(Clearwisdom.net) I previously was tormented by several ailments, including hypertension, cerebral arteriosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. I tried many different medical treatments, but nothing helped. Each day felt like an eternity. My husband and my son spent every penny they earned on my medical prescriptions. As a result, we lived in poverty. In September 1996, I had the great fortune to learn Falun Dafa. In a few days, all my ailments disappeared without a trace. Falun Gong gave me a new life.
On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin and the wicked Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started suppressing Falun Gong and openly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. My family of four traveled to Beijing together to appeal for Falun Gong. Once we arrived at Tiananmen Square, the police took us by force to a police station. After the police tricked us into telling them our home address, they transferred us to the Baoding City Beijing Office. When the police from Laishui County came to the office, they brutally beat us and transferred us to the CCP School in Laishui County. No sooner had we gotten out of the car then many hired thugs from different towns came at us and beat us brutally with clubs, belts and our own shoes. My family and I were so severely beaten that we were beyond recognition. We were all bleeding and severely bruised. Afterwards, we were locked in a shabby house surrounded by weeds as tall as people. At night we slept on the floor. We were given only two meals each day. Besides the meager food rations, we were forced to perform hard labor. At the CCP School, the torturers made us watch video propaganda that slandered Falun Gong. We were not allowed to speak for Falun Gong. We were cursed and beaten if we opened our mouths. They beat us with bamboo sticks, clubs, belts and whips made of electrical wire. They had also burned us with cigarettes. Every imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner was subjected to psychological and physical torture.
A month later, the torturers demanded 4,000 yuan from each person, ten yuan for food expenses for each day of imprisonment, as well as a written guarantee statement promising not to practice Falun Gong again. They knew my family didn't have the money with us because my entire family were imprisoned. There was no one home except my six-year-old grandson. The torturers sent me home and told me to retrieve the money. They demanded 12,000 yuan for the four of us, but I could only produce 800 yuan. The torturers saw that I couldn't afford to pay the "ransom," so they transferred me to the local detention center. I went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal imprisonment, but they kept me in Laishui County Detention Center anyway.
At the detention center, I was made to perform hard labor every day. At night, I was made to act as a patrol guard, standing still in front of my cell. A month later, Laishui County illegally sentenced me to two years in Baoding Forced Labor Camp. However, my blood pressure rose up to 240 at the initial health exam, so I was sent back to the detention center. It was not until my blood pressure went up to 280 and I couldn't even walk that I was released.
After I returned home, I realized that the thugs from the town had stolen and sold our grain. It was near the Chinese New Year, but we had nothing to live on. Fortunately, neighbors and my daughter gave us some food, which prevented us from starving.
After I was transferred from the CCP Party School to the detention center, the thugs demanded money from my husband. Finally, only my husband, my son and a few other practitioners were imprisoned in the school. The thugs then transferred them to several different towns. My husband and my son were transferred to Yian Town, where they were forced to sweep the town government's courtyard daily. They were under watch every day and constantly suffered from brutal beatings and threats. My husband constantly suffered from brutal beatings that resulted in head injuries and pain. Moreover, the thugs frequently demanded money from him. Later I found out that my husband, imprisoned in the CCP School, had been tortured to death. In the end, he was no longer clear-minded. The thugs in Yian Town made him sell all the grain we had and took the 800 yuan from the sale of the grain. That was when they finally released my husband and my son, but my husband died the next day.
Despite my husband being tortured to death, the thugs from Laishui County and Yian Town came to harass me at home frequently and ransacked my home. They threatened that we were not to practice Falun Gong again and threatened to arrest us if they found any Falun Gong books in my home.
In the spring of 2001, the police illegally arrested my son and took him into town. About eight policemen kept hitting my son with their belts. They bared my son's lower body and beat him brutally until he was severely bruised. They tried to make my son tell him from where he got the Falun Gong truth-clarification materials. Some other practitioners passed out as a result of the police's violence.
The police always used violence against Falun Gong practitioners in secret. They extorted 1,200 to 1,300 yuan from each arrested practitioner. In the end, my son was the only one that remained in police custody. With the help of fellow practitioners, my son escaped. When the town's police discovered my son's escape, they sent out policemen all over town to hunt him down. There were policemen on each road in our village, and every policeman had a stun baton. Mayor Li Laotie ordered the police, "Beat him (my son) to death at the sight of him. We will report it as suicide."
At the time, I had already left home to avoid further persecution. I didn't return home until several months later. However, the local 610 Office, the police and thugs from the town continued to harass me at home. In fact, they arrested my son and me repeatedly, but each time we prevailed over the persecution because of our steadfast faith in Teacher and the Fa.