(Clearwisdom.net) February 4, 2002 marked the beginning of Spring based on the Chinese lunar calendar. That day was designated "Beijing Falun Dafa Day" and we Dafa practitioners had planned to celebrate that day.
At noon on February 4, a female Dafa practitioner and I unfurled a banner reading, "Falun Dafa is good" at Tiananmen Square, and we shouted out, "Falun Dafa is Good!"
In less than half a minute, over ten policemen rushed toward us and pushed us into a police vehicle. Almost at the same time, more banners reading, "Falun Dafa is good" were displayed at Tiananmen Square. Subsequently, three more Dafa practitioners were pushed into the police vehicle. Inside the vehicle the policemen relentlessly swung their fists and clubs and beat the practitioners. The practitioners' hands, noses, and mouths were bleeding. Later I was brought to the Qianmen Police Station and locked up in an iron cage. That day, 24 Dafa practitioners in total, from the oldest being over 60 years in age to the youngest, an eight or nine-year-old girl, were put into iron cages. The inhuman policemen did not allow practitioners to use the toilet, so were even deprived of our most basic human rights. In such an evil environment the practitioners exhibited their diamond-like solidarity.
At about 7:00 p.m. the police officers transferred us to the detention center of the Xuanwu District Police Department. The first step the evil police took was to interrogate us. During the interrogation they resorted to many devious and low means, such as cursing, beating, other physical punishment and deception, in order to force the practitioners to speak out their names and home addresses. They would then send them back for labor camp detention, sentencing, and aggravated persecution in their local regions.
When the evil police were interrogating me, I told them that I had violated no state laws and that we came to Tiananmen Square just to tell the government what we want to say from our hearts, "Falun Dafa is good." Since I had not violated any laws, I would not given them my name and home address. They said, "It's ok if you think 'Falun Dafa is good.' You could just practice it at home. Why do you have to go to Tiananmen Square?" I said, "We all know Dafa is good. It teaches us to be good persons. If we had failed to step forward to speak out for Dafa, how could we still be considered good people?" They asked again, "Why do you practice Falun Gong? For treating illness?" I told them that I practice Falun Gong not for curing illness. I also told them that I started to learn Falun Gong was at a time when I had come to understand and believe in karmic retribution and the principle that good will be rewarded with good and evil be met with evil. I briefly described how I guided myself according to Dafa and became a good person. I also told them the reason why people should be good persons. When they found no loopholes that they could take advantage of, none of them paid any more attention to me. They had no alternatives but make simple note on their interrogation record, and then sent me to No. 8 Cell of No. 3 Aisle in the jail where I was detained, together with the criminals.
Just after I entered the cell, two or three inmates came up and started to humiliate and curse me. I did not argue with them. Next morning, an inmate came to chat with me. During the conversation I told him how good Falun Dafa is and how it makes people become kind and benevolent. I also told him the principle of karmic retribution and that the good and evil will receive their corresponding rewards or retributions. He told me that he came from Inner Mongolia and was arrested for robbing people of several hundred Yuan. He might be sentenced to jail for seven or eight years and he felt hopeless with his life. I helped him to correctly understand his situation, that is, doing good deeds will be rewarded with good, and doing evil deeds be met with evil. I also told him that the many principles that I know were from my learning Falun Dafa. He said, "Falun Dafa is indeed good." I sincerely told him, "If you truly want to be a good person from now on, you will receive good returns. Please keep in mind that Falun Dafa is good!" He nodded his head seriously and said, "I will remember it." We had talked a lot. After he knew the truth, he was very happy and indicated that he would definitely respect Dafa.
Later on I started to chat with another inmate. Before I finished the conversation, a guard whose last name was Xu called out to me. When the guard spoke to me, he said, "You want to reach consummation, don't you? You have gone to Tiananmen Square, held up a banner, and also shouted out what you want to say, so you have reached consummation. Now you should tell me your name and address!" I said to him, "Who has told you I came here for consummation? I went to Tiananmen Square just for speaking up for Falun Dafa, and for telling people what I want to say from the bottom of my heart. Is this wrong?" He said, "I know it is not fair to persecute Dafa practitioners. But I also know that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. How many people do you have? How can you change the outcome?" I said that what we are doing is not political, and that we are just telling people why Falun Dafa is good." I also told him, "When I know something is good, I will speak out that it is good. However, how could you still do something when you know it is wrong to treat good people this way?" Apparently he did not get his way in the conversation. He found out that it was hard for them to convince me. He then transferred me to No.4 Cell of No.3 Aisle to be detained together with some others. Through this experience, I found that they appear strong but actually are very weak, and they have nothing for us to be afraid of; on the contrary, what they are afraid of are our clear-headedness and steadfastness.
On February 5, I was transferred to Cell No. 4 in Aisle No. 3. After I got inside the cell, the leading prisoner started to curse and humiliate me. In the meantime, other inmates also chimed in, helping him. I kept silent and paid no attention. Before long, the guard called the leading prisoner out to talk to him alone. I was clearly aware that they (the guards) would assign the lead prisoner to monitor me. After the lead prisoner returned he said to me, "It's useless for you to do it this way, so is your staging a hunger strike. Just tell them your name and address, so you can go home." I thus started a conversation with him. I showed him the goodness of Falun Dafa. I also told him that Falun Dafa reveals the meaning of life, what is truly good or bad, and many other principles that a person will never be able to totally understand. After that his attitude changed, and he chatted with me almost every day. After his change, the attitudes of all other inmates in the cell had also changed. The lead prisoner told the inmates in the cell, "What they [Falun Gong practitioners] have said makes sense. So, Falun Gong is not bad. That murderer shown on television claimed himself to be practicing Falun Gong, and now it is obvious that his story was fabricated." Ever since then, the inmates have had a good feeling toward Dafa. Once one inmate wrote the words of "Falun Dafa is good" on the wooden board in his bed, and he quietly displayed it to a mute inmate to read the words. The mute inmate continuously nodded his head and gave a "thumbs up" sign.
Most of the detained practitioners were on a hunger strike, and were continuously taken away for force-feeding and intravenous injections. Their painful groans and cries, while being cruelly force-fed, were too much for people to hear. I was the last one to be force-fed. They first gave me a physical examination. While they were doing this I directed my thoughts, "Make the blood pressure high." My blood pressure indeed became high. I also thought, "Make my heartbeat fast," and my heart rate indeed became very rapid. That left them no alternative but to forcibly give me intravenous injections. I knew that Teacher was helping me. Under pressure from higher officials, they did not dare to causally release even one practitioner. On the other hand, though, they also were afraid of taking the responsibility a practitioner dying in their hands. Therefore, the evil was really scared of those practitioners who could genuinely let go of life and death and firmly refuse to cooperate with them.
During subsequent periods, the guards and other staff members in the detention center often came to talk to me, to convince me to give up practicing Dafa and stop my hunger strike. I firmly refused.
On February 11, my desire to get out of the labor camp became very strong. At that time a labor camp director whose last name was Liu came to talk to me. He basically said that I would be released with the caveat that I resumed eating and recovered my physical strength. I took what he said as true and ate the lunch. He did not show up in the afternoon, so I knew that I had been deceived. I then resumed my hunger strike. I seriously examined myself and found that my desire of getting out was too strong and had simply become an attachment. I then thought it over from a different angle: There must be reasons for my being unable to get out of here. I was still needed here to clarify the truth. While thinking this way I calmed down. Afterwards, I clarified the truth about the persecution to all the people I met. Later on, I also became calm and confident when clarifying the truth to people.
On February 15, the fourth day in the first month based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar, I had a chat with a guard in the clinic. He asked me several questions: "It is o.k. if you feel Falun Gong is good. Just practice it at home. Why risk your life to go to Beijing? I think that your hunger strike is simply equal to committing suicide." I said, "We want to be good persons, and we all know that Falun Dafa is good. If we had failed to step forward to speak out, how could we still consider ourselves good persons? Besides, our hunger strike does not equal committing suicide. We are all innocent and the hunger strike is to protest this illegal detention. Who among us does not eat at home?" He found no words to respond. He then said, "I have six or seven of the books you read." He indicated he wanted to study further.
At noon of February 17, the sixth day in the first month based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar, three policemen, pretending to take me out for interrogation, brought me in a police vehicle to Zhaogongkou Long Distance Transportation Station and then forced me to get on the bus to Tianjin City. The bit of suffering that I experienced during these 14 days was nothing. The things I had been through had pointed out many of my attachments. I felt regret. From now on, I will be more diligent in my cultivation.
