My Own Story: My Sister and I Were Tortured in a Forced Labour Camp, My Father and Husband Died

My name is Yan Jingqiu. I'm 49 years old and a Falun Gong practitioner from the North District in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. I was sentenced to forced labour and was brutally persecuted in a labour camp for persisting in my belief and insisting on freedom of speech. My oldest sister, Yan Jinghua, was also sentenced to forced labour. Due to the intense pressure, both my husband and my father died, but I was unable to see them in their last moments.

I started to practise Falun Gong in 1996. I recovered from multiple illnesses, including a heart problem, high blood pressure, arthritis in my shoulder, and stomach problems. It was such a relief to be free of illness. I benefited so much from Falun Gong. Falun Gong gave me a second life.

Persecuted in Qingdao Detention Centre

On August 4th, 2005, I saw a banner that slandered Falun Gong hanging across a road and decided to cut it down. A hidden security guard saw what I did and called the police. I was taken to Beizhong Police Station in the North District of Qingdao. I told the police, "Falun Gong is good. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good." They hit me in the face to try to keep me from talking. I struggled when they tried to tie me onto a metal chair that had a board in front of it to immobilize the person sitting in it. They hit my head with the board, making my head bleed.

When they transferred me from Beizhong Police Station to the Qingdao Detention Centre, I kept calling out, "Falun Gong is good. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good." When we arrived at the detention centre, deputy detention centre Li handcuffed my hands and feet together with one set of handcuffs. I was unable to walk and lay on the concrete floor for five days. Half of me was completely numb. It was during the time of my period, and they refused to let me use protection. My underwear was soaked and the floor was bloody. I went on a persecution protest hunger strike. Deputy Li ordered the inmates to hold my feet, my hands, and my hair and force-fed me through a nasal tube.

The morning of September 4th, 2004, eight or nine people accompanied me to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp. They came from different organizations, including from the Qingdao City 610 Office¹, Beizhong Police Station, Ningxialu Police Station Ningxialu Street Administration Office, and Dengzhoulu Police Station. Although I was weak from the hunger strike, they still dragged me into a vehicle. On the way to the labour camp I kept telling them, "Falun Gong is good. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good. Many people worldwide practise Falun Gong." I also told them the principle "Good is rewarded with good; bad deeds meet with retribution" and that those who persecute good people would not have a good ending.

The camp doctor refused to accept me because of my high blood pressure. People from the Qingdao 610 Office promised to give them whatever amount of money they wanted, and so I was left at the labour camp.

Tortured in Wangcun Forced Labour Camp

I continued my protest hunger strike in the labour camp. I was tied to a wooden chair. My arms were tied to either side of the chair, and my feet were tied under the chair. I was tied like that day and night for one month. Every day I endured two or three force-feedings through the nose. The abusers left the tube inserted for five or six days before replacing it with a new tube. I was extremely uncomfortable. I became skinny. Sitting for a long time on the wooden chair made my bottom develop calluses. My nostrils kept bleeding. Swelling began in my feet, went to my legs, then my waist.

Each force-feeding cost 70 yuan². The guard said to me viciously, "Your local authority is willing to pay. We can force-feed you whenever we want." At last, because my nose was so swollen that I was even unable to breathe, they had to change the nasal feeding to an infusion. I was handcuffed to a metal bed and unable to move. The doctor said it was hard to find my veins. Such a torture lasted one month. Prior to my arrest I weighed approximately 130 lbs. By this time my weight had dropped to 60 lbs. In order to achieve their reform rate goal, labour camp guard Li Ying (female, ID number: 3734139) was transferred from No. 3 Division to the No. 4 Division where I stayed. Under her blandishments, threats, and deceptions I was confused and stopped the hunger strike.

After I stopped the hunger strike, they accelerated my persecution. I was deprived of sleep day and night. Guard Yan Yan (female, ID: 3734151) tried to force me to write the three statements³. She even stabbed several of my fingers with a pen point, which made my fingers bleed. Because of my refusal, Li Ying and others dragged me to the toilet and poured cold water on my head and inside the clothing in my neck area. It was November 2005. They soaked a hand towel with cold water and put the towel on my head.

They took turns to prevent me from sleeping. Two people were in charge the first half of night and the other two at the second half. I was dragged in the room from one end to the other. My feet and legs were swollen so much that I was unable to walk. My feet had chilblains because of the cold, and the bottoms of my feet had calluses.

They tried forcing me to criticize Falun Gong, which I firmly refused to do. They wrote on my face, my hands, and my neck words that slandered Falun Gong. One of the evildoing persons slapped me so much that I lost my hearing for six months.

Although they had tried all kinds of tactics, I refused to give up my belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." In the end they injected me with an unknown drug. Several guard held me on the couch in the guard office. The doctor gave me an injection in my arm. Later I felt dizzy, lost control, and kept grabbing things. They locked me in the toilet, and I almost had a mental breakdown. When I was muddleheaded, my eyes could no longer focus, and I had been deprived of sleep for more than two months I wrote the "three statements." Then I was allowed to sleep.

When I woke up my mind was clear. I regretted what I had done. I kept thinking, "Teacher [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong] taught us to cultivate 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance,' helped us to get rid of illnesses, and to be a good person with righteousness and kindness." I went on a hunger strike again and kept calling out, "Falun Gong is good. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good." I retrieved what I had written, tore it up, and declared it null and void.

To achieve their high reform⁴ rate, those in charge unscrupulously ignored the law.

Once during my hunger strike when they carried me to be force-fed I kept calling on the way, "Falun Gong is good. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good. Falun Gong is being treated unjustly. Practitioners are treated unjustly. Release all practitioners unconditionally. Freedom of belief. The whole world knows Falun Gong is good."

The guards in the doctor's office held me down in a wooden chair. I was handcuffed behind my back to the back of the chair. The guard who administered the feeding pressed his legs against the handcuffs, hurting me severely. On the way back from the ordeal, I called out the above words again. They brought me to the guard office, gagged me with a towel, and taped my mouth shut. I was hung on the toilet window frame with both hands crossed. It was in August 2006. There were many mosquitoes in the restroom. The mosquito bites made my legs and feet swell. I was unable to sleep for two nights and hurt severely. The Division Three deputy (ID: 3734169) brought pen and paper and attempted to make me write the three statements. I would never write such a thing again.

Once I called out in the hallway, "Falun Gong is good. 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' is good." Guard Sun Hua held me to the ground and tried to keep me quiet, which made my mouth bleed. Section head Chen viciously said, "For those who refuse to be 'reformed' we have all kinds of methods." She also said, "Once the government says no, it is a done deal, no matter how good it is."

My father and my husband died

My sister and I were both detained in the labour camp beginning in 2005. My father suffered a great deal and died in 2005. We were not informed; the news of his death was kept from us. When my father was close to death, my husband had tried hard to get permission for my sister and me to see him one last time. He took the doctor's notice of my father's critical illness with him and visited the police station, the street administration office, and Qingdao City 610 Office, but his request was denied.

Once my husband found out I was on a hunger strike, he came to visit me in August 2006. The guards refused to let him see me. My husband reasoned with them and said he had all the required documents. He was told that, since I refused to be "transformed," he could not visit me. My husband begged them and said he hadn't seen me for almost a year, but it was no use. He was told he could leave some money and everyday items for me. My husband refused to leave and wrote down the guards' IDs. Finally they allowed my husband to call me on the telephone. I told my husband I had been hung up and force-fed. I asked him not to leave any money because they might use it to fund my force-feedings, which were about 70 yuan each. I had endured more than 30 force-feedings. The call was interrupted before I could finish.

My husband was so angry and worried about me that he staggered home. The distance between Qingdao City and Wangcun Labour Camp is about 350 km (approximately 310 miles). My husband was carsick and didn't eat anything the whole day.

This was an enormous stress on him. Added to his long-term depression and life's hardships, my husband was diagnosed with leukaemia. My husband's sisters and my oldest sister went to Qingdao City 610 Office and asked if I could see my husband at least once. They were told that, because I was too stubborn, my term might be extended, and they absolutely would not grant permission for me to see my husband. I was even deprived of the right to see my husband at his funeral. My daughter was left alone without a father or mother to take care of her.

Because my older sister, Yan Jinghua, had put up a poster reading "Solemn Statement to the Quit Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations," she was arrested on February 18th, 2008, and her home was searched. She was sentenced one and a half years of forced labour.

Related personnel and work units:
Beizhong Police Station: 86-532-83618214
Yananlu Police Station: 86-532-3617809
No. 4 Division, Shandong Province No. 2 Women's Labour Camp
Division head Wang Huiying
Deputy Sun Hua
Guards Fan Naifeng, Wu Xiuli, Zhang Guiying, Li Ying, Liu Qing, Yan Yan, and Yi Cuiping

Note

1. "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.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

3. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

4. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/6/2/179574.html