Steadfast Dafa Practitioners Persevere Despite Brutal Persecution at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp (Part I)

By an insider

(Clearwisdom.net) Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp had "founded" the "Civilized Forced Labor Camp of the City" and later became the so-called "Civilized Forced Labor Camp of Ministry" within a single year, 2001. Actually, the term "civilized" was just a big camouflage to deceive public opinion. However, the way it implemented this "civilized" policy on resolute Falun Gong practitioners was unknown to outsiders.

When people visited the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp for the first time, its tidy appearance attracted them. But what they could not know was that the new buildings, flowers and cute grazing animals (such as rabbits and deer) there were all tools used to cover up the criminal acts inside. All these things were built using the special funds for suppressing Falun Gong and the money diverted by the Chinese dictator's regime, money that was actually withheld from unemployed workers and bankrupt peasants. Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp used the camouflage of "education and influence" to deceive the outside world while in reality using "devastating the spirit" and "torturing the body" to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners. This kind of despicable policy was implemented thoroughly, especially on those practitioners who refused to be "transformed."

Mr. Li Chunyuan was a lecturer in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at the Central College for Minority Nations in Beijing. Toward the end of 2000, he sued Chinese dictator Jiang for violating the constitution. The vice premier of the State Department, Li Lanqing, was very annoyed after learning of this case. On December 28, 2000, Li Chunyuan was illegally sentenced arrested, and later he was sentenced to 1-1/2 years in a forced labor camp on January 18, 2001. When he was at the Dispatch Division, just because he refused to write the "guarantee letter," [this letter states that the Falun Gong practitioner will guarantee to give up the practice, will never again associate with other practitioners and will never again go to Beijing to appeal] the evil police shocked his back and face with electric batons. They even took off his cloths to shock his penis. At the forced labor camp, he was forcibly brainwashed every day. Despite the intense torture, his belief was never shaken. The evil police officers even instigated collaborators to write slanderous words against Dafa on his body. He had been deprived of the right of sleep for more than 20 continuous nights, while during the daytime he had to do heavy labor, such as hauling trash and digging ditches. Li Chunyuan's words and deeds were all righteous. People all around admired and respected him. Now he is detained in the "general education team" and is forced to do heavy labor every day.

Mr. Zhao Ming, a Falun Dafa practitioner, was a graduate student in the Computer Science Department at Trinity College in Ireland. He was arrested due to appealing for Falun Dafa when he returned to China during the Christmas season of 1999. He was escorted back to Changchun City, his hometown. In May 2000 when he communicated with several fellow practitioners at his residency in Beijing, he was arrested and was illegally sentenced for one year in a forced labor camp. At the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, he was forced to perform squat exercises as used in military training camp [Note: a form of physical punishment, having to face the wall and squatting on one leg for several hours, forbidden to move and forbidden to change leg positions. If the person can't hold on, he will be brutally beaten.] The evil authorities even used an excruciating method called "pressing the bed board" on Zhao Ming. They forced him to sit in a washbowl, bend his head down to his legs and squeezed him under the bed boards, which were only one foot up from floor. When the bed boards popped up, several people would sit on it to push down the boards. In the meantime, the others punched and kicked him. After such brutal torture, his legs were badly damaged and his spine became severely injured from the pressure of the bed boards. He walked in a hunchback position for a long time.

At the beginning of 2001, Zhao Ming was sent to the Xinan Female Forced Labor Camp in Beijing to be "transformed." He was detained at the reformatory, a place for underage male criminals. During the daytime, Zhao Ming was sent to the female team where he had to receive "help, educate and convert work" by those who had already given up their belief. At night he was sent back to the reformatory. The collaborators [former practitioners who had been brainwashed into following an evil course] began to beat Zhao Ming after they failed to indoctrinate him with lies. Zhao Ming's calves were beaten to become a mass of countless scars. Later, they picked out several of what they called "the most beautiful girls" from the collaborators in the forced labor camp. These girls surrounded him, singing and trying to seduce him. They were used to attempt to entice him with their sexual charms and caresses.

In May 2001, Zhao Ming was sent back to the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. His detention term was unconstitutionally extended by ten months because he refused to give up his faith. Under pressure from the international community, authorities in the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp dared not to torture his body as cruelly as before. However, in order to brainwash him, the evil guards made him sit in a row with other steadfast Dafa practitioners every day while an appointed individual read materials that slandered Dafa and insulted Master. Besides the constant brainwashing, they often forced the practitioners who didn't give up their faith to perform heavy labor. Under the unbearably hot sun, Zhao Ming had to dig ditches every day. This particular ditch was taller than a person and was dirty and damp. At the end of 2001, Zhao Ming was sent to a brainwashing class in the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. Every day the evil police officers, together with several collaborators, took turns brainwashing him. The closer to the end, the more pressure they exerted on Zhao Ming. They insisted he write the "guarantee letter" before he left there, but he wrote nothing.

On March 12, 2002, he was released and walked out of the forced labor camp, openly and righteously. Finally, the detention and persecution that had lasted for one year and 10 months was announced to be over.

Mr. Lu Changjun is a Dafa practitioner from Suihua, Heilongjiang Province. He entered the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in February 2001. The collaborators in the second division brutally beat him. They even tied him to the ladders of the bunk bed, brutally beat him, and severely injured his tailbone. The hospital made the following diagnosis: the first section of the caudal vertebra was fractured, which led him to become paralyzed and they prescribed long-term bed rest. After this incident, deputy Division Chief Ni Zhenxiong's utmost desire was to hide the truth. In order to deceive the inspection by personnel from above, he even asked someone to substitute for Lu Changjun, who had been beaten and seriously injured. However, in the end he was only able to cover up the truth temporarily. In the hospital, when Lu Changjun told of his experience being brutally beaten, the truth spread. Later, the bureau sent people to investigate this incident. Director Zhuang Xuhong, and second division chief Ni Zhenxiong were afraid of getting involved because of their responsibility. Finally they asked two major participants in these beatings, collaborators Zhang Wenlong and Che Chongfeng, to take all the responsibility. They were put in "the concentration team" and later were sentenced with charge of doing bodily harm. With both the high and low officials at the forced labor camp covering this up, Zhuang Xuhong and second division vicious police officer Ni Zhenxiong had temporarily escaped the punishment they deserve.

Mr. Qin Wei, was an outstanding arts teacher at Beijing's No. 81 High School. He was sent to the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in August 2000. In order to force him to give up his belief, he was physically punished, and was not allowed to sleep. Once he was not allowed to sleep for as long as 20 days. The prison guards found out that not only was his faith towards Dafa solid as a rock, but he also was a very articulate person. His mind was very clear, and he spoke rationally, with conviction. No one was able to argue against him. Therefore, many times they simply transferred him to the general education team and made him perform heavy physical work every day. Because he and Zhao Ming often reported the situation of the persecution of Dafa practitioners to the forced labor camp's higher-level officials, the evil police officers were afraid of him exposing the dark, inside stories. That's why they moved him to the Sixth Division, the "concentration team" where many drug addicts stayed. In the concentration team, the vicious police people inhumanly persecuted him. They used many electric batons to shock him constantly, for a long time. According to the practitioners who witnessed it, "His face was worn out from the shocking."

Mr. Yu Ming is a Shenyang Dafa practitioner. At the end of the year 2000, he was sentenced to a forced labor camp for 1-1/2 years for distributing Dafa truth-clarifying materials. On January 25, 2001 he was sent to the dispatch division of Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. At that division he was upright and righteous. He refused to cooperate with the vicious police officers' evil commands. When standing in line to take his turn to be trained "to do the report," Yu Ming yelled loudly, " Because I am not guilty I was forced into labor." Several vicious police officers rushed over, dragged him into the "decontamination" room and shocked different parts of his body with several electric batons. Many parts of his body were burned, causing blisters. However, he didn't give in nor did he compromise at all. After entering Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, he gravely resisted all kinds of evil brainwashing lies and didn't pen any written guarantee. Once, vicious police officer Ni Zhenxiong from the second division hit him and kicked him with hard leather shoes in the genitals and legs. Many bloodstains were left on the floor. The vicious police people again dragged him to the office, squeezed his neck with both hands and choked him until he fell unconscious. When he regained consciousness, his first words to the vicious police officers were, "Are you afraid?" He faced the evil with a righteous mind. The officer immediately became frightened, breaking out in a cold sweat. Later, this officer knelt in front of the practitioner and begged him not disclose the beating to others. At the end of the year 2001, Mr. Yu was detained in the sixth team, the General Education Team, as one of the most "diehards" and difficult to be reformed. Up till now, he has been forced to perform heavy labor with the common prisoners and has been persecuted in many disguised ways.

Mr. Gong Chengxi was an undergraduate student from the class of 97, political administration major in the Political Science College of China. He was student body president and class monitor at the college. The school forcedly suspended him because he refused to give up cultivation. At the end of the year 2000 he was arrested for distributing Dafa truth-clarifying materials and sentenced to a forced labor camp for one year. In the camp, because he refused to read the "materials" which slandered Teacher and Dafa, he was beaten and physically punished. In May 2001 he used a hunger strike to protest the brainwashing lies employed toward Dafa practitioners. He refused to watch videos that slandered Dafa. Later he was sent to the "concentration team." The evil police officers tied both his arms and legs to the bed and forcedly inserted tubes and force-fed him. Just like this, a gentle, quiet and kind 23-year-old college student endured several months of physical and mental tortures. However, he was still as firm as before. At the end of 2001, he was at term to be released but his term was unconstitutionally extended by ten months, because he refused to be "transformed." He had once said, "I believe one day I will walk out of the gate of the labor camp with dignity!"

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