(Clearwisdom.net) When the persecution first began we went to Beijing to appeal, despite pressure from all fronts. The officials did not want to hear us, illegally arrested and took us to the Beijing Detention Center. Because too many Falun Gong practitioners were already there, the captors sent some of us to a local detention center to be held for two weeks, after which we were taken to a township government. I refused to listen to their slanderous propaganda. They released me after extorting 10,000 Yuan from my family.
A group of police officers arrived in three cars and arrested me from my home in 2001. They asked if I would continue to practice Falun Gong and I said, "Yes." So, they took me to a brainwashing center and tried to "reform" me through violence. They beat me and used other physical punishment and sleep deprivation and forced others and me to watch videos and read articles that viciously attack Falun Gong and its founder. The practitioners recited Master's articles and did the exercises. The captors' brainwashing had no effect on us. They ran out of ideas, so they sent me to a detention center and held me for close to two months, and then took me to the Banqiao Labor Camp in Tianjin City without any legal procedure. I was kept at this labor camp for the next two-and-a-half years.
I told anyone who talked to me at the labor camp that Falun Gong is righteous and wonderful, and it's wrong for Jiang Zemin to persecute Falun Gong. I hoped they would learn the facts and no longer participate in the persecution.
The labor camp has eight physical assessments each year, and team heads who have a good score receive bonuses and inmates who have "good behavior" receive sentence reductions. Every morning we were forced to exercise. One morning I recalled Master's words,
"No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won't be this way." ("Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I thought, "We should do the Falun Gong exercises." I started doing the exercises and told other practitioners, "Do not listen to them! We must listen to Master! We have to do the Falun Gong exercises, no matter where we are." The officials panicked. The collaborators and inmates ran up to me and covered my mouth. They never made us do their exercises again, and the "eight assessments" were cancelled.
One practitioner saw a poster printed with lies about Master in the cafeteria in September 2002. She was short and had to jump to reach the poster and tear it down. When the collaborators and inmates found out, they beat and kicked her and sent her to solitary confinement. When I learned about it I immediately requested a meeting with team head Gao Huachao, as did the other four practitioners held in the same cell. Gao rushed to us and asked what the matter was. I said, "A Chinese proverb says one should treat his teacher like his father. Posters that slander our Teacher should certainly be taken down. Any Dafa disciple would do it. She did the right thing. You shouldn't put her in solitary confinement." The team head mumbled, "We received the order from above." I said, "It's up to you whether you post it, and it's our choice to tear it down. You were forced to put it up and we took it down. What's wrong with that? Let her out right away." They let her out of solitary confinement cell after our strong protests.
Another round of reform began in March 2003. We were separated and brutally tortured. I was sent to the Strictly Controlled Division in April 2003, where five guards and three inmates beat me to near death and took turns otherwise torturing me. They would not let me have a wink [of sleep]; my only "break" was sitting down from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. I was allowed to use the restroom once a day during these two hours. I constantly sent righteous thoughts while they were beating or cursing me - to eliminate the evil elements behind them and remain compassionate. I pitied them because they were committing crimes out of ignorance.
In June 2006, I distributed Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and VCDs on the harvesting of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners. The patrol police arrested me.
As practitioners, we should always conduct ourselves with righteous thoughts and righteous actions; since we cannot choose our environment, we must create an environment to save people and validate the greatness of Dafa. That is why I always regarded saving people as my top priority, even when I was in a detention center.
I told the police the facts about Falun Gong at the police department and asked the detention center inmates to quit the Party. During a show trial I used the time allotted for self-defense to explain to the judge the grave wrongs forced upon Falun Gong. When I talked about persecution, the chief procurator said, "Have you seen anyone being persecuted?" I immediately answered, "Li Shumin, the head nurse at Tianjin Hospital was beaten to death before the Sixteenth Party Congress. In addition, Zhao Wende died in police custody overnight in May 2003." "Anyone in our county?" "Yes." I recalled fellow practitioner Dong Yuying, and I couldn't hold back tears. I said, "You all know Dong Yuying, right? She is a very good person, but she was horribly abused in prison. Because she refused to recant, the guards instructed inmates to torture her. The inmates dug the inside of her vagina with their fingers wearing rubber gloves until her vagina bled. They also stabbed the inside of her vagina with prickly cucumbers, and the blood gushed forth. They tortured her otherwise using various methods until she suffered a nervous breakdown. She passed away soon afterwards."
Before I finished, two woman procurators, one woman chief procurator and one woman lawyer started to cry, and the judge dropped his head and said nothing. I said, "We, Falun Gong practitioners, are good people, and we are rescuing people by telling them the facts about Falun Gong. We did not violate any law, and we never will. You should announce that I am innocent." My lawyer also defended me, but in the end, the judge sentenced me to three years in prison.
At the Tianjin Women's Prison they made me stay in the "Three Straight One Stare" [1] posture between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. daily. Three inmates monitored me to make sure I did not move during the 15 hours. Later on they assigned two other inmates to watch me. Although they were all quite malicious, I treated them with kindness the entire time so they knew Falun Gong practitioners are truly good people. Master said, "Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring". ("The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos;" Hong Yin volume II)
My compassion moved the inmates and guards after 18 months, and they respected me. The guards drove me home two days before the term expired.
I want to ask all practitioners who have been held in prisons, detention centers and slave labor camps to write your experiences, to expose the persecution and the evil. We are persecuted, but we must not passively endure. We must resolutely believe in Master and Dafa, conduct ourselves with righteous thoughts and actions, and obtain freedom with the power of our righteousness.
Note 1. "Three Straight One Stare" method: The so-called "three straight" means the practitioner's head, chest and lower leg must be precisely straight while sitting on a small plastic bench with holes. "One stare" means the practitioner's eyes must stare forward. At the same time, the practitioner's hands must be placed on her knees. They would also place an object between her legs. If she dropped that object, she would be beaten. They have to sit like that from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., forbidden to move for 15 hours. Especially in summer one would suffer more by sitting on the small plastic bench with holes for a long time. One would sit there until one's bottom was sore and the skin was broken; that kind of suffering is unbearable. This is a torture method that does not require the perpetrator to even move his hand.
