January 26, 2002

(Clearwisdom.net) In October 2000, Mr.Qiu Zhiyan, a practitioner from Benxi City, Liaoning Province started his 9th trip to Beijing to peacefully appeal. This time, he stepped on the long Fa-rectification journey barefooted. He wanted nothing other than to tell people one sentence, "Falun Dafa is good!" However, after he suffered all kinds of tribulations and eventually arrived at Xingcheng City in bare feet, the local police there kidnapped and brutally beat and tortured him. By the time his family found out about this and went to take him back to Benxi, he was on the verge of death.

Mr. Qiu vomited constantly in the hospital, since the beating had severely damaged his internal organs. The excruciating pains he suffered did not make him groan. Rather, at the last moment of his life he still worried about his fellow practitioners. He uttered, "Must step forward to safeguard Dafa! Shouldn't have any resentments or regrets!" With great difficulty he raised himself up on the bed, sat in the lotus position and conjoined his hands [jie yin] in an upright position, and slightly closed his eyes. Then he peacefully passed away. Mr. Qiu moved everyone he had come in contact with during his life. People present were all in tears. His father who stayed at his side and who in the past did not understand him could not hold back his tears and said without hesitation, "My son is truly great!" That night, wind blew and rain fell in the Benxi area, loud thunder rattled the skies and red lightning flashed across it. Hearing the news of Mr. Qiu's death, many people cried and could not refrain from asking, "Why was such a good person tortured so horribly?"

Mr. Qiu Zhiyan, a very responsible person, was a purchasing agent for the Integrated Iron Factories of Benxi City Steel and Iron Company No. 1. It is very easy for a purchasing agent to get commissions and advance his personal interests. Everyone in the company knew, though, that Qiu had never taken one penny that he did not deserve! Even after he passed away, people still often mentioned, "Qiu's moral character and his work were nothing less than excellent!"

Since he attained the Fa in 1998, Qiu had always conducted himself according to the standards of a Dafa practitioner and had made solid progress in his cultivation. He often said, "The more I study the Fa, the more attachments I find I have. Every time we encounter conflicts, we should always look inside ourselves." Mr. Qiu did not talk too much and had quietly done many things without calling attention to himself. People had an impression that he was an unassuming, modest and amiable person.

After the country's dictator and his accomplices started the persecution against Falun Gong, illegally ransacking practitioners' homes, tracking and monitoring practitioners, interfering with their practice, forcing them to pay fines and other unlawful acts, horrible incidents took place in the Benxi area. In April, May, and June of 1999, Mr. Qiu went to Beijing five times to appeal for Falun Dafa, to show the facts to the government. After the nationwide persecution began on July 20, 1999, Mr. Qiu went to Beijing to appeal for the 6th time and was escorted back under duress to Benxi and detained for 15 days, without due process of law. In the detention center he had no fear at all when facing beatings, curses, threats and intimidation from the police. The police claimed, "Whoever doesn't repent will be sent to forced labor camps," and also compelled the detained practitioners to do extremely heavy labor. The practitioners endured all kinds of punishments, ranging from cursing, the lightest, to heavy beatings with rubber clubs. While some practitioners were unsteady and wavering in Dafa in the face of this tremendous pressure, Qiu was the first one to start doing Dafa practice in the prison and he completely ignored how the police standing outside the cell would react. The food he was given was also very poor. His righteous thoughts and actions encouraged many fellow practitioners and effectively suffocated the evil.

When people asked him if he felt tired in the detention center, he said, "I have the Fa in my heart, and this little hardship is nothing." For 15 days in a row he did dirty and exhaustive work. During that time, the evil forces in Benxi organized a group of "law consultants" and ex-practitioners who had betrayed Dafa to brainwash the practitioners. These people had expected that the practitioners, when under both physical and mental torture, could be brainwashed quite easily. However, these people became dumbfounded when Mr. Qiu Zhiyan rebuked them and in the end they had to leave without accomplishing their purpose. When Mr. Qiu was released from the detention center, a policeman, who kept a record about Mr. Qiu's six Dafa-appealing trips to Beijing, said in a malicious tone, "Qiu, we let you off lightly this time. You will be sentenced to jail if you go to appeal one more time." His 6-year-old son, who was standing beside Mr. Qiu, did not recognize his own father, who had endured all kinds of tortures and was wearing shabby clothes.

Qiu said, "I will safeguard Dafa as long as I have one breath left." Within less than half a month after he was released from this detention center, Mr. Qiu went to Beijing for the 7^th time. In September 1999, he was escorted back to Benxi and again unlawfully detained, this time in the Dabailou Detention Center. He began practicing right after he was sent to the detention center. When a policeman named Jing Shanhu found this out, he hung Mr. Qiu up in the "stretching room," a place where ancient torture methods are used. The "stretching rooms" in the Detention Center of Benxi City were built imitating an ancient, cruel torture in which the prisoner's body was pulled and torn into parts by five horses that go off in different directions. Inside the room, the practitioner's limbs were tied to iron chains, which were then pulled tightly in different directions. This causes the practitioner's body to become stretched out, parallel to the ground and about half a meter above the floor. It is an extremely cruel torture. Later, because someone died from this torture, policeman Jing was sentenced to jail and the "stretching rooms" in the detention centers were dismantled. Currently, though, Benxi's Forced Labor Camp still retains its "stretching rooms." Mr. Qiu was "stretched" repeatedly, three times on each occasion, totaling 25 days. Most of Qiu's time in the detention center was spent enduring the agonizing torture of being stretched, during which his body was pulled and hung up in mid-air. And yet, he did not give in to the evil; neither did he stop validating Dafa. On the contrary, whenever he had chances, he would practice the Dafa exercises, no matter whether he was standing or sitting. The policemen could find no way to make him give in.

Since October 29, 1999, the authorities in Liaoning Province had escalated the persecution against Falun Gong. Many Falun Gong practitioners were unlawfully sent to forced labor camps. The first group of practitioners sent to labor camps included eight males and 18 females, a total of 26 people. Female practitioners were sent to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, while male practitioners went to Benxi City's Weiningying Forced Labor Camp, and Mr. Qiu was one of them.

Because of the tortures he had suffered in the detention center, Mr. Qiu was extremely weak. Even so, when facing the escalated persecution, he still appealed to the labor camp authorities and demanded reconsideration of his sentence, declaring that it is not a crime for a law-abiding citizen to appeal according to the constitution, and that sending practitioners to forced labor camps is illegal. He also insisted on practicing Dafa in the labor camp. When discussing the situation with some fellow practitioners who did not have a clear understanding of the persecution, he quickly understood, "This is absolutely not the place for us to stay. The evil force's ultimate goal is to completely destroy us." When other practitioners were still hesitating and watching and holding different views, Mr. Qiu had indeed walked to the utmost frontline and in the meantime also endured tremendous suffering. Seeing his righteous enlightenment and thoughts, the evil forces in this Benxi Forced Labor Camp were extremely scared. That's why politics secretary Chen Zhongwei and deputy labor camp director Wu Gang personally organized the torture of Mr. Qiu. They took turns torturing Qiu with the aid of more than ten hastily called in thugs. The tortures amounted to all kinds of cruel ways including beatings with electric batons and rubber clubs, tying him up with rope, and more. They tortured Mr. Qiu until he passed out and then threw him into a tiny, solitary cell. When Qiu woke up, he immediately sat in the lotus position and continued practicing. "Following [the Fa] in everything, Compliance is cultivation" ("Solid Cultivation" in Master Li's Hong Yin).

During 1999, when the evil was most rampant, and in that most vicious labor camp, Mr. Qiu still clearly remembered his vows as a Dafa disciple during this Fa-rectification period. He validated and safeguarded Dafa in the labor camp. He is really worthy of the title "Dafa particle," shining with the radiance of "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance" amidst tribulations. The police were unable to make him give up, so they exhausted all means to torture him. Since the winter temperature in northern China was lower than --30^oC [-22^oF], the lengthy outside working hours caused frostbite on Mr. Qiu's hands. All of his ten fingers were swollen, black and blue and dripping pus. Fingers are extremely sensitive areas. An injury to even one finger will cause unbearable pain, not to mention injury to all ten fingers. Even in such a horrible environment, Mr. Qiu still silently endured this tremendous pain. He worked during the day and meditated and practiced at night. No matter whether he was in the custodial center, the detention center, or in the labor camp, he never stopped practicing Falun Dafa.

To escalate the persecution against him, the police came up with some excuses and then gave him the so-called "medical treatment" after dragging him to the clinic by force. In protest of this kind of illegal "medical treatment," Mr. Qiu tightly held onto the iron rails with his ten frostbitten fingers when the policemen tried to take him away. Policeman Dong Bo went so far as to call in five to six prisoners to pull Qiu's hands forcefully off the railings. After this abuse, Qiu's hands were immediately soaked in blood. Blood and pieces of flesh stuck on the rails. People present all averted their eyes and even the usually cruel and merciless veteran prisoners did not dare to look at this scene. However, Mr. Qiu never even moaned. His diamond-solid and indestructible faith in Dafa has earned the admiration of all the prisoners who said, "Qiu Zhiyan, you are really a great disciple of your Teacher. After seeing you being so determined, I'll practice Falun Gong when I get out."

To further protest this cruel persecution at Benxi's Forced Labor Camp, Mr. Qiu started a hunger strike. To force him to eat, the police authorities increased their persecution. They cuffed his hands and feet to the bed, hit him with seven to eight electric batons that were tied together as a bundle, and tortured him through brutal force-feeding. No matter how violent the evil was, Qiu's eyes were always slightly closed and he said nothing, from the beginning to the end. No matter how the policemen beat or tortured him, he never even moaned. Tired from the beating, the policemen panted and said, "This person is impervious to pain. Beating him does not work." This way, Dafa practitioner Qiu, with his mighty righteous thoughts, successfully protested for ten days with a hunger strike by sitting on his bed, not even making the slightest movement. On the last day, the police could not go on anymore and they completely collapsed. After obtaining approval from the higher authorities, the police falsely declared Qiu as "psychotic" and then sent him to a mental hospital, where the evil thugs gave him injections with drugs, unknown to outside people. In the hospital they tried to kill him. Again, with his mighty righteous thoughts, Qiu held another ten-day hunger strike. Finally, he walked out of the mental hospital in a dignified manner. By then, it was February 2000, almost three months since his first illegal sentence to the labor camp to his walking out of the labor camp with dignity. It's noteworthy that the evil was most rampant at that time.

Mr. Qiu suffered severe brain damage from these psychiatric drug injections. Neither his family nor some practitioners could understand how he could do what he was able to do. All of this did not affect him. In order to expose the evil in the labor camp, Mr. Qiu voluntarily returned to the labor camp. The heads of the labor camp were extremely scared, ordered their subordinates to tightly shut the door and refused to meet him. When a Dafa practitioner scares the police in a Chinese labor camp and makes them hide, this could only happen because he embodies the magnificence and sacredness of Dafa.

After his trip to the labor camp, Mr. Qiu went to Beijing for the 8^th time. When he walked to Jinzhou City on foot, his elderly father took him back, so this trip could not be completed.

In October 2000, because of his family's unwillingness and the government's curtailing of Dafa practitioners' finances, Mr. Qiu began his 9^th trip to Beijing barefoot and with only 5 Yuan [less than 1 US dollar] in his pocket. He also took an appeal letter he had written and stepped onto another great and glorious Fa rectification journey, without a second's hesitation and indecision. It is hard to imagine how a barefooted person could start a journey of a thousand miles with only 5 Yuan to his name! During that time, he endured countless pain and suffering. Then, when he finally arrived at Xingcheng City, (part of Beijing), the local police arrested him and tortured him to death.

Mr. Qiu Zhiyan went to Beijing nine times to safeguard Dafa and overcame all kinds of tribulations. His life existed only for safeguarding Dafa. Qiu Zhiyan, the history of the cosmos will forever remember your incomparably glorious Fa-rectification journey.

Links to related articles on Clearwisdom.net:

Dafa Practitioners Qiu Zhiyan, Zhang Zhibin, Liu Guimin Were Tortured to Death

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Posting date: 2/3/2002
Original article date: 1/26/2002
Category: Fa Rectification
Translated on 1/29/2002
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/1/26/23840.html

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