[Beijing] Practitioners Hold an Appeal for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square

In the morning of May 5, 2001, three practitioners from the southern part of China held an appeal for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square. One of them was a female practitioner in her 50s, who is completely illiterate but could read Zhuan Falun from cover to cover without any problem. She unfurled a banner with the words "Falun Dafa is the Righteous Fa" written on it on Tiananmen Square. She then walked around on the square, holding up the banner high and shouting, "Clear the name of Master Li" and "Falun Dafa is good." The policemen chased after her, but for some reason, they just could not manage to catch up with her. Meanwhile, another young female practitioner unfurled another banner and shouted, "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa." The police arrested and detained her at the Tiananmen Police Station. She was released the same day after being beaten severely by the police.

[Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province] Guards at the Shijiazhuang City 1^st Detention Center Torture Falun Gong Practitioners

Chen Lei (a pseudonym), female, 30, was an elementary school teacher. In the evening of March 1, 2001, she visited a friends home. There, she was arrested by policemen from the Shijiazhuang City police department political security bureau, the Yuejin Street police station, and the Yucai Street police station. The policemen at the Yucai Street police station accused her of "disrupting public security" and illegally detained her at the Shijiazhuang City 1^st Detention Center. She was held there for 37 days, exceeding the term of her original sentence.

Chen Lei did everything she could to protest her illegal detention, including going on a hunger strike (without any food or water), refusing to be strip-searched, and refusing to perform manual labor at the detention center. At the urging of the guards, the fellow inmates at the detention center tried to force her into eating. She always replied with a gentle smile and said, "As a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period, every one of us is the manifestation of Truthfulness Benevolence Forbearance in the human world. How could any Falun Gong practitioner accept the evil persecution, and agree to be treated like a criminal according to the wishes of the evil forces? That would be biggest insult to Truthfulness Benevolence Forbearance. It would not be a good thing for the guards either. I do not think that I am a criminal. So I cannot follow any rules and regulations in the detention center that a criminal is ordered to follow." She was force-fed on the 6^th and 8^th day of her hunger strike. The guards wanted to save themselves some trouble and cause her more pain, so each time they force-fed her more than they should have. When she began to vomit, a guard named Yu Ping tried to stop her from vomiting by holding her head up, causing her a great deal of pain. When they force-fed her the second time, the guards injected her with some psychiatric drug. Her brain began to function slower and slower. In the end, she could no longer control her own body. In spite of the extreme mental anguish that she was forced to endure, the guards still placed a torture device on her that was designed for death row inmates and those inmates sentenced to life in prison. This device handcuffed her two hands together and her two feet together. The two cuffs were then connected with a short iron link. As a result, she was not able to stand up straight and needed help from others when she wanted to go to the bathroom. She was forced to wear it for more than 20 days. Even though it was March, she was still swearing a heavy winter jacket. Even an inmate who had not taken a shower or gotten out of bed for more than a year found that she smelled to bad to be around. The head of the detention center with the surname of Nie then ordered the guard Yu Ping to isolate the entire jail cell (he and more than 30 other inmates who shared the same jail cell with her were allowed no contact with the outside world. Nobody was allowed to receive family visits, mail letters, or buy personal necessity items such as toilet paper or femine hygiene products). It was a calculated move to turn the inmates against Chen Lei and make them hate her. The inmates began to verbally abuse and physically assault her. Her face was swollen from the beatings. She also suffered serious injuries to the left side of her chest and backside, and she felt nauseous all the time. The other practitioners in the detention center were also threatened and verbally abused.

An insider, April 16^th, 2001

[Fujian Province] The Suffering of Fujian Practitioners

Practitioner Wei Jianyu was arrested for insisting on practicing Falun Gong. He continued to study the Fa and perform the Falun Gong exercises in the detention center. As a result, he became the target of police brutality. He has been on a hunger strike for more than 50 days, and is in critical condition.

Practitioner Li Heng, male, was only 19 when he was first arrested and sentenced to one year at the Rujiang Labor Camp in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. Even though he has finished serving the term of his original sentence, the labor camp officials still refuse to release him. (Both his father and his older sister were Falun Gong practitioners. His father has been placed under house arrest. After spending more than one year in a labor camp, his sister was allowed to go home after she was forced into writing a pledge promising to give up Falun Gong. But she was arrested soon after for telling people the truth about Falun Gong). At the labor camp, Li Heng held himself to a high standard by following the principles of "Truthfulness Benevolence Forbearance." The guards hit him with electric batons, forced him to remain standing and hold still for long periods of time, placed him in isolation, and hung him up in the air while handcuffing his hands behind him. He was constantly beaten and assaulted, and often not allowed to get any sleep at all. The guards also ordered drug addict inmates at the labor camp to beat Li Heng unconscious. He is now hospitalized at the Jianxin Hospital in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province.

Practitioner Zuo Fusheng was sentenced to one year at the Rujiang Labor camp in Fuzhou City for practicing Falun Gong. His legs are severely swollen after constantly being forced to remain standing and holding still for long periods of time. However, the guards still force him to run laps around the courtyard, and often would not allow him to get any sleep at night. They even forced his wife to divorce him, but nothing could change his determination in continuing to practice Falun Gong. Even though he has finished serving the term of his original sentence, the labor camp officials still refuse to release him.

Practitioner Xie Kefeng was a college student at Xiamen University. He was sentenced to 2 years at Rujiang Labor Camp in Fuzhou City for insisting on practicing Falun Gong. The vicious guards tried to force him to give up Falun Gong by using a variety of methods to torture him. He was forced to hold still for long periods of time, perform extreme physical exercises, and not allowed to sleep for many nights. The guards also ordered fellow inmates to beat him. He was beaten so severely that he began to vomit blood, yet his determination in continuing to practice Falun Gong has not wavered at all. The guards have ordered inmates who are being detained on drug or prostitution charges to watch him 24 hours a day.

Practitioner Nian Xiaopeng was living in Japan before he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was arrested and sentenced to one year at labor camp. The guards have used a variety of methods to torture him, including forcing him to remain standing for long periods of time or perform extreme physical exercises. Nian is often not allowed to get any sleep at night, and he is constantly beaten and assaulted. However, he still does everything he can to uphold and spread the Fa in the labor camp.

Practitioner Lai Xiaohui was sentenced to one year at labor camp for refusing to be "transformed" after he was forced to attend a "transformation class" held by the Fuzhou district of Cangshan. He is now being detained at the Rujiang Labor Camp in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province.

The police in the city of Tuorong sentenced practitioner Zhang Siquan to one year at the Rujiang Labor Camp for practicing Falun Gong. He was forced to remain standing while facing the wall for long periods of time. As a result, both his legs are completely swollen, and he can no longer walk around on his own. The vicious guards also handcuffed his hands behind his back and would not allow him to get any rest at night. He was beaten so severely that his cheeks are sunken, and many of his teeth are loose. Wounds cover nearly every inch of his body. After being subjected to such inhumane treatment and receiving interference from many sources, he was forced into cursing Master Li and writing a pledge promising to give up Falun Gong. Zhang soon realized that what he did was wrong, and he openly declared that he would use his life to defend the good name of the Dafa and continue with his cultivation.

Practitioner Que [Note: character of name not written clearly]Shanzhong, Zhou Tianyi, Xie Huizhan, Tong Xuesheng, You Canliang, Chen Jinhua, Chen Hongyang, Chen Yitong, among others, were all sentenced to one year at labor camp for practicing Falun Gong. They are all being detained at the Rujiang Labor in the city of Fuzhou. Guards such as Hu Bo often stripped the practitioners naked in the name of "searching for Master Lis short articles." The practitioners are often forced to perform extreme physical exercises and not allowed to get any sleep at night. The guards ordered the fellow inmates who are drug offenders to watch the practitioners 24 hours a day. The inmates routinely curse and beat the practitioners, and they even burned the practitioners with cigarette lighters.

[Dehui City, Jilin Province] Practitioners Use Righteous Thoughts to Fight Against "Transformation Classes"

In the name of "following the orders of the provincial government," officials in the city of Dehui decided to round up all the local practitioners around April 24^th, 2001. More than 40 practitioners were arrested and forced to attend a "transformation class," which was held at the Dehui City Communist Party Education School. The practitioners stood up to defend Falun Gong when the "instructors" of the class began to slander it. One practitioner "walked out" of the class on the 1^st day while everyone was eating dinner.

In order to prevent more practitioners from "escaping," the authorities moved the practitioners to the local detention center. All of them were released on April 29^th after holding a 5-day group hunger strike.

According to insiders, if the first "transformation class" was completed successfully, the authorities would have held more such "classes" in the city of Dehui and also in the nearby counties such as Nongan. The righteous thoughts of the practitioners helped them win a major battle against the evil persecution.

[Hebei Province] The Authorities Inflate the Numbers of Practitioners Who Have Been "Transformed"

Shortly before April 24^th, instead of contacting the practitioners directly, the authorities in a certain city of Hebei Province visited the family members and the employers of many local practitioners. The officials ordered them to sign pledges promising to give up Falun Gong in the name of the practitioners. Officials at certain local companies also forged the names of practitioners on this type of pledges, so that they could fulfill the "quotas" set by the higher-ups. This is probably only one of the ways that the local companies thought of to deal with the heavy pressure applied by the local government.

[Hefei City, Anhui Province] The Authorities Round Up Local Practitioners and Force them to Attend "Transformation" Classes

The district of Dongshi in the city of Hefei is holding a "transformation class" in the Hefei City Rubber Tire Factory. Iron bars were placed outside of all the windows and doors of the two-story building where the "class" is being held. More than a dozen practitioners, including Zhang Yulian, Zhang Yuxiang and Zhang Haijun (who are three siblings) and Wang Benxin, have been arrested and forced to attend the "class."

The authorities had made plans to hold many similar "transformation classes" in all the Hefei districts starting on April 25^th. Due to the active resistance of the local practitioners, none of the "classes" were able to commence. Zeng Qihong (Jiang Zemin's right-hand man, in charge of organizing high level Communist Party and government personnel) paid a visit to Hefei at the end of April. At his urging, the authorities in many Anhui cities began to round up practitioners on April 29^th and 30^th. They used a variety of despicable methods to accomplish their goals, including lying to the practitioners, breaking down the doors of the practitioners homes, and kidnapping practitioners outright.

[China] Local Officials Act Like Bandits and Kidnap Practitioners In Broad Daylight

In the morning of April 28^th, 2001, two people from the security department and the retiree commission of the Jianghuai Instrument Factory, and one person from the local neighborhood commission came to the home of a practitioner, who is a retiree of the factory. They told the practitioner that they just wanted to take him away for a talk. In reality, they were trying to take him to attend a "transformation class." Soon after that, plainclothes agents from the local police station also came to the practitioners home. The practitioner did not want to be taken away, so he locked the security door from the inside. Three uniformed policemen soon came by. They were extremely rude and ordered the practitioner to open the door. The daughter of the practitioner became very angry upon seeing what was happening, and began to berate the policemen. The plainclothes agents inside of the room shouted that they wanted to leave, and the daughter had no choice but to open the door. The three uniformed policemen then rushed in and tried to kidnap the practitioner. When the daughter tried to protect her father, the three policemen twisted her arms hard, injuring her in the process. One policeman with the police badge number of 005826 said, "You can go anywhere you want if you want to sue us. You can call 110 (the local emergency hotline), or you can go and turn us in to your Master Li." At that very moment, the practitioner suddenly fainted. The daughter told the police, "If you are still going to take my father away, we will just die in front of you. Let me tell you this it is not that we do not want to live anymore. We are left with no choice. If we die here today, your crimes will be exposed to the outside world." There were many people inside of the home by that time, including officials from the factory, the practitioners former coworkers, and also his son-in-law. The policemen left reluctantly, but they came back the next day. In broad daylight, they knocked down three locked doors inside of the home and dragged the practitioner and his daughter away. Many neighbors witnessed the episode. They were all extremely shocked and said, "How are the policemen behaving any differently from thieves and bandits? Now we finally know who are destroying families, disrupting stability, and violating human rights! That is what happens under Jiang Zemins rule when the human rights situation in China is at its best!"

[Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province] Authorities Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners

Practitioner Zhang Shan (a pseudonym), went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in September of 1999, and was arrested in a Beijing hotel. He was detained at the Dazhalan Police Station, and given a designation of #456 because he refused to tell the police his real name. He was then held at the Changpin Detention Center for one week, and sent to the Heilongjiang Provincial Office to Beijing after he was forced into telling the police his real name and address. Zhang Xiaodong, the head of the Lincheng District Detention Center, and Cui Jun, took him back to Bayan, and detained him at the 1^st Detention Center because he indicated that he would continue to practice Falun Gong. He was illegally detained there for 43 days. During this time, Zhang Xiaodong claimed that the police had spent more than 3000 Yuan [Note: the average monthly income in China is 500 Yuan] to bring him back from Beijing, and forced Zhang Shan to pay the entire amount. The 1^st Detention Center also forced him to pay more than 400 Yuan for "room and board."

In February of 2000 (on the 15^th day after the Chinese New Year), Zhang Xiaodong arrested Zhang Shan again while he was on his way home. Zhang Xiaodong tried to force Zhang Shan to write a pledge promising to give up Falun Gong. When Zhang Shan refused to do so, he was thrown into the local jail. During one interrogation session, two vicious policemen beat and kicked him repeatedly. He was moved to the local detention center two months later, where he participated in a group hunger strike along with all the other local Falun Gong practitioners being detained there. Four days after they started the hunger strike, his family was given permission to bail him out. Even though he only stayed at the local detention center for a little over ten days, he was still forced to pay more than 400 Yuan for "meals and supervision expenses."

In June of 2000, he and other local practitioners decided to walk to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. When they passed through the city of Shuangcheng in Heilongjiang Province, the policemen from the Xingfu Police Station arrested them. Zhang Shan was slapped repeatedly when he tried to stop the police from confiscating the practitioners Falun Gong book. Because he tried to resist when the police tried to force him to sit on a torture device called the "Tiger Seat," he was tied to another device called the "Two-Layer Bed" designed for death row inmates. Ropes were tied around him so tightly that they dug into his skin and caused him a great deal of pain. A vicious policeman even tied the remaining ropes around his neck, nearly suffocating him. In the end, he was able to escape from the police station, when he was allowed to use the bathroom. Because the policemen had confiscated all the valuables that the practitioners had with them, including cash, gold necklaces and pagers, Zhang Shan had no choice but to return to the city of Harbin on foot.

A while later, he was arrested in the city of Dalian. He was tortured by the police and lost consciousness. The vicious policemen tried to awaken him by sticking an acupuncture needle into the "Renzhong" acupuncture point. But as they had no medical training whatsoever, they could not locate that acupuncture point and ended up sticking the needle into his throat. They then tried to stick the needle into one of his wrists. The needle was pushed so deeply that it almost went through from one side of the wrist to the other. They then stuck the needle into another acupuncture point called "Hukou," followed by the back of his feet, and one of the major veins on the back of his legs. When they still could not manage to awaken him, they decided that he was just pretending to be unconscious. So they carried him back to his jail cell, put him on the concrete floor, and began to beat him. When he still remained unconscious, the police finally rushed him to the emergency room of a local hospital. After giving him a CAT scan and x-rays, a cruel doctor said, "He is fine. You (meaning the police) could break him if you are just a little tougher on him." He was sent back to prison after he regained consciousness. Despite his recent brush with death, the police still forced him to go through a torture method called "riding a Benz." He was forced to remain sitting with two legs spread open and two arms lifted parallel the ground. His legs and arms were then tied up. He could slide forward and backward a little bit, but other than that, he could not move at all. He could not sleep at night, and could not take care of himself. Three days later, the police from his hometown came to Dalian to take him back. He was then detained at the local detention center for close to three months. His family had to pay a bribe of 1000 Yuan to get him released. The local detention center forced him to pay several thousand Yuan for "room and board." On top of that, his family had to pay more than 400 Yuan for "other expenses."

Reports on the suffering of other local practitioners will follow.

[Weilin City, Heilongjiang Province] Police Break into a Private Home In Broad Daylight and Kidnap a Practitioner

In the morning of April 11, 2001, more than twenty policemen from the Weilin Police Department (several of them were thought to be from Harbin, the capital of the province) surrounded the home of practitioner Su Kun, and took turns knocking on the door. When she refused to open the door, the police decided to wait outside. Around 4 PM, the police smashed a window, broke into the home, and tried to take Su Kun away. The home was turned upside down. All the fragile items in the home such as hot water thermoses and vases were smashed into pieces. More than twenty policemen surrounded her and started to drag her outside. The road outside of the home was covered with muddy water, and at that time, Sun Kun was wearing only a thin sweatshirt. Her entire body was covered with mud, and her sweatshirt was pushed upward, exposing much of her upper body. One of her shoes fell off. Her husband happened to return home at that moment, and he became very angry when he saw what was happening. He shouted to the policemen, "She has neither distributed any Falun Gong flyers nor visited any fellow practitioners. Why are you arresting her?" Even though they had no answer to his question, they simply pushed him to the ground. They told him that he was interfering with official business. The husband, who is not even a practitioner, said angrily, "Who has more Falun Gong flyers? I am going out to distribute them!" He then started to suffer from a heart attack. The policemen still carried Su Kun to a police van and took her to the Weilin Detention Center. At that time, she still had only one shoe on her. A policewoman called Feng Li carried the other shoe.

It was 5PM when she arrived at the detention center. The police ordered her to call home and tell her family that she was about to be sent to a labor camp. Her family was shocked when they heard the news. They grabbed a few pieces of her clothing and rushed to the detention center. But when they got there, they were told that she had already been taken away to the Wanjia Labor Camp in the city of Harbin. She was sent to the labor camp wearing only a thin sweatshirt soaked in mud, with no other personal belongings. Please look at what is happening in China is this what takes place when "the human rights situation in China is at its best" under Jiang Zemins brutal rule?

[Weihe City, Heilongjiang Province] Authorities Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners

Practitioner Cai Tiejun was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and detained at the Weihe Detention Center, where he was constantly beaten and harassed. He shared a jail cell with several criminals, and his cellmates used a variety of methods to torture him everyday. They slapped him so hard that his face became completely swollen. They also kicked his private areas repeatedly until he fell to the ground in pain. When they saw how much he was hurting, they would say that he was just faking and continue to beat him brutally. He has been subjected to a great deal of torture both physically and mentally. One inmate was only 17 or 18 years old, yet when he was about to go outside to perform required manual labor, he would often gleefully say, "I need to finish the work as soon as possible so I could come back and play with him some more!" Cai Tiejun kept the teachings of Master Li in his heart through all the suffering. He never fought back no matter how unfairly he was being treated, and bore all the pain silently with a heart filled with compassion. He is now being detained at the Suihua Labor Camp.

A side note: the switchboard number of the Qingdao Labor Camp has changed. It is now 86-532-7657501. The extension number of the Falun Gong Squadron (also known as the 3^rd Squadron) is now 8302.

[Anren County, Hubei Province] Crimes Committed by the Guards at the Anren Detention Center

Even since the "Tiananmen Self-Immolation Episode" took place on January 23^rd, 2001, the Anren authorities have stepped up the persecution of local practitioners. The methods that they have used to torture the local practitioners have become more cruel and inhumane each day.

Since January 23^rd, the Anren "610" Office [Note: an organization set up to deal with the "Falun Gong problem"] and the local police department have organized the so-called "Law Education Class" at every level of the society. The county government sponsors the two-day class. Each attendee has to pay 300 Yuan. On top of that, the local government has imposed heavy fines on the local practitioners. There are no rules or regulations governing how much the fines should be. The officials could come up with any number that they want. Those practitioners who could not come up with the cash to pay the fines had their homes ransacked. A practitioner with the first name of Anlin had a brand new motorcycle worth more than 7000 Yuan and a color TV worth more than 2000 Yuan, but the local officials assigned a total value of only 3800 Yuan for the two items and confiscated them. Practitioner Li Weicheng, an elderly gentleman, was very sickly before he started to practice Falun Gong. Just because he told his friends and family about the principles of "Truthfulness Benevolence Forbearance" and the miraculous improvement to his health after he began to practice Falun Gong, he has been detained a total of three times. His family is extremely poor, so the local police department confiscated the only things in the home that have any monetary value, namely 16 pounds of rice and 2 pounds of vegetable oil.

Nine practitioners (seven males, two females) are being detained at the local detention center, where they have been held for more than three months now. They have been subjected to numerous inhumane treatments, including being forced to drink urine, and being forced to wash their faces and brush their teeth with feces and urine. If they dared to resist at all, the police would order fellow inmates to beat them brutally. Practitioner Zhang Guoyang was beaten so severely that the bones in both of his lower legs were broken, and much of the skin and tissue of his lower legs have been torn off.

[Gaoyi County, Hebei Province] The Authorities Force the Families of Falun Gong Practitioners to Fabricate Stories to Slander Falun Gong

Recently the 610 Office (an organization set up to deal with the "Falun Gong problem) received a telegram from the higher-ups ordering them to find actual examples of how Falun Gong "destroyed" families. One young staff member went to see the husband of practitioner Zhao Shuanguo (who is not a practitioner himself), and asked him to follow the orders of the government and write a statement describing how Falun Gong "destroyed" his family. He did not want to write anything, but the official told him that it was the order of the high-ups, and asked him to think about it. The official returned the next day and told him that if he still refused to write anything, he would have to talk to the head of the 610 office in person. The husband was afraid of losing his job, since Zhao Shuanguo lost her job last May for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The family would not be able to survive if the husband lost his job as well, so he finally wrote a vague statement to fulfill the requirement of the high-ups.

The only thing that Zhao Shuanguo did last May was to visit the Appeals Office in Beijing to speak on behalf of Falun Gong. She followed all the rules and regulations governing how a person should file an appeal, yet she was still arrested. She was detained for a month and forced to pay a fine of 2400 Yuan. Last November, even though they had no proof whatsoever, the police detained her for 15 days and imposed a fine of 1000 Yuan, simply because they suspected that she had been distributing Falun Gong flyers. Because she had no job and her husband had not been paid during the previous six months, the family had no money. She ended up borrowing 500 Yuan from a friend to pay the fine. Now the authorities have shifted their attention to the family members of the practitioners who have done nothing wrong. Kind-hearted people out there, please take a look and decide who is really "destroying" ordinary families.