omission, he sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate all the evils trying to persecute him in other dimensions, and asked for Master's help to strengthen him and leave the police station. When the police went to the restroom, he rushed to the door in handcuffs. He pushed the glass door twice, but it was locked. At that moment, he felt the police were already behind him. He used the handcuffs to gently touch the glass door and walked toward the outside. He was able to get out. After he had gone several meters and arrived at the road, the glass suddenly broke behind him. However, there was not a scratch on his body. Just like this, under Master's compassionate strengthening, he had escaped with a righteous mind.

"Just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

On September 5, 2002, because other people had given his name to police, Shi Jian was followed. He was arrested by police when he made a phone call. He shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" Five or six police tied him and carried him to the police vehicle. There were many people around watching. Police used tape to seal his mouth in order to prevent him from shouting. At this moment, Master's lecture appeared in his mind: "No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates." ("Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" in Essentials for Further Advancement) "Just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement). He thought, no matter what kind of torture he would endure, he would not cooperate with the evil. Once the tape was taken off, he again called out, "Falun Dafa is good." He also called it out when police interrogated him. The police therefore beat him, once for every time he called out. Later, they were tired of beating him and stopped. Seven security personnel took turns whipping his face with tree branches. The tree branches broke into pieces after their beating. They took new ones and continued to beat him, whipping him for twelve hours straight. His face became completely distorted, without a single spot left untouched. They interrogated him for 10 days and nights, yet they didn't get a single word from his mouth. Later they found a so-called better interrogator to interrogate him; by then he could no longer walk or talk, nor could he open his eyes. He thought, I wouldn't say a word against Dafa and betray fellow practitioners even if I were to die. In the end, the police could not dig out even one word from his mouth.

He had been on a hunger strike to protest since the arrest. The tube the prison police used to force feed him was inserted into his stomach for five days and nights. He was tortured until he lost consciousness. The security used needles to pierce his feet and used a lighter to burn his hands. At the end of October 2002, he had been on a hunger strike for nearly two months. He was transferred back to the detention center, where the torture continued. They inserted a tube through his nose to force feed him every day for more than 50 days. They locked him on a metal chair to a ring on the ground for five days and nights. Later, they sent him to the forced labor camp and continued their imprisonment. He was locked in a small cell; both hands were tied to the floor ring for seven days and nights. The prison guard cruelly kicked him and they didn't put him back on his bed until he lost consciousness. He couldn't get up any more since he had been on a hunger strike continuously for almost three months. The police asked two prisoners to watch him 24 hour a day, and still force fed him every day. They also sent him to the mental hospital. When the doctor in the mental hospital examined him, they could not even get 4 ml of blood from him; the heart telemetry equipment could not even be attached to his body.

The prison guards said, "He is dying." At that time, he had already been on a hunger strike for nearly five months. He had been tortured to a mere bunch of bones. He could no longer speak. The prison police saw that his condition was very delicate. Being afraid of taking the responsibility if he were to die in the forced labor camp, they found his relatives and forced them to take him home.

In the five months of imprisonment, he had been on a constant hunger strike, and never answered even one evil question. He only said: "Falun Dafa is good!"

** Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.

**Tiger Bench?/P>

Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall. Practitioners' knees are tightly tied on the small bench - "Tiger Bench." He has to sit straight up with his eyes looking straight ahead. His hands are tied on the back or sometimes placed on his knees. He is not allowed to turn his head, close his eyes, talk to anyone, raise his hand, or call out for the attention of the guards. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioner's lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse (see illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html).

2003-8-1