Name: Ming Shaolin (明绍林)
Gender: Male
Age: 44
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Part time laborer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 15, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Nanchong City Xishan Brainwashing Center (南充市西山洗脑班)
City: Nanchong
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, home ransacked, interrogation, detention
Key Persecutors: Chen Qiang (陈强), Pang Renhao (庞仁浩)
(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ming Shaolin from Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, was arrested in July 2009 while clarifying the facts about Falun Gong in Beijing. He was taken to Tumuji Forced Labor Camp, Zhalaite League, Anmeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where he was brutally tortured. Below is his account.
I was born in a rural village in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, in 1968. I dropped out of school after one year in junior high and roamed about, developing many bad habits. After a while I got tired of this and began to ponder the meaning of my life and hoped to find the true purpose of my life. In 1996 while working in Guangdong Province I encountered Falun Dafa and obtained a copy of Zhuan Falun. Since I didn't study the Fa deeply, I didn't treasure Dafa, so it wasn't until November 23, 1997, that I formally started practicing Falun Gong. Soon after, my disease of feeling cold was cured and I also started getting rid of my bad habits bit by bit.
Clarifying the facts, getting arrested
On July 20, 1999, in Guangdong Province, I was doing the meditation exercise outdoors in the morning when the police told us the government had banned Falun Gong. Fellow practitioners and I were confused, but we told the police about the benefits Dafa had brought to society and individuals. However, the situation got worse and worse. The CCP's various departments tracked practitioners down and robbed, arrested, and monitored them. They even staged the Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation stunt to deceive the common people. Under this situation, many people were slandering the Buddha Law without realizing it. As someone who had benefited from Dafa, I could not just care about myself. I had to step forward to clarify the facts and save those who had been deceived.
I was working in Beijing from March 2003 to 2009. On July 20, 2009, I went out to post truth clarification stickers all the way to Qinghua University. A security guard spotted me at a crossroads. He dragged me by my bag and called in another security guard with a walkie-talkie. They took me to the police station at Qinghua University, where a policeman in his 50s and four younger officers interrogated me about the source of the materials, my identification and address, etc. in an empty room on the second floor. I told them that I wrote the materials myself and didn't tell them my address. Rather than tell them my name, I told them I was “Dafa disciple” and told them not to accumulate karma. Afterwards they found a copy of my ID in my bag. Many CCP officials came over to ask me questions, take my picture, and measure my height. I didn't cooperate. They held a piece of cardboard with my name written on it and took my picture while I closed my eyes and turned my face sideways.
I was detained at the police station from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Haidian District Police Department officers came and took me to their office located on the fourth loop road around the city. On July 21 at 1 a.m. I was taken to a new detention center in the Haidian District.
Persecuted in the new detention center
In the new detention center, I refused to change my clothes, sit on the bench, or recite the rules of the center. The wardens incited several inmates to hold me down on the bench. However, as soon as they let go, I would stand up. Then they would beat me. Once the chief inmate struck my throat with his fist, causing me great pain, and my eyes teared profusely.
Ten days later I was transferred from cell No. 1 to cell No. 4. The wardens and inmates tried very hard to make trouble for me. They reduced the size of my already scanty meals in order to force me to give in. I refused to cooperate, so I put my trousers on the cement floor to sit on. They then poured water on the cement floor. I still refused to sit on the bench by standing up. They then claimed my trousers belonged to someone else and wanted to take them away, but I resisted. During the nightly routine check-up, I reported to the inspectors how I had been treated.
One warden grabbed my trousers and pulled on them with the iron bars between us, while saying, “Can you do anything about it even if I rob you of your pants?” I never thought it possible that he would do this in front of the inspectors, so I grabbed my trousers tightly and shouted, “This villainous policeman is robbing me of my trousers! This villainous policeman is robbing me of my trousers!” The warden immediately walked away. I shouted loudly, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! The CCP is evil; it damages the people and the country. Restore my freedom!” and so on.
The check-up period is the quietest time during the day, so my shouts could be heard all over. After the CCP personnel left, all the inmates got excited, applauding, praising me, and commenting on what I had done. Most of it was because I had shouted out what was buried in their hearts but they dared not say aloud. Many of them said, “It's so exciting and satisfying.” Because of my righteous actions, my surrounding environment became more friendly. The inmates were more receptive when I clarified the truth to them. Some even withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
In this detention center the bed measured 2 meters wide and 6 meters long. Often over 40 men slept on it. At a minimum, there were about 35 of us. Except for the 4 chief inmates, the other inmates had to sleep on their sides.
Persecuted the Beijing Forced Labor Camp Dispatch Division
In mid-September 2009, I was transferred to the Haidian District Detention Center and two days later to the Beijing Xinan Forced Labor Camp Dispatch Division. When I entered, I was told to sign a guarantee statement. I said that, since I believed in Falun Dafa, I wouldn't sign it. The wardens then beat me in the hall. Worried that they were being recorded by security cameras, they dragged me to a room without any cameras. Two young policemen each grabbed one of my wrists and stepped on my neck with one foot. Another policeman, Zhang, in his 50s sat on my back and brutally punched my head and face.
My eyes, nose and face all swelled up and did not return to normal until I was about to be transferred more than three weeks later. Afterwards I was confined in a room under the watch of four inmates every day. Even when I slept, a designated inmate would stay by my side all night. I was forced to sit on a small stool every day without walking. Eight inmates shared the bathroom, so the time we had to wash in the morning and evening was less than 30 seconds per person.
During this period, the police had many talks with me. I told them of the positive changes in me after practicing Falun Dafa, the government's unfair treatment of Dafa, and the government's deceitful acts. I also showed them how rampant its fake propaganda was by using a recent case as an example. After some time, many of them, especially the younger ones, changed their thinking a lot.
The CCP personnel at the Dispatch Division ordered me to recite its regulations. Because I refused, I was frequently detained until 1 or 2 a.m. Of course, the four inmates had to accompany me. Later on it changed to three inmates. They said to me, “You always say that Falun Gong talks about compassion. You should do us a favor (by giving in).” They did not sway me. The police then whispered to me, “You just need to recite one regulation and it's just one sentence.” I never cooperated. When I was being transferred, the police urged me to sign the guarantee statement every day, claiming that it was just about not violating the regulations and it had nothing to do with Falun Gong. They used many kinds of threats. The police deputy chief, Wang, claimed that I had broken their rule that “No one could be transferred before he signed the guarantee statement.”
Persecuted the labor camp in Inner Mongolia
On October 15, 2009, I and another 29 people were transferred to Tumuji Forced Labor Camp, Zhalaite League, Anmeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The next day on the second floor of the Second Brigade, I heard that seven Falun Gong practitioners had been transferred with me. The person in charge of persecuting practitioners was captain Chen Qiang (over 40 years old, about 160 cm tall and 166 pounds). He ordered me to sign a guarantee statement. I refused and was put in isolation under an inmate's monitoring. I was unable to communicate with fellow practitioners. Shortly after, I learned that there were other practitioners on the first floor.
The wardens forced me to do slave labor every day. Later they took me to the fourth floor where there were no surveillance cameras, forcing me to watch films that slandered Dafa every day. They told me to write down my thoughts after watching the film. I wrote down sentences exposing the CCP's lies that deceive people and that slander Dafa. In the end they never forced me to watch the films anymore.
During this time they continued to torture me in other ways. I was allowed very little sleep and was forced to stand facing the wall for long periods of time. They tried to brainwash me with the CCP culture for nearly 20 hours per day without allowing me to calm my mind. Once when I was forced to stand facing the wall, I didn't cooperate and sat down on the floor, ignoring their shouts. Chen Qiang and policeman Yang from the 610 Office grabbed my hands and handcuffed them separately to two bunk beds one meter apart for a whole day. They didn't loosen my handcuffs even at night.
The next day I went on a hunger strike to protest. Some CCP officials came to talk to me. I closed my eyes and didn't say a word. The political instructor pulled open my eyelids to force me to look at him, but I still ignored him. For the following 20-plus days I was handcuffed to the bed frame every night when I slept; sometimes I was handcuffed to the bed frame even in the daytime. My health got worse and worse, with my mouth and nose bleeding frequently. I also had blood in my feces. I felt dizzy all the time and very tired. Even walking became a challenge for me. I suspected these symptoms were due to unknown drugs (since my meals were all arranged by the wardens).
On April 23, 2010, I was beaten and verbally abused by captain Zhou Jianguo for no reason while I was doing slave labor. Zhou was 170 cm tall, about 175 pounds, and was in his 40s. My eyebrows were swollen and had two bruises, my right eye was black and swollen, my eyeball had white spots, the left side of my head and face were swollen, one side of my nose was bruised, my left ear was swollen, and the top of my head had a bump from being struck with a pair of pliers. Zhou also struck my back and chest with the pliers. Since it was cold in northern China, I wore a thick layer of clothing, so even more serious injuries were avoided.
I wrote letters to the Labor Camp Headquarters and Baoanzhao District Procuratorate, detailing the torture, but the letters were intercepted. Whenever the chief of the procuratorate, Guo Liqun, came, I would ask him about the progress of my case. Even after a year passed, he still claimed he was collecting evidence and conducting investigations. However, they only talked with me for an hour. When they were recording our talks, they overlooked the serious acts and only, wrote down the trivial things. The labor camp's internal investigation produced more details, witnesses and evidence, even the evildoers admitted to it themselves, but the procuratorate ignored it for a long time. One year after I was beaten, Zhou Jianguo still had not been punished.
My meals included rotten rice and moldy flour, plus boiled rotten vegetable leaves or melon skins. Every month six or seven pigs and lambs were butchered, but we only got a little meat during the holidays. Sometimes we got up at 4 a.m. to work. In order to cope with the inspectors, the wardens would put out some new utensils, but they would take them back after the inspectors left.
Those inmates who were frequently imprisoned there said, “In the past Falun Gong practitioners have been wounded, crippled, and killed here. This labor camp is so spacious and well built because the labor camp spared no effort in persecuting Falun Gong in the past. The CCP allocated a special fund of 100 million yuan to rebuild the labor camp as the base camp for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.” They heard some section chiefs saying, “You can beat Falun Gong practitioners however you want, as long as you don't beat them to death.” Hence, many inmates had tortured practitioners before and they recounted the means they used: mostly beating with metal spade handles, shocking with electric batons, beating with rubber clubs, tying practitioners to the Death Bed, and forcing practitioners to stand in the courtyard with minimal clothing in the winter. The most awful torture was tying practitioners to the window in the winter. They would then open the window and put a rope over the practitioner's head to allow the rainwater, melted snow, and ice to flow down the rope and drip down onto the practitioner's head. The CCP used the resources of the entire country to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and forced many innocent people to participate. Tumuji Forced Labor Camp had an annual death quota of three, meaning the camp would bear no responsibility if up to three people were beaten to death in the camp each year.
Later on, because I resisted doing the slave labor, I was twice put into solitary confinement. During that time my meals were reduced and I had no quilt. I was also shocked with electric batons that left marks on my body that still haven't disappeared more than one year later. After my release from solitary confinement, I demanded a physical and vision checkup. It was revealed that the sight in my right eye had worsened from the original normal (1.0) to 0.6.
Persecuted in Nanchong City Xishan Brainwashing Center
On July 19, 2011, 610 Office agent Teng Bing of Zhuwu Village, Majia Township, Dongguan Town, Nanchong, Sichuan Province, along with town police and the fifth village cadre Ming Fangrong, spent over 20,000 yuan to take me from Tumuji Forced Labor Camp to Nanchong City Xishan Brainwashing Center. Here police, political and judiciary committee personnel, 610 Office personnel, the center chief, and administrative personnel created a so-called “assistant” personnel group to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, forcing them to watch the CCP's videos that slandered Dafa and broadcast their evil theories. I tried to expose their lies and deceits. The head of the center, Fu Shaolin, and policeman Pang Renhao claimed that I talked too much, so they started to punish me.
One morning they again forced us to watch videos that slandered Dafa and then broadcast their evil theories. I exposed their lies and they had no words to counter me, so they ended the session in a hurry. The next day, Fu Shaolin used this as an excuse to persecute me. I was sitting on a bench on the balcony. He punched my head, saying that I had been speaking frantically the prior day at the session, and wrongfully accused me of shouting at them and thumping on a desk.
Once an “assistant” with the last name of Li wanted to force Falun Gong practitioner Liu to do things as he wanted. Liu refused to cooperate and Li dragged Liu out of the bed, causing Liu's back to half dangle out of the bed. I told Li he should not do that. Li then beat me and even took off his shoes and tried to hit me with his shoes. Other personnel stopped him.
Pang Renhao took me and Liu for an inquiry about this incident. Before I could finish speaking, Pang slapped my face several times and kicked me. They even threatened my family members to get them to help force me to give up. They mostly threatened and coerced my family members, but sometimes also tried to bribe or coax them. Nevertheless, I didn't give up my belief in Falun Buddha Law and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
I finally returned home on September 29, 2011.
