Beijing Special Collection: Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime - the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution

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1. Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime: the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution (Part One)

By Yu Ming from Mainland China

Editor's note: The author of this article, Yu Ming, had been abducted and taken to Beijing's Lugu Police Station in late October of 2003, and was later sentenced to forced labour. Since he is known in the Beijing labour camps as being steadfast in his belief in Falun Dafa, Mr. Yu is currently still being held in the "Dispatch Centre." We hope that the international community will pay attention to his situation.

Background

I used to be a modestly successful businessman in China and once had a big and very happy family. But because of the Jiang regime's savage persecution of Falun Dafa, I have now lost everything. The factory to which I had devoted all my effort is now out of business. My father died with great sorrow. I have suffered all kinds of tortures and now have become destitute and homeless. My 4-year-old daughter cannot see her father. I want to write down the details about my ordeals, hoping to get the attention and support of the kindhearted people in the world. This persecution has not just happened to me. There are still hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China who are suffering from the same kind of cruel persecution I have experienced myself.

1. Brief introduction

I am Yu Ming, currently 31 years old, the former president of an apparel factory in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. I had previously made a lot of good business deals and achieved a certain amount of success. In spite of the money and fame I obtained from my business successes, however, I had not found the true meaning of life. I felt a void in my inner self.

In July 1997 I began to study and practise Falun Dafa (Falun Gong), a practice introduced by Mr. Li Hongzhi. This is a very peaceful, traditional Chinese exercise, guiding people to enhance their morality and character with the aid of the characteristic of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It enables people to understand the true meaning of life and reach a higher level of being. Moreover, through the practise of these five sets of beautiful and peaceful exercises, people will naturally acquire a healthy body. Through practising Falun Dafa, I quickly got rid of previous bad habits. The power coming from the goodness of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" enabled my family and me to feel peace and happiness. I truly experienced the great power of Dafa, a power that is indescribable and profound.

My apparel business became more and more successful. Most of the workers in my factory were laid-off workers from government-run enterprises that had gone out of business. I voluntarily hired them, and thus helped the government to solve the unemployment problem and enabled those jobless people to have a livelihood. My career and life became better and better each day.

However, since July 1999 when Jiang's regime started the illegal persecution of Falun Gong, my happy and peaceful life has been completely destroyed.

2. My difficult experience of protecting human rights and freedom of belief

(A) Force-feeding

On January 1, 2001 I was peacefully distributing materials explaining the facts of Falun Gong and the persecution at the Beijing University of Language and Culture. A police officer saw me and took me to the Dongsheng Police Station in the Haidian District, where I was interrogated for a whole night. I had not violated any laws. However, without abiding by any due legal procedures, the police sent me directly to Cell 16, Row 3 of the Haidian Branch of the Beijing Police Department detention centre.

In the detention centre, the police used a special, big chain and locked my hands and feet together. Day in and day out, I could only bend my body to sit down on the floor or lie down on one side. I could not lie down straight, nor could I stand straight or walk. The police call this special torture instrument the "dog chain." The torture instrument is only used on death row inmates or dangerous inmates who have obvious tendencies to attack others with force. The chain could cause serious injury to a person's body, especially the hands, feet and back, and constitutes a huge humiliation to a person's psyche. I could wash my face and go to the bathroom in the cell only with other's assistance. This caused me extreme suffering and inconvenience. Chinese law strictly prohibits the use of this restraining device under normal conditions. However, this group of police officers ignored the law. Under orders from Jiang's regime and due to instructions from personnel in the "610 Office," they use it at will on those Falun Gong practitioners who clarify the facts about Falun Gong [the "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.]

The authorities used the most obscene methods and the most vicious ways to persecute Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners, to try to force practitioners to give up their belief. I questioned the detention centre police as to why they opposed the law and regulations of the Chinese Constitution and tormented me with such a torture instrument that so gravely insults human dignity and impairs physical health. The police to my surprise ridiculed me, "So? Do you have a problem with it? Law? What is the law? Jiang Zemin is the law! We will do what Jiang Zemin says! If you have a problem you can talk to Jiang Zemin. Do you dare? We'll kill you!"

Later I reminded them again that (former) Premier Zhu had told the Public Security Departments not to torture Dafa practitioners and I asked why didn't they listen to him? The police gave the impression that I was not worthy of an answer and said, "Are you really that dumb? Now it is Jiang Zemin's regime. If we do not follow him, how else would we get our paycheck and bonuses? Power comes out of a gun. Since Jiang has the gun, then Jiang is absolutely right. He is the power! He is Number One! It is Jiang's idea that we do so. We also do not want to do this way. But it is our job. If we don't do it, we will lose our job."

After hearing all that I felt that I wanted to cry, but I had no tears. What times we live in now! Living in China is still like existing in a backward society where they play out the rules of a personal regime. The police do not really protect society according to the rule of law; they apply the rule of violence to feed Jiang Zemin's personal greed for power. Therefore, Jiang Zemin is the evil ringleader who persecutes Falun Gong; he absolutely cannot get away with his crimes!

I understand the value of life. As a Falun Dafa practitioner I have an even deeper comprehension about the value of our human form. I love life very much! But I also treasure defending truth and righteousness, I will uphold my dignity as a human being. We do not oppose the government! All we oppose is the evil persecution initiated personally by Jiang Zemin.

To protest against the persecution, I went on a hunger strike. I wanted to validate Falun Dafa with my life and bear testimony to the people there that Falun Dafa is innocent. Three days later the police started to force-feed me.

2. Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime with the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution (Part Two)

By Yu Ming from Mainland China

Continued...

Force-feeding may appear to be a way to sustain the life of a practitioner on hunger strike, but my experience tells differently. Every day when they wanted to force-feed me, several criminal inmates dragged me through cellblock hallways as if dragging a dead dog. The inmates in other cells all looked at me like they were looking at an animal. All the prison doctors who force-fed me were untrained. When they force-fed me they used very thick rubber tubes which I never saw them sterilise.

They pushed me down on the ground and tied up my head, my body, my hands and feet to prevent me from struggling. This brutal behaviour made me feel that I was an animal about to be slaughtered. I was treated without any human dignity. The prison doctors with their savage eyes wide open screamed at me "We'll stab you to death! We'll stab you to death!" while they violently forced the rubber tube into my nose. The tube was forced all the way into my stomach. Some of the time the tube was inserted into my lung or my windpipe. It was extremely painful. After they pushed the tube in, they would wriggle the tube and try to force it in further again; my tears and nose kept running from the pain, and my head throbbed. I had to open my mouth trying to catch my breath as hard as I could to avoid suffocating.

They then forced a bowl of corn meal gruel into my stomach. After the force-feeding, they pulled the tube out rapidly, making a loud popping sound as it came out. They had absolutely no concern for how I felt, physically or mentally.

Some times the tube would puncture my nasal cavity or my oesophagus. The blood would run into my stomach and made me feel nauseated, but I had no way to throw up.

I had to endure this kind of agonising feeling and unimaginable physical pain during daily force-feedings. When I was force-fed the first time, I saw that a female Falun Gong practitioner was also being force-fed. Her body was covered with dirt and the edges of her clothes were torn. It was obvious that she had struggled. Her neck, chest and abdomen areas were tightly bound to the bed with three belts. Her legs were spread apart, and her arms were fixed to the two sides of the bed with belts, at a 90-degree angle. Areas around her nose and mouth were covered with remnants of sticky food, with blood stains and secretions. A thick and long rubber tube, which extended out from one of her nostrils, was connected to a large injection syringe that was used for the force-feeding. The syringe was filled with a sticky and muddy mixture. The guard who wore rubber gloves and held the syringe appeared very ferocious and impatient. A couple of inmates stood on the side lines with a dull look in their eyes. When the inmates started to beat Dafa practitioners, however, they were frenzied and showed no conscience at all. The force-feeding tube looked extremely dirty and it was not known if this very tube had been cleaned and sanitised after it was used on others.

By the time I saw her, she obviously had no more energy to struggle, but even so, a very strong man in a police uniform still firmly grabbed her hair and held her down. While suffering the agonising pain, she could not even move her head. The detention centre doctor could thus easily finish the force-feeding.

The guards, through performing force-feeding, on the one hand could temporarily keep the person alive and prevent her from dying abruptly. On the other hand, though, the force-feeding never demonstrated that the police in the Jiang government cared about the life of the person on a hunger strike. From their perspective they cared nothing about the tremendous mental stress and the extreme physical pain caused by the brutal way of inserting the force-feeding tube, the police basically did not care about the life of the person who was on a hunger strike. The police did it this way purely because they did not want the person to die [and did not want to lose their job] and thus avoided dealing with the trouble caused by a death. Furthermore, the police used the opportunity of force-feeding to inflict extreme pain and mental stress to the person who was on a hunger strike, to terrorise the person, making her afraid of the extreme pain and thus stop the hunger strike. This was done in order to reduce the pressure and troubles the authorities faced. It also made the person on the hunger strike lose their spirit and have no energy to appeal, file lawsuits, and seek other legal redress.

(B) Unlawfully sentenced to forced labour

During the agonising eight days of my hunger strike, except for the force-feeding, there was not even one government official investigating my case. On Chinese New Year's Eve (that is, the day just before the traditional Chinese Spring Festival), the detention centre head whose last name was Bai came to the cell to see me. By that time I had already been transferred to cell No. 9 in block No. 3. Bai told me that I would be released if I started eating, because they did not want to have trouble in the time of the New Year holiday. I believed him and thought that since he was a government official wearing police clothes that he would not lie right in front of me. So I started to eat. Unexpectedly, the next day, two policemen arrived and declared that I was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour for "interfering with social order."

I knew that Bai had deceived me. Perhaps he had already colluded with the forced labour committee to deceive me. In fact, the Chinese Constitution says it protects every citizen's freedom of belief, freedom of speech, right to appeal, right to impeach, right to protect personal reputation, and right to protect one's life and health. However, Falun Gong practitioners who only want to keep fit and be good persons, have been ruthlessly deprived of all these basic human rights -- the ruling Party and government under Jiang's single-handed manipulation have trampled these constitutional rights.

Our clarifying the truth of the illegal persecution of Falun Gong causes the listeners no harm; instead, it encourages listeners' to have compassion and correct thoughts. Clarifying the truth also violates no law and has nothing to do with taking away political power. What is wrong with doing it this way? Whose social order has been disturbed?

What is more absurd and shocking to people is that the regulations concerning the education through forced labour have all come from the administrative orders of China's State Department and the Department of Public Security, and they are not laws stipulated anywhere by the People's Congress or its Standing Committee. Forced labour severely infringes upon people's freedom and is the most severe administrative penalty. There should be laws to decide whether a person can be sentenced to forced labour. However, China currently does not have any forced labour laws, and the basis for sentencing a person to forced labour all comes from the orders of the State Department. Therefore, the forced labour policy totally violates the Legislative Laws of the Peoples' Republic of China, at least since October 1996 or after July 1, 2000! At present, people are still being illegally detained in labour camps, and the detainees are enduring persecution in all these various labour camps around the country that are even more severe than in prisons.

Isn't this the most severe crime, committed by a certain group of people in the government on a large scale, against its citizens? If this is not persecution, what is it?

3. Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime: the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution (Part Three)

By Yu Ming, a Falun Gong Practitioner in China

On January 25, 2001, I was escorted and taken to Tuanhe Forced labour Camp located in Daxing District, Beijing City. Since then, I have been doing slave labour.

Once I entered the gate, a group of armed policemen surrounded and ordered me to squat down with my two hands on the head. They forced me to stand up and squat down several times as punishment.

Then, the police ordered me to strip off my clothes in order to check if I had hidden any Falun Gong materials. My response was not quick enough so the police shocked me in the head with an electric baton.

The police tried to force the Falun Gong practitioners in the jail to write a "Guarantee Statement"* to renounce or stop spreading the practice. Those who refused to write it would be electrically shocked. Some of them were hung upside down from the bed's end for a few days and they still refused to cooperate. Under the baton of Vice Police Group Leader Shen Xiaosheng, the drug addicts and prostitutes in the jail would separately take the practitioners to a small room for the perpetrators to beat and kick, while they held the practitioners' arms and pinned them to the ground. Shen yelled, "Beat him for me, and beat him to death! I want to see how hard his bones are! We'll see if he writes it or not! I will break up his fingers!" Then, the inmates grabbed the practitioners' hands to make fingerprints on the "Guarantee Statement" that was prepared by the police, which included statements such as "no practising and no spreading Falun Gong in the labour camp."

It was the winter when I was sent to the labour camp. A cold wind whistled over the ground of thick snow bed. Many of us only had on a layer of autumn clothing. Our hands and feet were covered by bloodstains from frostbite. The police forced us to drill outdoors in formations, and we were forced to eat cold food outside in the yard. Within two minutes after picking up the food, our soup mixed with rice froze. The police dressed in their thick cotton uniforms ignored all this. When walking, we were forbidden to look straight ahead. The prisoners were forced to march in a strange pattern of small steps, with their heads drooping down and two hands on placed on their belly. Whenever the police asked questions, the prisoners was required to placed their two hands on their head or to squat down with their head between the two legs. Without any permission of eye contact, the prisoners had to reply to the leader in a loud voice. Then the police would curse, beat or shock them with an electric baton. After being abused, the prisoners were forced to say out loud, "Thank you, leader", or they would be tortured again. Everyday, each practitioner was given a limit of five minutes to use the bathroom, and the police would curse and beat us if we went over. Because of the limited toilets, half of us could not defecate for a whole week. As a result, many of us, including the elderly men, suffered physical problems related to this.

All of the prisoners had to get up early and work until after midnight. They packed "sanitary chopsticks" for restaurants. The ends of the chopsticks were wrapped in a thin layer of paper, and these disposable chopsticks were regarded as "passing the sanitary standard". They will eventually charge six yuan for one box of chopsticks. Each prisoner was given a quota to pack three boxes everyday. With 160 prisoners in each team, just imagine how much money the police have made from this slave labour.

The prisoners packed these chopsticks in their small dormitory, which held many people. The chopsticks were spread everywhere on the ground, and some had dropped into the urine bucket. The police wouldn't allow the loss of these chopsticks, so they were picked up and continued being packed.

When packing chopsticks, the prisoners did not wash their hands. In the labour camp, many of the prisoners were drug addicts and prostitutes. The police used them to earn money as long as they were alive. Some prisoners suffered from scabies all over themselves, and they were packing chopsticks with their hands that had open sores.

Whoever delayed the job or failed to finish the quota would be beaten by the police and inmates. They had to stand in the yard without sleep. The compound was swarming with fleas, and the prisoners couldn't shower for a long time. Many prisoners did not see the sky after being held in jail for several months with the policemen patrolling around.

The police could verbally and physically abuse the prisoners as they wished. In addition, most of the prisoners were not brave enough to reason with the police. Whoever spoke up to protest was thrown into a solitary cell to be beaten and shocked by the few policemen without a word.

For quite a long time, China's propaganda machines brainwashed the people with propaganda. It was never allowed to question the government, the authorities, or the police. Over the years, this mentality built up, and the police developed the mindset of being able to do anything. With direct orders from Jiang and his followers, the police became more rampant than ever in torturing and persecuting practitioners.

If our family members have witnessed all of this, then how would they react to the Jiang regime's propaganda, "Treat the prisoners as teacher to student, parent to child, doctor to patient." What kind of feeling will they have?

At that time, the work section was divided into two yards with wire mesh. The front yard was assigned to female Falun Gong practitioners, the other one for male. The incoming prisoners were forced to stand and strip in the yard. The policemen could clearly see the women through the wire mesh. They suffered mental anguish and humiliation in addition to the physical labour they were forced to do. Those who tried to defend their human rights would be electrically shocked. The police purposely shocked the female practitioners' mouths, ears, armpits, nipples and private areas. They even instigated the drug addicts and prostitutes to sexually assault the female practitioners. After being tortured, some practitioners were covered with bruises and their breathing became feeble. The police yelled wildly, "Don't think you'll get medical parole because you are injured. We have a death quota!"

*"Guarantee Statement" - A statement to declare that he or she is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

4. Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime with the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution (Part Four)

By Yu Ming, a Dafa Practitioner in China

It is inconceivable to those whose human rights are maintained and respected throughout the world, in societies that are ruled by law, and especially after Jiang announced to the world media that China is enjoying "the best period of human rights," that there are still large areas where people are severely assaulted and abused in a dark and evil arena.

Furthermore, in my experience at some of the worst forced labour camps in Tuanhe (and others) that the police denied us access to information regarding the laws that regulate forced labour camps. Those sentenced to the labour camps had no idea what their personal rights were, nor the respect that they must be accorded under the law. If someone wanted to know about the regulations, the police would use various means to remove their requests. Even after release from the forced labour camps, the victim's family members dared not complain to the police. This happened with all the police and forced labour camps all over China.

One day, as some newly arrived detainees were shouting questions and answers, in protest, I shouted that I was illegally detained. The police rushed up to me, and without allowing me to explain myself, dragged me out to the office. Here, I was pressed to the ground and four or five electric batons were applied to various parts of my body at the same time. The strong electrical current caused my heart to palpitate. I felt as if my heart would burst as I began to lose any feeling and almost passed out. I was breathing very hard so that I wouldn't suffocate. My face, neck, arms, legs, and other exposed parts of my body were covered in blisters from the electric shocks. The police never did explain why they acted so savagely towards me. Later, I sent an appeal, in accordance with China's laws, to the National People's Congress and the Law Court in Beijing City, in which I denounced my treatment in the forced labour camp. As of today, I still have not received any reply. I do not know if the police confiscated the letter or mailed it.

(3) Sent to the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp, Beijing City

*Various Savage and Brutal Offences at the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp*

On March 1, 2001, I was sent to the Second Brigade, Third Squad, of the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp, Beijing City. Here, I was immediately deprived of sleep; forced to stand under the hot sun and not allowed to move; made to do extra heavy physical labour; severely assaulted by inmates who were ordered to do so by the camp officials to force me to abandon my belief in "Zhen, Shan, Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance); coerced to abandon my personal ideologies and beliefs; pressured to write materials abusing my Teacher and Dafa, which in essence was meant to justify the punishment I received. I was not allowed to speak my mind or appeal for my rights. I remained steadfast as I knew my constitutional rights to freedom of belief, freedom of speech, and my legitimate personal human rights, and did not compromise them. A few perpetrators of the Second Brigade and the police were planning some violent actions towards me. The people involved include Cao Hui (at that time he was the monitor of the Third Squad), Guo Jianxin, Jia Qishu, Ma Yuehui, and others. I warned them that I reserved the legitimate right to self defence so they dared not harm me.

In fact, within a month of arriving at the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp, there were many occasions when I saw Falun Gong practitioners severely and savagely assaulted.

In the Second Brigade, Practitioner Lu Changjun was tied up with wide plastic tape by staff members Zhang Wenlong, Ju Chongfeng, and Zhang Qingshan. Lu's head was lowered to his knees and then tied down. He was forced into a tiny space under a wood plank bed, and then several people sat on the bed, which exerted tremendous pressure and crushed Lu's vertebrae. He is now a paraplegic. Lu's family filed a lawsuit and Zhang Wenlong was only sentenced to three years in jail. In reality, the perpetrators of this assault were the duty policemen Liu Xincheng, the leader, and assistant of the Brigade, Jiang Wenlai, and Ni Zhenxiong respectively, of the Second Brigade as well as all the officials at the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp. Were it not for the urging of the police, those inmates would not dare to assault people in this way.
The wide tape that was used had been banned from use at the camp. The police must have supplied the inmates with the tape, as it was impossible for the inmates to obtain it by themselves. During the assaults on Lu Changjun and others, everyone could clearly and distinctly hear their screams and cries. Even those in the other brigades on the ground-floor (Second Brigade was in the first floor) heard the screams and they shouted: "What are you doing up there?!" The general office and the police hostel was only a few meters away, separated only by a staircase. It cannot be denied that the sound of the beatings and abuse could be heard, as there were always police officers on duty, standing in front of the staircase. But with so many Falun Gong practitioners being abused and beaten, especially when Lu Changjun was assaulted till his vertebrae were broken, no police officers went to stop the assaults. Until today, not a single policeman has been disciplined or punished for his illegal treatment of the practitioners.

Falun Gong practitioner Chen Gang was surrounded by more than twenty people and beaten in a frenzy, then tied up, forced under a bed, and beaten on the head, legs, and body with the hard soles of boots till his whole body was swollen and unrecognisable. He was unable to walk for several days and was almost paralysed. Later, when Chen Gang complained on many occasions to the forced labour camp staff and the Department in charge of forced labour camps, not only was he ignored, but his sentence was extended by an extra six months.

Wei Rutan, Duan Peichen, Cui Xiangjun, and others were tortured by the hired hatchet man Guo Jianxin and others. They stabbed needles into the legs and arms of the victims and then twirled the needles in the wounds; they poured boiling water on the heads and bodies of the victims; they tied the practitioners up and forced them under wood plank beds and then beat them on their heads and legs with the plastic soles of boots. When Duan Peichen protested, his head was smashed against the sharp edge of a metal radiator. He fell and lay in a pool of blood. Zhang Jiuhai was beaten by the gang, tied up, and forced under the bed as both his legs were stepped on. He was also forced to sit on the "Tiger Bench"* (implement of torture) then tied up and paraded through a group that abused and beat him. The hair of a 30-year-old practitioner had tuned almost completely gray hair and much of it had fallen out. University students had their mouths stuffed with rags, as they were tied up and forced under the bed, had their legs stepped on; had toothbrushes forced between two tightly closed fingers and the brushes were rotated until the skin of their index and middle fingers was shredded, the bone was exposed, and there was profuse bleeding (this form of torture called "key opening the lock"). The pitiful screams of the victims could be heard for quite a distance.

Yang Shuqiang was assaulted by Pang Yu and others of the Third Brigade at the forced labour camp. He was taken into a toilet and beaten till his eardrum was perforated and blood and pus oozed out of his ear. His sides and legs were seriously injured. It appeared that his legs were fractured , as he could not walk for many days. He did not receive any medical attention or care. Jiang Yongjun was beaten, abused, and kicked by the forced labour camp officers Mo Haitao, Jin Haoyou, Pang Yu, and others, tied to the planks of a bed, and forced to drink ice water. Eventually, the torture caused him to become incontinent and lose his sanity. He was taken to a committee called the "Assisted Transformation League" and then publicly paraded in order to humiliate him, a method commonly used in the cultural revolution. The authorities spread a fabricated rumour that Jiang Yongjun became insane as a result of practising Falun Gong. This was done to demonize Falun Gong, deceive the public who did not know the truth, and justify the authorities persecution. Many other practitioners were deprived of sleep, shocked with high voltage cattle prods, physically assaulted, and beaten. When practitioner Gong Chengxi first arrived at the forced labour camp, he was attacked by the hatchet-men in a frenzied assault. They bashed his head against the wall and beat his face until his lips were torn and bleeding.

The afore-mentioned cases are only the tip of the iceberg! Among the more than one hundred persons sent to the camp, at least fifty percent of them were tortured by having their heads tied to their knees, then forced to sit in a wash-basin under a low wood plank bed while being beaten continuously on their bodies and faces with the hard soles of boots.

All these bloody cases, all the beatings, and the persecution, can be verified with the Falun Gong practitioners that were the victims. All of the assaults were instigated by the police. Otherwise, how could so many Falun Gong practitioners have suffered continuous abuse since the end of 1999, when the Falun Gong practitioners were first sent to the forced labour camps.

* Tiger Bench: Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.

5. Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime: the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution (Part Five)

By Yu Ming from Mainland China

Tip line of Dispatch centre: 86-10-61291199 ext. 8220; 86-10-61291199 ext. 8118
Info line of Dispatch centre: 86-10-61294968

Tip line of Tuanhe labour Camp in Beijing: 86-10-61292590; 86-10-61294581

Info line of Tuanhe labour Camp in Beijing: 86-10-61293362

* * * * * *

Later, the police in Brigade Two started to force me to stay up late at night. Practitioners who refused to give up their belief in Falun Dafa were not allowed to go to bed until after midnight, sometimes even past 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. But, they were woken up at around 5 a.m. to run laps and do calisthenics. In the worst situations, practitioners were not allowed to sleep at all. As soon as the eyes closed, the police would curse and kick the practitioners, saying that dozing off was breaking the rules. Many people were thus persecuted to a cloudy mental state and to a point of physical exhaustion, and eventually gave up their belief because they could no longer withstand such torment. Beijing practitioners Chen Gang and Li Chunyuan were once forced to stay awake for 15 days straight.

During the day, we also had to clean the toilets, bathrooms, and trash dumps. These chores were all done by the steadfast practitioners.

My Persecution by Policeman Ni Zhenxiong

By late June 2001, it was already very hot. Every day, Lu Weidong, Fang Yingwen, Lu Mingqiang, Wu Yinchang, Cheng Wei, Yang Shuqiang, Wang Jiping and others, about ten of us, were dragged to the drill ground to stand under the scorching sun. Ni Zhengxing, Deputy Captain of Brigade Two, forced us to stand on one foot for two or three hours at a time, not allowing us to move. Oftentimes people would pass out because of heat stroke. At the time, I suffered from a severe fungal infection of the skin, yet I was not spared this torture.

One day after we finished standing in the blazing sun, we were taken inside to stand some more. I sat on the ground as both of my feet were oozing pus. Ni Zhenxiong did not let me off -- the labour camp police were in a constant state of readiness to find excuses to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He came over and growled, "Stand up," as he pulled me up. Before I could steady myself, he let go of his grip and I fell, knocking my head on the ground. This infuriated Ni, as he thought I was deliberately antagonising him. He lifted me up and forcefully threw me to the ground. My feet scraped up against his leather boot, resulting in a large abrasion and bleeding.

After I got up, I said to Ni, "I am not being defiant. I have been feeling sick and dizzy the last few days. I have reported my condition to the police. The captains on duty last night and the night before all have records of it. You can go and check the records." Upon hearing this, Ni barked, "You are going against the government on purpose!" Since other practitioners were present, he dragged me to his office and showered me with kicks and punches like a madman. While beating me hysterically, he yelled obscenities at the top of his voice. He then grabbed my neck hard, attempting to choke me to death. I could not breathe and felt that I was going to die. Realising that I would die if he did not let go, Ni then backed off.

I gasped for breath and felt like my neck was severed. Ni was also exhausted, and left for lunch as if nothing had happened. I sat on the floor in excruciating pain. I felt awful and did not want to eat anything.

When Ni came back refreshed from lunch and a rest, he was very angry when he saw me still sitting on the floor. He shouted, "Didn't you say you're sick? Something is wrong with your feet? Come on, I'll take you to see the doctor!" He then called in another policeman to take me. I said to them, "You're forcing me and beating me illegally. I won't go to see the doctor." Without a word, Ni rushed out to get a pair of handcuffs and put them on me. He then tried to drag me out by tugging on the handcuffs. I held tight onto the rail of the stairs with both my hands. The handcuffs cut deeply into my flesh. Even now there is still a prominent scar on my wrist. Ni saw that he couldn't move me, so he told the policeman to shock my hands with an electric baton. My hands went numb and I let go of my grip. Ni knocked me down to the ground, and then dragged me downstairs by my feet, down the staircase. My head was knocking against each of the cement stairs and it was extremely painful. After he dragged me out of the building, he continued to drag me over the asphalt ground for dozens of meters more before finally stopping at the clinic.

The doctor there felt repugnance towards Ni and did not want to treat me as Ni had demanded. Ni was very angry and grasped my arms and fiercely twisted them backward. I felt excruciating pain and I heard a slight crack. My arms almost broke. Since Ni did not want a repeat of Lu Changjun's situation (Lu Changjun had his spine broken from beating), he stopped and took me back to the brigade. The clothes on my back were all torn and my back was covered with bloodstains.

Later, practitioner Wu Jinchang in Brigade Two lodged a letter of complaint concerning Ni Zhenxiong's atrocities. For a long time, the labour camp put on a facade as if it was conducting an investigation but did not take any corrective action. Ni continued unabated with his wanton torture of the practitioners. Many people were injured at his hands, including Chen Hongxin, Mu Junkui and others.

Forced Brainwashing Inside the Walls of the labour Camp While Lies Are Spread Outside

If a practitioner, because he could not withstand the brutal violence and physical torture, was compelled to write the so-called "Five Statements" (statements promising to break away from Falun Gong) against his will, that did not mean that the mental persecution ended there. Every day, these practitioners who gave in under pressure were required to study slanderous materials concocted by Jiang's regime. After a period of study, they had to write up their understanding of these materials, which had to criticise and condemn Falun Gong. If their writing did not meet the police's expectation, the police would immediately intimidate them. Under such circumstances, these former practitioners had to, against their conscience, denounce and not mention anything good about Falun Gong at all times. There were monitors in the rooms. Every move the practitioners made was under the constant surveillance of the police.

According to China's so-called laws and regulations (not legislated rules), forced labour education is just a type of administrative punishment, not criminal punishment. The labour camp detainees are not criminals, yet they are treated with much more stringent measures than criminals in jails. The police secretly arrange undercover informants in each unit to monitor every word and move of every practitioner. If anyone who had given up his belief in Falun Gong under pressure came to realise that the persecution was illegal, and wanted to tell the police that Falun Gong is good, he would be immediately subjected to sleep deprivation and physical punishment, including high-voltage electric shocks. It is not difficult to imagine how hard it is to speak out the truth and follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, and to be good people in the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp.

At the beginning of April 2001, the Tuanhe labour Camp removed its high-voltage electrical wire from the labour camp's walls. Three days later, there was a visit by national and international non-governmental organisations under the escort of government officials. These changes and the visits resulted from frequent interviews by the national media, and with international governmental and non-governmental organisations. They were also based on a proposal put forth by representatives of the National People's Congress and Commissar of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee, to convey the idea that labour camps are an "internal affair of the people" and to show improvement in the area of China's human rights. In the days that followed, the labour camp embarked on large-scale renovation -- new landscaping, constructing new buildings, putting in new lawns and lots of flowers, raising birds and other animals... there were even fish bowls, televisions, and desks in the dormitories. In the division where Falun Gong practitioners were detained there was now a library and Karaoke facility, among other amenities. Newcomers to the Tuanhe labour Camp could easily be fooled by the external façade; little did they know that the new buildings, flowers, lawns, and small animals were but a smokescreen to distract, and to conceal the criminal acts occurring in the camp.

Not only that, every time there was an outside visitor or inspection from above, the whole labour camp would be educated on how to deceive the visitors: every division had to repeatedly watch videotapes made by the labour camp on how to answer questions from international reporters, forcing practitioners to give a uniform answer and to lie to the media. The blatant lies were ridiculous. For example, if one were asked if there were physical or verbal abuses by labour camp personnel, the answer must be an emphatic no; Falun Gong practitioners could not say that they were arrested for practising Falun Gong, but for "disturbing social order." If one were asked about the meals in the camp, you had to say that every month we had so much flour, oil, meat, vegetables, and other such nonsense. In addition, determined practitioners were threatened with repercussions should they speak the truth. Policeman Ni Zhenxiong held a meeting to threaten us: If reporters asked, you could not say that you had been beaten in the labour camp, or mention that there was a dispatch location. One time, there was a reporter visiting the Third Division on the first floor in the east building, but several dozen people who refused to be "transformed" or who could be "problematic" in the Third Division had already been relocated to the training centre at the north side of the building. Therefore the reporter only saw the carefully rehearsed play. Every time outside visitors came, the labour camp's meals suddenly improved that day, and the routine public physical punishment of Falun Gong practitioners for the day would be cancelled and a ball game substituted.

The moment the visitors left the front door, the physical punishment resumed. Tuanhe labour Camp's deceptive tactics to fool the outside visitors were inexhaustible, and were all despicable. To convince the outside world that it was "civil," the labour camp adopted a gradation measure for the detainees in the labour camp. It categorised the detainees into five different classes. The top class was given milk and eggs for breakfast, meat and vegetable for lunch, allowed to receive training for employment, or try their hand at farming, and be off on weekends. In reality, all the non-transformed practitioners were relegated to the lowest class and strictly supervised. They were subjected to high-pressure brainwashing, forced to stay up all night, sent to the "Intense Training" unit, confined in small cells, tied up, given only bread crusts to eat, and were not allowed to buy any food or daily necessities, among other forms of persecution. All these cruel torments were meticulously covered up by the new measures at the camp.

The persecution site, in the "Intense Training" unit in the fortified building was never open to outside visitors, and all the Falun Gong practitioners who dared to speak the truth were never allowed to be interviewed by visiting journalists. Therefore the official reports were nothing but pure deceit to fool and conceal; none were true. To the Falun Gong practitioners who refused to give up their practice, Tuanhe labour Camp was a living hell.

One day in June of 2001, around 11 or 12 in the morning, all the steadfast practitioners and the so-called "not thoroughly transformed" practitioners were gathered in the first storage room behind the courtyard. The police broke with the norm and let us watch a movie video. The Third Division's practitioners were placed in the second storage room, and the Seventh Division's practitioners were put in a small one-story building at the other end of the storage area. We were not allowed to move around. Later on we learned that that day there were large numbers of international, Hong Kong, and domestic media reporters visiting the labour camp, and the only people that were allowed to work outside or play ball games were those who had been "adequately transformed."

Three practitioners, who were transformed and carefully coached by the police, were interviewed by the media, and they spoke highly of the living conditions and human rights situation in the labour camp. Later on they were praised by the labour camp authorities and released from reeducation ahead of time. At the same time, there were two un-transformed practitioners (Yang Haidong and Fang Bing) that were arranged to be interviewed by the media. Afterwards, the media praised the open nature of the interview, and the permission to talk to any labour camp personnel at will. Actually, these two practitioners simply did not know the dark inside story of the labour camp. Later on I met with Mr. Yang and Mr. Fang and learned that at the time, on the day of the media interview, both of them had just been transferred to Tuanhe labour Camp and did not know the inside story of the camp. The labour camp cunningly used them to perform for the media, and they were completely unaware of the actual situation.

What was especially nauseating was the interview with Jiang Haiquan, the deputy section manager of the education office in Tuanhe labour Camp. When the media asked him, "How did you go about transforming Falun Gong practitioners?" He unashamedly replied, "Just like today, how you and I calmly talk about our personal viewpoints. To transform or not, that is all the individual's free choice." How could it be like that! In little more than one year, in Beijing's Tuanhe labour Camp, tall buildings sprang up from the original one-story construction, and "garden units" from grounds overgrown with weeds. It became a city-wide model for a "civilised labour camp," and then quickly developed into a national example. How many people know that the new buildings, flowers, plants, trees and especially the road and those ditches were soaked with many practitioners' blood and sweat! It is the historical testimony of their persecution. Therefore in the Chinese labour camp, the advertisements of "civilised" and "beautified environment" are used to deceive and mislead the Chinese people and the international community.

6. Exposing the Evil Nature of Jiang's Regime: the Ordeals I Suffered under the Persecution (Part Six)

By Yu Ming, a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

"Intensive Brainwashing Team"

The "Intensive Brainwashing Team" is one of the darkest places in Tuanhe Forced labour Camp. Many practitioners are severely abused there: Wu Jun, Zhu Zhiliang, Lin Chengtao, Liu Xiao, and Zhao Xindong all suffered mental collapse due to the torture and pressure. Gong Chengxi and Wu Jun were bound to the "dead man's bed" many times. In this form of torture the whole body, from head to toe, is tightly fettered with wide strips of bed sheet to the bed board, so that the victim is unable to move at all. The victim is only allowed one bathroom visit per day. For bowel movements, two assistant guards lead the victim with a string attached to each arm, which is a great insult to human dignity. The victim has to urinate into the bed while the upper part of the body is untied.

Wide strips of cloth are not only used to tightly bind the victims, but also because it leaves no visible marks. Wu Jun was bound to the bed for as long as three consecutive months without being untied once. Gong Chengxi had been tied down for as long as two consecutive months during the hottest summer weather. Consequently, he developed a big sore on his back, which discharged pus and blood, and his flesh and skin festered. Flies fed on the wound, but the guards did not care at all.

Practitioner Wu Xiangwa was sent to the "Intensive Brainwashing Team." Policemen from Team No. 5 including Guo Jinhe, Yue Weihua, and Liu Bin, together with a policeman from the "Intensive Brainwashing Team" shocked him for several hours with four electric batons. Wu Xiangwan lost consciousness several times, and became unable to speak without stuttering for a long time. In order to evade the shocks and the great mental pressure, Wu sometimes knocked his head against the wall, causing him to pass out, while his blood flowed all over the floor. Eventually he was forced to comply with the policemen's demands. Later someone from the Beijing Bureau of Forced labour came to investigate the case, but nothing became of the investigation. None of the policemen was held responsible for this matter.

The "Intensive Brainwashing Team" treats Falun Gong practitioners in an extremely horrible way but the media does not cover these stories.

Team No. 6 involved in manufacturing unauthorised "Harry Potter" books

Towards the end of 2001 I was transferred to forced labour in Team No. 6, where most of the detainees are general criminals imprisoned for theft, drug-addiction, prostitution, etc. and are termed "general detainees." From the end of 2001 to early 2002, the forced labour camp unlawfully printed unauthorised copies of the "Harry Potter" book series to make money.

It is well known that China has just joined in the WTO. Jiang's regime has promised the whole world they would crack down on pirated publications in China in order to safeguard the publishing business. However within the Beijing Tuanhe Forced labour Camp, which is part of the Chinese legal system, policemen were forcing detainees to bind the "Harry Potter" books series. The books were printed at another location. The detainees were asked to fold, sort, and bind the sheets. Then the finished books were transported to other places for publication.

I was part of Team No. 6 for over three months and the whole team was working on the books. Piles of printed sheets about a meter high could be seen everywhere in the hall and corridors of the floor where Team No. 6 was located. Teams No. 3 and 5 were working on the books as well. It was said that there was a competition among the guards to land the job for their own team. People delivered the printed sheets to the forced labour camp furtively. The vehicles used to carry the sheets looked pretty worn out. The print quality was extremely poor. The paper looked yellowish and had misprints and marks everywhere. It was obvious that they were not legally printed.

In order to get more books ready before the Chinese New Year and to sell them to students during the winter holidays, the police forced detainees to work very hard. Sometimes they worked all night. Of course, the detainees did not get any returns for working so hard, while the huge amounts of money earned by detainee labour went into the pockets of the police. This arrangement made the assistant guards furious and they deliberately damaged, messed up or removed pages while binding the books. Consequently, the quality of the books was really poor. The police cared only for the number of finished product rather than the quality and intentionally turned a deaf ear to complaints about the quality. When the books were picked up, they concealed their poor quality and were satisfied as long as nobody could detect the difference by appearance. These books are much cheaper than the officially printed ones. This is bound to have a severe impact on the profits of authorised publishers, the author's copyright, and royalties.

Whenever supervisors or inspectors came from outside the labour camp, the guards would order us to stop working right away. They would hide the sheets and books in their offices or move them to other places where the visitors wouldn't go. During the Chinese New Year, every police guard got a 1,000 Yuan bonus [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.] while the leaders got from 2,000 to 4,000 Yuan each. None of the detainees who worked so hard were paid. We hope somebody will pass this message to the author of "Harry Potter" or the authorised publishers of the book so that an investigation can be conducted to protect both the rights and interests of the author and publishers and the detainees as well.

Brutal violence taking place inside the "Fortification Storming Building"

After several months of hard time, in mid March of 2002 I was sent to a building within the backyard of the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp for continued and intensified abuse. According to documents issued by the "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.] at the time, Falun Gong practitioners in forced labour camps should not be released unless they have had a so-called "stable period" for at least three months after they are "transformed." In other words, practitioners who have written the so-called "Five Statements" (renouncing Falun Gong) must be consistent and not change their minds for at least three months before they are released. The forced labour camp signed an agreement with the Neighbourhood Committees or Community Committees in different areas that the detainee was not counted as the ones that were successfully transformed if the "transformation" had lasted less than three months. Practitioners of this kind were either directly sent to brainwashing classes held in different areas upon the maturity of their forced labour terms or penalised with extended terms. Thus, at the time, for Falun Gong practitioners, the three months before their terms came to an end constituted a big test. June 30, 2002 was the last day of my term in the forced labour camp and I was right on the test.

In order to attain the so-called "transformation quota" and prevent any practitioner from leaving forced labour camps "untransformed," labour camps in different areas took a series of extremely vicious and contemptible measures to intensify the persecution.

When the forced labour term of a practitioner was drawing to an end, but the practitioner still insisted on his belief and refused to be "transformed," several policemen would forcibly detain the practitioner in a separate room of the old Tuanhe West Building and occupied by Team No. 5 before October 2001. They would strip off the practitioner's clothes, tie him to a bed or the floor, gag him with rags, and bind his mouth tightly with a piece of string to prevent him from shouting or biting off his tongue. Sometimes, they also blindfolded him to conceal the identity of the torturer. Then they used several 100,000 volt electric batons to spontaneously shock all sensitive parts of his body. If the batons ran out of power, they recharged them and continued the torture. This torture would last for hours or even days, until the practitioner could not bear it any longer. Up to a dozen electric batons were used to shock a human body! Imagine the misery of the painful muscle spasms, the burning flesh, and the shortness of breath or inability to breath due to the shocks! It feels like ten thousand arrows penetrating your body or ten thousand snakes biting your body simultaneously. In addition, the police used every possible means to block the news so that it became extremely hard for the outside to learn the truth of this brutality.

If one team had a high "transformation" rate, the team was awarded a large bonus. If a team did not attain the quota, the bonus would be deducted from the team. To reward individuals, every policeman who "transformed" a Falun Gong practitioner was awarded 1,000 Yuan. If a transformed practitioner did not acknowledge that he had been "transformed," or declared all the transformations null and void, the policeman would be fined 1,500 Yuan. Thus, the policemen do not spare any effort to viciously torment Falun Gong practitioners. Money is one of the most common incentives Jiang Zemin and his "610 Office" use to control policemen.

The west building in the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp is the same as the so-called "Conquering Building," referring to the "conquering" of practitioners. Previously, team No. 5 resided in the building, but it is now used especially for the "transformation" of unwavering Falun Dafa practitioners.

The insides differ from the "Intensive Brainwashing Team" building. Superficially, violence could not be observed, but the atmosphere inside was vicious. The building is totally blocked off from the outside. No visitors or reporters are allowed to enter. The windows and doors are covered with newspapers. People outside cannot look inside the rooms. There is nothing in the rooms but a wooden board on the floor. On the walls are slogans or posters slandering Falun Gong and its creator in extremely filthy language. There is little heating even during the bitterest winter weather. Only a thin quilt is provided for warmth. Practitioners are detained in separate rooms, along with up to five criminal detainees who completely follow the policemen's orders.

The policemen made up convenient excuses for tormenting Falun Dafa practitioners. For example, if you said you wanted to cultivate compassion, that you should look within first when conflicts occur among people, that you should not hit back when attacked, and not talk back when insulted, the vicious policemen took advantage of your attitude and intentionally found fault with, beat, swore at, insulted, and abused you, to see whether you could bear it or not. As soon as you showed the slightest dissatisfaction with their contemptible behaviour, they would use it as a convenient excuse to beat you up. They said it was meant to help you cultivate "tolerance," and to help you improve.

For example, we were never allowed to take a nap at noon, but had to stay up until two or three o'clock in the morning. Sometimes we were not allowed to sleep for 24 hours in succession. This was called "Taming the Eagle." If you closed your eyes, various torture means were awaiting you. You were asked to sit with both hands on your knees, motionlessly, from morning till night, except for having meals or going to the washroom. A slight motion would be interpreted as disobedience resulting in swearing, beating or kicking. We were deliberately not provided with enough food. We were allowed to use the bathroom only once a day. Articles defaming Dafa and Teacher were deliberately read in front of us. Protests would give rise to torture because we were trying to disturb the order of the 'transformation' process. In short, they were trying all possible means to torment us.

When practitioners asked the policemen on what legal basis they violated human rights, the policemen laughed and swore at us asking: "Don't you want Truth, Compassion, Tolerance? Why don't you practise tolerance then?" This was followed by more severe torture of the practitioner who asked the question. On the whole, they simply wanted to have you abandon the principles of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance; they simply wanted you to give up these noble beliefs. To this end, the policemen were authorised to arbitrarily employ any violent or vicious means imaginable. It is really hard to talk about all of the crimes against humanity that were perpetrated in that building!

Falun Dafa practitioners seek to improve their morality, spiritual health, and purify their physical bodies. However, this noble pursuit constitutes an excuse for Jiang's Criminal Group to persecute Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners!

I was assigned to the first room on the main floor of the "Conquering Building." Three former practitioners named Yu Shouli, Gu Zhaojiang, and Chen Hengjin in Team No. 5, who had previously been brainwashed, assisted in my "transformation." Jiang Haiquan, Assistant Director of the Educational Section, was in charge of the "transformation" process. He had already personally abused many other practitioners, including Zhao Ming, Wei Rutan, and Wu Yingchang. His hands are stained with the blood of practitioners. Liu Xincheng, Liu Guoxi, and other policemen were also involved in the transformation. The Beijing Forced labour Bureau awarded "first prize" to these policemen for "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners. They were also on the "honor roll" published by the internal Beijing Forced labour Reeducation Report in 2002 because of their active participation in transforming Falun Gong practitioners.

On the morning of March 18, 2002 a brutal torture was scheduled. About five policemen carried me up to the so-called "psycho-consultation room" on the second floor. The door and window had been totally covered with newspapers. The policemen could not wait, and stripped off my clothes, shoes, and socks. They tied my neck to a bed board with a rough rope. My chest, waist, arms, legs, and feet were fixed tightly with about eight strips of cloth. They also gagged my mouth with rags to prevent shouting or biting off my tongue, which could cause death. Then they tied a strip of cloth across my mouth, between my upper and lower teeth. At the same time, paper and pen were ready. They told me, "If you agree to write a statement saying that, 'Falun Gong is [...], blink your eyes. And we will stop right away!" With that, they started to frenziedly shock me with electric batons.

Jiang Haiquan shocked my head and upper part of the body; Liu Xincheng shocked my lower part and thighs; Liu Guoxi shocked especially the soles of my feet. They were using custom-made electric batons with over 100,000 volts. Tian Yu, a policeman from Team No. 5 watched by the door in case someone passed by. I lay there, unable to move at all. My ears were full of the sharp sound of electric batons, with occasional bursts of laughter from the policemen. Blue flames fluttered in the air, and the unpleasant smell of burning flesh made me sick.

The policemen became even more irrational and shocked me even more frenziedly. The sharp pain made me feel so miserable, as if thousands of knives were cutting into my muscles and heart simultaneously, and as if thousands of red hot pliers were burning every nerve carefully and simultaneously all over my body. It is hard for me to describe the misery I experienced at the time. I think it could have been no less than that in hell. I was sweating all over, but I could not move or shout. My body became stiff and rigid because of the violent shaking. The torture lasted the entire morning.

The forced labour camp deals with practitioners' family members with false compassion

Usually, when a detainee, especially a Falun Gong practitioner, was brutally tortured, scars would be left on his body. Afraid that practitioners' family members would see the scars and ask what had happened, the forced labour camp prevented practitioners from seeing their family members. The labour camp used various excuses. For example, they would say the practitioner violated such and such a rule or regulation, and had been refused the right to meet with his family members. When my family members came asking for a meeting, Zhang Fuchao and Ren Baolin, two policemen from the Administrative Section, told my family members that, "[Name deleted] suffers from a mental disorder from practising Falun Gong. He beats others and swears at them. He is in violation of regulations, and is not allowed to meet people for two months. We are very sympathetic with the family, but what can we do? The regulations are made by the authorities." As a result, my family members did not see me during that month. How can our simple and kind-hearted family members know or imagine the evil that occurs in the forced labour camp?

The Women's Camp

In some respects, the women's camp is an even more vicious environment than Tuanhe. The newly built women's camp was finished in March 2002. It was put into use right after it was constructed. It is said that nearly 2 billion Yuan was spent on this camp. Superficially, it looks more modern, with more beautiful landscaping and better equipment and facilities. It is much more beautiful than the Xin'an Female labour Camp where the female practitioners were previously detained. Therefore, it creates greater confusion among people. Since a huge amount of money was invested in the camp, the persecution of female practitioners became even more secretive and skillful.

For instance, the windows in the female camp are not the same as in Tuanhe Forced labour Camp. There are no iron bars from outside but simply one layer of glass. It was officially declared to the public to be more "humanitarian," although it is not generally known to the public, or even to the female inmates, that all the window glass is bulletproof, costing nearly 1,000 Yuan per square meter. This demonstrates how much money is being spent on labour camps. Moreover, this is only a small forced labour camp. It so happened that at the end of 2002 a teenager from the Teenage Team, named Cui Hongyu, tried to escape. This teenager knocked out the window using all his strength. Consequently, the window frame and the glass were knocked out and fell to the ground from the third floor. The glass did not shatter.

As a businessman, my calculations are that Jiang's Criminal Group must be spending about one-quarter of our national income in persecuting Falun Gong every year. This money is either earned by hard toil of ordinary people or from foreign investments. What would the ordinary people and the foreign investors think if they know the truth? Are their investments really being paid pack?

I happened to meet a female practitioner named Zhou Yinhong while I was detained at the Beijing Women's Forced labour Camp. Her term had been extended because of her unshakable belief in cultivation practice, and she told me lots of shocking inside stories.

She knew of another female practitioner named Lu Kuan whose forced labour term had been extended by ten months. Zhou Yinhong and Lu Kuan were detained together at Team No. 2 of the women's labour camp. Under the leadership of Director Zhu Xiaoli and policewoman Shi X, the director of the Administrative Section, Cheng Cui'e, the leader of Team No. 2, and other policewomen kept about ten female practitioners, including Zhou Yinhong and Lu Kuan in separate rooms shackled or bound in awkward positions. Then they instructed many female detainees imprisoned for drug-addition or prostitution to beat them up, or to drag them by their hair, knock their heads against the wall, or shock them with powerful electric batons.

To make things worse, they stripped off practitioners' clothes, and the detainees inserted toothbrushes into their vaginas, and clawed at their genitals, tearing the tissue. One female practitioner became disabled in this manner and because of that, such torture was temporarily abandoned.

Afraid of an outside investigation into this matter, the Forced labour Bureau and the labour camp disbanded Team No. 2. Since then there has not been a Team No. 2 in the women's camp and its detained practitioners were transferred to other teams. The police covered up this matter and classified it as top secret. Later, Zhou Yinhong was transferred to Team No. 1, and Lu Kuan to the "Intensive Brainwashing Team." They are still suffering from inhumane abuse and torture. However, none of the policewomen in the women's camp were held responsible at all.

From the "610 Office," the supreme organisation in charge of persecuting Falun Gong, to the Beijing Legal Bureau, Beijing Forced labour Bureau, and the forced labour camps, there is a complete system geared towards the brainwashing and "transformation" of Falun Gong practitioners. At the Terminal centre, practitioners were generally asked to write a statement of guarantee not to practise or spread Falun Gong. The function of the Terminal centre is to make you remember that you are a forced labour detainee, and that you have to obey their disciplinary orders. Through various ways, they make you follow the regulations. The Terminal centre does not play a role in the transformation process, as they think that only when practitioners are disciplined can they be "transformed" at the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp. Their job is to make sure that practitioners will not continue to practise at the forced labour camp. They first list their so-called laws, indicating the ones that you allegedly violated. Then they ask you to confess that you did in fact violate a law. Once you confessed that you had done something wrong, they ask that you should show regret about it.

The next step would be to write the "statement of regret." Once you feel regretful, admitting your wrongdoings, you would then be asked to make amends and take steps to change direction. Now that you are ready to be "transformed" from "wrong" to "right," you have to write a "dissociation" statement. Writing the dissociation statement is still not enough, although they may not have urged you to write the "denunciation statement" right away. They may give you several days to think about where you are headed, i.e., whether you will be "transformed" or not. Although they give you several days to consider, they won't let you relax because they are starting to hope that you might be "transformed." However, on the surface, they begin to smile at you and not treat you as strictly as before, no longer finding faults with you, or persecuting you at every turn. From this point on, they continuously make you watch videos and read books defaming Dafa. Several days later, when your mind is totally filled with filthy and evil thoughts, you are required to write and make up the co-called denunciation. You are expected to say that you were cheated into practising Falun Gong, and that you came to realise the [slanderous term omitted] nature of Falun Gong through re-education.

III. Appeal

We are Chinese citizens who sincerely believe in Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. We love our country and our families deeply. For this reason, we cannot allow the jealousy of a power-hungry clown and hooligan to continue the inhumane persecution of millions of kind-hearted people believing in Falun Dafa. Furthermore, Jiang's criminal group has spread the hatred and slander to countries outside China, and through the abuse of their power have abused foreign policies, and bribed overseas media and people from different social classes across the world. Their lies, hateful propaganda, and cheap sensationalism have fooled, polluted, and poisoned people all over the world.

We appeal to all just people internationally to urgently pay attention to the matters outlined above, and to all Falun Gong practitioners who are subject to brutal torture in China, to expose all the crimes and participants in the persecution, to bring the persecutors to justice, and to actively help end the persecution of the belief in "Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance" and the persecution of human rights.

February 12, 2004

7. Seven Common Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners

By Zhao Ming (Ireland) and Chen Gang (USA)

August 11, 2003

In forced labour camps, policemen use many different methods to physically torture Falun Gong practitioners, including forcing practitioners to stand still or sit still in a fixed position for a long time, handcuffing a practitioner to a bed for a long time, forcing practitioners to squat down or run for a long time, confining practitioners to a boiler room during hot summer days, and so on. The police use all of these torture methods for the purpose of exceeding the limits of people's endurance and thus destroying their will. To accomplish this, they are willing to go to all kinds of extremes. Many Falun Gong practitioners who have endured long periods of physical and mental torture such as sleep deprivation, beating, cursing, and intimidation often experience symptoms such as their hair turning gray, severe weight loss, body pain, damage to the functioning of their bodies, depression, and memory loss. The more significant thing is that even after the physical injuries and pain are healed over a period of time, the mental and psychological trauma often continue to hurt people for the rest of their lives.

In order to break people's will, control people's minds, and completely destroy the confidence and dignity gained from their moral and spiritual beliefs, Jiang Zemin and the nationwide "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] have adopted dozens of brainwashing methods, both hard and soft. The following are seven of the most common torture methods used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in the forced-labour camps in Beijing, which are under the control of the "610 Office." The situation could be even worse in other areas of China.

Punishment by being forced to stand for a long time

The victim has to stand still for a long period of time without any movement. However, after the nerves in the feet have been under pressure for a long time, the victim will easily collapse. Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Ming from Ireland was once forced by the police in the Xin'an Forced labour Camp to stand for over 20 hours a day and for days on end, and his hands, arms, feet and legs were all swollen. His feet were swollen so much that he felt like his shoes were getting smaller and smaller every day. His feet were extremely painful from the soles to the heels.

Punishment by being forced to sit for a long time

During one period, the police tried to brainwash us. They ordered a group of ruffians to force us to sit and listen to the audiotapes of their crooked and evil theories. We were forced to sit for 15 to 16 hours a day, except for a fixed time for toilet use and meals. We were not allowed to move at all. If someone moved a little, the police would order a ruffian to brutally beat that person. Such a long period of sitting resulted in pain in the lower back and hips. In Unit #5 of the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp, Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yongping once received this type of torture. Mr. Liu was also brutally beaten with a plastic bench by inmates who were under orders from the police. The bench eventually broke from the great force used to beat practitioners.

Punishment by being forced to "fly"

The victim is forced to stand with his two legs straight, with his head bent down until the face is pointing to the ground, while the arms are pulled straight to the back until the arms are straight and the fingers are pointing to the sky. After a little while, the victim feels dizzy, and has weak legs, sore arms, rapid breath and heavy sweating.

Punishment by being handcuffed to a bed for a long time

Lying on the bed looks easy. But the police handcuff or tie practitioners' hands and feet to the bed and prohibit them from getting up for months on end. Eventually the victims have bedsores and every part of the skin that touches the bed feels extremely painful. It also causes great pain to the arms after the arms are handcuffed to the bed and extended for such a long time.

Punishment by being forced to squat down

There were two types of squatting torture: squatting on two legs and military squatting. Some times the victims are forced to hold their heads with their arms while squatting, with both elbows pulled inside their two legs. The victim feels sore and numb legs and pain in the lower back. The longer this torture lasts the more severe the pain becomes. The military squat is one of the most vicious physical torture methods. The police in the forced labour camps often use it to torture Falun Gong practitioners. The victim is forced to squat down with one foot in the front and another in the back, with about one small step of separation. The rear foot only has the front half touching the ground and almost bears all the body weight. Normally this will feel very painful after only a few minutes. It causes great pain to the rear foot and rear leg and could even cause complete loss of feeling and control in the leg.

When Zhao Ming was detained in the Xin'an Forced labour Camp, the police once ordered several young inmates to force him do the military squat. After one leg lost feeling, he was forced to switch legs. He was forced to do it for over ten hours a day. Eventually his two soles felt so much pain that it felt almost like the bones of his feet were directly touching the ground.

Punishment by being forced to run

The police in the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp force Falun Gong practitioners to run. If the practitioner gets exhausted, they order people to push him on. When someone cannot run any more even with people pushing behind him, the police order people to drag the practitioner further. Some practitioners' clothes were torn into pieces.

Policeman Yue Qingjin in the Tuanhe Forced labour Camp confined Falun Gong practitioner Li Xupeng in the summer time inside the boiler room where the big furnace for boiling water was. The room temperature was very high. Whoever stayed inside the room felt it was unbearably hot and humid, causing breathing difficulties. In such an environment, one could easily get exhausted and some even lost consciousness. Mr. Li Xupeng was confined in the steamy room for as long as one month and eventually collapsed.

Electric Shocks

Normally an electric baton has voltage of tens of thousands volts. When it discharges continuously, it emits blue light with static-like sound. When the electric current goes through a person's body, it feels like one is being burned or being bitten by snakes. Every shock is very painful like a snakebite. The victim's skin turns red, broken, burned and festering. There are even more powerful batons with higher voltage that make the victim feel like he is being hit with a hammer. According to the regulations for safe usage of the electric batons, the electric batons should not be applied to people's heads, chests, faces, or private parts. However, the police in the forced labour camp purposely applied the electric batons to people's heads, chests, and private parts. In order to prevent resistance from the victims, usually the police tie up the victims first or just use handcuffs. A normal person gives up resistance after a couple shocks. But when the police used the electric batons on Falun Gong practitioners, their purpose was to torture the practitioners so they often used ten or more batons to shock the practitioners simultaneously. They even concentrated their shocks on the head, chest and other sensitive parts and shocked the practitioners for long periods.

Force-Feeding

The medical force-feeding method is "to feed through the nostrils," namely inserting a tube into the nose and through the throat and gullet into the stomach. However, the police in the forced labour camps aim at torturing people. Even when doing force-feeding through the nose, they still tried to torture those who were on hunger strikes. They would use no lubricant on the tubes. When inserting the tubes, they would purposely push and pull the tubes repeatedly to make the victim feel great pain in the nasal cavity. The victim would also experience nausea, vomiting, and a severe cough. Every time when the force-feeding ended, there was blood on the tube. The police also used the illegal direct forced feeding method very often. They would tie up the victim and then order other inmates to force open the victim's mouth and use steel spoons and other hard objects to damage the victim's mouth and teeth. Such brutal force-feeding methods could easily force water and food into the trachea, causing lung damage and life-threatening danger.

Many Falun Gong practitioners have died from such brutal force-feeding. Among them was Mr. Liu Xuguo, a 29-year-old engineer from Shandong Province, who died on February 11, 2002 from the lung damage caused by the force-feeding conducted by the police in a forced labour camp in Jining City, Shandong Province. Ms. Mei Yulan, a 40-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing, was forced-fed by an inmate (under orders from the police) with a thick salt solution and soymilk on May 17, 2000 in Chaoyang Detention centre. She later experienced five days of headache, and then vomited blood and passed away on May 23, 2000. The above are two cases that have been previously revealed by overseas media about Falun Gong practitioners who died as a result of force-feeding. Mr. Chen Gang himself was also tortured in the Beijing forced labour camp under the excuse of force-feeding.

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