(Clearwisdom.net) Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp was formerly known as Tiantanghe Forced Labor Camp, and before that it was the Xin'an Men's Forced Labor Camp. When Tiantanghe Forced Labor Camp was completely filled with female Falun Gong practitioners and could no longer accommodate more, so it exchanged its facility with Xin'an Men's Forced Labor Camp and later changed its name to Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. Prior to the persecution, the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp detained on the average 100 to 200 female inmates. The majority of them were drug addicts and prostitutes. After Jiang Zemin started to openly persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, it became one of the primary facilities in Beijing that detained Falun Gong practitioners as prisoners of conscience. Between July 2000 and April 2001, the number of people detained at Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp jumped from around 100 to nearly 1,000.

In June 2003, China's Ministry of Justice commissioned the production of "Life is Innocent," the very first television propaganda in the form of TV drama to destroy the reputation of Falun Gong. It was a joint production of Fazhi Video Entertainment Center and Xi'an Dingma Video Production Company. "Life is Innocent" was based on completely fabricated stories created to disguise the persecution against illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners in Xin'an Women's Forced Labor Camp in Daxing, Beijing. It contains nothing but lies about Falun Gong and the persecution against Falun Gong. It is the lowest form of a tarnishing campaign designed to instigate Chinese people's hatred against Falun Gong and to justify the persecution.

After learning about the contents of "Life is Innocent," many Falun Gong practitioners who survived the tortures at Xin'an Forced Labor Camp publicized their personal stories as victims of the persecution at Xin'an Forced Labor Camp and pointed out that Jiang Zemin's group was trying to overturn the truth on TV in order to hide their heinous crimes against Falun Gong practitioners. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) has already collected the information about the entire production crew involved in the production of "Life is Innocent" and has launched an official investigation of the production crew.

Ms. Li Jirong is one of the four Captains at Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. She was one of the fiercest torturers at the Camp. In 2003, Jiang Zemin's regime even made her a "Political and Legal Model Serviceman" of the year for her unmatched brutalities against Falun Gong practitioners and broadcast the award ceremony on China's national TV channel, CCTV. There is nothing more scandalous than saluting people who trample on the Chinese Constitution, abandon their humanity and destroy law-abiding Chinese citizens' families.

1. Beijing's Daxing Women's Forced Labor Camp Alters Its Name to Disguise the Persecution, But Continues Its Torture and Slavery Behind Closed Doors
2. Chinese TV Series "Life is Innocent" Distorts the Facts - This is What Life at the Beijing Female Labor Camp is Really Like
3. Witness Describes How the Chinese State-run TV Series "Life is Innocent" Distorts the Facts - What Life is Really Like at the Beijing Xinan Forced Labor Camp
4. Inside the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp: 24 Hours a Day of Monitoring, Sleep Deprivation and Forced Brainwashing
5. Exposing the Lies in the TV Series "Life is Innocent" With My Own Experiences in the Xin'an Labor Camp
6. Evidence for Lawsuit against Jiang: My Experience in Beijing Forced Labor Camp

(Clearwisdom.net) Daxing Female Forced Labor Camp near Tiangongyuan, Tuanhe, Beijing has changed its name to Daxing Reform School. However, it continues its gruesome torture and slavery of Falun Gong practitioners behind closed doors. When a female Falun Gong practitioner is illegally sentenced to do hard labor, she will be sent to Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp before she is transferred to the designated forced labor camp. As soon as female Falun Gong practitioners enter Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, the camp's police would make them stand or squat for an extended period of time each day. Next the police would try to force them to write a Guarantee Statement to renounce Falun Gong, and brutally beat up those who refused to do so, in an empty warehouse. As for those extraordinarily determined Falun Gong practitioners, the police would order several drug addicts to help hold them on the ground and force them to press their ink-stained fingers on a Guarantee Statement that they had written "on behalf of" these determined Falun Gong practitioners.

Next, the camp's police would put Falun Gong practitioners through about a month long "hard labor training," where Falun Gong practitioners are essentially used as a free tool. The police would repeatedly search every Falun Gong practitioner and their personal belongings each day, and perform a thorough search of all the cells every few days. With each cell search, the police would make all Falun Gong practitioners gather in the auditorium while they searched each and every item in all the cells. They would go to the extent of tearing the wrapping of each roll of toilet paper. When they finished searching the cells, they would strip Falun Gong practitioners naked and search their bodies and clothes. In addition to the humiliation of strip search, the police make each Falun Gong practitioner work at least more than eight hours a day on wrapping disposable chopsticks. The daily quota for each enslaved Falun Gong practitioner has increased from 7,500 pairs of chopsticks to 10,000.

After the "hard labor training" is concluded, the camp's police would transfer designated Falun Gong practitioners to Beijing's Daxing Forced Labor Camp (or Daxing Reform School.) At Daxing Forced Labor Camp, the police would make several prison inmates take turns in watching a Falun Gong practitioner around the clock. They would typically torture Falun Gong practitioners by denying them sleep, the use of the toilet, water and the chance to wash or shower. They are routinely forced to read and watch propaganda materials that slander Falun Gong. Unless they renounce Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners are routinely subject to continual brutal tortures, such as being forced to squat or sit for an extended period of time, forced to stand or sit barefoot under the blazing sun and on the scorching ground for an extended amount of time, Small Swallow Flying torture (see note), brutal beating, being shocked with electric batons, etc.

It is only when a Falun Gong practitioner becomes critically wounded or ill that the camp's police would send her to the hospital for emergency resuscitation. If she survives and her health started to show some improvement, the police would haul her back. Daxing Forced Labor Camp would right away continue their tortures on her. The camp's police would deprive Falun Gong practitioners of a chance to wash and shower for several months or even a year and claim that practicing Falun Gong had caused the body odor.

Information of the Staff at the former Daxing Female Labor Camp:
Head of the Camp, Ms. Zhu Xiaoli: 86-010-60278899 ext 5807
Caption of the First Squadron, Ms. Chen Li
Deputy Captain of the First Squadron, Ms. Sun
Deputy Captain of the First Squadron, Ms. Guo
The First Squadron: 86-010-60278899 ext 5701
Head of Fangshan Precinct's "610 Office" in Beijing, Mr. Bo Song: 86-010-69327110

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/18/74954.html

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/7/25/38492.html

(Clearwisdom.net) We heard the shocking news that the Party is premiering a TV series called Life is Innocent, to slander Falun Gong and to whitewash the persecution in the forced labor camps. We, a few of the tens of thousands of practitioners who were illegally detained at Beijing Women's Labor Camp, the former Tiantanghe Labor Camp or Xinan Labor Camp, can attest that the people who made the TV program are fabricating facts. Here we just want to tell the truth about life at the Beijing Female Labor Camp.

Construction of the Beijing Women's Labor Camp was finished last year. The dormitory looks like a palace in a fairy tale, and flowers and plants flourish in the yard. However, none of these can hide the brutal persecution.

The labor camp policy states that detainees must work four hours a day from Monday through Friday, and they get time off during holidays and weekends. However, most of the time we were forced to work from early morning to late at night, and we rarely got the weekend off. In order to get as much work done as possible, the guards woke us up at 4 a.m. and made us work until after midnight. In order not to be seen violating the policy, the guards didn't turn on the light when they woke us up and they ordered us to wash in the dark. Then they turned on the light and asked us to start working immediately. Oftentimes the guards didn't write down our names and the hours we worked, but every time we filled out forms the group leaders asked us to write as they told us. Some practitioners ignored their unreasonable demands and wrote down the facts. The guards found these practitioners according to their handwriting and class, sent them to the office and asked them in a vicious manner, "What did you put on the form?" the practitioners said, "You said the form is anonymous, why do you ask?" The guards couldn't answer.

Other than obtaining bonus money by forcing the practitioners to do heavy labor, the guards also tried to brainwash the practitioners, and not let them have access to Dafa books and articles.

There are all kinds of hygienic facilities available at the labor camp, but in the summer we were allowed to take only one shower per week, and once every two weeks at all other times. The whole labor camp had to finish showering within half a day. After we returned from the shower, the guards pressured us to wash our clothes within the shortest time. When we washed our face and brushed our teeth in the morning and evening, the guards looked at their watches and urged us to finish quickly. In this high-pressure atmosphere, many elderly practitioners only had time to wash their feet once a day or not at all, and they could wash their clothes only infrequently.

Because of this high pressure, many practitioners developed hypertension and other illnesses. The guards lied and claimed they weren't healthy when practicing Falun Gong, and the government took care of them and gave them medicine. However, the fact is these people were mostly healthy before their arrest, and no matter how sick they became in the labor camp, they quickly recovered by doing Dafa exercises after they returned home. The so-called medication cost expended at the labor camp is proof of the persecution.

When the labor camp went by the name Tiantanghe, they provided low quality food, and as a result many people showed symptoms of malnutrition. The food became steadily worse and worse at the women's camp. We were rarely given any meat, and there was little oil in the vegetables. Once, the camp gave us pure fat boiled in water, and we all suffered diarrhea. Every time people visited the labor camp, the menu at the cafeteria would say beans and other fresh vegetables, but in fact we ate the same food as we were normally given.

Early this year, the camp opened a supermarket. Things that cost one yuan outside are sold for 1.5 yuan here. From then on, our food became even worse, and our meals basically consisted of dirty cabbage and carrots boiled in water, with a little salt. Because of the terrible food, even the people with financial resources had to purchase the salted vegetables from the camp supermarket. The practitioners had no financial resources since their previous jobs were taken away, yet the camp made money this way and added to the financial burden of the practitioners' families.

The government claims their policy toward Falun Gong is "educate, influence, rescue." Let's take a look at how the practitioners are treated at the female camp.

Falun Gong practitioners in all groups face brainwashing. The thugs try to confuse the practitioners with hypocritical Party theories. The head of Group Seven made up lies that sounded laughable even to the other guards. The thugs from Group One, Three, Five and Seven mainly used sleep deprivation to torture the practitioners. Newly arrested practitioners are not allowed to sleep as long as they don't give up Dafa, and some groups don't even allow them to enter the dormitory. They force the practitioners to stay in the hall or the underground pathway for days on end. If they still refuse to give up Dafa, the thugs would force them to squat, stand and stay in a position with their body bent down to extreme and their arms lifting up behind them. They also order the collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to torture and brainwashing], drug addicts and prostitutes to beat the practitioners. These thugs usually hit the practitioners' sensitive body parts. In the end, the guards sent persevering practitioners to the "concentration training group," also called "the cage."

The "concentration training group" uses specialized cages. When practitioners are in these cages, they can neither stand nor squat. The guards also use electrical batons to force the determined practitioners to walk in a squatting posture until their shoes are worn out. When they can no longer walk, the guards kick them so hard they roll on the floor. The guards also shock the female practitioners' private parts with electric batons, until they crawl in pain and try to cover their lower bodies with their hands and arms. Some practitioners are repeatedly beaten until they don't have any perceptible pulse. For practitioners who are too weak to take another beating, the guards open the door in the winter to freeze them. Several practitioners held hunger strikes to protest this gross abuse and mistreatment.

At the end of 2002, the head of Group Two ordered drug addicts and collaborators to beat a determined practitioner for a whole night, until she was on the verge of death. After this, 80% of the Falun Gong practitioners detained at Group Two claimed their forced brainwashing to be null and void. Because of pressure from the practitioners, the female camp authorities sent the perpetrators to the concentration training group; they dissolved Group Two and sent the thugs to the other five groups. The team leaders of Group Two were sent to another group, and Cheng Cuie, the head of Group Two, who is very adamant in the persecution, was sent away. The attempted brainwashing completely failed.

The message in Life is Innocent that the persecution is like "a sprinkling rainfall and breezes in spring" is really an outrageous distortion of the facts.

We advise all people and those who took part in the making of this TV program to please wake up and understand that there is an eternal, heavenly principle: goodness is rewarded and evil deeds are punished. People who distort the facts and slander mighty Dafa are committing unforgivable crimes!

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/17/54119.html

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/1/29/44525.html

July 27, 2003

A fellow practitioner wrote an article entitled, "Chinese TV Series 'Life is Innocent' Distorts the Facts-- This is What Life at the Beijing Women's Labor Camp is Really Like." After reading the article, I was shocked at how, in order to defame Falun Gong and cover up the crimes committed in forced labor camps against Falun Gong practitioners, some state-run television stations broadcast the TV series "Life is Innocent", which is allegedly based on life in the Beijing Women's Labor Camp. I could not help shedding tears.

Based on my personal experience at Chaoyang Detention Center, the Forced Labor Center, and Xinan Forced Labor Camp in Beijing City, I would like to expose the crimes I experienced and witnessed. I went through the four stages mentioned in the fellow practitioner's article. What she wrote was all true. I can even add more facts that I know.

I started practicing Falun Gong in 1996 and came to France with my husband in December 1998. In December 1999, I went back to China to visit my parents. While there, I took the opportunity to let the public know that Falun Dafa is good at Tiananmen Square during the Chinese Lunar New Year of 2000. I was unlawfully arrested and detained at the Tiananmen Police Substation, along with at least 2,000 other practitioners. That evening, we were transferred to the Thirteenth Department of the Public Security Bureau in Beijing. Then I was transferred again to the Chaoyang Detention Center, where I was detained for a month until my working unit provided a guarantee for me. At the end of September 2000, some fellow practitioners and I gathered together to exchange experiences about our cultivation at a practitioner's home. The police suddenly arrived to search the practitioner's home. As the practitioner did not allow the police to enter, two security guards stayed outside, watching the door 24 hours a day, while plainclothes policemen and a police van waited by the entrance of the building. Finally, after five days of staying in the apartment, we decided we were unwilling to be controlled by their actions any longer and we went down the stairs, intending to leave. I was arrested and detained at the Chaoyang Detention Center for nearly a month.

On November 23, 2000, a policeman whose last name was Wei, from the Babaoshan Police Substation, came to my home and lied to me, saying that the Chaoyang Public Security Branch wanted to get some information from me, that they were waiting for me at the Babaoshan Police Substation, and that it would not take more than twenty minutes. Unexpectedly, a policeman whose last name is Guo, from the Hujialou Police Substation in Chaoyang District, took me to the Chaoyang Detention Center, where I was sentenced to a year of forced labor without any trial or charge. I was detained in Team Three of the Xinan Forced Labor Camp. During detention, due to my attachments and the persecution I suffered, I said things against Dafa, which I deeply regret. I was released on November 26, 2001, and on March 20, 2003, came to France again on a student visa.

In France, away from the vicious environment in China, I gradually awakened and regretted my previous actions. I met with fellow practitioners and came back to the cultivation path of Falun Dafa. Once again, the teachings from our compassionate Teacher, provided me with the chance to purify myself again, to expose the evil, and to clarify the truth of the persecution. As a witness to this vicious persecution, I have the responsibility to do what a Dafa disciple should do: to clarify the truth, expose the evil, and save sentient beings. The following is my account of the persecution I experienced in the labor camp.

I left the Xinan Forced Labor Camp at the end of November 2001, at the completion of my term. When I was still in the labor camp, I heard that the camp would move to the newly built Beijing Female Forced Labor Camp. I had heard that Jiang Zemin and the "610 Office" spent a huge amount of money creating a forced labor camp that specialized in forcing Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief in Falun Dafa. The fellow practitioner's article mentioned above describes how the dormitory buildings in the Beijing Female Forced Labor Camp look very pretty on the outside with beautiful flowers and grass growing in the big yard. Their surface attractiveness cannot hide the horror of the persecution that occurs inside the camp. It is even more brutal than what happens in a prison. The situation is the same in the Xinan Forced Labor Camp, where I was detained.

The Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp is also the same, according to some practitioners I know. The beautiful environment, which also hides the forced labor camp's brutal activities, is designed to confuse the practitioners.. In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief in Dafa, huge sums of money have been invested in renovating the forced labor camp. The authorities have made it look like a garden, with colorful murals painted on the walls. The iron fences, the electric wire mesh on the windows, the doors of the dormitories, and the monitors in the rooms have all been removed. There are flowers in every room. Every inmate is given a pet gold fish and a TV set in each room. The dining room provides a variety of food, and the menu is changed daily. In addition, the authorities organize all kinds of recreational activities, such as singing and dancing competitions. The authorities require us to sing a "transformation song" before each meal. However, all of this is just a fake "store front" to disguise the forced labor camp and put on a show to deceive people. This same false appearance of happiness is used to confuse and brainwash Dafa practitioners.

In each team of the forced labor camp, Dafa practitioners are fed countless lies such as "The policy of the government is to educate, move and save," "The forced labor camp is a special school instead of a prison." "Falun Gong practitioners are good people who only need to change and transform their thoughts." These deceptive strategies are part of the brainwashing process, which intends to confuse right and wrong, and is calculated to throw Falun Gong practitioners off guard. The ultimate purpose is to make them unconsciously accept brainwashing and give up their cultivation practice. This false appearance is coupled with threats and promises, while the victims are deprived of all personal freedom.

The evil makes use of the fake surface appearance to cover up the brutal nature of the persecution going on behind the scenes, so as to confuse Dafa practitioners, especially those who have attachments to such outward comfort. The authorities make use of human notions as a way to launch psychological attacks, and create illusions so that the human notions of those practitioners who do not have a deep understanding of the Falun Dafa principles, and have not let go of their degenerated concepts, form a huge psychological discrepancy. While such a deception outwardly looks normal and reasonable, it is actually the most despicable and vicious way to confuse practitioners who have been deprived of personal freedom. Such practitioners are then subjected to persecution and forced brainwashing.

Deprived of the ability to study the Falun Dafa teachings, some of us found we could not face the tribulations from the perspective of the Fa, and our own attachments made us unable to see the truth clearly. The majority of practitioners who have been brainwashed are deceived and bewildered by the illusions and lies. Cultivation is a serious issue. If we cannot view things happening around us from the perspective of the Fa, it becomes very easy to be confused, fall into the trap of degenerated concepts, and be taken advantage of by the evil. As a result, we might be brainwashed without realizing it. After getting released from the forced labor camp, such spiritual torture makes many practitioners unable to discern the nature of the evil persecution. It fundamentally destroys a person's righteous thoughts and righteous beliefs, taking them away from the virtue of Falun Dafa and down a path of self-destruction. For a practitioner who becomes confused by such illusions in the material world, the result can be horrible.

Often, practitioners who see this illusion are unable to determine its true nature. Such a practitioner might stand up for the evil and help cover up the truth of persecution. That is why many people who came out of the forced labor camps after being brainwashed told others, "It is pretty good in the forced labor camp." This is what the evil wants to achieve; the fundamental destruction of sentient beings.

Fabrication and deception have become the central core of Jiang Zemin regime's system of false compassion. In order to confuse and deceive the Chinese people, Jiang Zemin regime follows the propaganda tactic that, "When a lie is repeated ten times, it becomes the truth." Jiang Zemin regime's practices are deceiving people all over the world as well. To help people see the truth and make their own judgment after they are aware of what is really going on, I feel it is my responsibility to expose what life is really like in the Xinan Forced Labor Camp and to rectify what is wrong.

Below is my personal experience from the Xinan Forced Labor Camp in Beijing. It shows how the media from the United States was deceived while doing a report on the forced labor camp. We heard that the media came for the sake of human rights organizations that heard Falun Gong practitioners were being tortured in the forced labor camps. The American media came to the Xinan Forced Labor Camp. (I cannot remember the exact date. To my memory, it was in the summer.) At the time, an American journalist filmed everything that the police staged: "The so-called happy life in the library."

The guards got some people to create this library near the auditorium, where nobody had ever been seen reading books. The police singled out several Falun Gong practitioners who were considered reliable and had a pleasant appearance. These people, including me, were brought to the library for about ten minutes before the American journalist came to interview us. While we sat there, waiting for the interview, the police instructed the interviewee to say only what they had scripted beforehand. What the American journalist filmed was pre-arranged and not the real situation at all. When the journalist finished filming, we were brought back to our rooms to continue with our labor.

Everyone who has experienced the real situation in a forced labor camp knows that what was depicted on the state-run TV series was completely fabricated and used as propaganda to deceive and fool the Chinese people.

As described in the fellow practitioner's article, the police guards often violated the regulations regarding working schedules in the forced labor camps. They make use of cheap labor in the forced labor camps to manufacture products for export. For instance, we were forced to make stuffed toy rabbits to fill an order for the Nestle Company, to work with fabric and strong smelling glue that filled the whole room and the fumes were not properly ventilated (we made all the products in our rooms), and to make cushions. All the above products were for export. When an order came, it was always a big quantity and had to be done within a few days. Everybody in the camp was assigned a certain quantity to complete in a certain time. The labor camp forced us to finish work rapidly by linking one person's output to the treatment of the entire group of detainees'. If one person could not finish the work, we were all forced to work until midnight, which was far beyond an average person's endurance. We had to sit on a little bench, working all the time, and were not allowed to move about or to talk to each other. Going to the bathroom was only permitted at set times for the whole group. No individual was allowed to go to the bathroom alone at any time. After a day's work, everybody was very tired and wished to sleep. Even so, the police always talked to us using a false compassionate tone. They told us their salaries were low, that funds from the government were not sufficient, that in order for us to eat better, we had to work hard to achieve self-sufficiency, etc. They exploited our labor without paying us at all.

If the authorities arrived unexpectedly to inspect the camp, they would ask us to hide what we were working on, to sit comfortably, or to go to sleep. When some leaders came to visit the labor camp, they would prepare us by asking us not to work or do some light work, or to watch TV, and they would improve our meals so as to bolster the illusion. This happened frequently in forced labor camps. Deception is also used when the forced labor camp takes part in a competition, or applies for an award. There is a regulation for a forced labor camp to have a limited number of people in one room and a certain amount of space for each person. In order to comply, the guards move the extra detainees, the aged or those in poor health to a location that the inspection team cannot see. Those moved are not allowed to come out of their hiding place. Someone even brings them food. This is how the labor camp "complies" with the requirements, by deceptive means. Meeting the requirement and being selected as an advanced labor camp directly relates to their monetary reward.

My fellow practitioner mentioned in the article that the guards illegally impose heavy labor upon us, not only for the purpose of making a larger bonus for themselves, but also for the purpose of brainwashing Falun Dafa practitioners. They also verbally abuse us and try to wear us down with exhaustion. Not having time to think about our understanding of Dafa or to recite Teacher's articles, we begin to unconsciously accept the imposed persecution. Deceived by the false impression, we become indifferent and forget about cultivation during Fa-rectification. We use our human mentality to find excuses for the survival of our attachments, instead of having a clear understanding from the perspective of the Fa that illegal detention and forced labor result from the evils' suppression and persecution of Dafa.

As Teacher said in the article Expounding on the Fa,

"Whenever a tribulation comes, you do not see it with the side of your original nature but view it completely with your human side. Evil demons then capitalize on this point and inflict endless interference and damage, leaving students in long-term tribulations. As a matter of fact, this results from an inadequate understanding of the Fa by your human side. You have humanly restrained your divine side; in other words, you have restrained the parts that have been successfully cultivated and have prevented them from doing Fa-rectification. How can the uncultivated side restrain your main thoughts or the side that has already attained the Fa? Having humanly fostered the evil demons, you allow them to capitalize on the loopholes in the Fa."

This is one of the reasons that some practitioners cannot pass the test of tribulations. Humanly fostering the evil demons also means acknowledging evils' damage to Dafa and the persecution of Dafa practitioners, both physically and spiritually, which is a totally intolerable injustice. Getting lost because of an unclear understanding of the Fa principles is the same as becoming blind to the true meaning of life.

There are bathrooms at Xinan Forced Labor Camp. For us, however, it is viewed as a charity to be given a chance to take a shower. In summer, we were only permitted to take one quick shower per week. In winter we rarely were allowed to take a shower. Even though we were allowed one shower occasionally, all people from the seven teams of the labor camp had to finish within half a day (with limited shower heads). The guards told us it was for our sake -- in case we caught a cold. After the shower, we had to finish washing all of our clothes in the shortest time and we were not allowed to wash clothes at any other time.

Our clothes and bed coverings could not be washed regularly. Only when somebody had scabies were we allowed to wash our bed sheets and coverings and to sterilize the quilt in the sun. Every morning and evening, washing and brushing time was very short. The police guards urged us to hurry, with watches in their hands. Within a few minutes, over twenty people had to finish washing and brushing at only ten sinks. It was very militarized.

Under such a bad condition and intense atmosphere, many older people could only wash one foot or did not wash their feet at all. Sometimes they had to wash their underwear using the time designated for washing their faces and then hang their underwear in a hidden location that was not easy to find. Real life in the labor camp was always under high pressure and forced brainwashing, with no personal and spiritual freedom at all. The situation was always intense, with human dignity entirely lost or distorted. The evil constantly ordered practitioners about and persecuted them.

As the fellow practitioner pointed out, many suffered from high blood pressure and other diseases. Yet, the police blamed Falun Gong. They boasted that the government showed great concern and gave them medicine to take. The fact is, almost all practitioners were in good health before they were detained. Furthermore, no matter how serious their illnesses were at the forced labor camp, as long as they went back home, and resumed the normal practice of Falun Gong, they would recover very quickly. The labor camp's medical expenses are proof that Falun Dafa practitioners are being persecuted, as such expenses would never be necessary were the practitioners free to practice.

Some practitioners who were brainwashed went back to an everyday person's life completely and did not practice any more. After they were released, many did not recover at all from the illnesses they acquired in the forced labor camp. Instead, they started taking the same medicine they had thrown away after benefiting from Falun Gong. What's worse, many of them did not know what to do. They lived in misery, filled with fear and confusion resulting from the spiritual devastation of brainwashing.

The food at the Tiantanghe Xinan Forced Labor Camp was of good quality in some people's eyes. One reason is the Jiang Zemin regime's strategy of false compassion, a component of the brainwashing. Many practitioners had been in some other detention centers that had very horrible conditions, so by comparison, they were deceived that they were in a better place and let down their guard.

Before practitioners were detained in the forced labor camp, the conditions were very bad, with low quality food as well. The criminal prisoners detained there told us that it was a blessing that Dafa practitioners came there, since the head of the persecution, Jiang Zemin, used the excuse of transforming Falun Gong to force the country to invest in the living conditions in the forced labor camps.

Many practitioners had been to detention centers or terminal centers, which were in really bad condition. They were only permitted to eat food with poor nutritional quality such as steamed corn bread, and soup with dirt in it every day. Many Chinese people live a very poor life. After they came to the forced labor camp, they felt that life there was even better than at home. They were satisfied with the food there because they were provided with meat and vegetables cooked with oil, which they rarely could afford to eat at home, so they felt good psychologically, and more comfortable, even though they had no personal and spiritual freedom in the forced labor camp. Some people did not even want to leave the labor camp. That element also contributed to people who have been brainwashed saying, "It is pretty good there."

The above-mentioned strategies are what are being used in the forced labor camps to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners. They lie and deceive, so that people can no longer tell good from bad. When people do not have righteous thoughts, they do not mind whether it is right or wrong. New practitioners, or those who did not yet really understand the Fa, totally forgot that they were practitioners and why they were forcibly detained.

Even though the menu on the blackboard in the dining room is different from the real dishes, people regard it as normal. By watching such abnormal thoughts over such abnormal things, we see the indifferent and distorted souls of people after forced brainwashing.

They also use the practitioners' captivity to extort money and property from them. One example is that detainees have to buy the commodities sold at the labor camp store due to the low quality of the food and their need for necessities. The commodities are mostly fake products at double the price compared with those sold outside the labor camp. Even those who are very poor have to buy some preserved food or other necessities. Another example is the computer course. The forced labor camp set up a computer class in order to extort money from practitioners using the excuse of helping them obtain a skill for a career when they are released back into society. A certificate is granted after finishing the course. In fact, the guards register those whose family members give them more money for living expenses: 100 yuan per person. Since we have to do the forced labor, no one has time to attend the class and no certificate is actually issued, either. It is just a way for the forced labor camp to collect money, which shifts a heavy burden to the detainees' family members. It is part of Jiang Zemin and the "610 Office" policy of "bankrupt them financially." Many practitioners had a job before they were detained. They did not work because they were not allowed to, and were illegally detained, so they have no need for a compulsory computer course where they cannot learn anything anyway.

I had been through brainwashing and experienced how Xinan Forced Labor Camp treats Falun Gong practitioners. At the time, I was in Team Three. Jiao Xuexian was the team leader and Huai Chunhong was the deputy team leader. Policemen Huo and Du were in our team. The telephone number of Team Three is 86-10-60278899, ext. 5301.

Team One, Team Three, Team Five and Team Seven had generally adopted a strategy of depriving all detainees of sleep. From the time of their arrival at the labor camp, Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to sleep, until they become compliant. I have witnessed the following. The practice in Team Three was not to allow detainees to go to sleep in their bedrooms unless they agreed to renounce their belief in Falun Dafa. They had to stay in the hall or corridor, as mentioned in the fellow practitioner's article. If practitioners did not renounce their belief in Falun Dafa, they were forced to squat, stand, or bend forward while their hands were handcuffed behind their back for extended periods. Often collaborators [former Dafa practitioners who renounced their belief in Falun Dafa due to severe pressure and torture] were ordered to beat any practitioners who would not renounce Falun Dafa. Detained drug addicts or prostitutes following the guard's orders beat all of the practitioners who remained firm in their belief. The prisoners were quite vicious and would strike the most sensitive parts of the body. Eventually, the guards would send the most steadfast practitioners to the Concentrated Training Team, where they are placed in cages.

In October 2001, the head of Team Three instructed drug-addicts and collaborators to deal with a firm practitioner named Zhang Yijie (She was a department director of the National Economic & Business Ministry. Li Lanqing, head of the "610 Office", personally sentenced her to one and a half years of forced labor.) Her eyes became black after the brutal beatings. After that, the head of the team was afraid that she might die or something might happen, so other measures were undertaken, to force her to renounce her belief; but they all failed.

Usually, the labor camp authorities would not release anyone who had been brainwashed or became collaborators until they were their sentence was over. Once brainwashed, they were directed to brainwash others. Using people this way was aimed at making the more steadfast practitioners suffer, contributed to their self-destruction, and, at the same time, trying to force them to fight with each other.

Because I succumbed to the brainwashing, I was asked to persecute practitioner Zhang Yijie (I will expose the process in detail in a separate article) but I failed. Her belief in Truth, Compassion and Tolerance never wavered. Even though some people developed distorted understandings after undergoing the forced brainwashing, once they left the environment of persecution, and no longer were under the power of the regime, they would awaken and see the truth some day. I am a typical example of such a case. Falun Dafa gave me a new life and the principle of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance is in my heart.

As a witness to history, as a victim of brainwashing, as a person who was once taken advantage of by the evil, and as a being who has awakened and come back to the cultivation practice of Dafa, I would like to tell people in the world that TV series such as "Life is Innocent" distorts the facts. It turns things upside down by describing the torture in the forced labor camps as if it were a spring breeze. I hope all who take part in the making of this TV series and support it, take a look at themselves. It is a cosmic principle that good is rewarded with the good, and evil with evil. It is a sin to distort facts like this, and to defame Falun Dafa, which promotes virtue.

I wrote the above after I awakened and restarted my practice of Falun Dafa. These are my personal experiences. If there is anything that does not conform to Dafa, please kindly point it out. I know that I need to strengthen Fa study and to improve myself in the Fa. At the same time, I will try to catch up with the process of Fa-rectification by exposing the evil and clarifying the truth.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/27/54469.html

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/9/5/39924.html

As soon as I entered the detention center, I saw a Falun Gong practitioner coming in with black and blue marks all over her body. Her head had been struck so severely that there were open wounds, which later required several stitches. Because she didn't tell her name, she was tortured by the female police from Qianmen Police Station for the entire night; they especially beat on the sensitive private areas of her body.

Because another practitioner didn't cooperate with the police, she was tied up with her feet and hands together. They put a steel helmet on her head, and forced her to squat on her heels. In such a position, she could only move bit by bit. In order to resist the persecution, she went on a hunger strike, and ended up being violently force-fed by the police. She was in great agony and was later sent to the hospital.

The detention center adopted a means of "involving others" to torture Dafa practitioners. As long as someone did the exercises, the police would threaten other inmates in the same cell that if he continued doing the exercises, they would all not be allowed to sleep, and must sit on the bench. The police adopted these base means in order to promote hatred against Falun Gong, and make use of other inmates to swear at, beat, and torture Dafa practitioners. They tried everything in an attempt to shake practitioners' righteous thoughts.

At the Beijing transfer station for prisoners of forced labor, as soon as you enter the door, you are asked to squat on your heels with both hands behind your head. Your eyes are not allowed to look around, and if you don't cooperate, you are shocked with electric batons. As to those who fail to lower their heads enough by their standards, all female police, from both sides would come up to them, pull their hair and press their heads down very hard. For those who refused to write the "Guarantee Statement" to renounce Falun Gong, the police would immediately poke their faces with pens. The team leaders of the police team shocked Dafa practitioners with electric batons many times and threatened them by saying, "If you don't write them, we have a lot of means with which to deal with you guys. They located a few prisoners from the forced labor camp to press practitioners' fingers down in order to get their fingerprints on the "Guarantee Statement." If practitioners don't cooperate with them, those prisoners would beat them up until they lost consciousness.

After we entered the yard, we were told to squat on our heels by the walls, with both hands behind our heads. We weren't allowed to talk. The "prisoners on guard" standing beside and watching us beat us at will. We had to squat on our heels for two hours straight until the police had enough sleep and woke up. A sixty-year-old Falun Gong practitioner refused to write the "Guarantee Statement" so the police had her squat on her heels with both hands behind her head. The "prisoner on guard" beside her was watching her, and as long as she moved, the prisoner on guard would beat her. It was midnight and she was still not allowed to go to bed, but had to squat on her heels. When the sun started appearing they became afraid that it would be seen by others, so the police dragged her into a guardroom. By then she couldn't move at all.

At night, when bedtime came, except for the prisoners on guard, all the other people had to lie down, especially Dafa practitioners, who were separated and squeezed in between a few prisoners. All practitioners had to lay down on the floor.

A Falun Gong practitioner clarifying the truth to the police was forced into a spread-eagle position. She wasn't allowed to drink water or use the bathroom. At noon, the prisoner on guard stuffed steamed buns into her mouth, which she refused, so they beat her on the chest.

One Falun Gong practitioner refused to write the "Guarantee Statement", and was forced to say "report, here, yes" 200 times while repeatedly squatting down and standing back up. If she went a little bit slow, she would incur a terrible beating. (Note: Practitioners in such situations must strengthen their righteous thoughts. No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates.)

At the transfer station, we had to work non-stop: packaging big bags, wrapping up chopsticks. Because we were deprived of having showers, our clothes all stunk. We were only allowed three minutes to go to the washroom, and to do some personal cleaning at night. Some people had terrible difficulty with their bowel movements. Even so, some people couldn't stay away from being beaten by prisoners on guard.

As soon as people arrive at Xinan Forced Labor Camp, they aren't allowed to join any team; instead, they have to stand in the hallway or by the furnace room, and read the policies stipulated by the forced-labor camp and No.23 bylaw from the Ministry of Justice. Then they had 4 or 5 collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] act as "teaching assistants" to carry out forced brainwashing in the early evenings and late nights. Initially, they pretended as if they were very patient in talking and in doing things, in order to confuse Falun Gong practitioners so that they could relax their vigilance. As a matter of fact, their faked kindness was only on the surface; fundamentally, this is a vicious means of brainwashing.

At night, Falun Gong practitioners were deprived of sleep. As long as they appeared sleepy, the "teaching assistants" would poke them in order to prevent them from falling sleep. When the "teaching assistants" were bored with poking them, they would then make them stand. After a few days, if practitioners didn't compromise, they would be punished by standing, squatting and "flying" (with the person's head down, his back bent all the way down by the wall, and both arms going up above the person's back and against the wall). All the penalties were administered with police team leader's tacit permission.

Due to the fact that Dafa practitioner Yang Xiaojing steadfastly held onto her belief, the team leader had other prisoners watch her all the time, and didn't allow her to have any contact with anyone. She was made to stand facing the wall, and was only allowed three to four hours sleep every day.

Under such pressure, Li Xiuling compromised with the evil, but later came to realize that she had made a mistake in her cultivation path. Then she was locked up by the police team leader and punished by being made to squat and stand. As a result, her legs and feet swelled up.

Because Zhang Guiling firmly cultivated Dafa, she was forced to stand facing the wall in the administration area every day. She was only allowed a few hours' sleep everyday, and often ended up falling asleep on the ground. Later, she was sent to the intensive training team, where she received inhuman torture. The muscles in her heels even started to tear apart.

Liu Yan didn't cooperate with the police at the transfer station. She refused to wear prisoner's clothes and was beaten and had wounds all over her body. In such a condition, she was having difficulty getting about. After she came to the forced-labor camp, she was locked up in the administration area and punished with standing and squatting. Four "teaching assistants" took turns watching her and didn't allow her to sleep; they even beat her, and had her pull out weeds under the hot baking sun.

Since Lu Kuan was abducted into the brainwashing class, the police still couldn't succeed after three attempts to brainwash him. Then, they sent him to the transfer station, where he was forced to squat for one day and one night, and was tied up on the bed for one day. After he came to Xinan forced-labor camp, he suffered a lot, and then was transferred to the intensive training team. Under the high pressure, he wrote the "Guarantee Statement," but after he came to realize his mistake, he regained his righteous thoughts again. His detention term was extended for ten months.

Here, Falun Gong practitioners don't just endure physical pain, but also mental agony. The "teaching assistants" try to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners with distorted sayings and thoughts everyday. In order to control us, the guards wouldn't allow us to communicate with each other, and required each team to set up a so-called "supervision committee," choosing those whom they considered to be trustful as committee members. Actually, the people who were chosen even said: "What 'supervision committee,' it's just an spy network designed to monitor your every move and give reports to the police team leader."

Under the dual pressure of both physical and mental torture, a practitioner by the name of Zhang Airu, who was very enthusiastic and always helpful to others, suffered a mental collapse. However, the police didn't stop there. They had a "teaching assistant" by the name of Liu Xiaoyao closely watch her, which led to the further deterioration of Zhang Airu's situation. Later, she was bailed out for treatment.

The persecution means adopted at Xinan intensive training team at the forced-labor camp are very brutal. Even though practitioners who were detained there suffered all kinds of torture, they still held onto their righteous beliefs and didn't compromise with the evils. The policemen sent them to the intensive training team and had them suffer all kinds of inhuman torture. In each room there are monitors. No matter whether you are eating, drinking, using the toilet, or sleeping, you are monitored. They have stipulated many punishing positions for the practitioners, such as: "frog jump," standing in a military position (for a few hours or a whole day), walking while squatting on the heels, push-ups and "Riding a bicycle" (both arms positioned as if holding the handle-bar of a bicycle, both legs separated and squatted half way), and "Riding an airplane", etc.

Dafa practitioner, Du Fenrong, who was detained at No. 4 team, cried out "Falun Dafa is good!" during the raising of the national flag ceremony in the morning. At that instant, a few policemen covered her mouth, and then violently broke her lower jaw . She was beaten while being dragged on her way to the intensive training team. There, she suffered more severe torture than at the No. 4 team. Dafa practitioner Chen Fengxian was forced to stand motionless in the yard during the freezing winter and under the baking sun during the hot summer. One time, a "teaching assistant" hit her on her chest to the point where she nearly lost consciousness. Since she was transferred to the intensive training team, she was only allowed two hours' sleep every day, and was punished by being made to stand for hours on end on the stairs. After she stood for a while, she would feel sleepy, and then would fall down the stairs; she ended up having black and blue marks all over her body. The "teaching assistants" standing nearby would laugh at her and mock her. Since she had to stand for such a long while and wasn't allowed to sit down, sometimes, she couldn't stand any more and sat on the ground. At this, the collaborators and "teaching assistants" would immediately pour water on her. The water would soak her clothes; however the collaborators still didn't feel they received their just revenge, so they continued to force her to mop the floor in the hallways, and clean the furnace room and bathroom. They continuously kicked, beat, and swore at her, and her detention term was extended for 10 months.

I have personally witnessed how some who wanted to continue in cultivation were brutally tortured and brainwashed by the police, then turned into the "teaching assistants" who assisted the police to do evil deeds. Whenever people came for an interview or inspection, the team doesn't arrange any labor; rather, it would organize prisoners to study or even play movies. Sometimes, they even organize prisoners to go outside to partake in outdoors activities.

Phone number of Beijing No.5 female labor camp: 011861060278899 ext 5501
Policemen participating in the persecution:
Wei Xiuhong
Du Cuijing
Team leader Zhang Yongxian

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/14/55620.html

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/9/12/40168.html

I heard recently that the TV series "Life is Innocent" was being aired. This series claims that the police "rescue" Falun Gong practitioners like "breezes and sprinkling rain" at the Xin'an Labor Camp. I watched it for a few minutes and was shocked by the fact-twisting lies permeating the program. They dared to lie to 1.3 billion Chinese people, to slander Falun Gong, and to whitewash the labor camp authorities' crimes of brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. I wrote down my experiences in order to expose the blatant lies spread by Jiang Zemin's groups.

One day after July 20, 1999, I was illegally detained when visiting Tiananmen Square, merely because I admitted that I practice Falun Gong. At the Chaoyang Detention Center, the police officers order the detainees to curse and beat practitioners. In the winter they tied hunger-striking practitioners to a wooden board and force-fed them. They also stripped off the practitioners' pants and underwear in public.

One day when I was watching TV with my family, a local police officer came to me and said he wanted to talk to me. He deceived me and sent me to a labor camp. At the Beijing Labor Camp Dispatch Center I refused to write a "Guarantee Statement." The lawless perpetrators forced me to take off my clothes and squat in the snow, with my hands folded on my head. Drug addicts were ordered to stab me with needles. An elderly woman asked to go to the restroom, but the guards didn't allow it. She was forced to defecate in her pants. The guards cursed her out loud.

The environment seemed more civilized at this camp, but the guards used more insidious means, and most put on hypocritical faces.

Basically there was no time schedule at the labor camp. We had to do whatever the guards wanted us to do. If the practitioners were not successfully reformed, or if the superiors scolded the guards, they would persecute the practitioners. They also instigated other detainees to hate Falun Gong practitioners. They cursed the practitioners during meetings, forced us to view Dafa-slandering videos and forced us to run up and down the stairs. They also forced us to write reflections on "reform," and they didn't allow us to walk or talk to each other. We had to do a large amount of work and had to meet a quota, even if it meant staying up all night. The practitioners were forced to make toys including stuffed rabbits for the Nestle Company, cloth slippers, knit sweaters, gloves, and mats for export. We were forced to make disposable chopsticks while sitting on our bed and on the floor, as well as uniforms for labor camp detainees. The authorities even forced us to dig a two-meter's deep foundation for a conference hall. We carried out the dirt, bucket by bucket. They didn't allow us to do the Dafa exercises. When someone came to visit, they hid determined practitioners elsewhere and threatened the "unreformed" practitioners not to say anything inappropriate. One time a foreign journalist came to visit, and they ordered us to put dishes and utensils in a disinfection cabinet, which we never used. They didn't even turn on the cabinet, to save electricity. This is the true life at the Xin'an Labor Camp.

When I first arrived at the labor camp, the guards told me their job was hard and that they needed my cooperation. When I refused, they told me they wouldn't let me see my family nor will they release me unless I reform. They also sent "Reformed" people to "help" me. I didn't know then what "reform" was. None of them answered my questions; they only told me to write the "Three Statements."** They lied to me and said everyone at the labor camp has reformed. They didn't allow me to sleep, and forced me to stand for long periods of time. They ordered reformed people to take turns "helping" me, meaning they read Dafa-slandering articles to me non-stop. Some practitioners couldn't stand the torment and reformed against their true will. After they left the labor camp, they returned to the path of cultivation. The methods used to reform practitioners were physical torture, lies, and other mental torment. These deceitful methods do not stand the test of time and fly in the face of facts.

Later I learned that several determined practitioners had been isolated, or were detained at the group drill division. The instructors surrounded them in an attempt to brainwash them. They locked these practitioners in solitary confinement and basically didn't allow them any sleep for half a month. For practitioners who still refused to write the "Guarantee Statement," the perpetrators would order others to write it and put the practitioners' name on the statement. Afterwards they claimed that the practitioners had written the statement.

The reform rate at this camp has a direct bearing on the guards' bonuses and promotion. Some guards who are somewhat conscientious were forced to administer brainwashing and were not willing to do it themselves. They asked the practitioners to write the "Guarantee Statements" and once they comply, their job is done. Other guards, though, bore a personal grudge and irrationally tortured determined practitioners. They also forced reformed people to carry out brainwashing. One of my classmates was a former practitioner. She worked day and night as an instructor after she was reformed and wasn't allowed to rest for a single day, even after she fell ill. Now she regrets it. The people who reformed her were former practitioners and classmates. The lack of sleep and tremendous psychological pressure made her feel confused and agonized. She lost faith in humanity and hated the ugly side of it. She wanted to escape the environment as soon as possible so she didn't have to listen to the lies. That is why she wasn't thinking with a clear mind and resorted to self deception and self abandonment. I was also reformed this way. I said things that let down Master and Dafa, and I aided the evil persecution.

After thinking with a calm mind, my conscience told me I did wrong. After I betrayed Dafa, self-blame and regret deeply distressed me. I always cried during monthly family visits. I couldn't tell my family anything, although I wanted to tell them everything. The physical torture was hard to bear; yet, mental torture hurt my soul. During the days when I could not come to grips with myself, I remembered Master saying that practitioners cannot kill, and that suicide is a crime. These words helped me to get by those difficult days. I didn't know how to cleanse myself of the stain until I left the labor camp and read Master's scriptures. I felt Master's boundless benevolence and I finally triumphed over my old self and walked out of the shadow. I returned to cultivation.

Readers, friends, and fellow practitioners! Everything I said is true. I wanted to say more but the environment here is vicious and I have to stop. Looking back, in the early days of the persecution I wrote letters, appealed, and went to police officers, government officials, colleagues, and neighbors to tell them about my feelings and changes after I practiced Dafa. I hoped to achieve justice and peace with my honesty and kindness. Even during the days I was illegally detained I told the police everything I knew, with only one purpose: so we can practice in an open manner, and so our respected Master receives just treatment.

I told people about my true experiences. I hope kind-hearted people can distinguish between good and evil, and understand and support Dafa practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/28/56410.html

Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/16/41314.html

Part 2: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/23/41549.html

Part 3: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/24/41548.html

Part 4: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/25/41550.html

In 1992, while I was giving birth, there were two instances when I began bleed seriously because of medical malpractice. My life was in great danger during both incidents. Later, I was infected with hepatitis C during a blood transfusion. I couldn't work for four years and spent over 50,000 yuan for medical expenses [an average urban worker makes about 500 yuan a month in China]. My body felt weak all of the time and I had to take medication.

In July of 1997, I started practicing Falun Gong. Not long after that my hepatitis C went away and I could leave the hospital. I became healthy and could work again.

On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin's regime started a large-scale persecution of Falun Gong. I went to Zhongnanhai to appeal. I was hoping that the officials would carefully reconsider their policies toward Falun Gong. As soon as I stepped onto Fuyou Street, policemen asked me if I practice Falun Gong. My answer was of course "yes." They arrested me immediately and put me into a bus parked on the street. The policemen took away my two copies of Zhuan Falun [book of Falun Gong teachings] as well. When the bus was filled with people, they drove us to the Shijing Mountain District Gymnasium and locked us there for one day. The number of people locked in the gym that day was at least 3,000.

In early November of 1999, I wrote letters to the chairman of China, the premier, and the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. They were appeals to the government, asking that they stop the persecution against Falun Gong. I wrote my real name and address on the letters. These letters were sent to the police department and became "evidence." The police then arrested and interrogated me. They recorded the interrogation and forced me to sign my name to verify the "evidence."

On December 26, 1999, I heard that Beijing's First Intermediate Court was going to try ex-Falun Gong Association members. I wanted to witness the trial, but as soon as I arrived at the courthouse the police asked me if I practice Falun Gong. They arrested me as soon as I said "yes." They sent me to the Beijing Chongwen District Detention Center, and locked me up with prisoners for 48 hours. On that day they arrested over 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners in front of the courthouse.

On February18, 2000, I was arrested again because I attended an experience sharing conference. The Chongwen District Detention Center illegally detained me for 28 days. On March 16, my husband signed a bail letter to get me out.

At 2 a.m. on April 13, 2000, the police broke into my house while I was sleeping and arrested me. They took me to the Chongwen District Detention Center. For the next few days, they refused to tell me the reason for the arrest. While I was on trial they produced an email. It was an email that I wrote to my in-laws explaining why I practice Falun Gong. The police had done some hacking and intercepted the email when it was being delivered.

They unjustly sentenced me to one year of labor camp because of the email. There is no opportunity for Falun Gong practitioners to appeal regarding their sentencing. Three days after the sentence, on June 1, 2000, they sent me to the Bejing Labor Dispatch Department in Daxing County, Beijing. This dispatch department was newly built since there were too many practitioners unjustly sentenced to labor camp in Beijing, and they ran out of room in the existing dispatch departments.

On my first day in the department, they forced me and another 24 newcomers (20 of whom were practitioners) to squat down and stay exposed under burning sun from 9 a.m. until late into the night, for a total of 15 hours. They wouldn't let us move. Many people couldn't stand it and fell to the ground. As soon as they fell, they had to get back into the squatting position immediately; otherwise, the guards would beat them with electric batons.

Starting on the second day, we had to cross our arms in front of our stomachs and stare at our feet every day, 16 hours a day. At the same time we had to recite the labor camp's rules over and over again. I felt that this was an intolerable, personal insult. This indignation combined with extreme physical exhaustion, made me almost have a mental collapse.

On the third day, I couldn't take it anymore. So I requested paper and pen from the police to write a letter of appeal. The leader of the guards Wang Zhao started swearing and sent me to squat under the hot sun. I refused to cooperate and she and official Sha Xuemei dragged me to the ground and beat me with two electric batons. With every strike of the baton my body felt like it was burning. I couldn't help but convulse. Later, Wang Zhao and Sha Xuemei each held a baton and pressed them against my body for a prolonged period of time. One of the batons was pressed against the sensitive part of my neck. They continuously increased the voltage. I closed my eyes to endure, and finally, I passed out.

I don't know how long I was unconscious. As soon as I woke up they forced me to squat underneath the sun, hold my stomach and stare at my feet. They made one of the prisoners keep an eye on me. If I moved even slightly she would kick me. I continued squatting from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. As the day wore on, whenever the sunlight no longer touched me, the prisoner watching me made me move into the sunlight, so that I was always exposed to the hot sun. During June, it was 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in Beijing. It only took about two seconds for the sweat dripping down from my forehead to evaporate. My sweat ran out soon, but they still made me squat underneath the sun. If I moved she would kick me, and they didn't give me any water to drink. I squatted until 9 p.m. and finally they let me stand up. My legs were numb by then and I couldn't move for a long time. The mental pain cannot be explained in words.

The following day, I found dark bruises on my arms, under my armpits and on both sides of my chest. It was hard to find a place that wasn't injured. The back of my neck had sustained numerous blisters caused by shocking with the electric batons. My buttocks were covered with blood from injured flesh. I had a big hole in my blue shorts and in my underwear. Since I didn't have any change of clothes, I had to wear these shorts with the big hole that exposed part of my buttocks for over two months. I was finally able to borrow a needle and thread to repair it. I felt humiliated, and have kept the torn clothing as evidence.

From June 1 to July 7, 2000, I was illegally detained for thirty-seven days at the Dispatch Department. With temperatures as high as 100^o F, we were not allowed to take a shower or change our clothes. Our shorts were covered with yellow sweat stains and could stand up on the ground if we took them off--they were that stiff. We were only allowed to have two minutes to brush our teeth and to go to the bathroom in the morning and in the evening.

Our room was about eight square feet and with one small window, and we had no air circulation at all. The Dispatch Department would send new people in here twice a week. The newcomers were requested to say, "I committed a crime and I acknowledge my mistake." Otherwise, they would suffer beatings or shocking with the electric baton. Even though the door was closed, we still could hear the screaming coming from the people being tortured, which put us under great mental pressure.

My nerves were so tense that I missed my normal menstruation for over eight months. I also had a terrible time with constipation, which was quite painful. There was another group of practitioners that had stayed there for five months, from early June to the end of September. It was the hottest season in Beijing. They were not allowed to take a shower or change clothes for five months.

Because they arrested so many people, the eight-square-feet room was used to hold up to 20 people. There were only eight beds in the room. The rest of the people could only sleep on the floor and under the beds. There were no places for people on the bed to plant their feet if they wanted to go to the bathroom. The summer clothes stored in the

Dispatch Department were used up, and prisoners who came after July and August had to wear warm fall clothes when the temperature was as high as 104^o F. When most of the people were about to have heat strokes, the police finally allowed us to occasionally take off the warm clothes and remain naked in the room, and informed us to put them back on whenever there were any male police officers around or people came.

We sweated heavily daily but didn't have enough water to drink. Sometimes eight people were only given two small bowls of water everyday; other times there was nothing at all. Some practitioners would drink the water for washing our faces in their thirst and heat.

Everyday we were only allowed to have five minutes to eat a meal and had to squat down to do it. It was hard to finish the food in five minutes. If you could not finish it in five minutes, you weren't allowed to finish. Later on, before we were given food, we had to kneel down on one leg, raise up the bowl over our heads deferentially and say loudly, "Reporting to the team leader. Labor camp prisoner XX here to ask for food." If you didn't beg or if you begged in too low a voice, you would not be given any food. Sometimes one would suffer beatings and verbal abuse, too.

Ms. Ren Mei from Jiangsu Province had been on a hunger strike for six days in a detention center before she came to the Dispatch Department. She was forced to squat down directly under the sun and soon fainted. The police responded by using an electric baton to shock her head continually. When they found out that she was unable to move at all, they sent her to the hospital. The doctor said that her pupils had dilated to 1.5 times the normal size. She finally regained consciousness in the hospital after one day and one night.

Because she refused to give up Dafa cultivation, Miss Hou Liwei, 29, was tied to a chair. Several policemen used electric batons to shock her vagina, breasts and head. She lost consciousness for long time and also lost control of her bowels. She couldn't walk for a long time due to her injuries.

Ms. Ma Ronghong was handcuffed to a bed for more than 50 days, which caused the skin and the muscles on her back and buttocks to fester badly. She almost couldn't walk after she was released. During her ordeal, prisoners who were assigned to watch her often straddled her and beat her brutally.

On July 7, 2000, I was sent to the Beijing Tiantang Forced Labor Camp, later called Xin'an Forced Labor Camp. It was used to hold male prisoners. The female labor camp was not able to hold so many female practitioners, so the two were switched. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began, the labor camp expanded from a facility for one hundred prisoners in July 2000 to nearly one thousand in July 2001. When I was released in April 2001, the labor camp held 984 people, and most of them were practitioners. In the No.2 Team, where I was held, only about ten people out of 135 were not practitioners. From the 18 people in the No. 1 class I was assigned to, 17 were practitioners; eight of them were over fifty years old. The oldest one in the team was Ms. Chen Yuzhu, who was 68 years old. The youngest practitioner was only 18 years old. Ms. Wang Li, who was almost blind, and Ms. Wang Yan, disabled in both legs by infantile paralysis, were also detained in the labor camp.

When we were sent to the labor camp, the size of each class was limited to 12 people. Later, since they arrested more and more people, all the possible places for holding people such as the activity room, the library and even the police offices, were emptied to hold practitioners. The basic living facilities such the cafeteria and boiler room were far from meeting the need of expanded people, and the conditions were very poor. During my one year stay in the labor camp, I was only allowed to take a hot shower four times.

At the forced labor camp, we were forced to perform many backbreaking tasks, such as planting grass and trees, collecting garbage, digging underground storage areas, knitting sweaters, knitting seat cushions, making toys, making disposable syringes, and packaging disposable chopsticks, etc. We usually began to work as soon as we got out of bed at 5:30 a.m., and were forced to work till 2 to 3 o'clock the next morning. We sometimes were forced to work through the whole night to meet the work quota. At times when it was really busy, I couldn't even wash my hands after I went to the bathroom. The long hours of labor intensive work resulted in severe sleep deprivation. Most products we made were for export and the processing fee was paid to the labor camp. We did not receive any pay.

The forced labor camp resorted to many different kinds of inhuman methods, such as extending the sentence, solitary confinement, intensive brainwashing, electric shock, prohibiting sleep, beating, physical abuse, and exhausting practitioner's physical strength, etc, to force us to sign the Guarantee Statement of giving up practicing Falun Dafa. They disallowed visits from family, purchasing of basic commodities, using the toilet and toilet paper. They also incited other inmates to hate us and to cause trouble for us. They used our family members to pressure us, and they forced us to read and watch slanderous materials.

The first large group of Falun Gong practitioners at the forced labor camp was sent to the previous location of the women's labor camp on May 26, 2000. The women and men's labor camps switched locations on July 2, 2000. From May 26 to July 2, for the period of over one month, these practitioners were forced to stand facing the wall in the hallway nightly after all other inmates had gone to bed. These practitioners were not allowed to sleep until 4:00 am, and they were roused again at 5:00 am. During the day, they had to dig large holes as deep as a person's height for planting trees. They were allowed only one hour of sleep a day for over a month. While forced to stand in the hallway at night, they often fell asleep, which made their heads hit the wall.

The police often used electric batons to force practitioners to write the Guarantee Statements. The worst torture was when the police stood on top of one's body, holding one side of the head in the mud, and at the same time shocking the person with seven or eight electric batons. For example, the police used four electric batons to shock Ms. Liu Shengpin, a fifty-year old practitioner from Beijing,. Ms. Liu was on the ground with four or five policemen standing on top of her. The electric current, however, was so strong that her body still jerked uncontrollably off the ground. The front and back of her body was covered with burning marks left by the electric batons.

The so-called "intensive training group" was a prison within the prison. It was a special kind of solitary confinement. Dialy, for over ten hours, the person was being confined standing in a room of 3 to 4 square meters in size. Practitioner Ms. Wang Ruirong was still placed in solitary confinement, even after having been tortured through electric shocks. At that time, Ms. Wang's head swelled, her hair fell out, and her face became unrecognizable.

Six Falun Gong practitioners were sent to the men's labor camp (Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp) in December 2000. They were Zhao Ming, student of Trinity College in Ireland, Huang Jian, Li Wanqin, Zhang Dexiu of Beijing, and Zhu Xuanwu from the Northeast (the last practitioner's name is unknown). They endured every imaginable type of torture at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, but they still refused to write the Guarantee Statement. Finally, the police sent them to Xinan Forced Labor Camp.

At Xinan Forced Labor Camp, these practitioners were imprisoned with a group of juveniles. These juveniles were between thirteen and eighteen years old. The police forced these juveniles to monitor the practitioners. They also separated the six practitioners and would not allow them to communicate or meet with each other. One time, a boy helped to pass a note between the practitioners and was caught by the police. The boy was shocked with an electric baton. These boys were allowed monthly visits from their parents. In order to prevent the parents from finding out that the boy was being tortured, the police put the electric baton into his mouth to shock him. The boy was having difficulty eating and speaking after being shocked.

In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to write the Guarantee Statements, the police often encouraged other inmates to beat us. Sometimes, they even watched with their arms folded. On November 18, 2000, the team leader of No. 2 Team Wang Zhaofeng just stood by the door watching Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Shuying being beaten by Zhong Xianghong in the team leader's office.

Half yearly, the labor camp held a performance review. Thirty percent of the inmates were given the opportunity to achieve reduced sentences. Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to participate in this. But the inmates knew that if they could force a practitioner to write a Guarantee Statement, they might receive extra benefits. In order to secure early release or to please the police, some inmates tortured practitioners mentally. For example, a drug addict locked practitioner Ms. Li Yunying (over 40 years old) in a maintenance room and splashed her with over fifty buckets of cold water. The addict also severely beat Li to the point that she couldn't even stand straight for many days. Ms. Li Fulan, who was over fifty years old, was not allowed to use the toilet for three days and three nights. Three other practitioners, He Lin, Hou Liwei, and Sun Hong, were jailed together with the No. 1 Team, which were mainly drug addicts. They were forced to stand in the hallway with a bowl of water on top of their heads. If they spilled only a minute amount of the water, they would be scolded or beaten. At the transfer department or labor camp, one could often see Falun Gong practitioners with blue and purple bruises on their faces.

Since October 2000, the labor camp employed more brutal and more inhuman methods to force Falun Gong practitioners to write the Guarantee Statements. As soon as a practitioner arrived, he/she would be required to write the Guarantee Statement. Those who refused to do so would not be allowed to sleep. At Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, Beijing practitioner Huang Jian was not allowed to sleep for twelve days and twelve nights straight. In addition to not allowing sleep, those who refused to write the Guarantee Statements were also subjected to beating, physical abuse, and personal attacks. The police used some inmates to continuously speak slanderous words against Falun Gong and its founder to the practitioners. By breaking down a practitioner's determination through applying unbelievable physical and psychological pressure, the police would reach their goal of having the practitioner write the Guarantee Statement. At Xinan Forced Labor Camp where I was jailed, there was a target "transform rate" of 95%. If this target was not met, the responsible police officer(s) would be fined, demoted, or even fired.

Every minute in the labor camp, starting from the moment we arrived, we were under enormous pressure to write the Guarantee Statement to give up Falun Gong. The very first night I was sent to Xinan Forced Labor Camp (July 7, 2000), a unit leader Zhang Ruiming, a Team leader Sun Hui and another officer "talked" with me, one after the other, to force me to write the Guarantee Statement.

We got up at 5:30 am every morning. We either had to do backbreaking work or be forced to listen to materials that slandered Falun Gong and insulted us. After listening to these "educational materials", we had to write reports and discuss our "understanding" with the police.

Later, I was placed in Class 5 of the Second Division at Xinan Labor Camp. When Gu Fengrong, the head of Class 5, learned that the six of us Falun Gong practitioners who had been transferred to Class 5 did not sign the so-called "Guarantee Statement" [to give up practicing Falun Gong] she did not allow us to sleep. She also arranged inmates to take turns to keep watch on us, until we gave in.

On the first night, Gu kept watch on us. On the second night, it was inmate Zhang Fengxue. She kicked whoever moved, even including Wang Li who was blind.

After being deprived of sleep for two nights, I was in a daze. During the daytime, we were forced to do intensive labor or sweater knitting. Sometimes, we were forced to attend the "seminar" in the auditorium that defamed Dafa. There were policemen around with electric batons. I always felt weak and extremely nauseous. As soon as I relaxed my mind, I would collapse. Almost all the time, I felt I was living in a risky situation. I was on the edge of losing control of my main consciousness.

On the third day, because of our strong protest, police stopped that kind of torture. However, they just changed to a different kind. After laboring for one day, when we were about to go to bed (which was usually midnight or later), police would select one or a few of us. They then forced the practitioner(s) to stand still for a long period of time, or transcribe materials that defamed Dafa until 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning. Within about one hour after we were finally allowed to go to bed, it was already time to get up to start work again. Some practitioners could no longer bear it, and signed the "Guarantee Statement."

One day during the last week in September 2000, police suddenly sent all people who did not sign the "Guarantee Statement" to the Second Division except me, who they sent to the "Enforced Class," which was said to be a vicious place. The strong feeling of fear once again hit me, and it almost made me collapse. It was the first time that I was separated from other practitioners, and I had to spend one week in fear and loneliness while knitting the sweaters. On September 29, 2000, those practitioners were sent back. Their hair was messy. Some had a dull look, with a strange expression in their eyes as if they did not recognize me. Since then, no matter how many times they came across me, they never acted as if they recognized me. Some of them were tortured and forced to sign the "Guarantee Statement" at the "Enforced Class."

That night, Cheng Cuie, assistant head of the Second Division, asked 5 or 6 inmates to bring me into the police office. They did not allow me to sleep nor sit down. In addition, these people subjected me to a torture session that lasted all night. These people cursed me and slandered Falun Gong throughout the night. They said that as long as I did not sign the "Guarantee Statement," they would continue to do this, and that all people had to sign the "Guarantee Statement" in October.

On October 10, 2000, I felt it was too much for me to bear, so under pressure, I signed the Statement to give up practicing Falun Gong. My grief was beyond description. As I went out of the police office, I was so faint that I had to lean on the wall to avoid falling down. At that moment, I felt as if all my life, and all the essence of my life, immediately left me. Only an empty shell was left with me. It was as if I had a mental disorder, and I kept saying, "I have been 'transformed', I have been 'transformed'..." The persecution in the forced labor camp was so vicious that it was beyond what any ordinary person could bear or imagine. As for those practitioners who were forced to sign the "Guarantee Statement," the enormous mental suffering was beyond description. Right now, I have been out of the labor camp for more than two years, but I still have not completely walked out of the shadow of once being forced to betray my belief.

On May 11, 2000, more than twenty practitioners were sent to Chongwen District Detention Center, where I was being held. Among them was a 45-year-old practitioner from Heilongjiang Province. He was detained in the 3^rd Cell of the 1^st East Alley. After going on a hunger strike for 11 or 12 days, he was taken to the hospital to be force-fed, but he died on the way there. Among the 6 practitioners I mentioned earlier who were sent to the Xinan Detention Center, there was a practitioner called Li Wanqing. Mei Yulan, Li Wanqing's wife, also died in Chaoyang Detention Center in Beijing.

After I was sent to the forced labor camp, my husband kept asking around for my whereabouts, but was unable to obtain any information for 4 months. When he finally was able to see me in the labor camp after 4 months, he was in tears upon seeing my situation. He was so sad on the way back that he was unable to drive. He had to park the car by the road, and lie in the car for a very long time before he was able to continue driving. Thinking of the suffering I was experiencing in the labor camp, my mother-in-law was often in tears. My daughter, who was still very young, could not understand at all why her mother was sent to a place that is meant for bad people.

At the end of 2000, a new policy stated that a mayor would be dismissed from his post if more than 6 Falun Gong practitioners in that area went to Beijing to appeal. My parents worked for a local company called the Chaoyang Machinery Plant. The director of that plant was dismissed because the number of Falun Gong practitioners in his plant who went to Beijing to appeal had exceeded Jiang Zemin's regimes ordered limit.

Jiang Zemin's regime also took every opportunity to brainwash people even including children. After I left the labor camp, one day I saw a note on the table left by my 8-year old daughter that read, "Mom, I suggest you to stop practicing Falun Gong. Please read this book." It was a book that students in her school had received. It contained all kinds of vicious defaming and despicable lies. When I tried to tell my daughter that her mother was a good person, and all the propaganda were all lies, she was in despair and said, "I know my mother is a good person, but on TV they say all Falun Gong practitioners are bad. I do not know who I should believe."

My uncle is a teacher in a high school. The school's Party Secretary asked all classes in the school to hold meetings with topics attacking Falun Gong. The Party Secretary even said in public that, "No means are too extreme to persecute Falun Gong [practitioners]."

All together, this persecution, that started more than 4 years ago, targets tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners who practice "Truth, Compassion and Tolerance." It utilizes all the apparatuses of the nation, and its viciousness is unprecedented and unimaginable. It is also a disgrace to the whole of mankind. I sincerely hope international human rights organizations and overseas governments could initiate an independent investigation of Falun Gong practitioners' situation in China, and urge the Chinese government to immediately stop this brutal persecution. By doing that, tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners and their families could be rescued from the devastation they are now experiencing.

I also hope that courts in all countries will bring Jiang Zemin to justice for the genocide of Falun Gong practitioners, since he is the person who is most directly responsible for this state-run terrorism. By doing this, we can safeguard the dignity of the law and the justice of humankind.

In April 2001, after I was released from the labor camp, police asked me to attend the brainwashing class to force other practitioners to give up their belief. In order not to do such disgraceful things, I was forced to leave home 5 days after being released. Since then, I have been unable to return home. I have not been able to live together with my family for 4 years, and the mental suffering my family has experienced is beyond financial remedy. I hope the court will reach a verdict according to the law, so that similar tragedies will no longer take place.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/10/6/58449.html