(Clearwisdom.net August 22, 2003)
Enduring the Persecution in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp
On August 10, 2000, labor camp guards took a group of firm Falun Gong practitioners and put each one in a solitary compartment. This time there was no set release date. They would only let practitioners out when they suffered a complete mental collapse or died in the cell. The police cuffed our hands to the cell doors every day from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM and then blasted noise through loud speakers to torture us mentally. One day, a female guard led several people to the cell to read out loud materials slandering Dafa. I did not want to listen and covered my ears with my arms. When she saw that, she came close to me and read right next to my ear. When they removed my handcuffs after midnight, my feet and legs were all numb.
Zhang Li was one of the guards that actively participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. She once pointed at me and said viciously, "I must put you in the solitary compartment until you die or lose your mind." In the solitary compartment, there was no bed, no blanket, and no pillow. Even if she saw a small piece of toilet paper, Zhang Li would take it away. At night, we had to sleep on the hard, ratty floor with bugs crawling all over. We were not allowed to wear shoes and had to stand for long periods of time, making the soles of our feet ache with pain. My ankles also became swollen. No family members were allowed to visit us in these compartments. Every visiting day, my children always brought something and came by bus with the hope of seeing me, even though they knew that it was unlikely. Because they did not allow us to see our families, gradually we forgot about visiting day. One day a guard called me to the office and said, "Today is visiting day. Your two children came to see you again. They brought bags of stuff and are outside crying. Don't be so cruel. Don't you still want your children? If you agree to our conditions, we will let you see them right away." I said, "You are using the logic of bandits. It is you who separate me from my family. It is you who put us practitioners in this hell-like place. What crimes have we committed by practicing Falun Gong and being good people? One cannot sell one's soul just for a bit of personal interest." My words made him speechless.
In order to intensify and prolong the persecution against us, the guards rebuilt the solitary compartments with a total of 18 cells. One night at the end of October, they tied us up and took us directly from the No. 9 Solitary Compartment to this rebuilt one. Once we got in there, we could hardly open our eyes or breathe. Our feeling at that time is hard to describe. We were convinced that the evil forces were conducting the persecution to the ultimate degree. There was no ventilation at all; the walls were newly painted; the heating pipes were covered with thick layers of silver paint. Smoky, toxic smells permeated the air inside the building. The corridor connecting to the outside was separated by several rooms. There was no fresh air at all. They used this cruel tactic to try to destroy Dafa practitioners' will.
We were isolated for a long time. We had no connection with practitioners in other units, and they knew nothing about us. It was so stifling and hard to breathe that some of us almost passed out, but the guards reminded us, "The purpose of putting you here is to make you unable to live or die." Because it was very damp, the wall buckled and cold water dripped down along it. The wooden floor also warped. There was no bed in the cell. We were only given a torn and dirty cotton quilt with the stuffing all leaking out. In the evening, we slept under the torn quilt. One day when Shi Ying came in for the midnight inspection, she said in cold blood, "You all look like you're sleeping in your coffins."
One day two people, one tall and one short, who were not from the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, came directly to my cell. The tall person stood to the left and did not move. The short one asked me many questions. I just told him with compassion that it was wrong for the government to persecute Falun Gong. He suddenly pointed his finger at me viciously and said, "You will be detained here until you die or become insane." At that moment, there was a flash of light. Then I saw guards across the hall taking pictures. All at once I remembered that the guard Zhang Li had said the exact same thing to me, and I realized that this was just one of their persecution tactics. I reminded myself that, no matter what, I would stay strong and not fall apart mentally.
On November 29, I was transferred to a clean and sunny cell. A group of collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] wandered in and out to keep an eye on me so that I would not leave the cell. Because I had been detained in a dark room for over 100 days and suddenly put in a very bright room, I could not open my eyes. Then I developed a headache so severe that I felt my head would burst, and I lost my clear headedness. Being muddled, I then thought those collaborators' words made sense. The evil took advantage of my situation, and I did not do well and compromised my faith*. But soon I realized that I was wrong and felt really sorrowful. In the evening, I lay down on the floor and looked out of the window, unable to sleep. That painful feeling was beyond the ability of words to describe.
The persecution in the solitary compartments continued. Several days later, a practitioner who had been detained with me in the same cell became mentally disordered. But those cruel, inhumane people still didn't let her go. Instead they locked her in the solitary compartment for continuous persecution. I was released after a term of detention that had been extended by two months.
Clarifying the Truth with Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Behavior and Experiencing Teacher's Compassion
As soon as I got home, people from my job, the neighborhood committee, and the district police all came. Eight people guarded me in turns. I used this opportunity to clarify the truth to them. After learning the truth about this fraud, they all hated the groundless persecution conducted by Jiang's faction very much. Somebody started reading the books and practicing. On Chinese New Year's Day 2001 (January 24, 2001), the party secretary of my work unit told me that the director general would be coming to wish me "Happy New Year." He asked me not to mention Dafa whatsoever. After a while, ten people arrived. They sat around the room, but nobody talked. Wasn't this a great opportunity to clarify the truth? With a Falun badge pinned to my chest, I started clarifying the truth, from all the hardships that Teacher went through to spread this universal Dafa in 1992 to Jiang's trumped-up case against Dafa on July 20, 1999. They all sat quietly and listened.
On April 7, 2001, the whole sky turned yellow because of a sandstorm. I carried Dafa truth-clarifying materials to the market to clarify the truth. From the bottom of their hearts, the people there all said, "Falun Dafa is good." One old lady said, "My neighbor is a Falun Gong practitioner. Her diseases were all gone after she started practicing. She treated everybody so kindly, but now she has been arrested. These days it is so hard to be a good person. The people have no way to survive."
On April 9, 2001, another practitioner and I went out to post "Falun Dafa is Good" flyers. A policeman came. He shouted while he was chasing us, "Stop or I will shoot." The other practitioner didn't get away and was arrested. In the police substation, they restrained her and beat her brutally. Several hours later, her whole body was covered in blood. Finally she couldn't endure the torture and told them about me. Before dawn policemen came to my house and tried to break in three times, but they didn't find me. At 4 o'clock, I left home with Dafa books and materials and righteous thoughts to do what I should do. The police couldn't accept the fact that they had failed to arrest me, so they stopped my retirement benefit and went to my house to harass me almost every day. They also went to my relatives' homes to look for me. My sister, who is in her 60's, doesn't practice Falun Gong and suffers from heart disease. She was so scared by them that she was hospitalized for more than two weeks.
The persecution by Jiang's regime against Dafa and the sad news of practitioners being arrested and tortured to death continued. We are a whole body; we are lives for Dafa and for truth. In spite of the violence, we went to Tiananmen Square one after another. On April 21, 2002, it was very foggy in Beijing. We were sending forth righteous thoughts while walking. There were many tourists in Tiananmen Square on Sunday. According to plan, at 11AM over ten Dafa practitioners together unfolded the "Falun Dafa is Good" banner. The red banner with yellow characters fluttered in the sky above Tiananmen Square. "Falun Dafa is Good!" "Restore Our Teacher's Good Name!" "Stop Persecuting Dafa Practitioners!" As one shout died away, another rose. The shouts filled Tiananmen Square. The tour groups from different countries and a lot of domestic tourists all stopped at that moment and watched. When people learned that Dafa practitioners were validating Dafa and protesting the persecution despite their personal safety, they all smiled at us quietly and automatically made a path for us. When plain-clothed policemen attempted to arrest us, we sent forth righteous thoughts to prevent them from seeing us. So they were bumping into each other and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. With Teacher's protection we returned safely the next day.
Just before the Chinese New Year of 2003, another practitioner and I went to a town to hand out truth-clarifying materials. We first went to the home of a relative of mine. They knew I was a Falun Gong practitioner, and I had clarified truth to them before. I asked if they would be afraid if we remained in their home for one night. They said, "No problem, just stay here. You Falun Gong (practitioners) are all good people." Then they just urged me to pay attention to my safety. Hearing what they said, I felt very warm in my heart and very happy for those awakening people. We sent forth righteous thoughts along the way. We handed out all the materials and hung all the banners on the electrical poles and in trees. In the end, we tied 7 big banners near the railway station. The next morning, we were going to take the train home. As soon as we got to the street, we saw many people talking, "How many Falun Gong practitioners are there? The banners are all over the streets and so colorful." One person said, "They have been persecuted so badly and yet are not allowed to speak out!" When we looked at the streets in the sunshine, we even surprised ourselves: the whole street was so colorful and beautiful.
During the past two years since I was forced to leave home, I have been to almost 20 cities, counties, and towns to clarify the truth, hold experience sharing conferences with fellow practitioners, improve together from Fa's perspectives, and encourage fellow practitioners. Before New Year's Day 2003, I went to another county by train and met a monk and a lay Buddhist. I then spread the Fa and clarified the truth to them. They were happy to know the truth. At that time, a 30-some-year-old reporter came across me. I suggested that he should state the truth when facing a big issue of right and wrong and not act as the voice for Jiang's political regime. I also told him to be responsible for his future and eternal being and not to blindly follow the Party line. Eventually he said, "Lady, this is the first time that I have heard such words. They make sense. However, I cannot do as you Falun Gong practitioners are doing." I said, "I just want you to be clear-headed and not deceived by the lies so that you will not do anything bad to help the evil." When the train came to the station, I got off with a heavy heart. I realized the great responsibility and long journey of Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period. Many beings are waiting for us to save them.
On a day regarded as "sensitive" by the police, I took two big bags of Dafa materials to another county. After checking in, I was waiting on the platform for the train to arrive when there was a broadcast announcing the start of the baggage check. I then noticed that many police officers had come to the railway station. After I got on the train, I set down my luggage and kept sending forth righteous thoughts. Shortly after the train started, the police started checking tickets and luggage. There were policemen in every car. I suddenly remembered that I had put my ticket in one of the bags with Dafa materials. I did not want to fetch the ticket at the risk of exposing the Dafa materials. My seat was in the first row, so I just took out a 10 Yuan bill to buy another ticket. The police looked very serious and checked everyone methodically. When they came to me, I simply held out the money, but they just passed by as if they did not see me at all. Although I had been sending forth righteous thoughts, I still felt a little strange. Then I suddenly realized that Teacher was beside me and had protected me.
The vicious persecution is still going on. Numerous Falun Gong practitioners are being detained in prisons, detention centers, forced labor camps, mental hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers. Facing such inhumane persecution, Dafa practitioners do not yield. Instead, they have been clarifying the truth to people with their great compassion and forbearance. Many governments, righteous people, and kind people all over the world are awakening and resisting the brutal persecution by Jiang's regime. The righteous shall defeat the evil, and the light of truth will shine forever!
[1] Editor's note: There is a signed solemn statement that will be published separately in the category of solemn declarations.
