By a Practitioner from Mainland China

(Clearwisdom.net) As I began practicing Falun Gong, my mind was purified and my health miraculously improved. My husband would tell everyone he met, "Falun Gong is beyond compare!" We never expected what happened after April 25, 1999 when Jiang began utilizing the power in his hand to defame and suppress us, people who practice "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance."

At first I gave the government the benefit of the doubt and thought that perhaps because they did not know about Falun Gong they had misunderstood us. I decided to go to Beijing to explain the facts of Falun Dafa to them. The "610 Office" however, used all levels of government, the police stations, and the local communist party committees to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. They ordered me not to leave my home and required me to get permission from the "610 Office" to go out for even small things. They also put pressure on my family and threatened my husband and me with the loss of our jobs and with closing down our shop. Everyday I was monitored and harassed. I had no freedom. They forced me to turn in Falun Gong books and exercise tapes. I refused to cooperate with them. They would force my husband to watch me and they threatened that if I appealed they would punish my husband.

In May 2000, I broke through layers of obstructions and finally arrived in Beijing. However, just as I arrived at the door of the appeals office, I was abducted and taken to a branch of my local government office in Beijing. During the period I was detained in Beijing, the police and other officials tried to extort money from my husband and demanded 20,000 Yuan [An average urban Chinese worker's monthly wage is about 500 Yuan.] My husband was afraid that I would be beaten up, perhaps even beaten to death in the detention center and so he tried to negotiate with them. Finally the director of police station said they would release me if my husband gave them 4,000 Yuan. On the way home they handcuffed me with another male practitioner. They used our money to take a tour in Beijing. In the detention center, the police shocked my back and neck with an electric baton. As I fell to the floor a female police officer stepped on my hand and pressed down on them with her high-heeled leather shoes. My husband paid another 4,000 Yuan to get me out.

After I returned home, I continued to be monitored and harassed constantly. They forbade me to practice the exercises or read Falun Dafa books. I was not allowed to talk to other practitioners. I felt like I was living in a jail cell. They didn't allow me to go to work and closed our shop. They sealed our store with police tape. One time someone came to my home to buy some goods and the police thought this person was a Falun Gong practitioner. They took him to the police station to interrogate him. Once again they attempted to send me to a detention center or a forced labor camp. They attempted to force me to write a pledge defaming Falun Gong and forced me into a brainwashing class. I refused to cooperate with them and ran away several times in order to avoid this persecution. They made trouble for my husband.

In October 2001, again they forced me into a brainwashing class and again I ran away several times. They threatened my relatives. Because my husband was afraid of being caught he often stayed away during the night. Some officials then tried to pressure him to divorce me. I did not consent, but the judge said, "I'll rule in favor of a divorce if you continue to practice Falun Gong!" I responded that nowhere in the constitution does it say that practicing Falun Gong is grounds for a divorce. The court refused my appeal and said they were informed that they must rule in favor of divorce if someone practices Falun Gong. Because of the unjust persecution of Falun Gong our happy family was torn apart and my son and I suffered a great deal. My son could not study calmly in school because of the immense emotional suffering he was enduring and the relationship between my husband and my son became problematic. I am now the only one shouldering the burden of taking care of our family.

In China, there is no place left for us Falun Gong practitioners, people who practice compassion, to appeal. I hope the kind people of the world will use their conscience to judge Jiang Zemin and I hope the international courts will uphold justice by putting Jiang, the person responsible for bringing all this pain and suffering to people, on trial.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/6/6/51726.html