(2/13/2003áá11:15)
TORONTO (FDI) -- The following story is true and every
name is real. It is a story about a successful businesswoman who was
illegally imprisoned for nine months in one of China's most brutal labour
camps -- Wanjia. It is a story of beatings and torture; of survival and
perseverance: And it is a testament to the power of her beliefs.
The woman's name is Yuzhi Wang. She is 47 years old.
This is Ms. Wang's story...
________________
The Early Years
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Yuzhi Wang is a successful
businesswoman who suffered beatings and torture for nine months
while imprisoned in China's notorious Wanjia Labour Camp simply
because she practices Falun Gong. |
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My family came from the city of Harbin. I was 15 when the Great Cultural
Revolution swept through China. My father was jailed for being an
"anti-revolutionist" -- Maoist jargon for anyone with an education, owning
lands or holding traditional values -- and my mother was left to take care
of eight children, with no source of income. Fortunately, two of my brothers
were able to earn enough money washing cloth by the banks of the Songhua
River to keep the family fed. My mother was too depressed and sick to cook,
so I took over the cooking for the family.
I used to take meals to my father in prison, and can
still remember seeing him behind bars -- dark and gaunt, but always
passionate and positive. In spite of the extreme difficulties in my life, I
was always encouraged by my father's attitude.
In 1976 the "Gang of Four" was removed from power and
life began to change. My father was released from prison, and my two older
boys were admitted to university, along with my younger sister. I was left
to provide for the rest of the family, including my sick parents. I got a
job making towel tassels, and was so efficient at my work that I could earn
200 -- 300 Yuan a month. This was enough money to provide food for the whole
family, and tuition for my younger brothers and sister.
My Life Improves
In 1979, life slowly started to change for me. I was
working in an electronics company, and the company decided to send me to
university. After I graduated, I went back to the factory to work as an
engineer. In 1989 the company went bankrupt and so my husband (who I'd met
at university) and I started up our own business importing office supplies.
The business went so well that the company profits continually doubled. My
hardships were finally over -- I had a house, a car, a great business and a
happy marriage.
I also had a beautiful son.
By this time, my family was doing well financially. My
father had started his own factory and went on to become one of China's
first millionaires. Two of my brothers left China -- one went to
Philadelphia, and the other to the Middle East. My mother moved to the
United Arab Emirates with my two younger sisters. All my brothers and
sisters had prosperous businesses.
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Yuzhi with her son, Pengpeng, in
Shenzhen, China, 1998. |
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Financially, life was good.
My life underwent another incredible change in 1998 when
one of my customers handed me a copy of China Falun Gong -- the introductory
text of Falun Gong (website).
When I first took the book, I had no idea how dramatically it would change
my life.
I began practicing Falun Gong and started to notice huge
changes in my life. For years I had suffered from a debilitating illness
that would occasionally cause me to suddenly lose control in my legs, and
make walking impossible. I had visited countless doctors, both Chinese and
western, but none of them could pinpoint the cause of the illness. Three
months after starting Falun Gong, my illness totally disappeared.
I began diligently studying the Falun Gong books, and did
the Falun Gong exercises with friends at a local park. In the process of
practicing Falun Gong I felt cleansed of many negative thoughts and emotions
that I had collected throughout my life. I felt my body and soul gradually
become healthy and harmonious like never before. My tiring life became
happier and I was finally at peace. I felt so lucky to be able to learn a
Chinese exercise and meditation practice that originated in the ancient
traditions of my country. In Chinese history every dynasty was built on and
governed by virtue and morality. The main focus in life was to think of
others first and always look inside to see where you could do better. The
main goal in life was to strengthen the spirit, to enlighten to truth and
return the body and mind to the original true essence. The profound
principles in Falun Gong empowered me to make purer choices in my life and
helped me to bring the principles of Truth Compassion and Tolerance into my
family. I feel I have truly found the meaning of my life and the answers to
life's mysteries by practicing Falun Gong. For me, it brought together all
of the pieces of the puzzle.
Crackdown on Falun Gong
Falun Gong spread rapidly in China, and by 1999
statistics from China's Physical Education Bureau showed that there were
over 70 million people practicing Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin, the leader of
the Communist Party at that time, was threatened by both the sheer numbers
of people and their allegiance to something other than Communist Party
idealology. On July 20, 1999 he ordered a brutal crackdown on Falun Gong (report).
Overnight, those 70 million people, including myself, became the "enemy of
the people" and "followers of an evil religion".
My life was about to take another dramatic turn -- full
of incredible hardships that I could never have imagined.
As the crackdown on Falun Gong continued, the media was
saturated with lies and propaganda. In order to justify the persecution, all
kinds of bloody crimes (immolation, suicide, homicide) were used to frame up
Falun Gong practitioners. The sensational propaganda demonizing Falun Gong
permeated the entire country. It was like reliving the Great Cultural
Revolution -- only worse.
Arrested three times
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"Memories of my father's time in prison
came back to me like a bad dream. Here I was, 46 years old,
being jailed for my beliefs, just as he had been."
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The sudden persecution of Falun Gong stunned me and all my friends, and
so I went to the local Appeals Office -- following the legal rights
guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution to register appeals with the
government. But I quickly found out that these rights no longer applied to
Falun Gong practitioners. Ironically, the Appeals Office became the
detention centre, where all practitioners who went to appeal against the
vicious persecution were arrested instead. I was arrested three times. The
first time was in January 2000 in Beijing -- I was ordered to sign a pledge
promising not to return to Beijing to organize support for Falun Gong. I
refused to sign it, so the guards ordered other inmates to beat me. The
second arrest was in July 2000, for photocopying
Falun Gong flyers. The police officers beat me repeatedly, trying to
find out whom the flyers were for. In spite of the vicious slander against
Falun Gong, I stood firmly by my beliefs and decided to help reveal the
facts of the persecution to people who had been deceived by the government's
propaganda.
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"Falun Gong practitioners were routinely
beaten or whipped, tied with ropes and hanged from the ceiling,
given electric shocks, forced to sit naked on iron chairs, or
raped by male criminals."
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In October 2000 me and a few other practitioners prepared over 100,000
leaflets explaining the truth about Falun Gong. With the help of other
practitioners, we distributed the leaflets throughout the entire Province.
People who had previously believed the propaganda suddenly understood the
facts of the persecution. Revealing the facts was what the authorities
feared most, particularly Luo Gan (the highest leader in the central
government in charge of the
"6-10" Office
-- a Gestapo-like entity of the government in charge of persecuting Falun
Gong). I was placed on the "most wanted list," and my name and photo were
posted everywhere with a reward of 50,000 Yuan offered for information
leading to my arrest.
On July 16, 2001 I went to the bank to withdraw my money
and was arrested for the third time. The police confiscated US $50,000 from
my savings and froze my bank accounts. Memories of my father's time in
prison came back to me like a bad dream. Here I was, 46 years old, being
jailed for my beliefs, just as he had been.
Wanjia Forced Labour Camp
In November 2001, I was transferred from the Second
Detention Centre to the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp of Harbin -- infamous for
its brutality towards Falun Gong practitioners. All practitioners detained
in the detention centre or the forced labour camp had to endure
brainwashing. Every day, we had to sit in one position and watch anti-Falun
Gong propaganda on TV or listen to the guards for over 8 hours. No one was
allowed to move. Sometimes, a brainwashing session would last for days and
we weren't allowed to sleep the entire time. Often, we were not even allowed
to use the toilet. In addition to the intense brainwashing and sleep
deprivation, Falun Gong practitioners were routinely beaten or whipped, tied
with ropes and hanged from the ceiling, given electric shocks, forced to sit
naked on iron chairs, or raped by male criminals
Most Falun Gong practitioners refused to give up their
beliefs. Some of them, including me, went on hunger strikes to protest our
unlawful arrests and the inhumane torture and persecution.
Brutal Force-Feedings
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"My mouth was filled with blood and my
body was covered in bruises after every force-feeding....
I always knew that if I would simply write a letter
denouncing Falun Gong... I would be released immediately."
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I vividly remember my first hunger strike at the Harbin City Detention
Centre. In order to
force feed me, the doctors at the Harbin City Detention Centre used a
metal clamp to pry open my teeth and then pushed a thick rubber tube down to
my stomach. My mouth was filled with blood and my body was covered in
bruises after every
force-feeding. Several people were there to beat and subdue me for these
force-feedings. They would pour two big bowls of cold water mixed with
corn flour into me, saying that it was for 'stretching the stomach'. When I
screamed, the police were afraid of others hearing me. They ordered inmates
to gag and beat me even more.
The
force-feeding at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp was even more violent and
cruel. The doctors there used
force-feeding as a torture method and didn't care whether practitioners
survived it or not.
Before
force-feeding me for the first time, I saw them grab a female Falun Gong
practitioner named Shang by the hair and knock her head against the wall and
floor. When she was finally unconscious, they forced the tube into her nose
to
force-feed her. There was no sterilization -- they simply brushed the
tube around in a basin then forced it through her nose and down into her
stomach. Then they injected ground corn grain mixed with cold water.
After they'd finished with her, the two prison doctors
turned around and looked at me. They stood there with their forceps and
tools in their hands and said, "You see that? You're next." After that, I
was subjected to this kind of
force-feeding every day in jail.
They would beat us to the point where we were almost
unconscious before tying our arms and legs down and forcing the tubes
through our noses and down into our stomachs. We were tied up to prevent us
from pulling the tubes out because of the excruciating pain.
On one occasion I witnessed a female practitioner named
Minxia Guo being
force-fed. The nurses grabbed Minxia's hair and pinched her face and
body. She was black and blue everywhere. Her whole body began to twitch.
When I condemned the guards and doctors for what they were doing, they
turned on me and beat me up as well.
One day I heard the desperate cry of a man in the woman's
ward. It was the husband of a Falun Gong practitioner named Yanhong Ding. He
had begged to be able to visit her, and when he finally was allowed to come
in, they
force-fed her right in front of him. This man cried terribly while his
wife struggled in pain.
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"When good men and women renounce their
beliefs under pressure from a dictatorship, something much
greater than ourselves dies."
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I always knew that if I would simply write a letter denouncing Falun
Gong, denouncing its teachings and promise to never practice again, I would
be released immediately. But if it is wrong to believe in
'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance,' what hope does humanity have? This
persecution was forcing people to choose between their lives and their
conscience. I knew that I was being forced to make that choice, and I chose
my conscience because I knew that when good men and women renounce good,
wholesome beliefs under pressure from a dictatorship, something much greater
than us dies.
Torture at the Labour Camp Hospital
Due to the filthy conditions in the labour camp, many
practitioners developed purulent scabies. They had pus cysts and blood all
over their skin. The worst ones were as big as a peach. During the day the
sores were continually discharging pus and mucus. During the night they
became so itchy that it was impossible to fall asleep.
Every practitioner that developed scabies would be sent
to the hospital run by the forced labour camp -- but it wasn't for medical
treatment. When practitioners arrived at the hospital, they were dragged
into a small closed room, and forced onto the ground. The doctors would
violently remove their clothes, and use sharp steel knives or metal spoons
to scratch the pus cysts. They would scrape the spoons back and forth
through the flesh and blood, while the practitioner on the ground would be
screaming in pain. When they finished with the digging, they would force the
practitioner to stand against the wall so that they could clean the blood
from their bodies. The water from the faucets was not normal tap water; it
was filthy, freezing cold and full of rust.
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"The guards told all the practitioners
that if they were beaten to death, it would be counted as a
suicide and their bodies would be cremated immediately."
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I remember a new prison doctor who came -- a university graduate.
Whenever he treated a practitioner, he would follow the correct medical
procedure to prick open and wash each of the vesicles. When the chief of the
Wanjia Hospital saw what he was doing, he pushed the doctor aside, picked up
a steel spoon and started using the spoon to dig into the pus cysts.
This kind of murderous "medical treatment" would be
repeated every few days along with daily beatings and
force-feeding through the nose.
Any Practitioner Tortured to Death will be Counted as
a Suicide
After enduring such torture, many practitioners ended up
on the verge of death. I know of at least 8 Falun Gong practitioners who
have been tortured to death in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp since the
persecution began. The guards told all the practitioners that if they were
beaten to death, it would be counted as a suicide and their bodies would be
cremated immediately -- before informing the families, so there would be no
evidence of any torture.
Although I lived in this extreme horror every day, I was
determined to survive without compromising my beliefs.
A Struggle to Let the Outside World Know About the
Persecution
My husband and children cried and begged the guards to be
allowed to visit me on many occasions, but to no avail. Family members of
Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed any visitation rights.
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Yuzhi's sisters seeing her off to
Canada at the International Airport of United Arab Emirates on
November 10, 2002 |
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On one occasion during my hunger strike, I was lying in bed in the Labour
Camp Hospital. Through the window by the side of the street, I could see my
relatives standing at the door, begging the guards to be allowed in.
On another occasion, my two younger sisters came from
overseas to visit me. They stood at the door, crying and begging to be let
in, and they refused to leave. Suddenly it started raining. They covered
their faces with their raincoats and went straight past the security guard,
and quickly ran inside the hospital. By then I had been on hunger strike for
over 50 days.
When I saw them I somehow found the strength to get out
of bed. I got outside the door and grabbed the guardrail in the corridor
with all my strength. I stared at my two younger sisters. When my sisters
saw how emaciated I was, they began crying loudly in the corridor. I was
crying too. I told them, "You need to contact international organizations
and let the world know what is happening to me!"
In March, 2002, I started writing letters on tissue paper
within the Labour Camp to the Harbin Justice Bureau, the Harbin Public
Security Department and to the Province's Public Security Ministry. The
letters I wrote were each five feet long. On several occasions they were
almost taken away by the warden.
The day after I finished the letters some people from the
Justice Bureau came to inspect the labour camp. When they came to my ward I
personally handed the letters to them.
Finally Released
After nine months in prison, my health had deteriorated
so much that I couldn't even stand up. My eyes and nose were festering with
blood and pus from the
force feedings and my eyesight was almost gone. My hunger strike lasted
more than 100 days. Towards the end of it, my nose was so swollen that the
doctors could no longer force a tube into it. I was on the verge of death,
and the doctors knew it. They called my relatives and gave them the
responsibility of nursing me back to health.
When I was finally released in May 2002, I had been in
jail for nine months. Nine months that seemed like an eternity...I felt as
though I had just emerged from hell.
After my release, I immediately began practicing the
Falun Gong exercises again. My body and eyes quickly recovered. When the
police realized I was healthy once again, they wanted to send my back to the
labour camp.
In June 2002, to avoid further persecution, I went to
visit my family in the United Arab Emirates. On the way, I used every
opportunity to tell the Chinese people at the airports the truth about the
persecution. Eventually, someone from the Chinese Embassy saw me and
persuaded the local police to arrest me, telling them that I was a dangerous
criminal. The Chinese Embassy asked the United Arab Emirates to deport me
back to China. Miraculously, through around-the-clock efforts by Canadian
Falun Gong practitioners and the Canadian Government, I was given special
permission to move to Vancouver, Canada in November 2002, to be with my son.
The rescue efforts of the Canadians probably saved my
life.
What I have been through in the past three years is a
nightmare. Although the nightmare is over for me, there are still hundreds
of thousands of bloody nightmares like mine on-going in China. I hope that
by publishing my story, I can help end these nightmares as well.
I attribute my ability to survive the horrific torture to
the principles of Falun Gong: 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' exist deep
in my heart, far beyond the reach of any electric baton, far beyond the
reach of a prison guard's fist. Lies and slanderous propaganda dissolve when
faced with the truth. Brutality and torture is no match for compassion.
Violence and hatred cannot penetrate tolerance.
For nine months, they tried to make me believe these
principles are not true.
They failed.
I feel real freedom is not obtained externally, but
internally within the realm of 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.' Even
when faced with extreme torture and persecution, true Falun Gong
practitioners can withstand the unimaginable -- even to the end of their
life -- in order to defend a common good greater than ourselves: the
universal principles of 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.'
Yuzhi Wang is currently living with her son in
Vancouver with a Minister's Permit for Canada. She spends her time letting
people know about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
At the time of Ms. Wang's release from Wanjia Labour
Camp in May 2002, reports had been verified by the Falun Dafa Information
Center of eight Falun Gong practitioners who had died inside the labour camp
from severe torture. Since her release, six more have been reported dead
inside Wanjia Labour Camp.
To arrange an interview with Ms. Wang, please contact
in Canada Cindy Gu +1 647-999-8530 or Joel Chipkar +1 416-709-8678.
#áá#áá#
NEWS - Feb. 13, 2003
Falun Dafa Information Center,
www.faluninfo.net
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER
Contacts: Gail Rachlin (+1 917-501-4441), Levi Browde (+1 914-720-0963),
Erping Zhang (+1 646-533-6147), or Feng Yuan (+1 917-941-1097).
Fax: 646-792-3916 Email:
faluninfoctr@nycmail.com, Website:
http://www.faluninfo.net/
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