(Minghui.org) Mr. Wang Hongjie, a mentally healthy resident of Hefei City, Anhui Province, was twice held in psychiatric hospitals for years on end, simply because he wouldn’t renounce his faith in Falun Gong. He lost all of his teeth and became bedridden when he was released in 2013. After struggling with failing health for years, he passed away in October 2018. He was 65.
Ms. Li Chunlian, of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was taken to the Wanji Psychiatric Hospital following her arrest on June 16, 2022 for practicing Falun Gong. She experienced significant weight loss and was unable to recognize her family when they visited her in early October 2022. She remained very weak after being released on April 8, 2023. She suddenly passed away on November 11, 2024.
As early as the 1960's, the Chinese Communist Party has been using involuntary commission to psychiatric hospitals as a way to punish mentally healthy individuals deemed “enemies of the state.” Such a practice was widely adopted when the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, where mentally healthy practitioners are detained in psychiatric hospitals, prisons and brainwashing centers, subjected to brutal torture and involuntary drug administration.
An internal “anti-cult” memo by the communist regime stated, “Drugs can be used if necessary in order to achieve the goal of scientific ‘transformation’ through medical approaches and the policy of clinical experiments.”
According to an investigation by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, between July 1999 and April 2003, at least 1,000 mentally healthy practitioners were subjected to “psychiatric treatments.” In the above-mentioned case of Mr. Wang, he was held at a psychiatric hospital for seven years. Ms. Lu Xiuli, of Shanghai, was involuntarily held in mental hospitals 20 times. She passed away in February 2021, after struggling with abuse-induced mental disorder and other medical conditions.
The involuntary drug administration was mostly done through injection or force-feeding, often accompanied with electric shocks or excruciating tying of limbs. Some practitioners lost their vision or hearing as a result; some experienced intense, lasting headaches; some became incapacitated; some fell into a delirious state; and some passed away. According to information collected by Minghui.org, as of November 20, 2023, at least 161 practitioners died from involuntary drug administration, including 39 who died in custody and another 122 who passed away after being released.
Psychiatric Hospitals Across China Were Involved
According to the report by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, 83% of the over 100 psychiatric hospitals in 15 provinces admitted that they “treated” Falun Gong practitioners. For the other 17% who denied having ever admitted Falun Gong practitioners, detention cases were reported by the practitioners. One such example was the Handan Ankang Psychiatric Hospital in Hebei Province. While the hospital said they never admitted a Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Yang Baochun reported that he was given toxic drugs there over the course of six years.
Mentally Healthy Practitioners Detained
Ms. Wu Xiaohua, a former associate professor at the Anhui Province Institute of Architecture & Industry, was admitted to the Psychiatric Department of Hefei Fourth People’s Hospital in 2001. The doctors and nurses injected and fed her drugs that damaged her central nervous system for nearly 10 months. Initially, she was given these drugs three times a day, a small handful each time. Later, she was given the pills three times a day, around four each time. In the end, she was given 1-2 pills three times a day. She asked to stop the medication many times, but to no avail. She started to move slowly, she slept very deeply, and it was hard to wake her up. Her mind was confused, her menstrual cycles stopped, her reaction time was slow, and when she was awake she could not sit still.
The doctors also used electric needles to shock Ms. Wu. Every day, the doctors stabbed her temples with an electric needle, causing the nerves in her entire body to spasm. She was in great pain, and it felt as if her hair was being pulled out of her scalp. When she was given electric shocks, they tied her to the bed and the doctor threatened to increase the voltage if she did not cooperate.
Six months later, the doctor Li Wan confessed to Ms. Wu, “I’ve observed you for a long time, and you don’t have any mental illness. The regime authorities have given orders that certain medication must be given to you.”
Arbitrary Detention Up to 12 Years
As mentioned above, some practitioners were held in the psychiatric hospitals for extended periods of time, sometimes over a decade.
Mr. Zhang Yulong, an engineer in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, was held at the Nanjing Brain Hospital for 12 years. His wife was forced to divorce him and was given custody of their son. He suffered a mental breakdown and is unable to care for himself.
Mr. Liu Yong, a former employee of the Handan Iron and Steel Group in Hebei Province, was admitted to the Baoding Sixth Hospital in 2001 and also held there for 12 years. He was given drugs and injections toxic to the central nervous system and almost died.
Discharge Criteria
Most of the practitioners who were taken to psychiatric hospitals had been subjected to prior torture and coercion by the local police stations, residential committees, brainwashing centers, or prisons. When the authorities couldn’t force them to renounce their faith through force and violence, they attempted to change them through psychiatric drugs.
For one practitioner in Taicang City, Jiangsu Province, the psychiatric hospital wrote on her reason for admission, “She was sent here by the police because she firmly believed in Falun Gong.” When she was later released after being forced to give up Falun Gong, the hospital noted, “Her discharge was approved because she gained the correct understanding about Falun Gong.”
The Chinese Mental Health Law passed in 2012 clearly stipulates that for someone to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals, he or she must be “seriously ill” and run the risk of “being harmful to society.” However, despite the fact that mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners didn’t meet either of these two criteria, the medical staffers still admitted them, citing orders from above.
At the same time, while the psychiatric hospitals acknowledged that the practitioners have no mental disorder, they still prescribe psychiatric drugs or injections to them. When the practitioners still remain firm in Falun Gong, the hospitals would increase the dosages of the drugs or begin to use electric shocks. If the practitioners agreed to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong, they met the criteria to be discharged.
Torture reenactment: electric needles
Mr. Zhao Xianghai, a crane operator at Xiangtan City Iron and Steel Company in Hunan Province, was held in Xiangtan City Mental Hospital for six years. The doctors said that in order for him to be released, he must first pay his medical bill and also give up practicing Falun Gong.
One practitioner reported that she experienced excruciating pain after being given a shot at the Xuzhou City Psychiatric Hospital in Jiangsu Province. It was so painful that she couldn’t help but hit herself against the wall. When she questioned the nurse as to why they were giving her the toxic drugs, the nurse responded that they were just doing their jobs and they had to follow orders from their supervisors. They said the only way for them to stop the injection was for the practitioner to renounce Falun Gong.
The Dire Consequences of the “Treatments”
Ms. Guo Min, an employee of the Xima Town Branch of the Xishui Taxation Bureau, Hubei Province, was arrested in March 2000 for carrying Falun Gong books. She was taken to the Kangtai Psychiatric Hospital in Huanggang City and treated as a mentally ill patient. She was later transferred to the Xishui County Psychiatric Hospital in 2002 and detained there for eight years. Ms. Guo was given drugs that damaged the central nervous system, which caused her to suffer from amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) for six years, and her stomach to swell so much that she looked like a heavily pregnant woman. After being kept at the two mental hospitals for 10 years, Ms. Guo died on August 4, 2011. She was 38.
Mr. Su Gang, a computer engineer from Qilu Petrochemical Company in Shandong Province, was sent to Weifang Changle Psychiatric Hospital on May 23, 2000. After being drugged for nine days in the mental hospital, Mr. Su was handed over to his father. At that time, his eyes were dull and expressionless, his reaction was slow, his limbs were stiff, his face was pale, and he was extremely weak. He passed away eight days later, on June 10, due to heart failure. He was 32.
Ms. Ma Yanfang, an employee of Zhucheng City Ceramics Factory in Shandong Province, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in April 2000. She was later arrested and taken to the Zhucheng Mental Hospital. Doctors there gave her psychiatric drugs, which led to her death two months later at the hospital in September 2000. She was 33.
When Ms. Liu Xiaolian, a Chibi City, Hubei Province resident, was detained for the fourth time in April 2006 for practicing Falun Gong, instead of keeping her at a detention center, officials took her directly to the local Pufang Mental Hospital. She was injected with unknown drugs intravenously for 24 hours. Her entire body turned dark and she lost consciousness for two days. When she came to, she became mute.
Shortly after Ms. Liu’s release, she was arrested in September 2006 and held at the Pufang Mental Hospital again, where she was often force-fed, shocked with electric batons, and drugged with unknown substances. Her entire body swelled up and her skin became opaque. When she was taken to a hospital for an ultrasound, the doctor was shocked to see that her heart was so damaged that the ventricles were unable to close. She died on the afternoon of October 26, 2008. Shortly afterward, an officer from the Chibi City 610 Office placed a call to local officials, congratulating them on her death.
Ms. Lu Hongfeng was a deputy principal of a primary school in Wuling City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. In March 2000, the Wuling Bureau of Education suspended her job because she signed a petition letter to appeal for stopping the persecution of Falun Gong. On June 7, 2000, her husband, together with the authorities, sent her to a mental hospital. She was tied up on a bed in the hospital and injected eight times the normal dosage of a certain drug, in order to force her to give up Falun Gong. After five days of torture in the mental hospital, Ms. Lu’s nervous system was destroyed and she became very weak. She was sent back home in July 2000, yet her husband continued to inject her with large doses of drugs, until she died on September 6, 2000. She was 37.
Ms. Lyu Yanfei was former director of the Chuanshan District Women’s Association in Suining City, and a member of the Township People's Council. She was transferred to the Beigu Mental Hospital following an arrest on March 2, 2006. A doctor forcibly injected her with drugs, causing a lack of sensation and mobility of her tongue for three days.
Ms. Lyu was later transferred to Minkang Hospital, where she was repeatedly tied up, force-fed, and injected with large doses of unknown drugs. As a result, she became blind, lost all her hair, was mentally disoriented, and unable to fall asleep. Her legs also swelled up, and she suffered memory loss.
Ms. Qi Bingshu, in her 60s, is the granddaughter of the famous painter, Mr. Qi Baishi. She, herself, is also a well-known painter. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was taken to the Daliushu Mental Hospital in Beijing by her brother. The doctors claimed that she had “Qigong mental disorder” and injected her with unknown drugs. They also claimed that she couldn’t be released until the “incident” with Falun Gong was over. She was taken to the Xin’an Forced Labor Camp a year later. As a result of the detention and torture, her hair turned gray and her hands shook involuntarily, making it extremely difficult for her to paint.
Related Reports:New Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners Who Died After Being Drugged While In Custody (Graphic Photos)
The Chinese Communist Party’s Psychiatric Abuse of and Human Experiments on Falun Gong Practitioners
Summary Report: Healthy Falun Gong Practitioners Tortured to Death in Mental Hospitals
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