Jimmy Zou, Washington DC

February 2000

In July 1999, the Chinese government denounced Falun Gong as "an illegal organization", and since then, they have been ruthlessly persecuting tens of millions of Chinese practitioners. I was concerned with the situation so much that I couldn't concentrate on my job, so I took a leave of absence and traveled back to China in the middle of November. I arrived in Beijing by train from my hometown on November 30, 1999. The next day, I went to Tiananmen Square by myself. A policeman came over and asked me if I was a Falun Gong practitioner. I answered yes. Then I was taken into a police car, and sent to Tiananmen Square Police Substation.

I asked why I was arrested. Nobody answered me. The cops first conducted a body search on me and took Zhuan Falun (the main text of Falun Gong) away from me. I protested and said that they had no right to rob me of my personal belongings for I had not committed any crime. The cops ignored my protest and asked me from which province I came. I did not carry my US passport with me at the moment. I thought that the cops had no right to detain me and take my book away. Then three cops surrounded me, and forcefully took my glasses. Then one of them punched both of my eyes with his fist, and the other two struck my shoulder and arms and kicked my legs. I felt dizzy and my left eye swelled like a ball. One continued to punch me. Again, the three cops surrounded me. They crossed my arms behind my back so that one hand extended down over my shoulder and the other was pulled up from my armpit. My wrists were pulled together and handcuffed forcefully. I was wearing a lot of winter clothes then, and my arms were not very flexible. At first, a cop tried to pull my arms together so they could cross on my back. He could not make it no matter how hard he tried. Then the three cops pulled and pressed my two arms together and handcuffed me by the wrists. I cried out with great pain. At the time I noticed that there were eight other practitioners handcuffed like this in the room. A middle-aged gentleman looked like he had been handcuffed in this way for a very long time, because both of his hands were swollen and looked dark and purple. A young lady was handcuffed in the same way and stood on my left, and an older lady over 60 was also handcuffed like that and stood on my right. The cops tortured the ladies and elderly persons with such cruelty! For every four to five minutes, the cops struck each person's neck, hands and waist with electric batons. The cops pushed aside my clothes in order to shock my skin with the electric baton.

In about fifteen minutes, a cop asked me if I would like to speak, but I kept quiet. Then two cops came over, and shook violently a couple of times my arms that were handcuffed across on my back. I cried out with extreme pain. Then they pushed me to the original place. Half an hour later, sweat caused by the unbearable pain was dripping down my face and prevented me from opening my eyes. One of the cops dragged me over and asked me again, and I told him my home address in China. So the cop opened up my handcuff and sent me to a room together with about fifty other practitioners. Later on I knew that among the eight practitioners handcuffed with their hands crossed on their backs in this fashion, a middle aged gentleman was handcuffed like that for half a day. Another old gentleman over the age of 60 had been handcuffed like that for a whole day! If I were not there myself, I would not believe that the Chinese police could torture Falun Gong practitioners like that!

When I got in the room, I was very happy when I saw over fifty practitioners from various provinces in China. They let me sit down on the only chair in the back of the room, after they saw me beaten to such a degree that I could not stand firmly and felt numb in my hands. At the time, my arms still felt very painful and could not move. My neck could not move either due to the pain. I sat for about two hours before I tried to stand up and move around. When the fellow practitioners knew that I was from America, they were all eager to find out about the Falun Gong situation abroad. I told them that people around the world were supporting the human rights of the Chinese practitioners, and they were moved by the moral courage of those practitioners who came to Beijing to appeal for justice with no fear for torture and persecution. Then a cop came over and did not allow us to talk. He came inside the room and found out that I was the focus of the discussion. The cop then kicked my chest fiercely.

About six o'clock in the afternoon, I was sent to Anhui Liaison Office in Beijing, together with about thirty other fellow practitioners from Anhui Province. Once arriving at Anhui Liaison Office in Beijing, I was body searched by two plainclothes cops. They forcefully took away my 8,000 Yuan and a cell phone. Then the two began to interrogate me. They dragged me to the hallway and took turns beating me because I refused to cooperate with them. They punched my cheeks, chest and stomach. One of the cops struck my feet with a baton. The other cop punched my cheeks, which made me dizzy and lightheaded. The torture lasted for more than an hour. At the moment, I thought that the cops' treatment of Falun Gong practitioners had constituted a severe violation of human rights. I was tortured like that only for being a Falun Gong practitioner and walking by Tiananmen Square. Maybe I should tell them that I am an American citizen to see if they still dared to beat me. So I told them my American citizenship status, and the phone number to verify my passport number. They did not believe me at first and responded with more violent beating. They said that American citizens were the ones they would like to beat. I told them they should not beat a foreign citizen, and asked them to call my hometown to verify my passport number. They did not pay attention to my request and kept beating me. They did not release me back to the room until they got tired of beating me.

I had not expected to have a chance to see so many fellow practitioners from my home province. I was happy talking to them even though my face was swollen out of shape. My body was beaten to the extent that I could not stand up and move around. I knew that more practitioners from Anhui province were coming to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The second day, I sat down on the floor and felt pain all over my body. At night, a lady over 50 who had been mistreated because she was practicing Falun Gong exercises sat meditating with her legs double-crossed, a position known as "full lotus". She was then dragged to the hallway and beaten by a cop. I could only hear the "bang, bang" sounds from the beatings and the cop asking her if she would still practice. They released her back to the room half an hour later. The cops forced the old lady to squat down with her knees bent and embracing her head with two arms, and did not allow her to stand up to take a rest unless she agreed to stop practicing Falun Gong exercises. The old lady insisted on her right to practice Falun Gong exercises, and also said to herself "practicing Falun Gong is a serious matter". I felt happy for her determination as a genuine practitioner. The cop forced her to maintain that position for a whole night. She was so tired that she fell down to the floor more than a dozen times. Every time she fell to the floor, the cops forced her into squatting position again.

On the fourth day, some practitioners were taken away by the Anhui local police bureau, and nine practitioners from Fugang City who came to Beijing to appeal were sent in. Everyday, some practitioners were sent in and others were escorted back to their hometowns, and there were always over thirty practitioners detained in the room. At seven in the evening, two practitioners from Fugang City said that we should practice Falun Gong exercises. A practitioner should practice exercises everyday. The two of them started practicing the sitting meditation. I also sat down in the lotus position and started practicing together with them. The cops saw us meditating and said that it was not allowed to practice Falun Gong exercises in the room. All three of us continued practicing Falun Gong meditation. Then between six and seven policemen dragged us to the hallway. . A cop struck me a couple of times with his fists. They forced us to stand facing the wall with our knees bent, and embracing our heads with our arms. The cops would kick our legs if our knees were not bent down enough. They thought that I was the person who led the practice. In order to punish me more severely, they found two fire extinguishers each weighing over ten pounds, and forced me carrying them with two hands and my knees bent. They kept me in that position for more than an hour. I was too tired to carry the two fire extinguishers so they slipped out of my hands as soon as I lifted them up because my hands were sweaty. The cops forced me to lift the fire extinguishers again once they slipped out of my hands. The person who started practicing first was tortured to the extent that he kept vomiting on the floor. The cops tortured us from until eleven o'clock at night. After we were released back to the room, we told other practitioners what had happened to us. All the practitioners thought that what we had done was right, but all of us should bear the hardship together instead of only three of us.

At about four o'clock on the fifth morning, all the practitioners got up and started practicing Falun Gong meditative exercises. The cops were sleeping and, although they opened their eyes slightly to see us practicing, they pretended not to see us. Early on the morning of the sixth day, everyone got up to practice as we did the previous morning. At night a cop who was in charge of the whole building walked by and found us practicing Falun Gong exercises. He came into the room, trying to stop us from practicing. He said he would beat whomever kept doing the exercises, and threatened that the baton was covered with foam, so that no trace of external injury would be left but internal injury would be caused by it. He first pushed down a young practitioner in his 20s by force and wanted to beat him with the baton. I was just meditating in the lotus position by the side of the young practitioner. I stood up and covered the young practitioner with my body. I told the cop that it is illegal to beat people, and our practicing exercises did not interfere with any other people. Doing meditation is part of our personal lifestyle, and there is nothing against the government. At that time there were three other practitioners coming over, and the four of us covered the young practitioner with our bodies, saying to the cop that please beat us first because we all practiced the exercises. When the cop saw the situation, he changed his attitude and said that he would not beat the young man. Later the cop said that he would punish us if we kept practicing. Then more than twenty of us stood up, saying that we would like to take the punishment together. After a while, the cop felt put out, and stopped bothering us.

We all sat down and discussed what had just happened. The cop who wanted to beat us and another cop who came for the morning shift also sat by our side, listening to our discussion. They even asked us a few questions, for example, why we kept practicing Falun Gong exercises and why we came to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong with no fear for severe punishments. We then explained the actual benefits of practicing Falun Gong to the mind and body from our own experiences; the slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong confused right and wrong; the decision made by the central government against Falun Gong was completely wrong; and Falun Gong practitioners came to Bejing to appeal for justice and truth by sacrificing their personal interests. The two cops showed their sympathy after talking with us. They said that they did not know much about Falun Gong before, and they had no choice but to fulfill their duties.

The same day I was released from the Anhui Liaison Office in Beijing. Later I returned to America. After experiencing six days of beating and torturing, I truly appreciate how much freedom I have in US. Practicing Falun Gong exercises is my personal right, and I would never be detained for practicing exercises in US. But in China, walking by Tiananmen Square as a Falun Gong practitioner would result in detention and inhumane tortures. I hope the Chinese government would respect people's basic human rights including those detained for their personal beliefs. I also hope the Chinese government would correct their wrongdoings against Falun Gong, and give tens of millions of practitioners a lenient environment in which to practice their meditative exercises and their spiritual beliefs in truthfulness, benevolence, and forbearance.