(Clearwisdom.net)

Since beginning the practice of Falun Dafa in 1997, I have benefited in both body and mind. My friends and relatives have all been witness to this. Most notably, I have rapidly improved in the area of my mind. Since July 20, 1999, when the Jiang regime banned Falun Dafa, I have endured persecution because I am determined to practice. The following is a short summary of my experiences.

Wounds from the persecution (picture)

Right shoulder: approximately 9cm long, 4cm wide and 1 cm thick
Wound at the exterior of neck vertebra: approximately 4cm long, 2.5cm wide and 1cm thick
Left shoulder: approximately 10cm long, 2cm wide and 0.5cm think

On July 22, 1999, I was harassed by officials from the local government and local police station several times, and was later illegally arrested and sent to the police station. The chief of the police station and other officials tried to force me to give up my practice. They tried to force me to stay standing for the entire night, hit and scolded me, and tried to force me to step on pictures of Teacher Li, which I refused to do. This persecution lasted continually for several days. After seeing my determination in the practice, the local government and police station officials sent me to the detention center, where I was handcuffed by the guards and beaten, scolded, and forced to sit on a metal chair for 5 days. Even though I was detained in this fashion for half a month, I was still determined in my cultivation. So they had no choice but to release me.

Upon my return home, local police came to my home on several occasions to try to threaten me into giving up my cultivation. They also tried in vain to slander my reputation, claiming that I wasn't working hard in the fields, and that my house was full of weeds, so they wanted to take video footage of it. However my house was clean and tidy with no grass, so they took footage of someone else's home that was full of weeds, and claimed that it was my home. However my wife found out about what they were doing and sternly stopped them from doing it.

During October 1999 they tried both soft and hard persecution tactics on me, but all were in vain. They locked me up in the local detention center and tortured me mentally and physically in an attempt to force me to give up my cultivation. In the meantime, local government officials said to me, "As long as you say just one sentence, which is that you are willing to give up your cultivation, then we will return you home, and you can even claim back all the lodging fees that you have incurred during your detention." I said to him, "I have done nothing wrong by cultivating 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance,' I'd rather give up my life than give up my cultivation." Through these methods, they locked me up for 4 months and later sentenced me to one year in a labor camp.

When I arrived at the labor camp, both collaborators* and criminals tortured me simultaneously. Among them was a male guard in his 50's who often beat Dafa practitioners using horrific methods, not to mention the beatings and scolding which occurred on a daily basis, leaving wounds all over my body.

One time the middle team leader ordered criminals to torture me. They first beat me severely with a belt, then asked me if I would continue to practice. When I replied, "Yes," they crushed me with a basket full of stones that weighed approximately 100 KG (220 lb.). After I was smashed to the floor, they ground the basket against my neck and shoulder, causing my skin to immediately bleed and split open like a flower blossoming. This happened right in the midst of summer, and because they did not treat my wounds, my wounds became rotten and stank. A few days later, a collaborator, in conjunction with several criminals, dragged me into the water room. They proceeded to push me down and force-feed me with an unknown drug, claiming they were trying to treat my wounds. I said to them, "You have tortured me to this point, how can you even talk about giving me treatment?" They used a toothbrush to spread drugs, alcohol, and vinegar into my wounds. It was extremely cruel. It was not until a few months later that my wounds began to slowly heal. After they healed there were still a few lacerations left that resembled a tumor. To this day I often feel sharp pain and itchiness at these wounds.

It was my determination to practice Dafa and my striving to gain freedom of belief that led me to go to Beijing to seek justice at the end of 2000. I was arrested and sent back to the county detention center. Under direction of the chief of the local police department, I was beaten for an entire day while having my hands cuffed in a "back sword"** position. They beat me with a 2-inch-wide rubber tube, until it broke. I was then forced to sit on a metal chair while they forcefully stepped on my bare feet. They tried to force me to condemn Teacher Li and Dafa, but I would never do it, and so they beat me cruelly for the entire day, until my entire body was deformed. I was imprisoned for nearly one month, and was later sentenced to 2 years in the labor camp.

While I was in the labor camp, collaborators were ordered to brainwash me, but it was in vain. At this point, other practitioners and I held a hunger strike for more than 20 days. During this time we were brutally force-fed. One time they tried for more than 40 minutes to force a rubber tube through my nose and into my stomach. The educational police officer, Yang, often visits other labor camps to "study" torture methods to use on Dafa practitioners. Yang always chose the night and used methods such as electric shock, handcuffing, sleep deprivation, and punching and kicking. As long as practitioners were still determined in their belief, the persecution did not stop. During my detention there were two Dafa practitioners who were tortured to the point of nearly dying. The officials were afraid of being held responsible, so they called the practitioner's families to take them back home. Unfortunately, shortly after the practitioners returned home they passed away. A team leader with the surname of "Zeng" and a collaborator with the surname of "Fan" ordered these events.

Falun Gong has now been persecuted for four years, for three of which I was locked up. This is simply due to my determination to cultivate Falun Dafa, to live according to the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," and my wish to become a good person. Initially I was very healthy in terms of mind and body, yet after suffering persecution in the labor camps I became extremely weak. After the labor camp performed a physical examination and check-up on me they declared that I have severe heart disease and high blood pressure. They all said that I would not live for long.

At the end of December 2002 I was released. The police did not dare to persecute me too wantonly, but they nonetheless harassed me at my house on two occasions. I still experience sharp pains and itchiness at my wounds, and my legs and hands are numb. I find it difficult to walk or do any work, and my eyesight has also deteriorated. My experience is only a tiny portion of the persecution that Falun Dafa practitioners endure, which is something that cannot be described even through exhaustive writing.

* Collaborators are former Falun Gong practitioners who have turned against Dafa due to brainwashing and torture.

** In the "back sword" position the practitioner's hands are tied behind his back with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. The police then apply a great deal of force to pull the two hands toward one another and handcuff the two hands together.

2003-8-20