Walking Out of Tieling City's Forced Labor Camp with Righteous Thoughts

By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net)

I am 45 years old. On January 18, 2001, I was arrested by the police while clarifying the truth of Falun Dafa. They first detained me for 38 days at the custodial center. Then they sentenced me to three years in labor camp. I was sent to the Tieling City Forced Labor Camp at the beginning of April 2001.

The Tieling City Forced Labor Camp use various inhuman methods to torture practitioners. With these means, the labor camp strives to break the will of practitioners and have them rescind their beliefs. The methods of torture employed include: verbal abuse, beating, slapping in the face, forcing to kneel down, shocking with electric batons, denying sleep, heavy labor work, forcing to stand in painful positions, beating with planks, forcing one to smell the toilet [open cesspits], hanging up by ropes, digging the eyes, various tortures of the genitals, burning with cigarette butts, and forbidding to speak. I myself witnessed many steadfast practitioners being beating or shocked by electric batons.

When Chief Officer Wang Zhibin attempted to persuade me to give up Falun Dafa, I introduced Falun Dafa to them. I wrote 4 letters to persuade them to read Zhuan Falun with a clear mind and to treat practitioners nicely. But they would not listen. Instead, they tried to force me to write "three letters," i.e. a repentant letter, a letter of renouncement, and a letter of condemnation of Falun Gong.

One day in early April, Wang Zhibin asked me to step into his office. The Deputy Chief Officer Wang Xuanjun was also present. They read some articles from the newspaper and the letters written by former practitioners who had given up practicing due to torture in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. As to the letter I had written them, Wang Zhibin said, "You asked us to read Zhuan Falun. You want us to practice Falun Gong, too? But we are policemen. We have to follow the directions of the authorities." He then tried to force me to write the "three letters." I refused. He used an electric baton to shock me four times. He threatened to make me an example for the whole team. After an hour of torture, I still didn't give in. Finally, Wang said, "Next time you refuse to write, I will strip you naked before using the electric baton."

On April 10, because practitioner Zhang Xiangyi refused to write the "three letters" in front of his wife and mother, he was subjected to severe beating and electric shock torture. From April 15 to 18, practitioners Dong Qinyu, Liu Jun, and Wei Guojun were beaten and shocked because they made handwritten copies of Teacher's articles and practiced the exercises. In order to protest the persecution, 27 of us wrote a letter to oppose their conduct. The labor camp forced practitioners to do labor work on April 21. They also instructed the inmates to monitor our every move, forbidding us from talking to each other or eating together. They even had the inmates sleep between practitioners. The practitioners have no personal freedom at all in the labor camp. They are forced to do extremely heavy work for long hours. Even worse, the police guards are taking advantage of the cheap labor and making money from us, feeding us with only corn bread and a bowl of thin soup everyday.

At the noon of June 10, just after we had finished the work, guard Wang Dongqing was talking to practitioner Han Haidong. Simply because Han Haidong was trying to reason with him, Wang Dongqing gave him several punches in the head and face. I cried out to stop him. Wang Dongqing roared, "You are not allowed to speak." The guards are as fierce as Wang towards practitioners, but sometimes the inmates are even worse.

On the evening of June 13, Wang Dongqing discovered Teacher's articles beneath Zhang Xiangyi's bed. He went crazy, beating and shocking him severely. Then he pointed at me with the electric baton. When he found some articles hidden in my bed, he punched and shocked me, demanding me to tell the source of the articles, and who had read or copied them. I told him I was the one read them and copied them. Because he saw that the handwriting was not mine, he beat and cursed us furiously. Zhang Xiangyi's leg was injured and hasn't yet recovered. Liu Baokui was hurt, too, and still has difficulties working. Nonetheless, they were forced to work everyday.

Liu Baokui suffered from pain in his chest after the beating and couldn't do the work. So Wang Dongqing forced him to stand in one place, forbidding him to participate in any activities or to talk to people. Nobody was allowed to talk to him, either. An inmate who had committed theft framed Liu Baokui for his own benefit and beat him tremendously, but the guards didn't intervene. One of his eyes was seriously injured.

In "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful," Teacher says, "No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates." I realized that we are the students of Teacher. Teacher does not recognize the arrangements of the old force in the cosmos, nor should we. To acknowledge their arrangements means to acknowledge their persecution. I must walk out of the labor camp openly and with dignity to reveal their evil deeds, to clarify the truth of Falun Gong, and to assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification.

Though I had come to such an understanding, it took some time before I could act accordingly and do it well. I had a conflict in my mind, hesitated, and was hindered by fear. After repeatedly reading Teacher's articles and exchanging ideas with practitioners, I realized that the appearance of the attachments reflected a lack of firm faith in the Fa. I had to eliminate the fear, strengthen my righteous thoughts, and walk out of the labor camp.

On June 23, 2001, as usual, I was taken to the Sangyuanling Brick Yard to work. It was noon and I kept on sending forth righteous thoughts for the guards not to see me. I took off the labor camp uniform and left the yard where there were four guards on watch at the four corners and one in the middle. I just walked away, right in front of their eyes, without fear or being nervous. I didn't really care whether they would chase me. The only thought I had is, "Teacher, I have to walk out of here to join in the current of the Fa-rectification." I walked fast and came to a road. A taxi stopped near me. I got into it and thus left the labor camp.

After I left, the police were horrified. They looked for me everywhere. They went to my home and my relatives' homes, and tried to intimidate them into turning me in. They also harassed other practitioners. Later, another practitioner Wang Quan also walked out of the labor camp by himself. It was another blow to the labor camp. In a panic, the police transferred some practitioners to the Liaoyang Forced Labor Camp.

Through the incident I experienced Teacher's greatness and benevolence, the solemnity of Dafa, and the power of righteous thoughts. I feel deeply that the evil forces are actually nothing and that the righteous thoughts of Dafa practitioners are powerful.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/12/10/21173.html

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