I was privileged to have received handwritten notes from Falun Dafa practitioners who are still in prison. The hardship and misery that they went through have all been distilled into these writings that can hardly be expressed by my words. Some were written on toilet paper and smuggled out. The voices that came from their steadfast beliefs often shake my soul.
I. Chinese New Year's Day. On this joyful day when Chinese people were celebrating the Spring Festival, we also went through a baptism. Because of practicing Falun Gong exercises, we were beaten and abused by those in charge. Li Fengqin from Chengde, and another fellow practitioner whose name is not known, were electrified by electric batons, hit by rubber clubs, and then tied with arms crossed backwards (with one arm bent downward and the other upward in the back). Li Fengqin almost lost consciousness. She got her pants dirty by losing control of passing waste. Two days later, I was beaten and tied up the same way for practicing outside. My right arm was swollen all over, and turned black. Of course, there must be the karma that we need to pay back and our own attachments to relinquish. However, practitioners are treated so cruelly and violently by the government, which really makes people sad.
II. Today, a fellow practitioner named Yuan Yuge from Renqiu City of Cangzhou was sent to our class. Her story revealed to people how wicked and despicable politics is. CCTV-3 reported that she got cultivation insanity after practicing Falun Gong: She jumped into Baima River with her child in her arms. The truth: in May 1998 she rode a bicycle to pick up her child when school was over. The brakes were broken, and in order to avoid running into children getting out of school, she fell under a small bridge (over a side stream of Baima River). She landed onto the dusty slope under the bridge.
She never fell into the river. One week later, she recovered from the injury. Her parents said back then that if it weren't for her practicing Falun Gong, the injury couldn't have healed so quickly. After July 20 last year, the local TV station distorted the facts when reporting this incident. At that time, she was in a detention center because she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. This incident was scrolled over and over in broadcast for 20 days. After she was released, she went to ask the reporter what was behind the violation of professional ethics. The reporter said there were orders, and that if we didn't follow them, we wouldn't get our bonus. Later on this reporter came to her home again, and demanded that her father accuse her and her husband of abusing their child. The reporter coached, you could just say she forced the child to do the sitting meditation, or else be beaten. It is really inconceivable how government employees could be driven to forge despicable lies right in front of her. When will this kind cheating by the government be put to an end?
III. On April 28, 52 practitioners in the fourth group of the City Labor Camp of Shijiazhuang could no longer take the abuse and humiliation. They went on group hunger strike to validate the innocence and greatness of Dafa with their lives, and wished to make public their following appeals:
We are practitioners of Falun Dafa. We take great pride in practicing this Dafa of the universe. Our Teacher is the greatest. Now Dafa is undergoing unjustified treatment, our Teacher being slandered, and fellow practitioners are being viciously beaten and persecuted. We were forced to go on a hunger strike. We are not trying to commit suicide. We are reasoning with a very clear mind. We want to defend the innocence of the Dafa and the innocence of our Teacher with our lives, and to awaken both the government and the people. Our Teacher said, "When all sentient beings treasure Dafa, they are treasuring their own lives and being compassionate to all sentient lives." Now, we 52 Dafa practitioners are going on hunger strike, to appeal with our lives to:
1) Restore innocence to Falun Dafa, and restore innocence to our Teacher;
2) Release all Dafa practitioners detained;
3) Provide an environment of cultivation to us so that we could have group study and group practice. We have violated no law, and it is a humiliation to wear labor camp uniforms. We should not be punished physically, since we are not guilty.
As I learned today, these 52 Dafa practitioners went on the hunger strike for over 30 days. By late May, the judiciary department transferred 18 of these practitioners secretly to Shijiazhuang Drug Rehabilitation Center on charges of stubbornness and instigating disquiet in public. No information has been allowed to come out as of this day. During that period of time, one practitioner was allowed to meet the family briefly upon the begging from the family members. This practitioner was seen to be entirely out of shape and look pale, and to be extremely weak. It could not be imagined to what extent the abuse had been carried out. Even those who were not transferred away from the labor camp were not given any relief. Below are some snap shots of their torture.
1) We are under surveillance 24 hours a day by prisoners on charges of drug usage, prostitution, theft, and manslaughter. One practitioner is being monitored by two or three prisoners, and not allowed to do anything alone. The prisoners could beat us at will, and claim to have been approved by the police. Bai Lili was beaten to unconsciousness three times for her insisting on practicing.
2) Late March, Wang Jinmei was tied with arms crossed because of her refusal to wear labor camp uniforms. The scar could still be seen today. Being slapped in the face is a frequent occurrence. Once she was beaten on the buttocks. The black colored bruise was the size of a washing toiletry. She could not even sit right then and there.
3) Zheng Baohua was a third year student in a high school affiliated to the Renqiu North China Oil Field Education Institute. She arrived here on March 17, 2000. The first day, she was slapped in the face over 20 times. Later she was tied with arms crossed twice for refusing to wear uniforms, hit many times by rubber clubs, and kicked and hit by fists. Up to now, this kid's wrist bones still hurt upon slight movement.
4) Yi Zengyan is in the same class as Wang Jinmei. They are often beaten together. In the office of group leaders, screams could be heard when beating takes place after tying them with arms crossed. It sounds like hell. Several group leaders take turns torturing them. In order to endure it, they would count numbers: 16, 17, 18. Everyone in their class burst into tears upon hearing this.
5) The fifth day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar, Chen Wenhui was electrified on the face by electric baton, tied with arms crossed backwards, pulled by the hair, forced to kneel down, stripped of cotton jacket, handcuffed backwards, and made stand in the snow for 8 to 9 hours. And then she was slapped in face. When she was sent back, her hands were badly swollen..
Upon reading these descriptions of blood and tears, my eyes were filled with tears over and over again, and my heart was bleeding. These are the elite brought up by the great Buddha Fa. Undergoing such brutal persecution, they are still determined in their faith without giving in, and holding in hearts their determination and solidity toward Dafa.
There are many other names, behind each of them there exist a series of events that commands solemn respect: Zhu Hong, Wu Huiqing, Guo Wenxiu, Li Fengqin, Hua E, Dong Chunling, Li Yanrong, Li Na.
IV. A Special Fa conference
On the evening of May 11, 2000, inside the 12th women's cell of Dalaohu Gou Detention Center of Chengde City, 7 Dafa practitioners sat in a circle on the wooden sleeping boards. With 7 hearts fully devoted to the rectification of Fa, in this special environment they called for a Fa conference to study Fa in a group, and to practice in a group. Everyone shared her experiences, and looked for shortcomings, and was entirely dissolved into the Fa. They didn't care too much about the severe situation and the upcoming physical punishment. All have improved to various degrees.
May 12, the detention center ordered each of them to be cuffed on the feet. They were forced to walk in sequence until each and every one of them was bleeding from both feet. Practitioners were all peaceful and calm. They did not respond with complaints or hatred. Several prisoners on criminal charges were deeply moved. One women prisoner in her thirties kneeled down in front of Dafa practitioners: "I am begging you. Please tell them you are giving up practicing and go home. They don't treat you as humans. Why stay here to take on suffer and pain like this?" One of the practitioners told her, that we don't consider ourselves miserable. We feel relieved in a good cultivation environment like this. We only feel painful for your being lost in a maze. We also feel painful for some practitioners who could not strive forward, letting various excuses to cover up their own human attachments. We sincerely hope that the ordinary society could become better. And even more so, we hope fellow practitioners who have learned the Fa could cherish the days when the Fa is rectifying the human world, get rid of different kinds if attachments, strive forward diligently, and improve on the basis of the Fa.
Written on June 6, 2000
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