(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Li Lingyun and I am 46 years old, My husband and I are farmers from Yuhe Town, Weicheng District, Weifang City. I began cultivating Falun Dafa in November 1997. Before I obtained the Fa, I suffered from illnesses for two years and I lived the miserable life of a dying person. My husband, Zhang Zhiyou, took me to many different hospitals for treatment, but I was not healed. (He was just over 40 years when he was persecuted to death. See http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2000/10/24/6422.html). He was so worried about my health that his hair turned all white. I often thought of dying because I thought that it would be better than suffering and seeing my family in distress. At that time, my husband heard that someone practiced Falun Gong in our village. I suddenly got up from my sick bed, and went to the practice site that night. After three days, a miracle happened--I regained my appetite! My husband was so happy that he went to the practice site with me every day, and he obtained the Fa as well. After around twenty days or so, I fully recovered. My body and mind changed dramatically. Not only did my illness disappear, but I discovered the fundamental principles of being a good person. I had a positive outlook towards life, and promised myself that I would cultivate to the very end until I reached Consummation.
To my surprise, in April 1999, many Falun Dafa disciples were arrested in Tianjin. I thought to myself, Master taught us to be good persons, cured our diseases and kept us fit. Falun Dafa is such a good cultivation system, how can it be slandered like this and how can the police arrest us? My husband and I took a train to Beijing on April 25, 1999 because we wanted to appeal for our Master. When we reached Jinan City, our fellow practitioners informed us that the Central government had already answered our requests and released those who were detained. So we returned home.
In June 1999, we heard that Jiang tried to slander Falun Gong. I thought, how could the government officials not keep their promises? My husband and I decided to go to Beijing in person, to appeal for our Master and for Dafa. At this time, the city was under curfew and police were stationed everywhere. It was impossible to take the train to Beijing, so we decided to ride our bikes. As soon as we left home, it began to rain hard. I thought in my heart that even if knives rained down from the sky, it would not stop us from going to Beijing to appeal. I wanted to ask the government officials why they would not allow people to practice Falun Gong, a righteous cultivation system that can save people's lives and teach people to be good. There were many police on the road to question people, so we took a detour to avoid them. Often, we had no time to eat, but we did not feel hungry. After riding for a long period of time, our buttocks bled from the friction and it was difficult to continue sitting down, but we still kept on going. It took us four days to reach Beijing. Before we had even reached the appeals office, the police stopped and questioned us. We told them that we came to appeal for justice for our Master and Falun Gong. The police deceived us. They did not take us seriously, nor did they pass our words to the higher authority. Instead, they jailed us. More than 20 fellow practitioners were also detained. We told the police how wonderful Falun Gong is. In the afternoon, a vehicle from our hometown transported my husband and I to Guanxi Police Station. On the following morning at 8 a.m., town official Tan Chunking came. No matter how rational we were in reasoning with him, he would not listen. He made our village secretary pay 4,000 Yuan [average monthly income of in rural China is about 250 Yuan] in exchange for our release. Our village secretary provided 2,000 Yuan and took us home. Shortly after, we sent 11 letters to the City government offices to appeal.
Guo Xinyue, from the town government, told us that they would hold "a study class" for us. If we refused to attend, we would be fined 50 Yuan per day. He also said that if we did not write our "Guarantee" [to give up the practice] statement, or hand in our Dafa books, we would have to report to the class every day. They would not allow us to farm our land until we gave in. I told them that I would not give up Falun Gong. Falun Gong gave me a second life by curing my illnesses. The town government realized that they could not persuade us, so they gave up.
On July 20, 1999, the Jiang regime began to further persecute Falun Gong. My husband and I decided to go to Beijing to appeal again. I was apprehended while transferring to another train in Jinan City. The police locked me in a school in which hundreds of fellow practitioners had already been detained. The police forced us to watch a video that slandered our Master. On the third day, I was sent to Changle County. On the way, I told the police the truth: that I was dying from an illness before Master gave me this second life. My conscience told me to tell the truth to the government and to appeal for justice for our Master. The police believed that we were good people. They told us that they were in a difficult situation because the government outlawed Falun Gong and they had to follow orders from the top.
As soon as we reached the town government, the town electrician, Chen Longshan, pulled me out of the vehicle and started kicking and beating me. The secretary of the political and legal committee, Wang Xinmin, said, "Since you have sued us, we will let you see who is tougher." Then he hit my head hard. I felt the earth and sky spinning, and tried to stand up and regain my balance. He hit me again, this time much harder. The thug madly beat and cursed me from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. My chest and arms were bruised, and my hair was a mess. The next day, I was forced to sit on the cement floor while they beat me again. I was also forced to stand up straight with my arms raised up while heavy bags dangled on them. At night, the police forced me to stand outside and I was badly bitten by mosquitoes. They tortured me for four days without giving me any rest. They tried to force me to write the "Guarantee" statement. If I refused to write one, they would impose a fine of 5,000 Yuan. I refused to renounce Falun Gong, so they tortured me for twelve days and released me after they forced my relatives to pay 700 Yuan.
I lay in bed for over a month after getting back home and was even afraid to take a breath due to the severe pain in my chest. I couldn't sit nor lie down without the help of my husband or my son. Just after I got a little better, personnel from the town government forced us to attend their brainwashing class. Wang Xinmin threatened us, "If anyone dares to go to Beijing, your arms and legs will be broken into pieces. Don't believe I can't fix you." He forced us to report to the village office twice a day and also extorted 1,200 Yuan as "bail money." The wicked people often came to my home late at night and knocked on the door to see whether we were at home, or they climbed to the roof of my house to monitor us, which also seriously disturbed the neighbors.
On December 20, 1999, I went to Beijing again with another practitioner to appeal. Some wicked people found us when we were checking in at the train station. People from the town police station brought us back. Then we were handcuffed to a tree in the yard, with our feet only barely touching the ground. They also stripped off our warm jackets in order to expose us to the freezing weather. We were hung like this from 2:00 a.m. till 9:00 a.m. the next day, and our hands became black. After they put us down they started to brutally beat us up. The person who beat me was called Zang Wei. He slapped my face more than 70 times. My face was covered with blood and my lips were swollen badly and turned black. Later we were sent to the town judicial office. Wang Xinmin, Chen Longshan and others started to abuse us again with fists, kicks, wooden sticks and electric batons. Wang Xinmin kept brutally kicking my husband in his ribs, which made it too painful for him to breathe. His back and buttock were beaten black. His chest was severely swollen and bruised. These thugs yelled while torturing us, "You two want to go to Beijing, don't you? Go if you are not afraid to be beaten." After they saw we didn't yield to them, they commanded that we pay them 2,000 Yuan in exchange for our release. In order to save us, our relatives collected the money and handed it to the town government. Then the wicked people released us. Both of us lay in bed at home and couldn't move after we were released. Our son took care of us for over a month while we couldn't take care of ourselves.
On April 12, 2000, several fellow practitioners and I decided to go to Beijing again to appeal. Since the thugs had extorted almost everything from us, and almost every family had heavy debts, we didn't have money to buy train tickets. We decided to walk to Beijing. In order not to be found by the evil police, we made a detour on the way. Sometimes we didn't have anything to eat or drink for one or two days. We would have to drink a little dirty water from a ditch when we were extremely thirsty. The long walking caused continuous blisters to develop on the soles of our feet, even on the top of the toes. We were so tired that we couldn't get up after sitting down and were afraid to sit down once we got up. If we were too tired, we would find a pile of grass to lie down for a little while. Sometimes we felt too uncomfortable to fall asleep. Sometimes there were not any villages within a range of one or two hundred Li [50-100 km or about 30-60 miles]. We had to take a break on the pavement along the road. The road in Wuli County was being built, so there were mounds of sand, gravel and dirt everywhere but no flat roads.
We encouraged each other and recited Master's Hong Yin. Although the road led us up and down, we didn't feel tired, but were in high spirits. One day, we lay down on a stack of grass to have a nap after a long walk. Suddenly it started to rain and we were awakened. We looked at each other and laughed. We encountered three sand storms on the way. The winds blew so strong that we were not even able to stand up. So we walked along the ditch. I had a thought in my mind that I would go to Beijing, even if I had to crawl there. When we were tired, we studied Zhuan Falun. We spent 12 days walking more than 1,200 Li [600 km or about 375 miles] to Beijing, and finished reading Zhuan Falun exactly one time. When we arrived in Wuqing County in the suburbs of Beijing, the police found out we were going to Beijing to appeal and detained us illegally for half a month. When the police authorities interrogated us, we told them our experiences on the way to Beijing and spread the Fa to them. Some police officers were moved. One officer said to us, "I believe because you have such a willpower to walk to Beijing in bare feet, your practice will soon be redressed." He even initially provided bed covers for us and didn't say anything when he searched us and found Zhuan Falun. We persevered in studying the Fa and practicing the exercises every day.
On May 14, three people from our hometown came to take us back. They couldn't wait to brutally beat us and stopped the car while we were still in Tianjin. A person whose last name was Wang pulled us down from the car and handcuffed me to a tree. While beating me, he asked me whether I would continue to practice. My answer was yes. He beat me more intently. My nose and mouth bled and my clothes became red. He threatened me, "If you say that you will not practice, you can go home; otherwise we will send you to the judicial office. What do you really want by going to Beijing again and again?" I said, "I don't like to do it either. Knowing that once arrested, I will be stripped of a layer of skin and be fined, who would like to do so? But the government caused this situation. It's not my fault. My Teacher taught me to be a good person, to always think of others and to be a better person. It is not wrong at all." He couldn't argue with my words. At that time, the passersby were all watching them conduct the beating. The thugs were afraid so they unlocked our handcuffs and dragged us to the car. At 6:00 p.m. we arrived at our hometown. I was immediately pulled out of the car. More than 10 people stripped off my outer clothes and pushed me down to the ground. Some people stepped on my neck and some stepped on my legs. I was beaten all over my body with electric batons, rubber tubes, wooden sticks, and a square wooden rod. Wang Xinmin even lifted my inner clothes and lashed my back viciously with a rubber tube. My skin became black and severely swollen. I bled a lot. I was beaten until 12:00 a.m. and I lost conscious. They were afraid that I would die and two persons took turns watching me. While in a semi-conscious state I heard them discussing something, like sending me to the hospital if I was going to die, and planning to find out from me who had come to my home for experience sharing so that they could arrest them. I remember thinking I would rather be beaten to death than betray any of my fellow practitioners.
(to be continued)
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