(Clearwisdom.net)

My name is Ms. Zhang Shubi and I am 65 years old. I live in Zitong Town, Tongnan County, Chongqing City. I am a retired government official. I wish to share what I experienced when I went to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Gong.

On February 26, 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal to the State Council Appeals Office and National People's Congress Appeals Office. The staff there gave me a registration form to complete. After I completed the form, the police escorted me to the Chongqing Administrative Office in Beijing. In early March, police escorted me back to Tongnan County, Chongqing and forced my family to pay 3,000 yuan [1] for a so-called "escort fee." Around 7 p.m. on March 6^th, policeman Zhang Liang started to interrogate me in an office at the police station. He didn't allow me to sleep for two nights and a day. Then he sent me to a detention center and they illegally held me there.

I continued to practice Falun Gong during my detention. Because of this, Yan Mi (a guard) and Li Zigui (head of the detention center) persecuted me by subjecting me to a method called a "chicken eating rice." They first shackled my feet and then cuffed both my hands, each to an ankle. I was not able to stand up, so I had to squat down to walk or sleep. This torture lasted for more than 20 days. This lasted until April 3^rd, when I was transferred to another detention center. Nine people shared one small room without any sunlight. It was humid, depressing and foul smelling. There was only an 8 inch square viewing hole in the door, which meagerly allowed outside air into the room. In early June, my family paid 1,000 yuan to bail me out.

In November 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal for a second time. I validated Dafa in Tiananmen Square. I was arrested by the police right there on the spot and detained at the Tiananmen Branch Police Station. I was later transferred to the Chongqing Administrative Office in Beijing. One month later, I was illegally sentenced to one year at the Chongqing Renhe Women's Labor Re-education Brigade. I completely lost my freedom when I was detained there. Twelve people shared a room, which included one Falun Gong practitioner and eleven drug addicts. The guards designated three drug addicts to collectively supervise one practitioner. They closely monitored the practitioner 24 hours a day. Whether the practitioner went to bathroom, washed her face, ate or washed clothes, they were always with her. We were not allowed to "talk or walk freely" and we had to listen to them. They punished us and beat us if we were not obedient. We only had 5 minutes every morning to go to the bathroom, brush our teeth and wash our faces, while the drug addicts could take as long as they wished.

The guards in the Labor Reeducation Center were sent to the Masanjia Labor Camp [2] (in Liaoning Province) to be trained by more "experienced" guards. From that time on, they utilized more oppressive procedures in handling us. They didn't allow practitioners to talk to each other, to say hello to each other or to even look at one other. They required practitioners to straighten their legs when they were on a bed, just like sitting on a "Tiger Bench"[3]. They forbid practitioners from bending their legs, because they thought that practitioners were practicing Falun Gong. If they saw a practitioner's legs were not straight in the morning, they immediately straightened her legs. Later, they didn't even allow practitioners to sit on a bed. If they found any practitioners sitting on a bed, they punished practitioners by forcing them to stand still for a long time [4]. The guards also forced us to watch TV programs that slandered Falun Gong.

On October 30, 2001, I was transferred to the Chongqing Maojiashan Women's Labor Camp. The next morning, I sent righteous thoughts with six fellow practitioners at 5AM, and the guards immediately beat and kicked us. From then on, every day from 6:30 a.m. until 11 p.m., we were forced to "sit on a small stool" [5] without being allowed to talk.

I have suffered all kinds of torture in the labor camps.

In November 2001, my illegal labor reeducation term expired. The local police transferred me to the Tongnan Brain-Washing Class and continued to detain me there. I was not released until the evening of December 31, 2001.

They also persecuted me financially. Since November 2000 until now, they had been deducting 50 yuan every month from my salary.

[1] Yuan: Chinese currency. 500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.

[2] Masanjia Labor Camp: a notorious labor camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning province that has been extensively using many merciless and savage torture methods to persecute practitioners imprisoned there.

[3] A "Tiger Bench" - a brutal torture device. Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless, while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this painful abuse (see illustration on )

[4] The so-called "punishment by standing for extended periods of time" means that the victim has to stand; facing a wall all day long, except for the time spent eating, sleeping and using the toilet. This starts at 5 a.m. until 1 or 2 a.m. the next morning when the practitioner is allowed to go to bed. This abuse usually lasts several days. If someone cannot withstand the intensity of prolonged standing and loses consciousness, the guards will then force-feed them with drugs.

[5] "Sitting on a small stool" - practitioners are forced to sit on a small hard backless stool. They are forced to keep their feet tied to each other and the knees tied to each other. They are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are forced to keep all the fingers of both hands tied to each other and put their hands on her knees. The practitioners are not allowed to move their bodies, move their hands, move their feet, or have any movement of the mouth or close their eyes. They are not allowed to move any part of their body, otherwise, the guards beat them with their fists and kick them. The practitioner remains in a motionless posture for more than 10 hours daily. This is a commonly used trick to torture practitioners without causing any visible physical trauma.