My name is Ms. Wang Xiuwen, and I am 56 years old. I recently retired as a cadre in the Office of the People's Congress in the Chencang District (originally Baoji County) of Baoji City in Shanxi Province.
Falun Dafa saved my life
On March 28, 1998, I began to practice and cultivate Falun Dafa, helped by a definite predestined relationship. After I watched our Teacher's nine videotaped lectures, I changed my way of thinking and attitude towards life and recognized my purpose in life. When I received the book Zhuan Falun, I really liked it and read it through carefully, word by word. The words appeared to be multicolored and were shining splendidly like gold. As I read the Falun Dafa books, my lower abdomen felt very hot .
After reading the Falun Dafa books, I began to reevaluate my life according to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." Whether at work, in daily life or during my studies, I behaved according to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." Dafa purified my heart and taught me how to lead a new life.
On July 22, 1999, at 3 p.m. the "Notice from the Central Committee of the Communist Party:-- Party Members are NOT Allowed to Practice and Cultivate Falun Gong" was shown on the big screen in the auditorium of the guesthouse at 'Baoji County Government'. From then on, under pressure from the highest level, all employees in the office of the People's Congress in Baoji had to declare their position with respect to Falun Gong and pass a test to dissociate themselves from Falun Gong. Out of fear and poor enlightenment, I temporarily went along and signed a statement slandering Falun Gong against my will.
In the months following July 20, all the newspapers and radio and television stations repeatedly broadcast lies, including ones about the so-called siege of Zhongnanhai on April 25, polluting the minds of millions of Chinese. When I started to think clearly again, I realized that I should practice and cultivate Falun Dafa righteously, clarify the truth to other people, and validate the goodness of the Fa by showing others how I had become a better person by studying the Fa.
Appealing for and validating the Fa in Beijing results in forced retirement
On January 3, 2000, my employer announced that I should take early retirement. I had studied Zhuan Falun in depth by that time. I was transcribing it while I was studying it, which deepened my understanding of the principles "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance" described by our Teacher. On February 24, 2000, I wrote appeal letters to nine leaders of the Party's Central Committee, the State Department, the People's Congress, the Appeals Office, the Political Consultative Conference, the National Committee of Women Workers, the National Women's Union and the Organizing Department of the Party's Central Committee. I was expressing the hope that these leaders and their departments would treat Falun Dafa with righteous thoughts and respect our honored Teacher and practitioners. I also requested that they withdraw all slander about our Teacher and grant our Falun Gong practitioners a peaceful practice and cultivation environment.
Towards the end of May 2000, Baoji County policemen Kang Baoshuan and Jia Baoqing conducted a political check on me. Finally, they pressured my employer. They forced me to write an in-depth self-examination. I again repeated the three major points of my appeal letters.
On July 18, 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal for and validate Falun Dafa. I was detained at a police checkpoint in Hebei Province. In the backyard of the checkpoint, I met over 40 practitioners by chance. They came from Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. 35 of the practitioners came from the Baoji area, including a family of three. There were also some couples, and their ages ranged from 17 to 70 years old. They really inspired me.
On July 22, at 9 a.m., practitioners unfolded a banner that said, "Falun Dafa is Good!" All forty of us shouted, "Falun Dafa is Good!" Several practitioners were restrained by having their arms twisted, including the two practitioners from Zhejiang and Jiangsu. A 17-year old girl from Zhejiang fell down and hurt her knees on the cement floor. Immediately, blood started to drip from the wounds. The policemen grabbed my hair and threw me onto the ground. I struggled up and continued to protect the banner. I cried, "Falun Dafa is Good!" A policeman slapped my face, and my nose started to bleed.
In the afternoon of July 22, we were sent back to Shanxi. Around 8 p.m., on July 23, policemen from the Baoji County Police Station sent me back to the Qishan County Police Station. My interrogation lasted until midnight. I was locked in a separate, stinky room on the east side of the first floor in the police station. I was detained for one month, although I had never even made it to Tiananmen Square to appeal. During the interrogations, I honestly told them about my belief in Falun Dafa and cultivation practice, and I explained the truth about Falun Gong to any police I saw. During the detention, more than 20 people, including family members, friends, relatives, employers, directors of my home county's Political and Judiciary Committee, the directors of my former company, six or seven of my husband's comrades in arms, and others tried to pressure me. They did not, however, change my mind. During my detention, my county's People's Congress sent people to convince me to write my resignation as a-- member of the county' People's Congress and a representative of the People's Congress. It was an easy decision for me to write the resignation. I remembered, during my last interrogation, when Kang Baoshuan and Li Wei asked me, "Are you certain that want to continue practicing Falun Dafa?" I answered, "You are the ones who should remember," and I wrote, "I will practice Falun Gong until the last moment of my life!" After 30 days of detention, I was released on bail for one year. From then on, I was put under long-term monitoring, which included every aspect of my life, home and telephone communications.
In October 2000, the Communist Party subdivision of my county's People's Congress persuaded me to resign my Party membership. I wrote, "The Communist Party subdivision of my county's People's Congress persuaded me to resign from the Party. Please, accept my resignation herewith. I have worked hard for 30 years and have been a member of the Communist Party for 25 years. I feel that I have given my best for this society and the people in Baoji County."
Experiences in the Shanxi Women's Forced Labor Camp
I was tracked down by policemen from my county's police station when I sent out letters explaining the truth about Falun Gong and copied printed materials about the "4/25 incident" on January 2, 2001. They searched my house and held me in the detention center for 38 days. Eventually I was sentenced to two years of forced labor. I did not accept this sentence and refused to sign my name. Instead I wrote a letter of appeal to the People's Government in Baoji and to the Forced Labor Education Committee of Baoji City to request my unconditional release.
I was secretly sent to the Shanxi Women's Forced Labor Camp at 5 a.m. on February 8, 2001. This was surely the vilest place I had ever seen. The supervisors at the camp constantly ordered body searches of prisoners and had them beaten and verbally abused.' The daily workload was extremely high and the working hours were long, regardless of the prisoner's age or health. They had us working at least 17-18 hours a day from early morning until the wee hours of the night. Sometimes we had to work around the clock. Steadfast Falun Gong practitioners were tormented in many brutal ways, including isolation, constant monitoring, or confinement to a dark closet or guardhouse. They were handcuffed, beaten, taunted, and tortured by several criminal prisoners or drug addicts. Some practitioners were tortured continuously for several months and even up to almost one year.
On June 3, 2001, 23 practitioners from the 2nd Division of the Shanxi Women's Forced Labor Camp and I wrote a letter to five or six national leaders to explain the truth and asking for our unconditional release. As a result, all 24 of us were taken to the south side of third floor to be 'transformed' by force. We were dragged on the ground, our bodies, clothes, bedding, and pillowcases searched for Falun Gong texts, we were locked up and deprived of sleep. During the night of June 20, we openly practiced the Falun Gong exercises, recited Teacher's HongYin and Jing Wen, and sent forth righteous thoughts. At 8 a.m. on June 21, Secretary Yang of the forced labor camp, Assistant Director --Zhuoqin Zhang, and Department Director Wan, as well as seven or eight policemen, began to take us by force, batons in hands. We held hands to protect each other. The policemen beat us severely on the head, trunk and arms. We called out the formulas used for sending forth righteous thoughts, and our sonorous voices touched people's hearts. Twelve of us were dragged outside, handcuffed and shackled. The policemen called in six or seven criminal prisoners from the Third Division to beat and kick us. In the afternoon, several of us were interrogated and sent to isolation rooms. The remaining nine practitioners were locked in a room for seven days.
When they interrogated me, I told them without any hesitation, "Falun Dafa is righteous. There is nothing wrong with practicing and cultivating Dafa." I requested to be allowed to report the beatings that took place on July 21 to the leaders of the Shanxi People's Government. Before opening my handcuffs seven days later, camp authorities announced that Falun Gong practitioner Luo Changyun's forced labor term would be extended by five months, my own term was extended by four months, and most of the other practitioner's terms were extended, also. On July 27, 2001, I was transferred to the Second Division and ordered to continue heavy labor. Other practitioners were not allowed to communicate with me.
After about three months, I had memorized HongYin and other of Teacher's articles by communicating with other practitioners. When I saw that Liang Linyun (30 years old) from Xi'an had been handcuffed in isolation for a long time, several other practitioners and I wrote a letter requesting that Linyun's handcuffs be removed. We also decided to fast in her support. Camp Director Tang tried to persuade us to eat something. I said, "I will not eat until you remove Linyun's handcuffs." On the morning of the third day, I stopped working and lay on the bed. Then I heard the clamoring of other prisoners, "Linyun's handcuffs were removed!"
On November 20, 2001, 36 practitioners from all over the world came to Tiananmen Square to validate the Fa and testify to the goodness of Falun Dafa. I really appreciated the support from practitioners all over the world. When three practitioners escaped from the prison, I used the opportunity to write a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations-- Kofi Annan to expose the evil behavior of the police and guards at the Shanxi Forced Labor Camp in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
In the winter of 2001, 63-year-old practitioner Liu Yuwen, a gynecologist, was beaten. While we were in a small classroom, we heard the cries of Ma Yunjin, who was 62-years-old, "Do not beat people!" We saw that the elderly Liu Yuwen was handcuffed. Camp personnel who were holding her arms pressed her head down and locked her behind a metal door on the south side of an isolation cell. Several practitioners including myself began to fast in protest and also requested to see instructor Liu. After a one-day fast, Liu Yuwen's handcuffs were removed, and she was sent to an infirmary.
Denying Persecution, Escape from the Forced Labor Camp
On the afternoon of April 3, 2002, after a great deal of planning and premeditation, staff members from the 610 Office, the Shanxi Forced Labor Committee, and the Forced Labor Bureau gathered together and started to brainwash us. The forced brainwashing began and lasted for more than a year. First they concentrated 89 practitioners within an education division and targeted them methodically. The practitioners in the first cell including me were not allowed to leave their cell or use the bathroom without permission. They deprived us of sleep if we refused to answer roll call. We were forced to stand facing the wall all day and all night. If we did not work, we were forced to stand facing the wall without sitting.
Some practitioners went on hunger strikes to protest this treatment. At the director's order, policemen began to force feed seven practitioners for eight or nine consecutive days. Zhao Xiaoyang ordered some thugs and over 20 policemen as well as other prisoners to torture practitioners by beating, gagging, riding their bodies, hanging, shackling, and force-feeding. Our sister practitioners suffered much pain during their fast and steadfastly withstood the brainwashing.
I was kept in isolation for a total of four months. I realized that Teacher had given us an important mission. Although I was separated outside of the metal door, I treated other prisoners kindly and had the chance to communicate with practitioners in the same hallway. I admonished those who had been "transformed" to return to their original path as soon as possible. I can still hear the sounds of torture. Especially at night, I could hear the sounds emanating from the south building where my fellow practitioners were being tortured. I always sent forth righteous thoughts and called out to end the persecution.
On April 30, 2003, protected by our Teacher, I escaped from the Shanxi Women's Forced Labor Camp.
Escaped Again
I wanted to declare null and void all of the forms and materials I had signed under pressure at work, at the Political and Judiciary Committee in Baoji County, and at the People's Government in Pinghu. I also wanted to clarify the truth to the leaders, colleagues and cadres of the county' People's Congress, the Political and Judiciary Committee, and the police. On February 22, 2004, I wrote a formal statement and letters explaining the true situation about Falun Gong and sent them to those departments. Even before I left the county government, five young cadres were already monitoring me. When the policemen from the county police station came to arrest me at the county government, I shouted, "The Fa Rectifies The Cosmos, The Evil Is Completely Eliminated." I was detained for 15 days.
On April 19, 2004, I was sent to the brainwashing center again. I did not cooperate with the evil. I never answered the-- roll calls, did not participate in their exercises or participate in their meetings, did not watch their propaganda videos or listen to their brainwashing reports or accept their deceitful materials. I continued to send righteous thoughts. In addition, all of the practitioners there encouraged each other to refuse to write the so-called guarantees to give up cultivation of Falun Dafa and to be transformed. During my 12 days in the brainwashing center, nobody even talked to me about "transformation." On the evening of April 30, 2004, with the help of our Teacher I escaped from the center.
