My Experience in a Brainwashing Class

A Falun Dafa Practitioner in Hubei Province

(Clearwisdom.net)

I was illegally sent to a forced labor camp for appealing for Falun Dafa in Tiananmen Square. Before being sent to the actual camp I was sent to an office where they dispatched detainees to specific labor camps for brainwashing.

As soon as someone entered the door of this office, he would be asked to lower his head and answer "yes, sir" for a roll call. When my name was called I refused to answer. A nearby policeman tried to find an electric baton to beat me with, but when he couldn't find one, he grabbed me by my hair and forced me to lower my head. He pulled me into the courtyard by my hair and beat me severely. I shouted, "Stop beating me!" They punished me further by forcing me to squat with my arms behind my head. At lunch and at dinnertime everyone had to lift his bowl above his head and say, "I am so-and-so in labor education. I want such-and-such food. Thank you, Team Leader!" I refused to follow these rules and was punished with a torture technique called "airplane flying" [One is made to stand with one's back against the wall, one's head dropped forward, and both hands pulled up from behind] from noon to 2 p.m. It was an extremely hot summer day and I was so hot and sick that that my sweat drenched the ground I stood on.

A policeman took me to his office at 2 p.m. and asked me to write a "guarantee statement." [A statement that declares that one is remorseful for practicing Falun Gong and vows not to practice Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and to never again associate with Falun Dafa practitioners.] He beat me for refusing to write it. He also jabbed me with his pen. The scars he left on my skin are still visible. On my legs are scars from when policemen kicked me with their leather boots. On my chest are scars from when the police and drug addicts' pinched and twisted me. One time, several of them simultaneously and ferociously hit me on my chest, on my back and on the back of my neck. I almost lost consciousness, but I still refused to sign any "guarantee statement." They told me, "Our boss asked us to get your 'guarantee statement.' How can we finish this assignment if you don't sign it?" I tried to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to them, but they wouldn't listen, saying that they had to complete their assignment. From my experience I know that many practitioners' "guarantee statements" were written under the pressure of severe beatings, threats and deceitful mind games.

I was punished for not writing a "guarantee statement" by being forced to squat half way down. My arms had to be parallel with the ground in front. A sharp wooden stick was placed under my buttocks. If I relaxed even a little bit, the sharp stick would cause a great deal of pain. Again, as before, they punished me with the "airplane flying" torture technique, which was also unbearable. Numerous pieces of paper with words slandering Falun Dafa and Master Li were pasted to my face, on my back, and under my feet. They even put pieces in my shoes and inside my bra and underwear, attempting to force me to step on them.

When I still refused to write any "guarantee statement," they began to slap my face. With every slap I calmly answered with a "No." After countless slaps they eventually stopped because they were tired. They started writing a "guarantee statement" own their own. They signed my name to it and forced my fingerprint on it. They threatened me by claiming: "It will be published on the internet tomorrow. This is your guarantee statement."

It was 8 p.m. by this time. I couldn't even stand up by myself after enduring all the torture. I was black and blue all over. My face and eyes were also bruised and swollen. Many Falun Dafa practitioners were subject to severe beating at this office. My experience wasn't the worst. Some of us were tied to a bed and we lost control over our bladder and bowel movements. Some were tortured to the point of mental breakdown. I witnessed how an eighteen-year old girl was beaten until she lost her senses. The policemen and drug addicts were very afraid of being exposed when they beat us. I shouted, "Stop beating me!" when they beat me in the courtyard. They would take me inside to a room to continue with the beatings. After a while someone came in and whispered a few words to them. They covered the windows before they continued the beatings.

As soon as I was sent to a forced labor camp, I was also asked to write a "guarantee statement," a "repentance statement" [In this statement the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practicing Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong] and a "dissociation statement" [A statement to declare a dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong]. I refused and in turn was monitored by two "personal cangues" twenty-four hours a day. In addition, I was refused the right to sleep or contact anyone. The collaborators [former practitioners who had disavowed Falun Dafa under the pressure of immense torture] kept telling me their ridiculous self-deceiving lies. I did not believe a single one of them. Their words and behaviors mimicked the distorted and slanderous propaganda against Falun Dafa. They manipulated Teacher's Fa to find excuses for themselves. I refused to listen or accept any of their theories. On the contrary, I recited Teacher's new scriptures to them and pointed out their wrongdoings.

They wouldn't listen to me and blamed me for having a bad attitude and for not cooperating. I was forced to stand facing a wall, squatting with my arms around my head in a corner, and forced into the "airplane flying" position for an extended period. Whenever my pose didn't meet their requirement, they would kick me. When I refused the physical punishment, they would force it on me and say that they were "helping me eliminate my karma."

A policewoman ordered me to write a "dissociation statement" but I refused. Consequently, I was forced to stand for an extremely long time. The policewoman ordered me to copy an article slandering Falun Dafa and again I refused. She wanted to beat me but was afraid of being exposed. In general, the police were extremely fearful. They didn't usually beat us directly, but would instead incite inmates and suggested to them to beat us.

Because I had always refused to write anything, the policemen deprived me of my right to sleep. Cangues assigned to watch over me [Cangue, the name of an instrument of torture, is now a term to indicate the person who was designated to supervise the behavior of practitioners] had to take turns sleeping. Because the cangues were held responsible for my behavior, they were not able to sleep normally either. When they became exhausted, they blamed me for being selfish and not allowing them to sleep.

Under enormous pressure in the evil climate, I could not bear the long-term and relentless suffering any more. With everyday people's attachments, I finally wrote a "guarantee statement" and "repentance statement." To my surprise, my personal cangues were still deprived of normal sleep after I wrote the statements. I realized that I had fallen into their trap, but there was nothing I could do at that point.

Later on, quite a few groups of people came to work on me. I was forcibly inundated with warped thinking twenty-four hours a day and was forced to copy some articles slandering Dafa. They didn't give me a second to rest my mind. Some pieces of paper with words slandering Teacher and Falun Dafa were pasted on my body, tucked under my collar, into my shoes and under my feet. I was also forced to sit on them.

At first I was able to resist all kinds of attempts to brainwash me, but eventually I couldn't bear the psychological and physical torture. Twenty days of sleep deprivation had exhausted me. If I closed my eyes even for a second, they would poke me and pinch me to wake me up. My mind was muddled. Any thinking was hard and slow. I was laughed at. One day, I wasn't even aware when I wrote a "dissociation statement."

When I finally regained consciousness, I realized that I had made some serious mistakes. Many of my thoughts were formed based on the barbarous logic of Jiang's political gang of scoundrels. Much of my understanding was a distortion of Dafa principles. Many things I said and did were excuses for my lack of faith in Dafa.

I have published my solemn declaration on the Clearwisdom website to void all my words and behaviors against Falun Dafa. In the mean time, I want to expose the cruel and evil brainwashing by Jiang's regime. I also hope the "converted practitioners" (collaborators) used in an attempt to brainwash practitioners will break out of their self-deceiving lies, stop their crimes and start new lives.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/1/6/42263.html

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