(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Pan Xiaojiang, female, 40 years old, is a lawyer. Before the persecution started, she was an associate judge of the Nanchong City Intermediate Court, Sichuan Province. In 1998, six months after she began to cultivate Falun Dafa, she experienced great changes in her mind and body. She had a fatal disease, which cleared up after she started practicing. Her character changed continuously for the better. On July 20 of 1999, the persecution of Falun Gong began. Ms. Pan did not renounce her belief and went three times to Beijing to clarify the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong to the Chinese government.
Over the past 5 years, she has suffered from the persecution, causing great harm to her mind and body. She was dismissed from her job, sentenced three times to forced labor camps for a total of three and a half years and detained in jail for 29 months. Guards beat her, causing her to lose consciousness. One time she was unconscious for 21 days. To protest the persecution, she went 4 times on a hunger strike for a total of 24 days. During her hunger strikes, the perpetrators in Nanmusi Women's Labor Camp and Pi County Detention Center force fed her over 10 times. During interrogation, police from the Baiguolin Police Station, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, kept her awake for 4 days and 4 nights. The perpetrators from work units such as the No. 1 Section of Shunqing District Police Department (in Nanchong City), Xicheng District Police Station, Wufeng Town Police Station, and Nanchong City Intermediate Court unlawfully monitored her daily activities, had her under surveillance for 3 months and ransacked her home. The police in Beijing, Nanchong City, and Chengdu City arrested her 19 times. In the detention centers and forced labor camp, she suffered many torture methods, brainwashing, forced labor and detainment past her term, horrible scabies, heart disease and high blood pressure. She was sent to emergency rooms three different times. Because of the persecution, she suffered a relapse of the fatal disease she had been afflicted with before she began to practice. This endangered her life several times. To avoid the persecution, Ms. Pan was forced to become homeless, leave family and friends and wander from place to place.
The following is her story in her own words.
I am a Falun Dafa practitioner who began to practice in late 1998. I was unlawfully sentenced three times to forced labor terms (July 2000 to January 2001; July 11, 2001, to November 9, 2001; and July 11, 2003, to July 14, 2003). I was detained in the No. 5, No. 6, and No. 7 Group of the Sichuan Province Women's Forced Labor Camp.
I wish to share with you my experiences at the Sichuan Province Women's Forced Labor Camp. My reason for coming forward is to disclose the persecutor's crimes, suppress and eliminate the evil, and awaken sentient beings.
The Sichuan Province Women's Forced Labor Camp is located in Nanmusi Village, Zizhong County, Sichuan Province. In July 2000, when I was first taken to the forced labor camp, on entering the front gate, I saw flowers, a lawn, a fountain, and rocks. There was an "education building" and a big basketball court. The neat and orderly appearance is to deceive the public. When my sister came to see me for the first time, she made me believe too. She observed, "The environment of the forced labor camp is beautiful, the guards are very civilized..." But her impression changed drastically when I was sent to the forced labor camp the second time. The labor camp notified my family after I was tortured until I was near death. After my sister came to see me the second time and saw my critical condition, she understood everything. Now she tells people, "The labor camp is an evil place. The beautiful surroundings are a façade to deceive people. My younger sister nearly lost her life there. Now I will no longer believe the slanderous media coverage about Falun Gong..."
When I was sent to the labor camp for the first time (in July 2000), there was a hospital, a defense group and 6 production groups. The detainees were mostly drug addicts, prostitutes, drug dealers, and thieves. As the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners escalated, more and more female practitioners were sent to the labor camp. The labor camp could not accommodate so many people. Therefore, it released many criminals to make room for practitioners. It also had additional buildings constructed to detain practitioners.
When I first entered through the labor camp's gate, I followed the guards without much thought. But, I immediately experienced the loss of my freedom. First, an inmate cut my hair with a pair of scissors, without asking my consent. Then I was taken to a room in the detainment building, where I was asked to take off my clothes to be checked. After that, two experienced inmates were assigned as my handlers. The two handlers took me to a cell and locked the door. From that day, I was completely isolated from the outside world. Virtually all my activities, including eating, drinking, and using the restroom were performed inside the cell and under around the clock close surveillance by the two inmates. This is the "treat" for newly arrived firm practitioners -- it is called "first degree strict control." In the labor camp, people under this "first degree strict control" are regarded as "a different kind of people." Any guard or inmate could beat, curse at, and punish us at will. Their words toward Falun Gong practitioners are "not allowed" and "must," "not allowed to speak, write letters, buy paper and pens, look outside the door, use the telephone to call family members, and family visits -- must report your number, wear a pin that slanders Falun Dafa, and read materials and watch TV programs slandering Falun Dafa." The wish of the persecutors became the "law" for practitioners. Whatever the country's laws protect, they are against and forbid. They promote violence and force. They rule through power, completely ignoring existing rules and laws. Should a practitioner disobey in the slightest, he/she suffers immediate cruel torture.
1. Brutal torture methods -- the atrocities perpetrated in the labor camp.
A. The Guards torture practitioners
I witnessed the guards crimes immediately after I arrived at the labor camp. At the time, ten of the most "firm" practitioners were detained in the same section. It was during the hot summer. The guards detained the practitioners and isolated them in a cell. During a period of over 10 days, the practitioners were not allowed to leave their cells or have water to drink. They were not allowed to take a bath. One day, it was rumored that some superiors were coming for an "inspection." The guards then forced the 10 practitioners to stand in a row outside and attempted to have them wear pins that slander Falun Dafa. The practitioners firmly believed that we are good people, not criminals, so we should not wear the pins. Holding the distorted principle of "You have to obey in here whether or not you are here unjustly," the guards took the practitioners one by one to a room and closed the door. At that time, I was outside the room. I heard the guards inside roar, "Will you wear the pin or not?" Then I heard the noise of electric batons, followed by more roars of the guards, "Stand up! Will you wear the pins or not?" Then again the sizzling noise of electric batons being used chilled us to the bones. However, not a single practitioner gave in under the brutal torture.
Once, during a meeting, some guards slandered Falun Dafa. A practitioner protested solemnly and spoke out "Falun Dafa is good!" The guards shocked her back, leaving two black holes.
The defense group is one of the evil tools used to torture practitioners. This is a group of specially trained male guards. Whenever there was a meeting during which the perpetrators slandered Falun Dafa in public, the fully armed defense group would surround the meeting place. The guards wore leather shoes and steel helmets, and held electric batons and handcuffs in their hands. When practitioners protested, they would drag them from the assembly and torture them. They used electric batons and wolf-teeth clubs to torture them. They beat them and kicked them with their leather shoes. The female practitioners' bodies were often covered with injuries as a result of the torture. Some practitioners' started to bleed profusely, and some lost consciousness. Around July 2000, guards in the defense group shocked practitioner Ms. Zhang Yuchun and Ms. Bai Helin's faces with electric batons. The faces of these two practitioners immediately began to swell and became disfigured. The leader of the defense group, Yang Xiaoping, ordered his staff to use their leather shoes as whips to whip Ms. Bai. Ms. Bai lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
B. They bribe, order, and instigate criminals to torture practitioners
The labor camp guards select some strong and wicked drug addict inmates from a newly arrived batch of prisoners and from the production groups, and assign them to Falun Gong practitioner as "handlers." Most of these inmates are highly addicted to drugs. The guards call them "human trash." They can harm people without any thought or feelings just for a small benefit. They have lost all humanity and are irrational. They don't consider the consequences of torturing practitioners. Because of bribes and orders by the guards, they used a number of torture methods. They tortured the firm practitioners by forcing them to stand or sit for a long time, such as from 5 a.m. until past 11 p.m. daily. The practitioners were forced to stand unmoving under the baking sun. Each "handler" closely monitored a practitioner, not allowing the practitioner to blink an eye, close her eyes, look around, talk, walk around, use the restrooms, or go to sleep. The slightest disobedience resulted in cursing and beating.
The winter of 2001 was extremely cold in Nanmusi. One day as I walked along the hallway on the second floor where the No. 5 Group is located, I saw a practitioner (in her 50s, from Chengdu City) inside a cell. The drug addicts had removed her clothes, except for her underwear, and forced her to stand still facing the wall. Their excuse was that the practitioner had some hand-copied articles from Teacher. In order to force practitioner Ms. Zhang Qinfang to "reform," the perpetrators tortured her cruelly. Her body was covered with bruises. Furthermore, they forced her to stand for several days and several nights without sleeping or any movement, resulting in grossly swollen legs. In the end, her legs became numb and she was unable to walk. At that time, Ms. Zhang's body was covered with scabies, and she was having her period. The persecutors did not allow her to change pads or take a bath. Neither extreme tiredness, pain or itching made Zhang Qinfang renounce her belief.
Another torture method used by "handlers" and "monitors" alike is force feeding practitioners with excessive water every half an hour, but not allowing them to use the restrooms. They also forced practitioners to squat down and stand up for over a thousand times, to run for several hours without stopping, and to sit on a bucket of feces.
They tortured the practitioners using the method of "flying an airplane," (a brutal torturing method, for illustration, see http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/10/49058.html), while whipping them with bamboo branches, and not allowing them to brush their teeth or take a bath. In the summertime, they forced the practitioners to stay under the baking sun. In the wintertime, they forced the practitioners to wear barely any clothes. They also poured cold water on them. In order to force a practitioner named Zhang to "reform," the perpetrators forced her to wear only one layer of clothes in the winter and beat her. As a result, the skin on her feet was torn open, and her bones were visible -- what a horrifying scene! In 2002, some persecutors ganged up on a practitioner in the No. 8 group and beat her, fracturing her arm.
In 2003, under orders of head of No. 7 Group Zhang Xiaofang, a group of "handlers" used clear tape to seal the mouth of practitioner Ms. Zhu Yinfang (a practitioner from Chengdu City, and a former employee of Kelamayi Hotel) because Zhu spoke up every hour and whenever other practitioners were tortured, scaring the evil. With her mouth sealed, Zhu was dragged to the bathroom and tortured there. The miserable cries Zhu made were truly horrifying. Zhu Yinfang was thus tortured to death by the inhuman criminals.
C. The labor camp's hospital tortured practitioners who were on a hunger strike by force-feeding them
In 2000, practitioner Ms. Wang Yuzhi (who was detained in the No. 7 Group) went on a hunger strike for 30 days in order to protest the persecution. Because of the torture her health deteriorated to a critical stage. Not wanting to take responsibility for her possible death, the guards secretly released her for medical treatment. However, in order to deceive and slander practitioners, the perpetrators spread rumors that Wang "wanted to go to heaven by committing suicide."
In July 2002, persecutors from the No. 1 Section of Shunqing District Police Department in Nanchong City and Wufeng Police Station arrested me again and sentenced me to forced labor. They robbed me of my right to appeal, put handcuffs and shackles on me and took me again to the Sichuan Province Women's Forced Labor Camp in Nanmusi. To protest against the persecution, I immediately went on a hunger strike as soon as I arrived at the labor camp. The next day, the guards took me to the labor camp hospital and force-fed me. They advised me wickedly, "Refusing to eat food is refusing to be re-educated." At the time, five persecutors ganged up on me, including drug addicts (two of them were very strong and very mean), a guard and a doctor. One of the drug addicts grabbed me quickly and threw me on the bed, then some held my hands and feet, others kept me in a half-sitting position pushing my back hard, one grabbed my hair and pulled my head backward to a very painful position, and someone pinched my chin and nose. Another used an iron instrument to pry open my mouth. I shut my eyes and mouth tightly and was determined to resist the evil persecution. I firmly refused to cooperate with the evil and did not let them force-feed even a drop of dirty stuff into my mouth. In my mind, I recited Teacher's poem
"Non-existence
To live with no pursuits,
To die with no regrets;
All excessive thoughts extinguished,
Cultivating Buddhahood is not difficult."
(Hong Yin)
The perpetrators were actively trying to have me cooperate. Someone even tempted me, "Please talk to me about Falun Gong." Someone scratched my armpit and the sole of my foot. With a lot of effort, they forcefully pried my mouth open and hurt my upper jaw and teeth. Blood was all over the place. I firmly held my breath. They pushed the feeding tube through my mouth into my stomach. Yet the tube backed out on its own. All my limbs started to turn cold, numb, and stiff. I heard them saying in fear, "Oh, her limbs are cold and stiff now, I cannot even move them, Her mouth and face are turning black." Then someone opened my eyelids and looked into my eyes with the help of a flashlight.
The persecutors stopped out of fear. Yet my mind was very clear, "Teacher is controlling everything. I should never be tortured to death by them, since I need to go out to save more people." They spent an entire afternoon trying to force feed me, and pried open my mouth six times. Yet they did not succeed in putting the feeding tube into my stomach. When I regained consciousness for the sixth time, the guard, doctor, and the two mean drug addicts were all gone. There were only two other drug addicts in the room. One of them held my hand and said softly "Don't move..." I could see care and helplessness in her eyes, and no hatred.
In the evening, they put handcuffs and shackles on me and infused six bottles of liquid into my veins. During the infusion, I clarified the truth to the drug addicts monitoring me. They all listened quietly and did not interfere in my talking. They did not force-feed me the next day. Director Wu of the labor camp talked with me in private. She asked me the reason for my hunger strike. I told her that police in Nanchong City arrested me unlawfully and robbed me of my appeal rights. The labor camp took away my paper and pen. As a result, my right to appeal lost its meaning. I also inquired of her, "Instead of supporting justice for people and protecting their legal rights, the labor camp tortured me through force-feeding. Who will take responsibility in the future?" Director Wu replied immediately, "You do have appeal rights, and we should support you. You can write your appeal down, and we will send the appeal to the provincial Forced Labor Reeducation Committee." She also persuaded me to eat food and keep my health. I thought that I was using every chance to clarify the truth to people, not competing with people, so I said to Director Wu, "Falun Gong practitioners cherish lives the most. Have you seen any practitioner outside who refuses to eat? Only in the situation where we are illegally detained do we go on hunger strikes to protest the persecution. So going on hunger strike in this situation is a righteous action of a citizen. Now that the labor camp agreed to facilitate my appeal, I will eat food. I will decide to go on a hunger strike or not, depending on the response from the appeals office. Later on, the labor camp gave me paper and pen and submitted my appeal to the Provincial Forced Labor Reeducation Committee. Soon after that, the committee sent someone to verify the facts about my appeal. Nearly 3 months after I submitted my appeal, the forced labor camp released me.
D. The forced labor camp uses practitioners to do slave labor and extorts money from them
One important reason for the forced labor camp to actively support Jiang's regime in persecuting practitioners is that the perpetrators can hold on to their positions and jobs and make money.
An official named Li told me, "The country's government gives the labor camp money for each practitioner it takes. On top of that, the government also allocates money for the construction of prisons and gives awards for those who 'achieve' (people who torture practitioners)." However, the persecutors in the labor camp are not satisfied with these benefits. They earn more money by using the practitioners to do slave labor.
After I was detained in isolation for half a month during my first detainment at the labor camp, I was transferred to the No. 6 Group because I persisted in my cultivation. I was forced to make light bulbs for over 16 hours daily: from 5 a.m. to after midnight (no dedicated rest periods were set other than the time for meeting, eating and travel to and from the work place. We were allowed to use the restrooms 2 to 3 times a day.). When there was a heavy load or a deadline to meet, we were forced to work through the entire night, with no rest time afterward. Some practitioners were forced to polish gemstones (the work is more laborious and more painful), some were forced to pick pig hairs and do other handicrafts. Some practitioners refused to cooperate in the persecution, so they refused to work. The persecutors then cursed at them and tortured them brutally. They locked them in "small cells," extorted money from them and extended their terms.
2. The Management Section and Education Section at the labor camp abuse their power to persecute practitioners
In order to force the practitioners to give up their belief, the Management Section and Education Section of the labor camp abused their power and made a "rule" that every day that the practitioner persisted in his/her belief, the term was extended for three days.
Every practitioner in the labor camp is repeatedly and emphatically told about the "rule." This was very harmful to the will of many practitioners. Many who had not studied the Fa well and held on to many human attachments were "reformed," because they felt threatened by the "rule" and lost hope. The practitioners were deceived into thinking that the labor camp held great power, and thus could change their freedom or life. Those practitioners without strong minds who were attached to practical benefits could easily be threatened by the "rule." They wavered or even gave up their belief.
The Management Section and Education Section extend terms of practitioners at will. For example, if the practitioner refuses to work, practices the exercises, studies the Fa, goes on hunger strikes to protest, refuses to write "Guarantee Statements," or basically does anything the guards consider as "disobeying education," the result is the extension of one's term. Extensions can mean from a few days, to one month, to a year. If the practitioner protests against the extension, the guards torture them cruelly. The guards in the Management Section and Education Section don't need to torture the practitioners physically, yet the harm they did to the practitioners' using other methods is worse and more evil. On the surface, guards in these two sections are "educated and civilized." Their hypocritical behavior and gentle appearances deceived many practitioners to enlighten along evil paths and turn against their belief.
The persecutors also extended my term for a year. After I was released from the labor camp on November 9, 2002, in order to alleviate the pain and burden to my family members, I went to Chengdu City and asked a fellow practitioner named Zhang Yaqiong to help me find a job. People who followed the practitioner reported me to the police. As a result, police from Baiguolin Police Station (including Chief Yang Xuqiang and Yang Junliang, guard Gao Yuan and Ms. Liu Yalin) arrested me and took me to the Pi County Detention Center where I was detained for 19 months. They used "unknown identity" as the excuse to detain me, because I refused to give them my name. Because the perpetrators had no legal basis to detain me for that long, after they knew my identity, the police station, detention center and Qingyang District 610 Office collaborated with the forced labor camp and secretly transferred me back to the labor camp. The labor camp perpetrators "extended a year" to my term to cover up the fact that I was unlawfully detained for 19 months in the detention center.
3. The manifestation of the hypocrisy and brutality of the labor camp: Destroying the practitioners' belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance"
The persecutors in the labor camp use two ways to "reform" the detained practitioners and destroy their belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." They use brutal torture and hypocrisy. The mental torture is much worse than the physical torture. One's dignity and delight comes from the mind. Once a person loses belief and a free mind, he/she will be like a boat lost at sea. Without any hope, one's life is meaningless, like a living corpse or a piece of dead wood.
The education section in the labor camp is the primary division to mentally torture practitioners. The purpose of all the violence at other centers and organizations is to cooperate with and prepare for brainwashing by the education section. The education section's crimes are hidden, more devious and tempting. Their effects on practitioners are deeper and the harm lasts longer.
The education section has well conceived methods to "reform" practitioners. Though, they are all based on lies.
The education section selected some inmates, such as drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves and murderers, ordered them to read materials and watch video programs slandering Falun Dafa and instilled deep hatred in them toward practitioners. Then they arranged 2 or 3 of these inmates to monitor a practitioner around the clock. These "monitors" were ordered to brainwash the practitioners. The guards in the education section linked the length of these inmates' terms to the "reform rates" of the practitioners they monitored, using this way to tempt the "monitors" to mentally torture practitioners, using any method they could think of.
The "monitors" were all experienced in cursing people, and using dirty words. They surrounded newly arrived practitioners and attacked them verbally, using words that insult dignity, attack belief, and slander Falun Dafa. They wrote slanderous words on the wall and forced the practitioners to stand in front of the wall and look at them for prolonged times. They often forced the practitioners to read, watch or listen to materials that slander Falun Dafa. When there were contents that slandered Falun Dafa in the news or "Focal Point Interviews," the monitors forced the practitioners to watch (under the order of the guards) and write comments about the programs. Every one or two weeks, they organized a group "democratic" meeting, in which they tempted and forced the practitioners to clarify their attitude and tell what was on their minds. Some practitioners were even forced to submit written materials such as reports and repentance letters every two weeks or every month. If the practitioners refused, the "monitors" cursed at and beat them.
I was released twice from the labor camp. In both cases, the perpetrators tortured me to the verge of death. They released me because they were afraid of being held responsible for my possible death. When they released me in both cases, they lied to the others and said that I was being transferred. Think about it. If those practitioners who were "reformed," succumbed to brainwashing and torture, and had gone astray against their wishes in order to get their freedom heard the news of "a firm practitioner being released," would they still believe the lie of the education sections that "not a single practitioner who refuse to be 'reformed' will be released?" Therefore, both times when I was released, I intentionally raised my voice and talked to the guards and "monitors." I told them that I was going home, and that Falun Gong practitioners are good people, so they should have been released earlier. I also asked the "monitors" I could trust to tell the collaborators that I was indeed released, and that they should become clear-headed as soon as possible, since Teacher was waiting for them to return to Falun Dafa.
One of the frequently used methods of the education section is to detain the solid practitioners isolated from others, so that they lose the experience-sharing environment and being diligent together. Once the practitioners were isolated, the persecutors blocked all information and covered up all the truth that could "interfere" in their "reformation." The persecutors then continuously brainwashed the practitioners with lies and rumors to interfere with the practitioners' righteous thoughts. They took every chance to have the practitioner give up cultivation.
When Practitioner Wang Yuzhi went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, the perpetrators immediately isolated her and blocked all the true information about her from the other detained practitioners. After 30 days of force-feeding torture, Wang was in critical condition. The labor camp secretly released her to avoid responsibility. Yet the section director Li Zhiqiang of Education Section spread rumors among practitioners that "Wang Yuzhi committed suicide, seeking Consummation." And that "Wang Yuzhi is inhuman, since she ignored her husband." Li used the rumors to attack Falun Dafa. Yet Li Zhiqiang did not mention a word about how the persecutors used brutal and savage ways to force feed Wang.
I was once deceived by the hypocrisy and lies of Li Zhiqiang. Because I did not study the Fa well and thus had many human attachments, I succumbed to the brainwashing and torture and collaborated with the guards. Later, my mind became clear, and I published a "solemn declaration" on Minghui (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net). I completely negated all the bad things I had said and done. Li Zhiqiang was very angry after he heard about that. When I was taken to the labor camp for the second time, Li changed from the previous "civilized manner to persuade people with principles" attitude to angry attacks on Falun Dafa and cursing Teacher. Li clearly knew that I had become clear headed and had been firmly cultivating Falun Dafa, yet Li and the education section worked hard on blocking all the positive information about me. He spread what I had said and done when I had succumbed to the brainwashing among the detained practitioners, using it to deceive them. When some practitioners clarified the truth about my situation and verified that I was still firmly cultivating, the persecutors then spread rumors that I was dead, implying that practicing Falun Gong killed me. When I was taken to the labor camp for the second and third time, I was determined to clarify the truth Li Zhiqiang and those collaborators and save them, yet they all avoided me, saying that they did not want to "reform" me.
The labor camp, especially its education section, extends at will the detained practitioners terms, causing great harm to many practitioners in Sichuan Province and society.
The education section closely collaborates with many agencies, organizations, and departments in Sichuan Province that persecute practitioners. Persecutors in the education section brought the collaborators they trained to many detention centers, police departments, forced labor camps, and brainwashing centers to "reform" the detained practitioners there, persecuting them through evil brainwashing.
For example, in 2000 and 2001, the persecutors of the education section took collaborators such as Liu Xudong to Wuhou District of Chengdu City, Pengzhou City, Zizhong County, etc. to spread a false understanding of Falun Dafa, lies and slander to the local practitioners, mentally torture them, and force and tempt them to give up their belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."
Because the labor camp primarily used the "first degree strict control" to persecute solid practitioners, in which they completely isolated the practitioners from each other, I have only witnessed a small fraction of their crimes toward Falun Dafa and practitioners. The above is only the tip of the iceberg.
