One Hundred Days of Persecution at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

I started practising Falun Dafa in 1995. In March 2002, police officers from the Zhongshan District Police Sub-Bureau discovered that I was a Falun Gong practitioner because of their secret monitoring of phone calls. Since then, my name was on their "blacklist." On April 9, 2002, police started a citywide arrest of practitioners. They tricked me by asking me to come to the police station, where they arrested me. When I arrived at the police station, about seven practitioners were already there. One young police officer said that if my family paid 200 yuan (1), I would be released. I thought that since I needed to go to work the next day, I would just give them the 200 yuan, yet they did not release me after I paid it. Then that police officer showed me an arrest warrant. While pretending he did not want to arrest me, he said, "Our boss decided to arrest you. It is out of my hands." He asked me to sign the warrant. I refused. The same night, I was taken to the Yaojia Detention Centre.

At that time, many practitioners were detained at the Yaojia Detention Centre. The eldest of them was 78 years old. Some of the arrested were entire families. Some were tricked into going there, while some had been abducted at other places. After half a month of detention, police officer Yang Yongyi, from the police station where I lived, transferred me to another detention centre. This way, two police stations could make their quota. Yang also arrested my husband and took him to the detention centre.

The first night at the detention centre, I felt sick and vomited blood. My blood pressure went from 120 to 230 mmHg. Police officers lied to me. They claimed that they were arranging a medical check-up for me, but actually they did nothing of the sort.

Yang found a name list when they illegally searched my home. That was actually a dining list of detainees at the Yaojia Detention Centre. But they thought that was a contact list of practitioners and reported it to the city's 610 Office (2). Yang spread a rumour in the neighbourhood saying I was the No.6 "Falun Gong leader" of the city. But after they were told what the list was, they became angry. They wrote in the verdict that they found in my home, "24 tapes (including two tapes of our Teacher's lectures), two books and 70 flyers. Therefore, they sentenced me to two years in a forced labour camp. I refused to sign the official paper that acknowledged their verdict. Yang threatened, "The guards at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp are reincarnated ghosts from hell!"

I was detained 40 days at the Yaojia Detention Centre; 15 days counted as prison term and 25 days counted as detention. In the early morning on May 20, 2002, nine practitioners including myself were sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. They needed three minivans. After arriving at the labour camp, my heart became heavy.

At the beginning, police officers were very "nice," but I understood that they were hypocritical. Later, collaborators (3) visited me, one after another, treating me in a "friendly" manner. I felt close to them. One collaborator was in her 60s. She was friendly towards me, and asked if I had read and could recite any of Teacher's new articles. Thinking of her as a fellow practitioner, I said, "Yes, I can." Then I wrote down Teacher's article "Falun Dafa Is Good." Then a young woman came in. She said what I had written was wrong and went into a long discussion. But her attitude showed her true side. Therefore, I took back from her what I had written.

From that time onwards, I had to endure intensive brainwashing. There were many consecutive groups, one after the other, who tried to brainwash me. I was forced to get up early and come to the classroom, where collaborators surrounded me and tried to confuse me with distorted ideas. Each day from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., except for meal times, they approached me in groups and tried to brainwash me. I was taken to many different places, such as the classroom, dining room, office, toilet, on-duty room etc. They did not allow me to talk with other steadfast practitioners and even eye contact with them was prohibited.

During the first two days, I carefully watched their brainwashing methods and found most of their words were similar. When they misinterpreted Teacher Li's words, some fellow practitioners would argue with them. They would then viciously attack that practitioner. If the practitioner had weaknesses, the brainwashers would find and use them. They would intensify their attack in an attempt to force that practitioner to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Dafa. If one practitioner gave in, the entire group would sing a song, while the "reformed" practitioner cried. That practitioner knew in his/her heart that he/she did not want to renounce Falun Dafa. If the practitioner showed regret, he/she would be forced to undergo the brainwashing again. When repeated brainwashing did not succeed, that practitioner would be put into solitary confinement and suffer some kind of punishment. I found that most "reformed" practitioners yielded because of pressure and that it was against their will. Only a few collaborators really went to the opposite side and openly attacked Falun Dafa or tried to trick fellow practitioners. My method was to keep quiet, sitting there without saying a word. They talked to each other and made sure I heard all of it. But in the long run, they felt bored themselves.

At 3 a.m. on the fourth day after my arrival at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, my mind was foggy. It was as if someone told me, "Practise firmly with no hesitation, keep righteous belief and thoughts." My heart became warm and I burst into tears. I was determined to never cooperate with the evildoers. The above words encouraged me greatly. It was like a guiding light in the darkness. It illuminated my path.

My child said to me during a visit, "I will no longer respect you if you betray Falun Dafa." These words encouraged me greatly. I changed my thought processes, and decided to tel people the truth about Falun Dafa. I would tell them about my physical changes after I practised Falun Dafa. I told them how greatly I had benefited from practising Falun Dafa. Before I attained Falun Dafa, people used to call me "totally disabled." All my body organs were diseased, except for my lungs. I had heart disease, high blood pressure, gastritis, etc, and experienced two extensive gynaecology surgeries. Due to extensive bleeding during surgery, I was infected from the blood transfusion with hepatitis B. In 1989, I suffered from ovarian cancer. Because of these diseases, my life was no better than death. I felt I would collapse any day.

In 1994, a friend sent me a copy of the book "Zhuan Falun" (4). After reading the book, my mind opened up. All of my questions about life were answered by the book.

I practised Falun Dafa diligently. Miracles happened. All of my diseases disappeared. I became full of energy and when walking, I felt like I was flying. It's Teacher who gave me a new life. Therefore, I would never betray Teacher. Otherwise, I would not have the right to be called a human being.

Seeing my determination, collaborators asked me to recite Falun Dafa articles with them; I refused because they changed a sentence at will to confuse me. Sometimes, they took turns to attack me. I gave no response and kept on reciting the Falun Dafa articles I remembered. I was upset with myself for not having remembered many of Teacher's articles. I kept on reciting the articles. Therefore, there were no gaps for the collaborators to exploit. When the collaborators were tired of talking, they asked me what else I didn't understand. I said, "I did not understand one word of what you said. Your speech is garbled, illogical, and confusing. I will not change my belief in Falun Dafa no matter what."

During the six weeks of brainwashing, almost all collaborators of the brigade came to brainwash me and failed. Collaborators from brigade 1 and 3 came also. Within these 50 days, I actually got Teacher Li's new articles from these collaborators and recited all of them in my mind.

During this time, my mind was at ease. Realising that I was determined, they did not allow me to talk. So I smiled politely at all people. Collaborators said, "You need to report to the leaders when you meet police officers." I asked them, "Who is my leader? What's to report? I just know kindness and peace!" Some collaborators changed or misinterpreted Teacher's words to trick some illiterate practitioners from the countryside. One practitioner from the countryside was ordered to monitor me. She had a kind nature. One day she repeated words that were changed by collaborators. I instantly corrected her. After verification, she seemed to understand what had happened. Later, she helped me often and saved me from some difficulties.

One day, the head of my cell said, "Those four guarantees are just formalities. Police officers never read them. Let me get you some copies of others, you can just make copies." I said, "So, on one hand you betrayed Teacher Li, and on the other hand, you cheated the CCP. Sorry, but I would never do this. Even if I were not a Falun Dafa practitioner, I would not do this."

Realising that they could not "reform" me, they grouped together all determined practitioners and planned an intensive brainwashing session on the fourth floor of a hotel. The collaborators had been deceiving themselves and others at a number of prisons and forced labour camps. One of them was from Fushun City. That day at 3 a.m., Teacher again reminded me "to observe the entire situation carefully and understand the real conditions correctly." After 8 a.m., we were taken to the fourth floor. As soon as we arrived on the fourth floor, I felt dizzy, nauseated and vomited blood. Doctors took my blood pressure, which showed the levels of 230 over 120. Later on, two people kept an eye on me at all times and kept taking my blood pressure. One day, my blood pressure levels were 190 over 100. One collaborator called He, the core brainwasher, told the group leader to send me to the fourth floor for further brainwashing. I told her, "You chose your path. I believe in every word from Teacher and have benefited from it. What you said is self-contradictory. I could not understand you. I just live by the principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Teacher is leading me. I just follow the path Teacher arranged for me." She left and did not bother me anymore.

One day I met a determined practitioner in the toilet. She told me in a loud voice, "I'll go home for surgery on Wednesday," which hinted to me to negate all arrangements. It was too late for monitors to stop her. I realised it was to remind me. Right after that, I lost my voice, could not eat well, and became very thin. A tumour on my neck grew quickly. Those around me got scared when looking at me. But, my mind was clear. That day, the acting brigade leader called me to her office. As soon as I entered her office, I said, "Leader, I first will tell you that I am not reformed!" I was telling her not to further brainwash me. The brigade leader said, "I know" and asked, "Had you heard of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp before coming here?" I said, "I was doing the exercises and reading Falun Dafa books at home. But, my local police officers threatened me and said 'Masanjia is an evil den, and the guards there are reincarnated ghosts from hell. You will know that after you go there.'" She got very angry and cursed the local police officers.

The following day, another brigade leader and the group leader sent me to the Shenyang Medical University for a check-up. The diagnosis was that I was suffering from a malignant thyroid gland tumour and should have surgery immediately. Then I was taken to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp hospital and had to go through some formalities. My mind was very tranquil. After another week of hassle, my mind was still very quiet. At about 9 a.m. on July 20, 2002, the group leader told me, "Hurry and contact your family to pick you up and take you home."

I did not believe that I had gained my freedom until the car had reached the highway. On the way home we ran into a storm. We had to turn on the headlights although it was still daytime. The car was as if in a dark tunnel. After getting out of the first storm, another storm came with even darker and thicker clouds, a stronger torrent, lightning and thunder. Finally we left the clouds behind us. I arrived home before it was dark.

After coming home from Masanjia, I learned that police officer Yang Yongyi arrested my husband and detained him for a month. My husband began to practise Falun Dafa at the same time as I did. He was well known as a medical patient before attaining Falun Dafa. But after practising Falun Dafa, he became very healthy. Though in his 60s, he was detained in a cell with criminals, who insulted and beat him. Criminals who had scabies forced him to scratch their itching scabies when sleeping beside him. It gave him scabies also. My child was not at home when we were arrested. When my child came back home and found that my husband and I were missing, the pain of not knowing what happened to us was unimaginable.

After going back home, police officers from Masanjia frequently called to harass me. I showed them a written proof from the doctor which showed that surgery should be postponed. Then they threatened to take me back to Masanjia if no surgery was needed. My husband was very angry. We decided to flee and become homeless to avoid the never-ending harassment. Later, police officers called my relatives to find me. Given the police harassment plus the hardships of homelessness, my husband died within seven months. Since he did not die in a hospital, a death certificate was needed from the community committee. Police officers used the death certificate to force me to appear and claimed that my husband's body would not be cremated without my being there.

The Jiang regime's ruthless persecution of Falun Dafa destroyed my family. Even my child had difficulty entering graduate studies and finding a job because of the persecution.

Note:

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

(2) "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.

(3) "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

(4) "Zhuan Falun": This book comprises the principal teachings of Falun Dafa.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/5/3/101020.html