[Minghui net] I was arrested at 12:00 am on December 31, 2000 in Qianmen Street and sent to Beijing Security Bureau XX Branch. The police detained me and 80 other practitioners in a basement. While there, we recited the Scriptures [Teacher's articles], Lunyu, Hongyin, and opened banners. If one Dafa practitioner was beaten, the rest would move forward to protect him. Fellow practitioners shouted "Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa! Restore our Teacher's reputation! Restore Dafa's reputation! Fa Rectifies the Heaven and Earth! Release us, we are innocent!" In this special time of embracing the new epoch, they all played the role of Dafa particles. Without any fear of being detained, sentenced to jail, arrested, and beaten, they clarified the truth to people, and peacefully appealed for Falun Dafa. Teacher stated: "Dafa is harmonizing all sentient beings, and all sentient beings are also harmonizing Dafa." This was my first trip to Beijing to appeal. What I experienced made me understand the solemn and mighty virtue of Dafa, as I witnessed fellow practitioners' rock-solid hearts of cultivation.
We were sent to Huairou County Detention Center on two big buses. It was said that this detention center was in the district run by Luo Gan [one of the few Chinese leaders who has a reputation for viciously persecuting Dafa]. Policemen physically abused us by forcing us to stand outside for a whole day. No one was exempt. Not even mothers carrying children in their arms, pregnant women, or women in their 60's.
It was severe winter weather with a freezing wind. Our bodies were covered in dust, and the wind made our lips crack and bleed. We weren't allowed to eat, drink, or use the bathroom. A practitioner from the south was beaten violently for reciting one of Teacher's articles. They conducted body searches by force, measured our blood pressure, gave us injections, and forced us to take medication. One older woman from Beijing vomited blood and fell unconscious after receiving the medication. The guards ripped some Dafa practitioners' money to pieces and threw it on the ground. The physical abuse didn't stop until after 8:00 at night. They then threw us into a cell and assigned each of us a number. My number was 196 and my cell number was 23. There was no quilt on the bed and with a one-inch wide crevice in the wall, it was impossible to fall asleep on the cold wooden boards after being physically tortured and starved for one day and two nights. Practitioners were often punished for doing Falun exercises or for studying the Fa. One police officer (badge number 059812) tortured some inmates just for practicing Falun Gong. We shouted, "Don't beat people, beating people is against the state law." So they dragged us outside and beat us some more. One Dafa practitioner blocked the door to prevent them from taking practitioners outside to beat them. Officer 059812 kicked her in the abdomen so hard that she fell to the ground unconscious. Three of us were taken outside to suffer the torture and freezing temperature, while the police also verbally insulted us. Officer 059812 asked me to practice in front of him, so I did the first exercise. He asked me what it was called. I said it was Maitreya Stretching His Back. He then slapped my face, I lost count of the number of times my face was slapped. He asked me whether I would continue to practice or not. I answered "yes". He continued to beat me until my face became swollen. After the beating, he said, "Li Hongzhi wants you just like this." He also said: "If you promise not to practice any more, you can stay indoors." But I refused to make such a promise. One practitioner tried to stop the officers from beating me. For this he was beaten until he passed out. Another was beaten until his mouth was bleeding, then two inmates dragged him back to their cell.
When I returned to my cell, all the practitioners were doing the sitting meditation. Dafa practitioners were not frightened by the evil. The police ordered the other inmates to pour two buckets of water on the practitioners. Our hearts remained unshaken. In "Expounding on the Fa", Teacher stated: "When a tribulation arrives, if you, as a disciple, can truly maintain an unshakable calm, or set your mind to meeting different requirements at different levels, this should be sufficient for you to pass the test."
In the morning, the interrogation started. The police asked me for my family's address. I answered: "I can't tell you." The following is our conversation.
Police: Why?
Me: If I tell you, my local government and police station will be involved and punished.
Police: If you give me a fake name, I will release you.
Me: No, Falun Dafa practitioners cultivate Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. We can't lie.
Police: Why did you come to Beijing?
Me: To appeal for Dafa.
Police: Don't you know that Falun Gong has been deemed an XX?
Me: It is because Dafa was slandered that I came to Beijing to appeal. Falun Gong practitioners cultivate Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Falun Gong can make us strong and healthy, and can raise our moral standards. Jiang Zemin doesn't distinguish good from bad, where will he lead people?
The police were silent for a few minutes.
Police: What did you bring with you to Beijing?
Me: Banners. The banners read: "Falun Buddha Fa is a Righteous Fa." "Restore Our Teacher's Reputation". "Restore Dafa's Reputation."
Police: Who came with you?
Me: This is my personal activity, I realized I should come, so I came alone.
Police: Who made the banners?
Me: I did.
Then, the officer showed me his record and said: "Sign it." I wrote on his record "Dafa practitioner 196"
During the second interrogation, the police told me that I had been sentenced to criminal detention. I refused to sign my name to acknowledge the sentence.
During the third interrogation, they asked me again for my name and address; but I didn't reveal anything. I was then physically punished by being held in the "flying plane", fashion. My head faced down, and my arms were bound at my back and raised up. They interrogated me five times in total, but I still refused to sign my name. I also went on a hunger strike in the detention center and declared: "Appealing is not a crime."
Because we exercised together in the morning, Officer #059814 used many male inmates to punish us. They grabbed the hair of 12 Dafa practitioners and dragged us outside to suffer the freezing temperature. Because 15 Dafa practitioners in a neighboring cell shouted with us to restore the innocence of Dafa and Teacher's reputation, they were dragged outside and subjected to freezing as well. Officer 059814 ordered the inmates to strip off our coats and beat us violently. We suffered the beating and freezing for over an hour.
A Dafa practitioner from Baishan City had only cultivated Dafa for four months. Because she refused to give her name and address, policewoman 059815 and a male inmate tortured her using a police baton and an electric cattle prod for over two hours, until she totally collapsed. The police was afraid that their evil behavior would be exposed, so they transferred this practitioner to another cell.
Dafa practitioner number 194 steadily studied Fa and practiced Falun Gong while in detention. She said: "Good will be rewarded with good, evil with evil." As a result, the police tortured her every day. After officer 059815 became tired of torturing her, officer 259815 would order inmate Wang Li to continue the torture. This practitioner's face was beaten so much it became deformed. They also forced her stand on the icy ground with bare feet, and poured cold water on her body. Her head was bleeding from the beating. She was tortured until she was unrecognizable.
Twelve Dafa practitioners were physically abused outdoors by officer 059815. They all received shocks from the electric baton. Even women who were over 60 year old were not spared. They were stripped of their sweat pants, slapped, and electrically shocked.
A Dafa practitioner from Sichuan Province was handcuffed for practicing Falun Gong, and force-fed for hunger striking in protest. They roughly inserted a plastic tube into her nostrils, mouth, and stomach, and fed salted corn porridge, which caused her to become unconscious and vomit blood constantly. All the Dafa practitioners who went on hunger strikes were tortured in the same way. My first force-feeding caused my mouth and nose to bleed. During the second one, I almost suffocated to death.
There were over 300 Dafa practitioners detained here. On the eighth day of our hunger strike, I called on fellow practitioners to practice Falun Gong. As a result, officer 059812 kicked me so hard that I could not stand up, and both legs became blue and dark with bruises. The police also poured cold water onto our heads and bodies until we were completely soaked. They grabbed my hair and trod on my abdomen and face. They even poured water into my shoes. The whole cell turned into a watery prison. When the police grabbed my clothes and poured cold water on them, I thought: I am a Dafa practitioner, with Teacher and Fa with me, I should not be afraid of anything. We actually endured only a bitTeacher endured a lot. Teacher said: "I treasure you more than you treasure yourselves." I passed the tribulation with my heart unaffected. Twelve Dafa practitioners sat in water to do the meditation. The police then turned an electric fan on us. They tortured us madly, but none of the practitioners yielded.
Female inmate Wang Li often vehemently beat male Dafa practitioners in the neighboring cell. Ridiculously, this female inmate pretended to be a so-called "reformed person", reciting Teacher's article "Genuine Cultivation" and Hongyin. What great pains she had taken to cheat people!
When we were being tortured, stripped of our clothes for body searches, or being interrogated, they asked us to hold our hands over our heads like criminals. We refused. We also refused to have our pictures taken. When they called us to report, we shouted, "Dafa practitioner." While they beat us again and again, we were enlightened that Dafa practitioners should not be driven by demons, and we should not do anything that goes against the Dafa principles. We are Dafa practitioners, not criminals. I insisted on practicing every day in the detention center. On the twelfth day of my hunger strike, they had to release me.
My second appeal happened on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which was January 23, 2001. Tiananmen Square was heavily guarded. The west side of the square was blocked by cars, which left an opening only one meter wide, and it was guarded by police officers. The underground walkway was also patrolled by the police. Police vehicles and plainclothes officers were everywhere. An atmosphere of stark terror pervaded the whole square. As soon as foreign journalists took pictures, the police would rush in madly and grabbed their cameras and film. The evil was afraid of being exposed and its behavior was too shameful.
I was arrested and sent to Longgang Detention Center in Haidian District that day. I was interrogated the first night by an officer from number the 302 interrogation room. He asked me for my name and address. I refused to give him any information. He slapped my face until he became tired. After taking a break and drinking some water, he resumed beating me. Another officer from a neighboring interrogation room was drunk and said to me: "If you don't tell us your name and address, I will beat you until you come crawling on the ground." I smiled and still said nothing. He grabbed my hair and threw my head against the wall, causing a cerebral concussion. I immediately vomited everything that I had eaten or drunk that day. Guard Wang told me to sit in meditation, that it would help me to recover. But the other inmates did not allow me to practice. I was detained for a month like this, which caused atrophy of my stomach. I can't eat normally even now, and my whole body is bloated.
Fifteen days after that severe beating, seeing that my recovery was very slow, they were afraid that I would die at the detention center. So they sent me and two other practitioners to a tuberculosis hospital. I was given number "Tian83", the practitioner from Baishan was number "Tian84", and another practitioner was given number "Tian58". They forcibly drew our blood, gave us injections, and did not allow us to use the bathroom. They put shackles on our feet and locked us to our beds. My hands were cuffed to the bed because I practiced the exercises. I could not move at all then. They forcibly withdrew so much blood over three days, that we became weak and could not stand up. They tortured Dafa practitioners and called it "treatment". How vicious they were!
Since practitioner "Tian84", who was in the same ward as me, refused to tell them her name and address, she was stripped and thrown into a cold-water bath after being interrogated. Inmates slandered Teacher's portrait. She risked her life to protect Teacher's picture and firmly held Teacher's picture in her hands. Dozens of inmates started to bash and kick her, severely injuring her eyes and causing them to bleed. One inmate trod on her neck until she passed out. Her chest was kicked so badly that it was difficult for her to breathe. They then dragged her to the icy ground and buried her feet with snow. They also piled snow on her neck. After the snow melted, they would pile it on again. They repeated this three times. When they were asked why they tortured practitioners, they said that they had been ordered to do so by a higher authority.
Another Dafa practitioner was detained for over a month. During this time her face was badly cut and required eight stitches to repair it. Regardless of her condition, they still force-fed her, seriously injuring her nasal passages. She could not even feel the nasal mucus running into her mouth.
I was detained in cell 106. The inmates told me that a Dafa practitioner was almost choked to death by the criminal Li XX from Baishan City , when he choked the practitioner with a towel. Criminals in one male cell beat a practitioner to death and hid his body in a quilt until it started to rot. At one time, there was a fake Dafa practitioner in cell 106, who did not eat anything for the first four days. When the inmates began to beat her, she cursed back viciously. At that time, the inmates new that Falun Gong practitioners never fought back or cursed back. They had been with us for more than a year and it had never happened before, so they continued to beat her. Eventually, she couldn't endure it any longer and she blurted out the truth. She had been hired by the police station and had been paid 300 Yuan RMB (translator's note: about half month salary in an urban area). The police station hired 4 others like her.
Fellow practitioners on the path to consummation, let us cultivate together genuinely and persistently; playing the role of Dafa particles. When our Teacher and fellow practitioners are slandered and persecuted by the evil, will you choose to stay home to study the Fa and practice or will you step forward to clarify the truth to the people and assist Teacher in this world?
February 4, 2001
