December 16, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) A few retired workers from Factory No. 134 in Xinxiang City, Henan Province, have benefited a great deal both physically and mentally since they started practicing Falun Gong.

On July 20, 1999, Dictator Jiang Zemin began persecuting Falun Gong. In order to appeal to the government and tell the facts about Falun Gong, these practitioners went to Beijing. At that time, police, plainclothes officers, security guards, and paramilitary police were stationed all over the place. Every person passing by was asked whether he or she was a Falun Gong practitioner. If the answer was "yes," the person was taken into a police car. If they answered "no," the person was forced to swear at Falun Gong's founder, Teacher Li Hongzhi, as proof they didn't practice Falun Gong.

In addition to beating Falun Gong practitioners, the police also detained them, sentenced them to jail terms, and sent them to forced labor camps with out trial. The political and judiciary commission at the Hongqi District of Xinxiang city also fined practitioners large sums of money (those who went to Beijing once were fined 35,000 yuan [500 yuan is an urban worker's monthly salary.]. They were fined 70,000 yuan if they went twice). Several Dafa practitioners from Factory No.134 went to Beijing to appeal. When they came back, they were fined, but they did not agree to pay these arbitrary fines. As a result, the political and judiciary commission took the money by freezing the Factory's bank account and seized more than 200,000 yuan from the Factory's production capital fund. The Factory administration also suspended these practitioners' retirement pension, which has not been fully paid to date.

Ms. Wang Kaiying is a retired worker from Factory No.134. In 1999, she was illegally detained for 15 days for practicing Falun Gong in Xinxiang City's Muye Park. Afterward, she went to Beijing to validate Dafa, but was again jailed for 15 days. In May 2000, a picture exhibition was held at the Xinxiang Culture Palace to defame Falun Gong. To prevent this exhibition from deceiving people, Ms. Wang went to the Culture Palace and joined a Falun Gong group practice that was held there to allow people to learn the truth about Falun Gong. Finally, the picture exhibit was taken down. Yet, Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted even more viciously.

The Police abducted Ms. Wang Kaiying and took her to the Rongxiao Road Police Station. Police chief Wu Jianrui and Cao Zhanhong interrogated her all afternoon. When they left, Wang Kaiying, a woman over fifty years old, was forced to stand upright the entire night as a form of punishment. The next day, these Dafa practitioners were forced to balance bottle caps on their heads. If the bottle caps fell off at any point, the police would beat the practitioners and slam their heads against the walls. Wang Kaiying suffered injuries to her head and a fist-size bruise. In the afternoon, these practitioners' had their hands cuffed and they were hung up by the handcuffs to an iron rail. Their feet, far from the ground, were lightly touching a barely reachable wooden stool, which could be easily kicked aside. In this way, these Dafa practitioners were hung up for several hours. Wang Kaiying received bruises and bloody blisters on her wrists.

In December 2000, Wang Kaiying went to Beijing again to validate Dafa. She was intercepted while en route in Anyang City. The Hongqi Police took her back and detained her for 15 days. Her detention was extended many days, and she was sent to the Changhuan County Detention Center. The Detention Center director beat every Falun Gong practitioner that arrived. The director struck Wang Kaiying the hardest. After a slap, the director demanded, "Do you give up [the belief of Falun Gong] or not?!" Wang Kaiying firmly answered, "Never!" The director continued the torture. When the director's hand began to hurt, he hit her with a wooden board. The torture only stopped when the director grew tired and dropped the board. Wang Kaiying's face was horribly disfigured, bloody and badly injured. Her face, nose, and eyes had become purple and swollen out of proportion.

Wang Kaiying subsequently was sentenced to three years of forced labor and sent to Zhengzhou City's Shibalihe Forced Labor Camp. In the Camp, Falun Gong practitioners are monitored by inmates, under direction of the camp guards, and they do not permit the practitioners to speak. If practitioners violate any of their directives they are tortured. Smaller acts of resistance are punished with beating and binding with ropes, while more determined efforts to resist the persecution are punished with even crueler tortures, such being tied up for extended periods in straightjackets specifically designed for torture. Guang Ge, a 32-year-old fellow practitioner from Henan Normal University in Xinxiang City, was tortured to death in this way.

Wang Kaiying has undergone similar acts of persecution. Because of her unshakeable faith in Falun Dafa, the police at the forced labor camp recently extended her jail term.