(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Xu Ruhua, and I used to live at Yunlin, Danyang city, Jiangsu province. In May 1998 I was so fortunate to begin to practice Falun Dafa. Before that, I had a uterus tumor, tonsillitis and sore joints. My husband was suffering the protrusion of the lumbar discs, leaving some sequelae and side effects derived from it. After we had begun to cultivate Falun Dafa, both of us became healthy. Based on "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance," we always require of ourselves be kind to everyone.

However, the Jiang regime persecutes Falun Gong practitioners--many of us have been beaten, detained, sent to forced labor camps, sentenced to prison, had our houses searched, and some have even been persecuted to death. I was one of those persecuted.

In October 2000, my husband, our 4-month old son and I went to Beijing to appeal. We were illegally arrested by Danyang Police and held in the Danyang Detention center for 5 days.

On February 21st, 2001, without following any legal procedures, policemen in Danyang Yunlin Police Station took me to their station by force, charging my husband and I with distributing Dafa materials. At that time, I was holding my 9-month old son in my arms. On the night of February 22nd, the policemen in the Yunlin Police Station forcibly separated my son and I. I was sent to the Danyang Detention center and detained there for 25 days. The Lianyungang Police Station also sent my husband to a forced labor center for 1 year.

On March 27^th 2001, when I had only been released for 2 days, the policemen from the Danyang Yunlin Police Station tricked me and unlawfully detained me in a brainwashing center. Because I persisted in my practice, a deputy director of the station (with family name Wang) punched me repeatedly, and I was also forced to remain standing until I was sent to Danyang Detained Center for a month of continued imprisonment.

On May 10^th 2001, I returned to Beijing to appeal and then was subsequently sentenced to 3 years imprisonment. I was detained in Danyang for a very long time. Because I persisted in cultivation , during that period, I suffered corporal punishment and had torture instruments forced on me.

On June 13th 2001, a deputy director with family name Dai handcuffed me to my waist for 33 days. A thick leather belt was affixed with screws around my waist, and my hands were handcuffed while attached to each side of the belt. When the temperature went up, it became more humid in the crowded prison house. I was unable to take a bath because my hands were immobile. Some people helped me to tear the clothes that I had worn for 8 days off my body, wash my head and body, and dress me with clothes that could be more easily changed. The handcuffs rubbed against my wrists in the hot weather and rubbed off the skin.

On July 16^th 2001, Zhaozhong Dai shackled my feet for 9 days. Starting on July 25^th 2001, he handcuffed me to a door for 3 days. It was other practitioners and kind-hearted people who cleaned my body, fed me food and helped me relieve myself.

On August 7^th 2001, Zhaozhong Dai tortured me by "Nailing Ox Piles" (Two feet are shackled with an iron chain connecting them and the chain is nailed to a bed). During that time, I was unable to move my feet and I had to sit all the time. I still had to perform forced labor with my hands. Only at night did they allow me to lie down. I really appreciated the help of 67-year old practitioner Meifeng Zhu (she was also persecuted by Zhaozhong Dai with "Nailing Ox Piles") who served me food and water, washed my clothes and helped me with urination and discharge.

Only until the 77^th day, after I removed the big iron nail, could I get out of the bed and go for a walk. On the 81^st day, Zhaozhong Dai removed the shackles from my feet. At that time, my feet were bloated and very numb, and I could only limp along.

On February 4^th 2002, deputy director Zhaozhong Dai again put the handcuffs on my waist. During the first 45 days, I could not take a bath. After I protested, I was allowed to take a bath. However, once the bath was finished the handcuffs were again put on my waist. Because I was unable to move my hands while handcuffed, I had to rely on other people to wash my hair and clean my body. My hands were in a lot of pain. That was until June 24^th, when my hands broke free from the cuffs and I could once again clean myself. However, the thick leather belt on my waist was not taken off until July 24^th. It was on my body for 170 days.

On September 28^th 2002, the director of the detention center, Suokun Chen, gave the order to handcuff me to the door. Because I protested the persecution by hunger striking for two days, I was released from the board.

In November 2002, because I did not pay attention to Zhaozhong Dai's scolding me, he opened the door of the prison house, grabbed me by the hair and threw me from the bed onto the ground. Then, he grabbed one of my legs, dragged me out of the room, and stamped one of his feet on my shoulder. He handcuffed me to the door. I was released after I fasted for two days. However, a tendon on my right leg was injured when I was handcuffed on the door board. My right leg hurt for one month and I could only walk very slowly.

Another time, I was force-fed because I held a hunger strike as a protest against the persecution. The policemen handcuffed me, pushed me onto the ground and pinned my hands down. Doctor Jianjun Ma pried open my mouth while Zhaozhong Dai grabbed my hair in one hand and pinched my nose shut with the other. Two other prisoners were commanded to pour porridge into my mouth with a spoon and a toothbrush inserted into my mouth. Only after seeing that I was choking and almost out of breath, did Zhaozhong Dai released his hands to let me take a breath. After that, my lips were broken by their prying and very swollen. My mouth was full of sores.

In July 2003, I thought again and again about the reason that I was detained here and had suffered the persecution for such a long time. All of us practitioners always require of ourselves to be good people following "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance", to clarify the truth to more people, and hope that more people would also have a healthy body and a kind heart. What we did was just telling the officials in the government our personal experience of the benefits from cultivation practice: "Falun Dafa is Good," and to please treat Falun Gong with kindness. We were not in the wrong, had never committed any illegal activities and should not be persecuted. I told the policemen in the prison and Zhaozhong Dai that I wanted to leave the prison and also claimed three reasons: 1) I never committed any illegal activities. 2) Falun Dafa is a righteous cultivation practice. Its practitioners are good, and good people should not be here, in prison. I wanted to leave so as to better cultivate and practice. 3) I did not abandon my family members. It is you who separated my family members and I. My family members need me and my son needs the care from his mother.

Therefore, I began to refuse the wrongdoers' persecution and fasted for 17 days. During these days, I was force-fed several times. Zhaozhong Dai's force-feeding method was extraordinarily inhumane. At last, the doctor checked my body and said, "She is dehydrated. Her bowels have hardened and her heartbeat is slow. If the temperature rises and she is sweating or has a fever, the situation may become worse." In such a situation, in the morning of August 15^th, the people in the Danyang "610 Office" agreed to send me to the Danyang Chinese Medicine Hospital. Because I refused an intravenous injection, one of my hands was handcuffed to the metal bed. Even though I was in such a bad state, Xinhui Su from the "610 Office" still tried to force me to write the guarantee to "stop practicing Falun Gong, not communicate with other practitioners and not go to Beijing for appeal". I firmly refused and continued to fast. Around 11:00 PM that night, the "610 Office" people and the director the detention center were hopeless, showed me the notice that released me from prison (by reason of illness) and then removed the shackles from my feet.

I heard someone asked them, "Did you think that detaining Xu Ruhua in the detention center is illegal?" Xinhui Su from the"610 Office" answered, "What is legal or illegal is depends on my superiors." Moreover, they never gave me the release procedure from the detention center. They only informed me that I could not leave Danyang.

On the night of August 18^th 2003, when I came back home, people from the security squad following the command of Er'ling Police Station came to my home to check things out. They said that their superiors told them to keep watch around my home every night and prevent me from leaving my home. To hide the fact that I had gained my freedom by fasting, Xinhui Su from the"610 Office" came to my home twice and made my father sign his name on their faked "Application of Execution of Imprisonment outside of the Detention Center". The reason for the first "application" was that I got "hepatitis" and the reason for the second was "edema".

On the morning of October 10^th 2003, policeman Yunxiang Lu from Er'ling Police Station deceived me and brought me to their station. Then I was sent to a brainwashing center, housed in the Zhengjiang Police Academy. After I phoned my family members, I found out that Yunxiang Lu had broken in the door of my house and searched it. Then, I demanded of Yunxiang Lu, "What did you take after you broke into my house?" He denied that he had entered my house. On the night of October 27^th, I knew that commissar Liu of Danyang Police Station, Xinhui Su and Jianjun Zhou from "610 Office", and the director of the detention center had searched my house 3 times. The director of Er'ling Police Station threatened my family members that if I was not 'transformed' (made to stop practicing) I would be again sent to a forced labor camp for 3 years, which made my relatives very worried. My older brother had schizophrenia and after hearing their threats, he became very anxious all day long.

My husband and my son were in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. My son was just 9 months old when I began to be persecuted. I was separated from him for such a long time. They needed me, so I came to Lianyungang.

On January 7^th 2004, policemen from Danyang Er'ling Police Station went to my parents-in-laws' home to bring me back to Danyang. After they found nothing, they went to the home of my aunt. They are still persecuting my family members and me, even today.