(Clearwisdom.net)
On December 12, 2000, I went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing where I was arrested for my peaceful appeal to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. The police sent me to the Changlinzi Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province on February 12, 2001. (I was sentenced to one year in this labor camp from December 20, 2000 to December 19, 2001)
I was detained in Team 4, the strict-controlled team, where the practitioners who were steadfast in their practice of Falun Dafa received severe persecution. We were forced to stand for long hours from the moment we got up in the morning till after 12 o'clock at night, sometimes even till 2 or 3 o'clock the next morning. During this time we were not allowed to take a break, go to the bathroom, or have any water. This went on every day for over 50 days. The policemen there pressured us to give up practicing. They even threatened our families, they said: "If they don't give up, they will be put into solitary confinement, and sentenced to prison in the end." So the practitioners families tried very hard to persuade us to write the "three papers" as required, i.e. a promise to give up practicing, a letter of repentance, and an article denouncing Falun Gong. After more than 50 days of standing, my feet were so swollen that I couldn't put my shoes on. Still, the police guards wouldn't let me sit down. I had made up my mind not to betray Falun Dafa by renouncing my beliefs, even if I died from the thirst or from exhaustion, because I knew that Falun Dafa is more precious than my life.
One day in late May 2001, 14, practitioners were released ahead of their terms for giving up their practice of Falun Dafa. The police instructor in Team 1 held a discussion on this. When I heard some one praising the policy of persecuting Falun Gong, I stood up and said: "Today, 14 people are released ahead of their terms. I think that it's a shame to be released from the labor camp in this way. It's disgraceful. I will never do that. Although freedom is precious, Falun Dafa is even more precious. I will not betray Falun Dafa and Teacher in exchange for freedom. Falun Dafa is the righteous way. It teaches people to be good and promotes moral standards. It helps people achieve health at no cost. We practitioners are good people, not convicts. We should be released unconditionally." The policemen stared at me maliciously. I continued without any fear, "Our Teacher says, 'We haven't been involved in political struggles, whether it be our going to Tiananmen Square, going to Zhongnanhai, or informing people of the truth in all sorts of situations. This is because if the evil hadn't persecuted us, we wouldn't need to explain the truth to people whatsoever. We also don't think that our making appeals or presenting the truth right now is interfering with anyone. When being treated unfairly, people should be allowed to speak--this is a human being's most basic right.' ("Speech by Master Li Hongzhi at the Western US Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference of Falun Dafa")" Hardly had I finished, when I heard Yang Jintang, the instructor of Team 1 shout aloud, "Shut up and get out. " Some inmates who were assigned to watch us pushed me to stand in the corridor as punishment. Because some practitioners stood up to support me and validate Falun Dafa, Yang didn't dare to persecute me right away. Two days later, he reported it to Shi Changjing, the vice director of the labor camp and a leading figure in the persecution of practitioners. Shi said simply, "Send him to solitary confinement."
Therefore I was put into solitary confinement. It is a cell 2 feet 4 inches wide and 5 feet high. My hands were cuffed and hung up to the cell door. I could not stand upright, sit down, or squat down. I was just hanging there in this position for 6 days and nights. At that time I had scabies all over my body (The hygienic conditions were very poor in the labor camp and we were not allowed to take baths.). The blood and pus dripped from my legs to the ground. My pants were drenched and stuck to my legs, which became more swollen due to the 50 days of standing and the torture in the compartment. I couldn't sleep but only stand with my body slightly bent. Whenever I dozed off, the weight of my whole body would focus on my wrists in the handcuffs, causing a cutting pain so sharp that I felt it would be a relief to die. But I didn't give in. Finally I walked out of the compartment holding my head high.
What followed was my 83-day long hunger strike in protest of the brutal persecution. There were two group hunger strikes in the labor camp. The first one started at the beginning of June in 2001. Over 80 practitioners participated, asking for the restoration of the reputation of Falun Dafa and for the unconditional release of all the practitioners. The labor camp gave lip service to the false promise to change the policy of "endlessly extending the sentence if one refuses to give up practicing." They agreed to release practitioners when their terms were served. But they didn't carry out this promise. Several practitioners' terms were overdue, yet they were still detained. At the beginning of July, there were still practitioners who were being detained in the isolated compartments. Tens of practitioners like Bi Zhihai, Wang Guanyue, Zhang Qingjiu, Li Zhong, Liu Guoliang, Jin Xigui, Yan Jiguo (who had been put in the compartment many times for clarifying the truth to people), Gao Ke, Gong Wenyi, Wang Hongbin, Xu Naiwen, Lu Song, and Ma Yongqian have all been tortured in the isolated compartment. The longest practitioner was detained there for 15 days. The evil was very rampant at that time. Shi Changjing was the leading perpetrator and the labor camp is called "the Courtyard of Master Shi."
For the restoration of the reputation of Falun Dafa and the unconditional release of all the practitioners, we started a second round of hunger strikes at the end of June. More and more practitioners joined in. The number of participants soared from several to over 80 at the beginning of July. The heads of the labor camp were panicking. They used various vicious methods to suppress it. Under the direction of Shi Changjing, the chief officer in some teams threatened to put practitioners to solitary confinement in small cells as described previously. Some forced inmates to beat practitioners and they also made them force-feed practitioners. Some pressured the families of the practitioners, threatening to further persecute the practitioners if the hunger strike went on. By the end of July we had been on the hunger strike for over 20 days. Everyday there were dozens of people still on the strike. The labor camp had been threatening practitioners, using family influence to sway practitioner's belief in Falun Dafa, tempting practitioners, viciously beating practitioners, torturing practitioners in solitary confinement, and denying practitioners any sleep. The number of people on the hunger strike reduced from 40 to 20. Under such circumstances, I kept Teacher's words in mind, "Just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachments"). Finally I defeated another round of the evil persecution and overcame the crisis. Only then did I have a real understanding and experience of what Teacher says in "New Life": "Righteous Fa spreading, Ten thousand demons blocking." (from Hong Yin)
One day, Shi Changjing called me to his office. The director of the notorious Wanjia Labor Camp and several evil policemen were also present. It looked like a gathering of the most ferocious perpetrators of the two vicious labor camps. Shi asked me why I went on the hunger strike. I said, "First, we demand to restore the reputation of Falun Dafa. Second, we ask to release all the practitioners unconditionally. Third, the food in the labor camp is for the convicts detained here, not for us good people. So I swear I will not eat as long as I am here, even if I die." Seeing my firmness, they were speechless.
On about the 70th day of the hunger strike, I was once again force-fed (with corn gruel containing a concentrated salt mixture). Because my throat and nose were swollen as a result of previous force-feedings, they couldn't stick the tube down my throat. The doctor tried very hard to fill the gruel in and he tried this continually for over 20 times. I was almost choked to death. There were 5 inmates holding me down in order to make me stay still. I struggled to stand up and said with all my strength, "You are killing me!" After that I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I found the heartless doctor was still force-feeding me. I could feel what practitioner Kong Deyi (alias Kong Xiaohai) had been through when he died from the force-feeding with his mouth and nose bleeding. I told them that if they went on with it, I would die under their persecution. They locked me in the iron chair for 4 days and 4 nights. When I was finally set free from the iron chair, my legs were seriously swollen. But I was still on the hunger strike. They used an even crueler method of torturing me by adding a large amount of potassium chloride and sodium chloride into the corn gruel. It felt like my chest was burning after the force-feeding. Yet I couldn't throw up. It was so miserable. Due to the force-feeding with the chemicals, practitioner Peng Zhenghe lost his consciousness. He was sent to No.2 City Hospital and was revived two days later. The malicious policemen kept on force-feeding him after that. It had been a month since we started the hunger strike. Facing the cruel persecution, we didn't give up. On the contrary, we were more determined in giving up the attachment to life in order to protest against the persecution of Falun Dafa.
One and a half months had passed since the hunger strike began. We were transferred from Team 1 to Team 3. There used to be one inmate watching one practitioner. Now they assigned two inmates to keep a close eye on each practitioner. Our bodies became thinner and thinner. The labor camp was viciously persecuting us. Yet they were afraid that we might die there, they had fear only because they believed that their "future career" would be affected by the exposure of their conducts. So they forced us to have an intravenous infusion every two or three days by tying us to the iron chair. As time went by, my weight was sharply reduced from 175 pounds (at the beginning of my detention) to 110 pounds. Sometimes, the desire to eat occurred to me and it was very strong. Then I thought I was in the Fa-rectification period and I had given my vow. The righteous thoughts conquered this desire and I carried on with my vow.
The fact that we were protesting with our lives made the perpetrators panic. Due to the long period of time that the hunger strike went on for, we were seriously dehydrated, and our blood vessels hardened. They couldn't stick the needles into the vessel when they tried to give the practitioners the intravenous infusion. But my blood pressure and heartbeat were normal, which fully reflected the power of Falun Dafa. On the 81st day of the hunger strike, Doctor Ma in the labor camp said to me, "If we hadn't force-fed you, you would have starved to death." I said, "No. If it weren't for Falun Dafa, I would have died several times in the 80-day fast." He asked, "You still will not give up?" I told him I would never give up my belief in Falun Dafa even if I died. He said nothing.
Seeing our determination in validating Falun Dafa with our own lives, the perpetrators were afraid. They feared that we might die in the labor camp and that their conduct might be exposed. What's more, there are the cases of Kong Xiaohai and the three practitioners in the Wanjia Labor Camp who died due to the brutal torture. They were really scared. When their persecution of practitioners in solitary confinement was exposed and they heard that the international court was going to investigate the allegations, they demolished the solitary confinement cells and built a new one to the common standard in order to eliminate the evidence. They knew that coercion would never change people's hearts. On September 29, 2001, they granted us, the practitioners on hunger strike, to leave the labor camp for medical treatment.
As a practitioner, I didn't make any compromise with the evil force. I validated Falun Dafa with my life and I walked out of the labor camp with dignity. It was on the 83rd day of my hunger strike. When I was about to leave, I saw two practitioners and some inmates walking from the dinning hall. I waved to them, saying in my heart, "My fellow practitioners, Teacher says, "Strive forward together, a bright future lies ahead ("In Harmony With the Fa", Hong Yin). The Labor Camp is not a place for our cultivation. I hope you, too, could walk out of the iron gate of the labor camp very soon."
After getting out of the labor camp, I read Teacher's article "Path", in which Teacher says, "Cultivation is hard. It's hard in that even when a terrible calamity strikes, even when evil madly persecutes, and even when your life is at stake, you still have to be able to steadfastly continue on your path of cultivation without letting anything in human society interfere with the steps you take on your path of cultivation."
As a practitioner, I am determined to follow what Teacher says, "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces. Clarify the truth thoroughly, eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts, save all beings, and safeguard the Fa with determination." ("Dafa is Indestructible") Because I am a part of Dafa, indestructible, I will rectify all that is not righteous until all the evil has been eliminated.
Written on November 8, 2001