August 2000

Qiao Yunxia is a 37-year-old practitioner from West Bridge Village of Xindian Town of Hebei Province. She has been sentenced to three years of forced labor for appealing for Falun Dafa. She is now being held at The Fourth Female Labor Camp (Group 2 of Section 4) of Shijiazhuang City.

On July 20, 1999, the Chinese central government took tens of millions of good people as its enemies by instituting a large-scale crackdown on Falun Dafa. As a result, many practitioners went to appeal for Falun Dafa, in the hope that the central government would rescind the ban. Qiao Yunxia was one of them.

On Saturday, October 23, 1999, Ms. Qiao arrived at the appeal office in Beijing. There were lots of plainclothes agents outside the door of the appeal office. When they saw someone who came to file appeal, they first asked whether that person practiced Falun Gong. With an affirmative answer, the person would be arrested right away and sent back to his or her hometown. Seeing the law enforcement officials violating the Constitution in public, and keeping citizens from exercising their constitutional rights of filing appeals, Ms. Qiao escaped arrest by not answering the policemen directly.

Two days later, on October 25, 1999, she came back to the appeal office again. There were even more people outside the door. Over one hundred plainclothes agents formed two columns, allowing only one person at a time into the office. Still, she didn't withdraw. She had only one thought in her mind, "I want to appeal for the redress of the injustice to Teacher and Falun Dafa." She made it through and was immediately stopped by 6 or 7 people asking her whether she was a Falun Dafa practitioner, and where she was from. She replied, "I am a Chinese citizen. I have come to lodge complaint." She continued to walk. A woman grabbed her handbag. She said, "Take it." She quickly walked forward, thinking: "I must appeal for redress of the injustice to Falun Dafa." A policeman ran over, trying to catch her, and she ran. He caught her, dragged her back, and threw her onto the ground. She stood up, trying to run again. Thirty to forty people surrounded her. A plainclothes policeman stole 2,100 Yuan from her. Yunxia didn't give in. She said, "This the door of the appeal office. How dare you rob me of my bag in broad daylight! How dare you steal 2,100 Yuan from me! You claim to be enforcing the law. Do you know that you are violating the law instead? I am telling you, I can give up my bag, my money, even my life!" Her righteous words shocked the police, who had been bullying people. They returned her bag and money, and let her get in.

The officials in the appeal office received her. After she filled in her appeal form, she was detained along with many other practitioners from all over the country. The policemen from Xingtai District took the chance and robbed six practitioners. Yunxia was robbed of 230 Yuan without any reason or receipt. She was then sent back to Ren County and detained in the Ren County detention center.

As soon as she walked into the detention center, she saw two practitioners who had been forced to kneel facing the wall for four hours. They had been forced to stand for six hours the night before. The guards screamed and scolded Yunxia and warned her not to do the Falun Gong exercises. Yunxia was not scared at all. She said, "I can give up my meals, but I cannot give up my exercises." She did the exercises and started hunger strike the next day, on October 26. Because they did exercises that morning, they were put in the heaviest shackles for three days. When the hunger strike reached its seventh day, the guards saw that they were in good spirits, and that they didn't look tired, even while doing hard labor. So they were forced to run in the yard. They were told that they could walk if they couldn't run. They started walking while reciting Hongyin (Teacher Li's poem collection). They walked around the yard 10 times, 20 times, and 40 times. The criminals detained there were all surprised. They couldn't understand why one had so much energy after having not eaten for seven days. They said, "We will admire you if you can walk around the yard 40 more times." They walked around the yard 100 times, 200 times. Three and a half hours passed. ... They were exhausted. The head of the detention center stared at them and said, "Walk faster! If you cannot walk anymore you will be dragged by the criminals to continue the walking!" Later, they were forced to memorize the jail rules, sing, and stand in lines. Yunxia and others refused because they believed that they didn't violate the law, and that they were not criminals. The six of them were then tortured with ropes, and forced to kneel in front of the wall for two hours...

On December 22, 1999, Yunxia was sent to the forth team of Shijiazhuang City's Female Labor Camp for three years of forced labor "education". She believed that she didn't do anything wrong, and that wearing special clothes was an insult. She refused to work or wear the special uniform from the day she arrived. Later, practitioners asked to work only 8 hours a day but were turned down. On March 11, 2000, they were told to stand in the corner facing the wall. They were left there for 17-18 hours. This went on for fifteen days. In addition, they had to stand up straight and not move at all. Their legs began to swell. Some fainted while standing... One day, Yunxia was called to the office. Seven policemen surrounded her angrily. They kicked her, punched her, dragged her by her hair, and yelled and scolded her. Then they asked if she would practice Falun Gong again. Without hesitation, she said, "Yes!" Immediately the seven policemen came up, slapped her face, and kicked her to the floor again and again. They hit her repeatedly, and asked her if she would practice Falun Gong again. She firmly answered, "Yes!" They hit her again and again while asking her repeatedly. She answered with even more determination, "Yes! Yes! Yes! I will practice Falun Gong even if you killed me!" They were exasperated and started to tie her up. They ordered her to kneel on the ground, and put her two hands behind her back. They wrapped a thin rope around her neck, then around her hands. They began to pull on the two ends of the rope. The tighter they pulled the rope, the harder it was for her to breath. The rope became tighter and tighter and could have easily caused fatal injury. In the past, many criminals became disabled and suffered for their whole lives because of this type of torture. After the rope was released, her four limbs were numb. She was in severe pain. They asked if she was going to continue to practice Falun Gong. Again she said, "Yes!" So they commenced torturing her using the same procedure with the rope. At the end of the second round, even though the rope had left bloody marks all over her body, and she could not move her arms, and could not even walk, her determined reply was always, "I am going to continue to practice Falun Gong!" Her right hand became numb and was useless for half a year afterwards... During this period, many practitioners were tortured in this way. Some of the ropes were even broken during the torture.

The persecution against practitioners in the labor camp has been even more severe since March 29, 2000. They were forced to march in military style and run for eight hours a day. Their ages ranged from 22 to 56 years. After walking and running they were forced to stand by the wall. Everyday someone was picked up from the group to go into the office to be bound with ropes, hit with police batons, shocked with electric batons, slapped on the face, and pulled by the hair, etc. One day, Yunxia was called to the office. The captain asked whether she would do the labor for her "education". Yunxia kindly told him, "I have not committed any crime. My accepting the labor education is to approve the wrong decision about Falun Dafa from the government. If I did the labor then I would have done bad deeds." Upon hearing this, the captain picked up his baton and fiercely whipped her. The whipping sound and hitting sound of the baton could be heard from far away. Yunxia never made any sound. The only sounds were from the police batons and angry curses from the captain. After beating her, he asked her whether she would do the labor or not. Although she was aching and half dead, had very fast heartbeat, weak breathing, and numb legs, she didn't show any grievance. She continued to tell the captain the truth about Falun Dafa. But the captain would not listen at all. He may have been tired. He drove her out of the door while yelling and scolding her. With her body covered with wounds, she walked downstairs step by step with great difficulty. She felt pain in each step. This time, Yunxia's buttocks turned a deep shade of purple. Her whole body was badly swollen, and she could hardly walk. When she laid down at night, she didn't know if she could get up the next morning, but the guards totally ignored her wounds and forced her to stand facing the wall, march forward in a military style, and even run. Although her every step was extremely painful, she kept encouraging herself to hold on. This kind of inhumane treatment lasted for a total of 47 days.

Fifty-two practitioners began a hunger strike on April 28, 2000. They demanded that the government restore innocence to Falun Dafa and to the Teacher. They were force-fed after three days. Some bled from the force-feeding. Eighteen of them, including Qiao Yunxia, were secretly sent to the third labor camp. They were strictly monitored as soon as they arrived. They were not allowed to leave their rooms. Their movements, words, and even facial expressions were controlled. An even harsher tribulation had started. Here, whenever they studied Falun Dafa or did the exercises, they would be beaten on the most sensitive parts of the body, where serious damage could occur. Their hair was pulled out in big patches. Their bodies were covered with bruises. Young ladies' nipples were pinched until they broke open. Their pubic areas were pinched while underwear was torn. Some inmates spit large mouthfuls of phlegm onto toilet paper and stuffed it into their mouths. Their throats were so swollen from being grabbed that it was difficult to drink. One inmate even claimed, "I want to use you for practice, so that I can go out to murder a dozen or so people." These practitioners became her live targets for practicing murder. If they practiced exercises they would be handcuffed and hung up. Some were handcuffed onto heating pipes, which made them unable to stand up or squat down. Some were handcuffed onto table legs. Some were handcuffed in the restroom for over ten days.

Once Yunxia was brutally beaten because she attempted to practice the exercises. Two guards came up to help beating her and slapped her face for over ten times. Then they hit other practitioners. Yunxia said loudly, "Beating people is violating the law." A guard slapped Yunxia over ten times again. Yunxia almost fainted. The guard then said, "Here you must listen to me. I am the law! Go sue me if you can. Sue me!"

One day Yunxia was reciting Lunyu (the preface to Zhuan Falun). The guards used wet towels to strap her mouth, and a spoon to pry open her teeth. Her mouth and teeth started bleeding. Feeling that even this was not enough, the guards assaulted her in public. Yunxia was not moved by it at all. She continued to recite. Then they pulled her to the water pool by her hair and poured cold water over her head. ... No matter how they tortured her, her reciting voice did not stop at all. She recited all the 72 poems in Hongyin (the collection of poems written by Teacher Li), and more than twenty articles written by Teacher. They poured cold water over her head for over three hours. Yunxia's loud voice of reciting lasted for over three hours as well.

Another time, because of reciting the teachings of Falun Dafa, she and other practitioners were force-fed with chili powder. The bright red chili powder burned them so painfully that they rolled over and over on the floor. The guards strapped the practitioners' necks, stuffed their mouths with towels, and brutally beat them repeatedly. The "monitors", who are convicted criminals, were given the right to handcuff practitioners. Handcuffs became utensils for the criminals' amusement at the expense of practitioners. When some practitioners told the head of the labor camp that people would die from it, the head replied, "Don't worry. I will take the responsibility if anyone dies." No matter how they were mistreated, the practitioners still kindly told others: "For your own future, please don't continue to commit sin." They took it as their responsibility to urge people to be good.