(Clearwisdom.net) On July 20, 1999, the vicious persecution of Falun Gong began. Together with many other practitioners, I went to Beijing to appeal to the government, knowing it is the legal right granted by the Chinese constitution. What awaited us was illegal detention and an escort back to the detention center in my hometown. The police beat, bullied and even forced us to stand in the snow. In addition, we were forced into hard labor. I had been detained twice and each time I was treated as such. After I was released, I learned that the Public Security Bureau had "fined" my family 8,000 Yuan [the average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is about 500 Yuan, but only 200 Yuan for a rural worker.]. As an average family in a rural area, the extortion created a huge burden to our lives, but money cannot change the determination that I have towards my cultivation. As Teacher says in the article Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s), "Since you are qualified, true cultivators who have met the standard, you cannot be threatened by loss of money or material interests; and those are things that a cultivator needs to let go of, anyway."

I went to Beijing to validate the Fa again in December 2000. On January 1, 2001, I arrived at Tiananmen Square. Tourists were everywhere due to the holiday. To clarify the truth of Dafa to people and validate the Fa, practitioners unfurled Dafa banners here and there and spoke out loudly, "Falun Dafa is good." The police madly chased and grabbed practitioners, kicking and beating them and then pushing them into police cars. The calling out that, "Falun Dafa is good" shook every kindhearted person. A practitioner and I also opened a banner that read, "Falun Dafa is good" and spoke out the words from the bottom of our hearts, "Falun Dafa is good." After we did this, the police targeted me. Five or six police officers forced me to the ground, stepped on my face, grabbed me by the hair and then threw me into a police car. Inside the car, the police used rubber clubs to beat practitioners' faces and heads, causing them to bleed. It was so painful to observe.

In April 2001, I was sent to Tangshan Forced Labor Camp and six months later I was transferred to Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp. The police held anti-Falun Gong brainwashing classes in the camp, using videos and fabricated materials which attacked and defamed Dafa. Our refusal to participate resulted in our being beaten by police and their incited criminals. One evening during heavy rain, the police handcuffed us and used electric batons to shock our mouths, feet and toes. The three police officers who tortured me were Education Director Li (male), Director Duan (male) and Liu Yamin (female). Every day at 5am we were forced to get up and either sit motionless or squat down facing the wall. The guards beat us at will. Sometimes this torture went on past midnight, even until dawn. The colder the weather, the more chances there were that we would be forced to do labor. Electric batons were used constantly. During the night, we slept on cold, wet ground infested with bugs and mosquitos. The blankets we were given were wet. The living conditions were deplorable. The camp atmosphere was extremely terrifying, full of dark forces and violence. We were subjected to brutal mental and physical torture, long-hours of hard labor and prison inmates' dirty and vicious curses. We had no freedom. We were not allowed to speak or move freely, and were forbidden to study Fa or do exercises. Even the gesture of sitting and relaxing had to follow their will. Due to the harsh environment, our bodies changed a lot. Many female practitioners missed their periods for seven to eight months and their bodies became covered with itchy red pimples. With all of our rights of freedom being denied, we had no choice but to go on hunger strike to protest the illegal imprisonment and mistreatment.

The vicious persecutors used various ways to torture us. Practitioner Zhang Er was severely tortured by the police, who used four electric batons at once, resulting in her body being badly burned and charred. They forbid us to sleep, shocked us with electric batons and burned us with cigars. Practitioner Hang Zhizhen's (female, 38 years old) mouth was badly swollen because of the electric shock torture. Liu Guihua (female, 40 years old) and Han liping (female) had also been shocked numerous times. Police summoned practitioner Wang Yaping (female) from her cell and tortured her to the edge of death. She was tall (1.70m) and had been very healthy. The police did not allow her to sleep, beat her rampantly and shocked her with electric batons for days and nights. Her feet were so badly burnt from the batons that the skin was charred and did not heal even after two months. The torture left her very withered. Practitioner Chen Yanyu (female) was a doctor in her twenties. She had been on a hunger strike for four months and the labor camp would not release her. Her family brought her child to visit her and they did not recognize her, as due to torture, her face was severely distorted.

The guards ordered collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] to "talk" with us and threaten us day and night. They force-fed us with or without tubes, injected us with intravenous infusions and gave us shots. They used electric batons to shock us if we resisted. Some of the practitioners' weak, tortured, bodies had already suffered to extremes and one more shock would throw them into a coma. The guards used a special drug to wake up practitioners to continue with the torture. If the drug did not work they were sent to a hospital. The perpetrators intensified the persecution in trying to force us to give up our belief.

The names of police who often shocked us with electric batons are as follows:

Wang Yajie, Liu Yamin, Director Dali, Director Xiaoli, Ma Li, Zhou Haiyan, Director Duan, Meng Hong, Ye Shuxian and Team Head Huang.

Facing the brutal torture, I firmly held one thought in mind: I am willing to safeguard Fa with my life. For the Fa and to assist Teacher, I have nothing to regret, even losing this body. Teacher has done so much for us and always given us all the most magnificent things, which are far beyond my words.

I was released after I went on a hunger strike to protest. Now I have returned to my fellow practitioners. I cherish the time I have everyday. I won't disappoint Teacher's great expectation of me, and treasure this special and rare period of cultivation.

Note: This practitioner was released from Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp after she went on a hunger strike that lasted 40 days. The police released her in a hurry and would not let her go back to her cell to pick up her belongings. Her body was full of red sores, and she was very weak, but she was in good spirits. Soon after her release, the red sores disappeared. She quickly caught up with the process of Fa rectification through Fa study.