(Minghui.org) I was illegally detained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because I was a Falun Gong practitioner. Although the days in the detention center were not easy, I met many kind people, including some kind public prosecutors and law enforcement personnel. Many of them were actually unwilling to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, but amidst the CCP system, they were unable to break free of its control.
Captain Liang was the one who spearheaded my arrest. They ransacked my house. During the so-called interrogation, I did not say a word, remained silent on all the questions, and did not sign anything.
Later, when Captain Liang met with me alone, he said, “I read your file, and I admire you very much. If we were outside, we could have been friends.” I said, “We can be friends now!” He said, “No, you practice Falun Gong, and I am a member of the [CCP] Party.” I understood what he meant.
I told him that the persecution of Falun Gong was unlawful, so my arrest was illegal. He didn’t believe it. I asked him to search on the Internet. He said that he would go home and search.
I also told him about the “lifelong responsibility for civil servants in handling cases,” saying that he would be brought to justice for arresting me when Falun Gong’s reputation is restored. He said, “It was an order from the police department to arrest you.” I said, “Do you have evidence for this claim? Even if it is an order from above, it was you who actually arrested me. Can it be said that it has nothing to do with you?! I will press charges against you in the future.”
The next day he came to see me again. He said in a low mood, “I’m exhausted. I have no food, water, or sleep for 36 hours. I’m going to collapse for your case! I really don’t want to arrest you! Why did you pass out the Falun Gong materials? We would both be fine now if you hadn’t done it.”
I said, “I did it for the good of the vast number of people who do not know the truth about Falun Gong or the persecution. I did not break the law!”
During the five days that I was detained at the police station, I could see that he was tormented. On the one hand, he did not want to arrest me; on the other hand, he was a cowardly person who didn’t dare resist the orders of his superiors. To this day, many police officers have learned about Falun Gong and do not want to participate in the persecution.
Perhaps in order to make up for an uneasy feeling, he often bought cake, milk, and other food for me. Of course, I did not eat or drink what he bought.
When my wrongful imprisonment ended, I went to see him and said, “You took the lead in arresting me!” He felt quite aggrieved and argued, “It was not me who took the lead in arresting you, it was so and so.” I said, “I don’t know the person you’re talking about. It was you who I saw taking the lead in arresting me.”
He defended himself four times, and I argued with him. In the end, he couldn’t deny it, and said, “OK, whatever you say.” How pathetic! Although he was reluctant to persecute me in his heart, he still passively carried out the order! The fact can never be ignored.
It was Captain Liang who led a group of people to search my house. Although I can’t remember other police officers who searched my house, I’ll always remember his actions.
When others wanted to search, he stopped them and said, “Let me do it.” I saw him find a transparent plastic box in the cabinet, that contained some Falun Gong materials. He looked at it, and quietly put it back in the cabinet.
A police officer took my iPad, portable hard drive, and MP4 player (all of which contained Falun Gong-related information on them) out of my desk drawer and put them on the coffee table. I saw Liang put them on the lower level of the coffee table one by one, and said that they didn’t have to take those away. Another officer brought them out again, and he silently put the portable hard drive and MP4 player back so they were not taken away.
He didn’t move many things during the search except for what was on the surface. For example, an old laptop computer that had not been used for many years, contained files that had not been deleted, and it was not fully encrypted. But he didn’t take it. The things at home were basically left as they were.
One night a few days later, the police escorted me to a detention center. After reading my information, the person-in-charge of the detention center reprimanded the police officers handling the case in public, “Why do you arrest Falun Gong during the pandemic? Nothing better to do? Tell your director to release her!”
The policeman who handled the case said helplessly, “It’s not that we want to arrest her, it’s the police department that gave the order!” The person in the detention center said, “Ask your director to call the police department, saying that we do not accept Falun Gong during the pandemic, and release her!”
After reading my information, the detention center said that it was incomplete, pointing out many errors, and refused to accept me. But the police station sorted out the information overnight and forced me into the detention center the next day.
I was escorted to the detention center the next afternoon. About an hour later, a female prison guard came by, and we had a brief conversation. I planned to tell her that I was going to practice the Falun Gong exercises here every day. Before I could speak, she said something that surprised me, “You can practice [here], you can teach other detainees to practice, you can tell them about Falun Gong, but you can’t force them to accept it.” I said, “Don’t worry, I won’t force them!”
Since that day, I had been memorizing Zhuan Falun daily, practicing the exercises, sending forth righteous thoughts, and introducing Falun Gong to several other detainees. I was busy every day.
The guards patrolling outside were also kind, and one deliberately came over to chat with me. They listened as I told them about Falun Gong for a few minutes, and then walked away. The detention center did not allow them to stay at a cell window for long. After a while, he came over and talked to me again, many times in a shift. When he saw that I was either meditating or memorizing Zhuan Falun there every day, he asked me kindly, “Are you tired? Take a break.”
I was later transferred to another detention center, as was a guard from my last detention center. The next day when I was in my cell, he greeted me in front of all the detainees and chatted with me. After he left, the other detainees were surprised and asked, “Did you know each other before?” I said, “We met after I was locked up.”
I know that no matter how evil the persecution is, people can tell right from wrong in their hearts.
After I was jailed in the detention center for a few days, a male guard was on patrol and saw my file, so he asked me to come and chat with him for a while. He said he couldn’t bear to see me there. He said that if Falun Gong practitioners did not give up their faith, the sentences would be severe, and he felt sorry to see that Falun Gong practitioners with doctorate and masters degrees were sentenced to years in prison. He said, “If you can give it up, I promise you can get out soon. Will you give it up?” I said I wouldn’t. He said it was “so regrettable.”
The next day, he pulled up a chair and talked to me. He tried to change me, and asked me many questions about Falun Gong. I answered them one by one and told him the truth about the CCP-staged Tiananmen self-immolation incident, among other things. After chatting for more than half an hour that day, he left. The following day, he came over to talk to me again, and after chatting for more than half an hour, he said, “I can’t talk to you anymore, otherwise I will start to practice Falun Gong.”
When I first practiced in this detention center, several guards showed up, including the head. One of them said that I should not make large hand movements in front of the surveillance camera, because their camera was connected to higher officials. If someone was found to be practicing Falun Gong, the guards would be in trouble. They asked me to be considerate of them, so I only practiced the sitting meditation.
One day later, the guard came over, pointed to the bunk next to the door, and said, “I really admire you! Since you like to meditate so much, you should sit here and meditate whenever you want.” Later, his supervisor went to inspect cells, and the guard accompanied him. When arriving at my cell door, he pointed to me and said to his supervisor, “This is so-and-so who practices Falun Gong. She is a very good person!”
Several Falun Gong practitioners and I were detained in the Third Detention Center. This was a place where serious criminals were held, and Falun Gong practitioners had never been held there before. So, the guards were a little curious about us.
One day, a guard approached me and said that the head had asked her to talk to me about Falun Gong. She is a nice and assertive person with a good temper.
Over the next month or so, she talked to me four times, each for about two hours or more. We talked about why I practiced Falun Gong, what Falun Gong is, the persecution I experienced, and my education and family background. Every time she talked to me, she did not want to stop. Several times her colleagues had to urge her to leave, and asked her to quickly send me back to my cell. She added, “I just like to talk to so-and-so (me).”
She was kind to me. She took care of me to the best of her ability. When the detainees were assigned to different divisions, most of them wanted to go to the division she managed. But she only transferred me and another person of faith to her division.
Not long after I was transferred, the head of the detainees in my cell came back to me after talking to her and said, “She (that guard) is really nice to you. She talked to me for more than half an hour, and basically talked about you all the time. She said that you are nice, pure, and kind, and she likes you very much. She asked me to take care of you more and not let others bully you.”
I remember that my lawyer said that if I insisted on pleading not guilty, I might be sentenced to three-and-a-half to four years in prison; if I plead guilty, it could be two-and-a-half to three years. Of course, I would not compromise, but I was worried about my elderly parents.
She knew my worry, so she said, “If you feel that your choice is right, go ahead as long as you have a clear conscience!” The words “clear conscience” made the decision a lot easier. I said, “Yes, that’s it, clear conscience!”
No matter what the result was, it didn’t matter; I just needed to “have a clear conscience!” I didn’t do anything illegal or criminal, and everyone knew it.
When I was at the fourth detention center, I was lucky to be with a young practitioner in the same cell. This practitioner was cheerful, optimistic, naturally joyful, and likable. In addition, she had a good sense of humor, and often gave lectures to the people in the cell on how to be a good person, etc. Everyone in the room liked her, even the prison guards.
The husband of the young practitioner was also held in the same detention center as us. According to the rules, they were not allowed to communicate with each other, but the prison guards often helped them relay messages.
The young practitioner wrote about her and her husband’s experiences of dating, falling in love, and getting married. She wrote a long story and passed it on to the people in the cell. After everyone finished reading it, she showed it to the guard in charge. After the guard in charge read it, she asked the guard to pass it on to her husband. Many people read it and said that the writing was very good.
The young practitioner was released on the same day as her husband. A few days before they were released, I learned that because of the pandemic, detainees’ families could not send clothes into the detention center. The guard for this cell then bought luxury underwear at her own expense, washed them, and gave them to the young practitioner, asking her to wear them on the day she was released, and explained, “They are washed and clean.” The guard also gave chocolate, candy, biscuits, and other snacks to the practitioner.
A few days before the young practitioner left, the guard found an opportunity to bring her and her husband together to talk face-to-face. The guard also requested two new outfits for the woman and her husband to wear when they left the detention center. On the day that the practitioner left, she ran to several cells to find two large red apples (due to the pandemic, food such as apples was extremely scarce), and asked them to take two when they left as a symbol of good luck.
According to other detainees who saw them leaving, the practitioner and her husband were dressed in new sportswear beautifully, like a newlywed couple.
I often gave lectures in the center to other detainees in my cell, teaching them English, telling them historical stories, and about traditional culture, etc. The detainees liked the lectures so much that they called me “teacher.” In their reports to the center, they often said that they were grateful for what I taught them about being a good person. Every time the guards talked to them, they spoke very positively of me. So, one of the guards in charge also called me “teacher.”
A few days before I was released, the guard in charge came to the cell, hosted a farewell party, and said, “Teacher is going home. Let’s welcome her to say a few words to everyone. If you have anything to say, take this opportunity to speak.”
I was detained in more than a dozen cells in several detention centers. This was the first time I had seen a guard personally preside over a farewell party for a detainee. I know that over more than 20 years of knowing Dafa disciples, the guards know in their hearts that Dafa disciples are good people, and Falun Gong is good.
After returning home, I talked to my colleagues and friends, and learned many touching things.
When I was arrested, the company leaders wanted to visit me and hire a lawyer for me, but they gave up when they learned that only family members could hire a lawyer. Six months later, after the company’s head knew my mailing address, they wrote to me in the name of the company, saying that if I needed any help, I could write to them at any time.
On the day I returned, a company leader asked me about my situation, and asked if I needed help or money. He also set me up with a job at a company that his friend had invested in. I didn’t go to work there in the end, but I appreciated his kindness.
I also heard that after my former boss knew that I was being detained, he also inquired about my situation in many ways. Every time he met or gathered with my former colleagues, he mentioned me, and his tone was full of sympathy and regret. My colleague said that the former boss greatly appreciated my character and work ethic. Knowing that I was temporarily staying in another city after my return, he asked his assistant to contact several colleagues who were ready to drive to see me and invite me to dinner. When he later learned that I had returned to my original city, he immediately arranged a private room in a high-end restaurant near my home and invited me to dinner, which cost more than 4,000 yuan. I was very impressed.
Many of my other colleagues also invited me to dinner one by one.
I was touched by all the hospitality. People’s understanding of Dafa has really changed.
Many of my classmates were concerned about me after hearing that I had been arrested. They tried to find connections to help me, and contacted my family many times, asking my family to hire a lawyer for me. Some classmates saved money for me and often wrote to me. The letters were undoubtedly a source of warmth for me in prison.
Some classmates heard that I was often harassed after I got out, so they told me how to deal with the harassment from a legal perspective.
In the detention centers, such a dark environment, I saw the good side of people’s hearts, from prison guards to ordinary people.
Many people now truly understand the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution. They may not really understand the details of Falun Gong’s teachings, but at the very least, they know that Dafa disciples are good and kind people who are being wrongly persecuted. From this point of view, the CCP’s persecution only allows the people to see its evil nature more deeply.