By Wang Xingtao

(Clearwisdom.net) I was savagely tortured at the Shiliping Labor Camp in Zhejiang Province for believing in Falun Gong.

Prior to starting Falun Gong practice I had many illnesses and could barely walk. I suffered from Hepatitis B, chronic gastritis, headaches, scrofula, and back and leg pain. I tried Chinese and Western medicine and went to different hospitals, but my condition only worsened after six years of treatment. The almost 10,000 Yuan in medical expenses were a heavy financial burden. I thought about suicide many times due to the unbearable chronic pain. In my desperation, I remembered a copy of Zhuan Falun a friend had given me. Perhaps the time hadn't yet arrived for me to practice Falun Gong, because I had read it once and didn't take it seriously. Six months later, in the summer of 1998, I was nearly without hope because the doctors announced they couldn't treat me. I thought about my wife and young daughter. The desire to go on living motivated me to again pick up Zhuan Falun. Just as Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,

If doctors of Western medicine can't cure him, he'll go see a doctor of Chinese medicine. And if doctors of Chinese medicine can't cure him, and if folk prescriptions can't cure him either, then he'll remember qigong. He thinks to himself, "I'll go try my luck and see if qigong really can heal me."

So, I started practicing Falun Gong.

At first I practiced to get healthy. Several days later I learned the principles about healing illnesses and practicing cultivation. On the tenth day I concentrated on cultivation practice. From that point on, I never took another pill. I was completely cured after one year of practice.

Since Dafa had given me a second life, I had new hopes for life again. Then I heard about the Tianjin incident [Tianjin police illegally arrested Falun Gong practitioners who clarified the truth], and many other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal. Shortly after 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing to appeal, I learned on July 19, 1999 that the communist regime would start persecuting Falun Gong. I thought, "Why doesn't the regime let people follow such a wonderful practice?" I went to Beijing to appeal, also. At noon the next day I saw news broadcasts on TV that were filled with slander and attacks against Falun Gong. My heart sank. I planned to visit some official agencies to tell them the facts about Falun Gong. Police intercepted me on the west side of Tiananmen Square, and I was taken to a stadium, where I was illegally held for one day and one night. Early in the morning on July 22, I was sent back, along with some practitioners from Shandong Province.

It felt as if the sky had collapsed onto me. Officials from the town administration and from the village Party committee knew that I had only a temporary residency permit. The Village Party Committee head, the security head and two others, four large men in all, started punching and kicking me. Prior to this beating, two officers from the Shahe Police Department beat me for several minutes. They removed my belt and used it to whip me with all of their strength, until the buckle fell off. I was struck to the ground, and they proceeded to stomp on me. They demanded 5,000 Yuan as they were beating me. I said, "I don't have 5,000 Yuan right now." I could not take it anymore and almost lost consciousness. I begged them to stop and agreed to give them 2,000 Yuan. They immediately told me to write an IOU slip. They took the slip and went to my wife, and took 2,000 Yuan from her.

Although I could not comprehend their behavior at the time, I did not hate them, because they are victims as well. Jiang Zemin is the archfiend who single-handedly launched this persecution, and people throughout the country followed his dictates and committed crimes. The police later extorted another 500 Yuan from me and didn't issue any receipt. As supposed administrators of the law they had violated the law. My rights as a citizen were trampled on.

From that point on, Jiang's minions engaged in full-scale, bloody persecution. They took my Dafa books, didn't allow me to do the exercises or speak the truth and extorted more money from me. I was deprived of the environment to practice Dafa. Under this unjust treatment, I went to the Appeals Office in Beijing on October 18, 2000 [Chinese lunar calendar]. I met two elderly practitioners from Wuhan City. Their determination toward Teacher and Dafa encouraged and inspired me, and I was touched by their pure heart toward Teacher and Dafa. The three of us entered the Appeals Office and declared our intention. They gave us pens and paper and told us to write anything we wanted. We started writing down how we benefited from the practice, that Falun Gong teaches people to be good according to "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." We asked them to gain an objective understanding of Falun Gong and restore Falun Gong and Teacher's reputation.

Soon, officials from the local liaison office in Beijing picked me up. Two officials from the Politics and Security Division of the county police department came to me. The section head slapped my face several times. They charged me with "disrupting social order" and illegally detained me for one month. On January 9 [Chinese lunar calendar], the head of the Politics and Security Division of the county police department took me back to my hometown. He levied the same charge against me as before and illegally sentenced me to one year of forced labor. They sent me to the Shiliping Labor Camp in Zhejiang Province around January 20 [Chinese lunar calendar]. I was thus deprived of my freedom of belief and my right to appeal. Appealing had become a crime.

I was sent to Division 4 of the Shiliping Labor Camp, where four inmates followed me daily. One of them told me that I would be sent to solitary confinement if I didn't "reform" [give up my belief] in a few days. He said that no one could overcome this. I was intimidated by his words. I never committed any crimes and was never imprisoned before in my life. When I was young, I learned about the Communist Party, boasting how much service it has provided to the Chinese people. I didn't commit any crimes and only said a few truthful words because I benefited from practicing Dafa. What would they do to me?

In the first few days the guards talked to me and ordered me to give up Falun Gong. I reasoned with them and refused. On the seventh day they detained me in solitary confinement. Guard Li said to me, "Everyone else has 'reformed,' except for you. Those who practiced for so many years who cultivated so well have 'reformed;' why don't you do it too?"

Later, I learned that they were brainwashing Falun Gong practitioners with deception and intimidation. Four inmates took turns watching me around the clock. I was not allowed to talk to anyone. At the solitary confinement cell, the guard tied my hands and legs to a chair and didn't allow me to sleep or close my eyes. Several days later I closed my eyes. The inmates poured cold water down my neck, and I was startled awake. It was in January and the weather was very cold. They removed my coat and left me in a sweater and poured water on me whenever I closed my eyes. At first, I thought the inmates were purposefully torturing me and reported this to a guard. To my surprise he said to me, "[We are] using this method to make you calm down and become clearheaded, to make you think. When you are finished thinking and write criticizing statements and four statements [to attack Dafa], we'll release you!" I said, "I used to be a graveyard patient', I am punished only because I benefited from practicing Falun Gong and saying a few honest words to the government? Why don't you let me speak the truth?"

I had reached my limit of endurance, and I was at the brink of a nervous breakdown. I waited for the minutes to go by and I lost control of my bladder. At first, they gave me a few bites to eat and several sips of water, but later I stopped eating and drinking, because they didn't allow me to use the restroom, and rashes and scabies developed on my buttocks after they were soaked in urine for a long time. The itch and pain was beyond description. I felt I would be better off dead. I lost feeling in my hands and feet after they were tied up for a long time. They swelled up, became numb and hurt. They didn't allow me to sleep for five days and six nights, and I felt as if I was going insane. I gave in.

After they untied me, I felt even worse, as I was wracked with guilt. I kept asking myself, "Where is my conscience? I betrayed my conscience just to avoid physical suffering." The next day I said to an inmate, "I want to revoke my previous words. I want my statements back." The guards pressured me and threatened to torture me with the Tiger Bench. I became afraid.

Later, two collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who turned against Dafa after torture and brainwashing] talked to me for several hours, and the inmates followed me all the time. One collaborator told me that he was tortured on the Tiger Bench for seven days, and his clothes were removed for several days. From their words and actions, I knew that they suffered even worse tortures, and I also knew that they didn't really want to "reform" me, as they were only trying to get the order over with.

Six months later the guards threw me in solitary confinement, tortured me with the Tiger Bench, and forced me to watch Dafa-slandering videos because I didn't "reform." I was again physically and mentally devastated. They again forced me to write repentance statements and "self-criticisms."

I was tortured savagely at the Shiliping Labor Camp only for speaking a few truthful words. The Chinese Communist Party tried to destroy my physical body because I believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The guards often said to me, "This is the Communist Party's regime! You can practice something only if the Party allows you to, and you cannot if the Party doesn't want you to! This is 'education' through coercion." This "education" has cost thousands of people their lives in China; many more were disabled; tens of thousands of families were broken up; many children lost their parents and became orphans. This "education" forced many former practitioners to do things against their conscience.

In the few years after I left the labor camp, although the path has been difficult, Teacher's words helped me to become clear on the Fa principles. From now on, I will try my best to make up for my mistakes and keep up with the Fa-rectification.

Posting date: 1/31/2006
Original article date: 1/31/2006
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Translated on 1/24/2006
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/1/20/118914.html

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