Practitioners in Wuhan City, Hubei Province

October 2000

About 30 Falun Dafa practitioners have been imprisoned in Hongxia village, Chingling area ofWuchang District for the past six months. They have endured physical torture and mental abuse. They were changing the surrounding environment and validating the splendor of Falun Dafa using their own words and actions according "Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance"'.

Many of these practitioners were either arrested or lured by deception to this so-called "Restricted Class for Major Falun Gong Targets." Some did not even go through the "resident under surveillance" process. Among them were factory workers, students, teachers, engineers and university professors. There were people around 50-60 years old as well as young people of 17-18 years old.

At the start, the superintendent of the class announced the "regulations". These "regulations" totally restricted practitioners' personal freedom. Even the way a person could sit in the room was regulated and fixed. One must sit in the middle of the bed, feet together, with hands placed beside the body. Conversation was forbidden. One had to report before leaving the room. Reciting Falun Dafa articles and practicing exercise was banned. Practitioners were also told that they could be "supervised" by anyone working there. Bills slandering Falun Dafa and Teacher Li were posted everywhere. Each day they would go through military training, followed by classes forcefully instilling anti-Falun Gong indoctrination. No individual introspection was allowed and no speaking was permitted. One could only listen and obey. Any practitioners who wanted to speak out or wanted to practice would be handcuffed together in a row. Handcuffing styles included "hanging from the doorjamb" (one would be handcuffed over the doorjamb with tip of toe barely touching the ground or completely off the ground), "hanging from the windowsill" (one would be handcuffed over the window iron bar with the back against the windowsill. The body would be bent and one could not stretch out), and "backpacking the sword" (one would be handcuffed from behind with one hand over the shoulder to the back, the other hand coiled up from the waist, a torture that can cause extreme pain and severe injuries).

Gui Hong is a 33-year-old female practitioner. She was beaten and handcuffed numerous times. She was hung from the doorjamb with both feet off the ground. It hurt her so badly that from then on, she has suffered chronic numbness of both hands.

Cai Mingtao is a 27-year-old male practitioner. He was an English lecturer in a university. He was beaten and handcuffed repeatedly. He was once handcuffed standing still on a steel bar for two days and one night.

Chen Yanwen is a 38-year-old traffic policeman. He was jailed in the local detention house in one of the darkest cells. There he was beaten savagely for 20 days by other prisoners who were encouraged to do so by the security guards. They tried to coerce him to write the guarantee, but he flatly refused. His left rib cage suffered three broken bones. After he was put into the class he requested an X-ray examination. Upon hearing his request one of the staff members threatened him; "One more word from you and I'll beat you to death," and then ignored him. Yet even with broken ribs he was cuffed on the doorjamb for one hour after he spoke to other practitioners.

Liu Cuihua is a 48-year-old female practitioner. Once she went into coma after being cuffed.

The workers there put shackles on practitioners weighing nearly 30 pounds. Liu Guijie, a 50-year-old woman, had to walk with shackles for several days, yet she did not utter a single word of pain.

Wu Keyan, a 54-year-old woman and Kao Bijen, a 52-year-old woman, were shackled together with a single set of chains. They were forced to go to the restroom together. It was extremely troublesome and their feet were bleeding because of the heavy shackles.

Towards the end of April, practitioners started demanding the right to practice Falun Gong exercises. On one morning, everyone announced that they wanted to practice the exercises. As a result, the guards cuffed them, beat them up, and force them to run and do push-ups.

Wu Zhihong was a student in the Chinese Traditional Medicine School. He was once tortured by the "backpacking the sword" for two hours and the pain was unbearable. Together bearing "backpacking the sword" were Ding Hongfang and Hu Xiaoling. Gui Hong was once tortured by "backpacking the sword" for close to 3 hours. It hurt so badly that she bumped her head against the wall. She would rather go into coma instead of enduring the pain.

Practitioners, including senior citizens, were forced to run around the field for 20, 50 or 100 cycles. Sometimes it would take more than two hours to complete. Afterwards, some had to do "rabbit jumping". They were also demanded to do pushups, 50 times for women, 100 times for men. If one could not continue, he or she has to lie on the ground with face down. Then they must continue until they finish.

Cai Mingtao was once beaten until he had blood all over his face. He was then asked if he would still practice. He calmly replied, "Yes, I want to practice". He was beaten again and then asked what he wanted to practice. He answered, "Falun Gong". He was beaten again and then questioned again, "Exactly what do you want to practice?" He replied calmly as before, "Falun Gong". Xu Xiaodong is a 55-year-old woman practitioner. She was once kicked by a policeman when she declared she would remain faithful to her belief. After getting tired of kicking her, the policeman took the boots off and slapped her face with a boot. Her face was swollen and her body was badly bruised. Her fellow practitioners cried after she got back to the cell.

One day in May the superintendent sent to a classroom several practitioners who often demanded the right to practice Falun Gong exercises. The practitioners were forced to listen to taped propaganda. Slander against Falun Dafa and Teacher filled the recording. , It was all fabricated lies. Cai Mingtao told them: "You cannot force us to listen to it." He was immediately punched from behind. Yet he calmly pointed out: "You're trying mind control." Another punch landed on his face. He said again: "Just who is villainous?" By then his face was punched from both sides. His whole face became bloody, with the front of his shirt also covered with blood. While other practitioners condemned this atrocity, Cai Mingtao was locked up in the detention room cuffed to a metal bed. His face remained swollen for half a month.

The next day, the whole group of practitioners was again forced to listen to the slanderous tape. One female practitioner started reciting Teacher's poem "Benevolence Discerned from Wicked." She was immediately pulled away. No sooner did this happen than the whole group started reciting "Lunyu" (the preface to Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Gong). Their voice was solemn and reverberating, completely overwhelming the sound of the tape recording; thus the police had no choice but to stop playing it. The practitioner who started reciting was cuffed and locked into the detention room, and remained locked up for seven days.

After a few times like this the guards could not play the tape all the way through. Later the tape was jammed and broken, and the whole tape recording-based indoctrination was put to an end.

Another practitioner took an opportunity to wipe all the slanderous writings off the black board while doing cleaning. That practitioner was cuffed and locked for seven days.

On the morning of May 20, 2000, about a dozen female practitioners went through military exercise training. They also took the opportunity to rip away big chunks of propaganda on the wall while taking a break. Right away all of them were cuffed to an iron window. (Several pairs of handcuffs were broken during that incident). On the 22nd, four of them were sent to the detention center and detained there for a month. Not long after that, a truck accidentally pulled and ripped off a large propaganda banner hanging across the courtyard. Later on, during a stormy day, the wind tore the banner in half. The whole courtyard has brightened up since then.

The Falun Dafa practitioners endured all barbaric treatment. They gallantly accommodated all the workers there. Whether they were beaten or cursed, practitioners never reciprocated in kind. Practitioners often denounced the shameless senselessness of the slogans and the endless torment of the human spirit, yet they were totally ignored by the staff members. It was immoral for the authorities to use taxpayers' money to produce such malicious slogans, and to use police, media, and tortures to deal with this group of benign practitioners.

There were decent ones among people working there. They often secretly shed tears. . Some would try various ways to reduce the mistreatment against the practitioners.

Each time when a new group of workers arrived, often some of them dared not stay in the same room with practitioners. Each time the officials would reassure them: "They would never harm you. They are all good people, it's just their ideology that's the problem." Only then would the new workers be less concerned. Later on when they observed that practitioners were very polite in greeting people, never told a lie nor uttered a dirty word, treated people with compassion, never fought back nor argued back, they finally believed. Some of them secretly sighed: "I have been wanting to tell you, I observed that you practitioners never waste food. You even pick up rice from the floor. Yet some of the workers here always dump food." Some also found that practitioners never started conflicts, helped each other and got along well with everyone. They treated people with Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance. On the other hand, workers quite often had conflicts among themselves.

On June 21st, five practitioners returned to class after a month of detention. They were all in good spirits. Wu Keyan passed out twice while being cuffed. Once a doctor had to be called in to perform an emergency procedure . Sometimes the police would cuff her and another practitioner (53 years old) together. The two practitioners often had to cry out: "610, open the cuffs!" "610, we need to go to the bathroom!" "610, we need to take a bath!" Every worker there wore a badge of "610 Organization". "610" is a national organization that was established last year specifically for the suppression and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Now it is synonymous with shackles, handcuffs, beating, slandering, deceiving, smearing, imprisonment, and murdering.

The Transformation Study Class had a medical team on hand . Their main duty, however, was to care for workers. All the practitioners were quite healthy, even though they were often subjected to cruel punishment, beatings and cuffing. Several practitioners in their fifties went on a hunger strike for six days without food or water. Even so, they underwent the same training exercises as the others When they checked these practitioners' pulse and blood pressure, the medical staff was astonished that they were quite healthy. The drinking water there came from a nearby lake in which were found little red worms. Although many workers suffered from diarrhea, no practitioners were affected.

The living standard here averaged about 30 Yuan (about $4) a day. But some practitioners were charged 3000 Yuan a month. Most often the food was boiled melon. Many practitioners were no longer paid a salary by their companies starting from the time they were found to be practicing Falun Gong. Yet they continued to voluntarily practice Falun Gong. The book Zhuan Falun cost only 12 Yuan (less than $2). All practice sites offered free instruction to the exercises. Compared to this Transformation Study Class, isn't it crystal clear who are trying to make a profit?

During a class held in July, some practitioners denounced on the spot a lecturer who wrongfully falsified the story and was shamelessly hurling unwarranted accusations and slander. The practitioners were slapped and punched which prevented them from further speaking out. After they returned to their rooms, one of the practitioners named Zhang Jian was pulled from his room and savagely beaten in the courtyard. Appalled at what was happening, the entire group of practitioners stood at their doors and windows and shouted: "Stop beating people! Stop beating people!" again and again. Their shouting was heard throughout the building.

Soon, this prolonged harassment alienated many kindhearted staff members and officials finally eased their suppressive tactics.

In the past half year, every practitioner learned to "never fight back", "never yell back," and continued cultivating Falun Dafa under the most trying circumstances. They left a lasting impression on the staff members. Many of them indicated privately that they would take a good look at Zhuan Falun when there was an opportunity.

Apart from demanding practicing exercises, practitioners did their best in seizing precious opportunities to recite articles, and study Falun Gong teachings. Once the group recited Hongyin (the collected poems of Teacher Li) in its entirety. One practitioner said it well: "You can cuff our hands and feet, but you cannot cuff our mouths. Even if you can cuff our mouths, you can never cuff our hearts."

We had nowhere to appeal, no one to listen to our petition. We could only tell people: "Falun Dafa is Pure and Clean."