By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Recollecting my cultivation experiences of the past several years, I truly feel Teacher's greatness, and the magnificence of Falun Dafa. No matter how rampant the evil is, we can overcome any tribulation as long as we firmly believe in Dafa, remember that we are Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period, and that Teacher and Dafa are always with us.

I am a Falun Dafa practitioner from Yuncheng, Shanxi. I am fortunate to have learned Falun Dafa in 1996 and have benefited tremendously from it. I strictly require myself to act according to "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," at all times. In 2000, because I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, I was illegally detained in a forced labor camp for a year and a half. Although I suffered various tortures in the labor camp, the evil was frightened because I still steadfastly believed in Dafa, sent forth righteous thoughts, opposed the persecution, and maintained righteous thoughts and actions.

On March 6, 2001, I was sent to the forced labor camp. On April 3, 2001, I was transferred to the "Education Team" for forced brainwashing. At that time, my husband requested a divorce, and my workplace also sent many people to do "my work." My husband asked me to choose between our marriage and Dafa. If I "transformed", he promised to take me home in five months. I refused to "transform," so the forced labor camp regarded me as a key target, and arranged collaborators to monitor me for 52 days. I firmly refused to listen to or watch programs and books that slandered Falun Gong, but instead continued to do the exercises and hand-copied and recited Teacher's articles. People on duty in the corridor tried to stop me from doing the exercises, but I persisted in practicing in the corridor. The guards also talked to me many times. I told them, "I am a practitioner and as a practitioner, I should study the Fa and do the exercises. You can decide what you want to do." Later, they stopped interfering with me, and told me to practice in the room. The team leader also stopped coming to check up on me at night.

After a while, the director of the labor camp requested to have a "talk" with me. On May 25, I was transferred to the No. 3 Division. On the morning of May 26, the judiciary team came to inspect the labor camp, but did not come to the No. 3 Division. On the way to the restroom, a fellow practitioner saw that they were taking pictures in the square in front of the building. All 22 of us practitioners crowded at the window and loudly shouted out, "The Fa rectifies heaven and earth, the evil is suffocated!" (At that time, we had not obtained the verse for sending forth righteous thoughts.) The officials got into the car and left in a hurry. The cadres and guards at the labor camp quickly rushed to the third level, while we were still shouting.

Around the Chinese New Year or other holidays, the labor camp is more rigid. On the night of October 1, 2001, I was doing the exercises. The head of the inmates in the cell and the person on duty asked me to stop doing the exercises and go to sleep. They also called the guard, but I continued to practice. Then they told several inmates to beat me and drag me to the bed by grabbing my hair. As soon as they let me go, I got up to do the exercises. I did not want to sleep, but they still tied me to the bed. I began to recite Lunyu out loud and also shouted out, "Falun Dafa is great." The inmates then stuffed my mouth with the dirty rags used to wipe the floor, and ordered an inmate to lie on top of me. Within two minutes after she lay down, she could not breathe, and had to get up. The head of the inmates, however, forced her to sleep on top of me. She lay down again and could not breathe. She began to groan instead. Later, they told another inmate to lie in bed in a different position, using both of her heels to smash my thighs. Then this inmate could not bear the itchiness of her feet, and could not sleep. After the head of the inmates went to sleep, other inmates quietly untied me. Around 10 a.m. on the second morning, the "prisoner's head" said to me, "If you want to practice, you can do so. When the team leader comes to stop you, just stop for a while, and continue after the team leader leaves."

When we read Teacher's words "No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates," ("Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" from Essentials For Further Advancement II) and "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces," ("Dafa is Indestructible" from Essentials For Further Advancement II) I came to understand that when practitioners were sent to forced labor camps and prisons, it was the arrangement of the old evil forces. Teacher would not want us to be in those places. Practitioners should completely negate the old forces' arrangements. I decided to not cooperate with the perpetrators and refused to do what inmates were asked to do, such as wearing the prison uniform or doing labor.

One night, the persecutors instigated several inmates to torture a practitioner by force-feeding the practitioner with drugs. When I heard the practitioner's cries, I ran out of my cell and rushed toward that practitioner's cell, while shouting out, "Don't persecute Falun Dafa practitioners!" The director of the No. 3 Group was standing nearby, but did not utter a sound or try to stop me. The inmate assigned to monitor me dragged me back to the cell. The next morning, I refused to participate in roll call. When the director asked me, "What happened to you? Are you asleep?" I replied, "We are under persecution; from today on, I will not cooperate with the persecution." The director then asked others to continue with the roll call. Afterwards, the head of the inmates of my cell wanted to beat me, but the inmate assigned to monitor me stopped her. From that morning on, I also refused to do any labor.

A few days later, I ran into the director in the hallway, and she asked me why I refused to participate in roll call. I told her, "Practitioners are all good people; we have not committed any crime or wrongdoing. Putting us in a forced labor camp is pure persecution, so I will not cooperate with that." She left without a word.

I was released in June 2002.

When I was detained in the forced labor camp, my husband divorced me under pressure. I also lost my job and my apartment, and was forced to live a homeless life, moving from place to place.

On September 12, 2002, about 11 weeks after I was released, I stayed at a fellow practitioner's place. I had just received 40,000 yuan from the divorce settlement and was planning to rent an apartment. Yet around 7 p.m. that night, about a dozen police officers broke into the practitioner's home and ransacked the place. I was arrested again, and the persecutors forcefully took away the 40,000 yuan that I had. They tied my arms behind my back and I dragged me away because I refused to cooperate with them.

When I arrived at the police station, the persecutors interrogated me continuously for two days and two nights. They handcuffed me with my hands behind my back, with one of my hands going over the shoulder. After some time they alternated the positions of my hands. As a result, the handcuffs cut into my wrists and broke the skin. They also forced me to squat down on my toes for over 10 hours, and pried on my arms with batons. I did nothing but clarify the truth to them. Finally, they put me in detention with the excuse of "refusing to admit her crimes."

In order to resist the persecution in the detention center, I went on a hunger strike and did not eat or drink anything. The persecutors then sent me to the Ankang Prison hospital. In the hospital, I continued my hunger strike. The police tortured me using various methods and intravenously gave me some unknown drugs. Every time they put a needle in me, it took them many tries to get the needle in. They also tied me up on a bed for over 10 hours. Sometimes my hands were so tightly tied up that they turned purple and could not move. Sometimes they left me only on a bare bed board with nothing on it and did not give me any blankets. During that time, I continuously vomited yellow fluid. They also forbade me from using the restroom. Every time they tried to tie me up and insert the needle, I refused to cooperate with them and would shout out, "Falun Dafa is good." My arms and hands were covered with black marks left by the needles.

Many times I was able to break loose from the ropes and break the rubber tubes they used for the infusions. Yet the persecutors still tried to force feed me. They had difficulty inserting the tube into my stomach because I did not cooperate with them. Once they tried 10 times to insert the feeding tube. They failed every time. They also tried to force feed me eight times in one day, but were only successful in inserting the tube into my stomach once. There was also a time when they inserted the tube through my nostril, and it went into my mouth or my trachea. An official said, "Since it's so hard to insert the tube, don't do it any more." A senior nurse said, "We have tried to insert the tube 10 times, but all in vain." A police officer asked the nurse, "How could the tube get into the mouth?" The nurse said, "It is very strange, I have been inserting feeding tubes for many years, and I have never seen this happen before."

I also persisted in doing the exercises. Once when I was practicing, a police officer used a wet towel to whip my face. I grabbed the towel and asked him why he hit me; but he left without a word. Later on, the police officer told the inmates to leave me alone when I was doing the exercises. An inmate later told me, "Seeing that you are so firm, they (the police) cannot keep beating you. I truly admire you guys." Another time, a police officer talked with me, and I clarified the truth to him, telling him that I had benefited much from the practice of Falun Gong. After he listened to me, he said that he would never persecute Falun Gong practitioners again.

When they force-fed me for the last time, a doctor from the Beilin Police Station was also present. He waved a release document in front of me and said, "All you need to do is to take one sip of this, and I will take you back; otherwise you could faint on the way there." I ignored him. Several policemen then wrapped me up in a bed sheet, leaving only my head exposed. Again the feeding tube went into my mouth. I bit down on the tube with my teeth, and the persecutors could not move the tube at all. Then they used an iron tool to try and pry open my mouth. No matter how hard they tried, it did not work. The next day, my family members took me home.

On November 6, 2003, someone reported me to the police while I was distributing truth-clarifying materials. The police from the Weiyang Police Station arrested me and dragged me into their police car. On the way to the police station and after I arrived there, I kept shouting out, "Falun Dafa is good." During the interrogation, the police asked me to stand. I then sat on the floor with my legs crossed, while telling them, "Falun Gong practitioners are good people, and we have not committed any crime. Why do you interrogate me?" I refused to tell them any information. That night, they put me in a room with two security guards (one was 22 years old and the other was 20). At first the guards tried to ignore me. I clarified the truth to them, telling them the principles of being a good person and the karmic relationships of good deeds and bad deeds. They understood the truth and were very grateful. I then told them to remember that Falun Dafa is good and that "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" is good. They said to me, "We will definitely remember your words; you be careful yourself."

The next day, a policeman who had arrested me last time recognized me. He said, "We can discuss it, and let your family members take you home." I knew that he wanted to extort money from me, and I firmly refused to cooperate with such an evil deed. I was detained for 36 hours before they transferred me to the detention center. On my way there, I continuously shouted out, "Falun Dafa is good." We arrived at the detention center after midnight. A doctor at the detention center asked for my name. I said, "Now, I have lost my job, my home, my apartment, and all my money. All I have left is my life. I will continue to practice Falun Gong no matter what. By taking me in, you are bringing yourself trouble because I will never eat or drink anything here." The doctor was hesitant to accept me, since the arrest order did not specify the duration of detention. The policemen who had brought me there went out with the doctor and they discussed among themselves for a while before they decided the put "15 days" as the duration of detention on the arrest order.

I firmly resisted their effort to search my body, and I shouted out loud, "Release me," "This is persecution," and "Falun Dafa is good!" Several inmates were ordered to come to the reception room and carry me to the cell. I continued to shout. The inmates said nice things to me and persuaded me to go to sleep. I thought that they needed to sleep too, so I stopped shouting.

The next morning, once I got up, I ran to the window and shouted, "Falun Dafa is good," and "Release me!" I kept doing this on the following days. No one dared to hurt me. When a guard heard me shout, he or she would come to the window but said nothing. The inmates told the guard that I did not eat. The guard said, "Leave her alone, and don't bother her if she does the Falun Gong exercises."

I refused to do anything the inmates were required to do. When a guard asked me to get close to the window so that he or she could talk to me, I also refused. When I was not sleeping, I sent forth righteous thoughts. One night, when the inmates were ordered to do a roll call, I sat to the side and sent forth righteous thoughts. A group director of the detention center entered the cell and asked me, "Why do you refuse to eat?" I said, "Falun Gong practitioners like myself are good people, and good people should not be detained here. This is not the right place for me, and I want to leave, so I will go on a hunger strike to protest the persecution against me." He said, "You are only here for 15 days." I replied, "One day, half a day, or even an hour of detention is persecution. I don't recognize the fact that I should be detained here, so I won't eat or drink anything here." The director turned around and left without a word.

After that, other inmates in the cell praised me. I told them why I behaved like that. They all understood and treated me very well. They let me use their daily consumables and other things and gave me warm cotton-padded clothes. I continued to clarify the truth to them. Two of them would not listen to me, but they were not against what I said. Everyone else understood the truth. Some gave their phone numbers to me and said that they would find me and learn Falun Gong once they got out. A guard said that he and I were from the same area, so he let me go outside the cell and enjoy the sunshine. The guard asked someone to get a chair so I could sit down. There were male inmates working in the yard, and I raised my voice and clarified the truth to them so they could hear what I was saying.

Around noontime on the seventh day after I arrived at the detention center, the guards sent me to the hospital inside Ankang Prison. I refused to cooperate with them, so they had to carry me into the vehicle. They all sympathized with me. The guard who said he would never persecute Falun Gong practitioners again brought me some towels and bathroom tissues. A newly assigned officer came to see me every day. I clarified the truth to him, telling him, "You are persecuting me by treating me like this. I am not sick, so I don't need those drugs." He said, "If you don't eat, the force-feeding with make you suffer much. I cannot tell them to release you: I don't have a choice." I said, "You can refuse to take me." He said, "I have orders from above, and I don't have the authority to do that."

In the hospital, the persecutors tied me up every day and gave me drugs intravenously. They tried to inject me with six bottles of fluid, but I resisted and tried to break loose from the ropes, so they failed to infuse me with two or three of the bottles. One time, I wanted to topple the iron stand that the fluid bottle hung on. With that thought, my hand reached the stand and toppled it, as if I were not tied up. The bottle broke as a result. A guard standing by the door immediately came over, to find that my hands were still tied very tightly. Another time, I struggled to get the ropes loose and disconnected the infusion tubes. Several guards wanted to tie me up again, but they felt pain in their hands, and had to ask several inmates to do it.

I kept clarifying the truth to the inmate assigned to monitor me. She understood that Falun Dafa is good and treated me well, helping me all along. During the infusion, she helped me take my urine away. Several times, she put the infusion tube into my hand so that I could topple the iron stand. A guard was sympathetic to me and told the inmate to take good care of me.

On the fifth day in the hospital, the persecutors inserted the needle in me after some difficulties. For some reason, my hands were especially flexible at the time and I was able to grab the bottle and pull it off. It happened several times before the persecutors gave up and untied me.

Around 11 a.m. that day, the guards came to read my release notice. They asked if I wanted to sign the notice. I refused. They said to me, "We are releasing you." I said, "I don't recognize your arrest, and I don't recognize your release either. You carried me in here, and now you shall carry me out."

The police from Beilin District Police Department came to the hospital with my brother. The guards quietly disappeared. The police drove me to a bus stop, and on our way there, they told me, "You can practice at home as you wish; don't let someone catch you if you do your work (of truth clarification)."

I later learned that a week before my release, the persecutors notified my family members to take me home. As my home was in another province, it was delayed for a few days. Under Teacher's help, I walked out of the detention center with dignity.

During the detention, no one beat me. I deeply understood that when I did not have an attachment toward life and death, death left me forever. When I have righteous thoughts, Teacher can do anything for me. Dafa is miraculous, and Teacher Li is great!

04/08/2005

Posting date: 5/1/2005
Original article date: 5/1/2005
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Translated on 4/23/2005
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/4/9/99250.html

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