(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zheng Yijian (pseudonym) was arrested and sent to a labor camp because he persisted in Dafa cultivation. During the past few years, he persisted in a state of diligent cultivation. He firmly resisted persecution and never stopped doing the Dafa exercises and studying the Fa. At the same time, he treated with benevolence the labor camp guards and Dafa practitioners who made mistakes. Below are stories of his validation of Dafa.

In March 2000, Dafa practitioner Zheng Yijian was arrested and sent to a labor camp. At the city police department, Zheng Yijian began a hunger strike to resist the persecution. Likewise, he also refused to eat after he arrived at the labor camp. The Dafa practitioners in Division Two of the labor camp immediately cooperated and started a group hunger strike. The guards were shocked and scattered the practitioners to Division One, Division Two, and Division Three in order to make the persecution easier.

Zheng Yijian was sent to Division One. He was very weak at the time, yet he clarified the truth to others. When the guards tried to force-feed him he firmly resisted, so the guards tied him in a chair and force-fed him. Because of his weakness he could speak only in a low voice; yet whenever he opened his mouth, he always clarified the truth, exposed the evil and taught people to be good. Later he was detained in solitary confinement and the guards force-fed him at set times. They sent criminals to monitor him and didn't allow him to have contact with other practitioners.

Under these circumstances, beginning in late March, Zheng Yijian started doing the Dafa exercises in the labor camp. He did the fifth exercise around 4:00 a.m. every day, and he didn't care at all about the threats and coercion from the patrolling guards. The perpetrators were most afraid of practitioners doing the Dafa exercises. What shocked them even more was that a group of Dafa practitioners all began doing the Dafa exercises despite the pressure. The guards forced brainwashing on the practitioners. They put the practitioners who did the Dafa exercises in a small room and ordered inmates to read Dafa-slandering articles. At the same time they were planning a greater conspiracy. The guards and inmates in all cells were heard to say while grinding their teeth in anger, "Beat them, start beating."

On April 24, 2003, the attempt to organize a group-exercise failed. From then on, the guards used sleep deprivation and slave labor to torment the practitioners who took part in the exercises. Every day, they forced the practitioners to dig ditches during the day and make paper flowers and sew cloth balls at night until 4:00 a.m. the next morning. They were only allowed two hours of sleep, after which they were forced to get up and start digging. This brutal abuse did not beat Zheng Yijian down. After he soaked in the mud hole for a day and sat in front of the workstation for a night, he immediately sat in the double-crossed-leg posture and did the exercises.

This torment lasted 30 days. During this period, Zheng Yijian persisted in doing daily Dafa exercises without exception.

After 30 days, some practitioners couldn't persist, so the guards shifted their persecution efforts to Zheng Yijian. One night, the sounds from electric batons were heard for a whole night. The guard on duty was Du, a sadistic person who liked to torture people. He was later transferred to Group Five. When he couldn't find fault with the inmates, he shocked insects with the electric baton for fun. He especially enjoyed shouting hysterically when shocking people. He pulled Zheng Yijian into the restroom and started hitting him with an electric baton. He used a baton with the highest voltage turned on. The electric current was so strong that Zheng Yijian fell to the ground when the baton touched him. He slowly rose and stood up proudly. He was again hit to the ground and again stood up...he was tortured for a whole night. At dawn, Dafa practitioner Zheng Yijian still stood there in good spirits. During the whole night, other than the noise of the baton and the yelling of the guard, no one heard anything from Zheng Yijian. What shocked perpetrator Du even more was the eternal smile on Zheng Yijian's face. Zheng Yijian always smiled during the tribulations in the days following, and the perpetrators were shocked and scared.

The next day Zheng Yijian's body was covered with bruises but the smile was still on his face. At night, the perpetrators were very disappointed to see that he still did the Dafa exercises on time, and he did it for a longer time than usual. The guards ordered inmates to take turns beating him, but Zheng Yijian didn't say anything and kept doing the Dafa exercises.

About one week later, guard Du was on duty again. Another perpetrator, Hu, who is the deputy head of a division, was an alcoholic and he liked to beat inmates half to death for fun after he became drunk. At roll call at night, they claimed if anyone did the Dafa exercises in the evening, they would use the most severe punishment. All inmates trembled in fear, and the whole labor camp was engulfed in an atmosphere of terror.

At 4:00 a.m., Zheng Yijian started doing the fifth exercise. Guard Du, who had been preparing for a long time, shouted and jumped at Zheng Yijian, using all his strength to whip Zheng Yijian with a police baton. The hysterical screaming of the guard filled the whole hallway, as he used a rubber stick, an electric baton and his fists and feet. Zheng Yijian wasn't moved at all and persisted as usual. By dawn, Du was exhausted. He sat on the floor and panted heavily.

At roll call in the morning, the division head shouted and pulled Zheng Yijian out. He took a police baton and hit Zheng Yijian with all his might. He especially hit Zheng Yijian's head, stomach and other areas that are easily hurt. Zheng Yijian never made a sound. The guard grew tired and ordered Zheng Yijian to go downstairs and start working. At this time, Zheng Yijian's whole body was covered in blood and his head was severely bruised and bleeding profusely. The guards didn't allow him any medical treatment and forced him to work as usual. As if nothing had happened, Zheng Yijian put a piece of paper on the head wound.

The guards didn't give up after their failure. Several young guards still wanted to persecute him. No matter how fanatical the persecution was, Zheng Yijian never stopped doing the Dafa exercises. Late one night, when Zheng Yijian was doing the fifth exercise, two guards grabbed an electric baton and suddenly hit him. Zheng Yijian remained calm and silently recited Dafa scriptures. Suddenly, the electric baton broke into pieces and fell to the ground. The guards were shocked but they didn't give up. They found another electric baton and again tried to attack Zheng Yijian. Zheng Yijian was still very calm and read scriptures and sent forth righteous thoughts. The second electric baton again broke and fell to the ground. The two guards were dumbfounded with shock. Zheng Yijian picked up the broken pieces from the floor and gave them to the guards. His eyes were filled with pity and compassion. From then on, the magical story of Zheng Yijian breaking electric batons with righteous thoughts spread in the labor camp. It encouraged other practitioners and awakened the common criminals.

From then on, no one again disturbed Zheng Yijian when he did the exercises at 4:00 a.m. When the patrolling guards saw him they quickly walked away and pretended they didn't see anything. No one wanted to brutally beat Zheng Yijian to please the labor camp authorities; on the contrary, all criminal inmates treated him with respect.

Later, a division head named Wei was transferred here. He is very tall and his yelling is high-decibel. He always held electric batons and wood clubs. Once he tried to subdue Zheng Yijian. He tied Zheng Yijian to a bed and beat him with a large and thick wooden plank. He didn't release Zheng Yijian until he became tired beating him. Right after he released Zheng Yijian from the handcuffs, Zheng began doing the Dafa exercises. After several rounds of torture the proud division head begged, "Brother, please give me some face. Don't do it when I'm here, do it after I leave, ok?"

In the eight months between April 2000 and December 2000, the guards indulged in a frenzied persecution of forcing Dafa practitioners to write a "repentance statement."* The guards used sleep deprivation, heavy labor, brutal beating by numerous inmates, torture, brainwashing by guards and collaborators,** and they used the practitioners' family members in an attempt to "convert" them.

However, during the peak of this persecution, the guards always kept away from Zheng Yijian. Zheng Yijian was put in a big room and was freed from doing manual labor and the freezing weather outside. The guards didn't dare to interfere when he did the Dafa exercises. The guards were extremely vicious toward newly arrived practitioners, but they begged Zheng Yijian, "I won't even think about asking you to write a repentance statement. I just beg you not to do the exercises in front of everyone!" By this time, more than one inmate started learning the Dafa exercises from Zheng Yijian, and some inmates copied and recited Dafa scriptures with him.

Because of Zheng Yijian's courageous actions, a large group of Dafa practitioners began a group hunger strike and did the group exercises. Because of this, the guards at Division One started a large-scale persecution, and it elevated to a brutal extent. Facing this situation, some practitioners didn't understand and said, "We caused the persecution to elevate." Regarding this issue, Dafa practitioner Zheng Yijian's understanding was, "the evil in other dimensions is right here. It will do evil, no matter what. It will commit evil even if you hide away from it. Therefore, we absolutely cannot cooperate with it or tolerate it. We must eliminate it with determination and validate Dafa in a state of great diligence."

The large-scale persecution of forcing practitioners to write "repentance statements" started in July 2000. The practitioners who didn't dare to disobey the guards became the first victims of persecution. When they were brutally tortured with electric batons for a long time, some practitioners were forced to write "repentance statements." Some practitioners realized their mistakes and became diligent Dafa practitioners. During the nine months, diligent Dafa practitioners were daily brutally beaten or tortured with electric batons, but they remained unmoved. They eventually defeated all of the guards' evil attempts and were able to do the Dafa exercises whenever they wanted to, and the guards kept away from them.

Master told us, "...after some Dafa disciples are arrested, they are able to maintain an unshakable calm, and they have no fear. You'll see that the old forces don't dare to persecute them. It's because they know that unless they beat them to death, any persecution of them won't do a thing, so they don't touch them. How many students can do this? Their being so steadfast in Dafa terrifies the evil." (Touring North America to Teach the Fa)

Dafa practitioner Zheng Yijian displayed not the painful image of a person enduring torture, but a magnificent Fa rectification period Dafa disciple!

"Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos's Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples' rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings' thoughts disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is." ("Also in a Few Words," Essentials for Further Advancement II).

*The "Repentance Statement" -- In this statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practicing Falun Gong, promises to give up Falun Gong, and will never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

**Collaborators are former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/9/4/56766.html