(Clearwisdom.net)
III. A Successful Fahui in Jiamusi In the Midst of a Police Blockade
On June 1, 2001, fellow practitioner Niu Jinping and I went to Jiamusi. Niu was illegally detained at Jiamusi Labor Camp for two years. He was released on April 1st, 2001 but the police secretly transferred him to Beijing, where he had been forced to attend a brainwashing class. Together, we went to the home of a fellow practitioner who had just been released from a labor camp. There, I read a letter that that had been secretly brought out of the labor camp. It had been written on a white cloth to a mother from her daughter. The daughter wrote that she did not want to stay in the labor camp, but she would not bow to the evil. She wanted to leave the labor camp nobly. She asked her mother to appeal for her. Upon reading the letter, I could not help bursting into tears. That practitioner told me that the mother had already gone to Beijing to appeal. She also told me that practitioner Zhou Zhijian in Shuangcheng Detention Center had been beaten to death on the ninth day of his hunger strike because he persisted in practicing Falun Gong. A practitioner had a dream that his story was told in heaven. After seeing and listening to fellow practitioners' experiences, I was deeply moved. Under such evil persecution, fellow practitioners still persisted in their righteous beliefs. What mighty virtue this is!
The next day, Jiamusi Dafa practitioners held a Fahui [experience sharing conference]on Sifeng Mountain. The weather was very nice. When I was getting close to the meeting place, a white car without a license plate passed me. I suddenly realized that this was an unmarked police vehicle. However, I also thought that so many practitioners were already there, so I must attend no matter what happened. When I arrived to the meeting place, I found that there were many people sitting beside the reservoir. (Later I heard that more than 170 people participated.)
The Fahui began. First, a Jiamusi practitioner told her story of overcoming an obstacle with a righteous mind. I have already heard that practitioners from the northeast are able to endure many hardships and wanted to come here to learn more. The fellow practitioners knew that I came from Beijing and asked me to speak. I told some stories of Beijing practitioners helping Teacher to rectify the Fa. Before I had finished, suddenly some police cars and motorcycles arrived. Uniformed and plain-clothed policemen surrounded us. I looked up into the far away sky. The sky was deep blue with some white clouds. I knew that at this time, many Buddhas, Taos, and gods in heaven and on earth were with us. None of the practitioners left. A thought filled my heart: if even one practitioner could step forward to validate Dafa through learning from this Fahui, getting arrested would be worth it.
At this time, a female practitioner spoke loudly, "Welcome to the police who have attended our Fahui." Then applause rose from among the practitioners. The police stood around us and did not do anything at first. I turned around to face where the most police were and spoke loudly about the facts that Dafa taught me to cultivate my heart and not to pursue fame and self-interest and that I benefited both physically and mentally. I also talked about why I stepped forward to protect Dafa and the stories about Beijing practitioners holding hunger strikes in the prison and walking out of the evil place together. I told fellow practitioners to remember Teacher's words, "If you can let go of life and death, you're a God; if you can't let go of life and death, you're a human." (Falun Buddha Fa - Lectures in the United States) I saw that some practitioners had tears in their eyes. After I finished a female practitioner in her 40s stood up, "I mine coal for a living and I am not well educated. However, I also want to say something. Since I practice Falun Dafa, I know how to be a person who is better than good..." then several other practitioners stood up. The last speaker was a woman over 40-years-old. She said, "I have never stepped forward before. Now I know what to do." A fellow practitioner told me that her husband was in charge of the Jiamusi Falun Dafa practice site. He had been illegally detained for more than eight months and had just been released. She has more than 20 family members practicing Falun Gong and more than ten of them had been arrested. We heard later that she went to Beijing to appeal the next day with her husband. She was sent back to Jiamusi in handcuffs and sentenced to two years in a labor camp.
After the Fahui, the plainclothes police took six or seven of us who had spoken to a waiting police car and brought us to a police station.
A fellow practitioner told me later that after the police took us, practitioners were asked to register one by one. Then they realize that the police had taken us and didn't feel right -- how could they let the police take fellow practitioners away? Many practitioners went to the police station to ask for our release. The police lied to them, saying we would be released after several days. The practitioner also said that after the police took us away, the sky filled with dark clouds. A strong wind started to blow and it rained heavily. The wind even knocked bicycles and people over. The minibuses had to stop at the side of the road. A practitioner heard from an old man who was at Sifeng Mountain that lightning exploded at the scene, leaving a big hole in the ground, and it struck and killed a huge centipede. It was as thick as a big stick, and its blood splashed onto a tree.
After the Fahui, many practitioners went to Beijing. It was said that the mayor of Jiamusi had been severely criticized, "Nothing is going well in Jiamusi, except for Falun Gong."
After we arrived at the police station, the police confiscated my bag. I thought that the bag had a Dafa book in it, so I asked for it back. I said, "The bag is mine. Give it back to me!" I grabbed the bag and immediately tore my address book into pieces. Several police came in and asked my name and where I came from. I told them that my name was Falun Dafa practitioner and I came from heaven. The police asked who sent me from Beijing. I told them that I came on my own since the law did not forbid me from coming to Jiamusi. A police officer came in and said, "People like you must have practiced for seven or eight years or at least for five years." I said, "Just over two years." He looked at me with doubt, "It is not possible." Then he tried to provoke me by swearing at Teacher. I shouted at him, "Stop!" He stared at me and did not dare to talk nonsense again. After I said this, I felt a flow of heat fill me from head to toe.
The police wanted to record what I said. I said, "I have not committed any crimes. Why did you arrest me? Which law stipulates that people practicing Falun Gong cannot go up to the mountain? You all heard that I talked about how I became a better person, what is wrong with that? Let me tell you that I will not tell you a single thing!" Then several other police came in to interrogate me. A director from the "610 Office" said, "As long as you say that you will not practice Falun Gong, I will release you immediately." I told him that never in his wildest dreams would I ever say that. No matter how they questioned me, I just did not answer. In the end, with no other options they prepared to take me away. In the hallway, I shouted to the practitioners who were being interrogated, "Don't say anything! Don't tell them anything!"
Niu Jinping and I were put in a jeep and taken to a police department in the suburbs. They continued to interrogate us. I just did not say anything. They finally sent me to Jiamusi Detention Center.
IV. The Evil Jiamusi Detention Center
When we arrived at the detention center, a vice-director saw that I was holding a Falun Dafa book in front of my chest. He said, "You sent her here without taking the book away?" The police officer delivering us said, "More than ten people could not take that book. The head of the police department and the party secretary were all at the scene." The vice-director then said, "Forget about it, then. They have memorized it anyway." We were taken to the hallway of the prison. A policewoman asked us to stand against the wall. Niu Jinping did not hear clearly and asked, "What?" A 200-lb. police officer came to slap him. I came up and asked him, "Why are you hitting people? Are you the police or a murderer?"
I started a hunger strike when I was arrested. The other two practitioners in my cell were also on a hunger strike.
One day, a policeman named Yuan beat a practitioner in the interrogation room. On his way back, the practitioner could not find the right cell and was again beaten in the hallway. The inmates said that this policeman often beats people. Later Yuan came to take me. I did not move. He asked other people to carry me out. At the door, he beat my head and body with handcuffs and kicked me very hard. I fell to the ground. He came to kick me again. I asked him loudly, "Why do you hit people? Why are you so evil?" He left after beating me. Then many police came. I said, "Has that evil policeman come back. Why does he hit people?" The policewoman who was in charge of me said, "Let's go. I'll take you to interrogation." I said, "I am not going! Have the murderer come back to apologize!" The policewoman dragged me out into the hallway.
I was brought to a meeting room. More than ten people were sitting there. They asked my name, where I came from, and who sent me. I told them that I would go wherever I wanted. The law did not say that I should not. A middle-aged man said, "Did you know that you are not allowed to practice Falun Gong and to have meetings?" I said, "Falun Gong is the righteous Fa that teaches people to cultivate their hearts and become kind. Why isn't that allowed?" He said, "Your gathering was illegal." I replied, "How was it illegal? Your police all heard what I said about practitioners' high realm. Is that illegal?" They didn't understand. A police officer started to swear, using language that was extremely obscene. I sternly rebuked him. They left two young plainclothes policemen who looked like secretaries to trap me, "Which train did you take? What time did the train arrive? Was there anyone to meet you? Tell us. We will send you back to Beijing." I said, "Don't waste your energy. Don't you just want me to betray other people? Do not even think about it!" Ten minutes later, they brought me back to my cell.
The detention director asked people to lock me in leg irons. They transferred other practitioners to another room and left me with more than ten inmates. Since Falun Gong practitioners have been detained here for long time, the inmates all know Falun Dafa is good. Some of them read Dafa books and some of them practice the exercises. They were nice to me and asked to borrow the book from me. Sometimes we sat together to read. The head of the cell even asked other inmate not to speak and to listen carefully. The guard did not stop us when we practiced the exercises. I told the inmates that the guards here were quite good. "Good?" They said, "You do not know what kind of torture the Dafa practitioners suffered before. As long as they do the exercises, the police would hang them up and beat them. The female guards kicked them with leather boots." The fellow practitioners who let go of life and death created this environment.
Since I was bound to the floor and could not move, other inmates had to take care of me. The next day, the police came to force-feed me. I did not let them. They tried to open my mouth with bamboo tongs. Without success, they used scissors. My jaw was broken by their violent acts. Seeing that they still could not feed me, the vice-director stepped on me and called seven or eight male inmates to come. I said, "Go away. Do not touch me." I thought that I would not let them touch me even I had to die. The prison doctor inserted a tube that was bigger than a finger into my mouth and filled my stomach with very salty corn soup. The police held practitioners in the hallway and violently force-fed them. I heard heart wrenching cries and shouts. One practitioner's teeth were chipped and broken.
One day, it was said that people were coming for inspection. The police asked people in every cell to sit neatly and to shout out the welcome slogan. When those people passed by my cell, I made a lot of noise getting up in my leg irons. I shouted loudly, "Falun Gong suffers injustice!" They stopped by the door. A female peeked through the iron window. The detention center director Sui blocked the iron door and waved his arms, "This kind of stubborn person needs to be treated sternly." One day he said to me, "If you eat, I will remove the leg irons for you." I said, "I will eat if you let me go home. Otherwise, I will not eat."
A hunger strike without water in June caused me to quickly become emaciated. My nose became smaller and eye sockets sunken. On the ninth day, two female practitioners leaned on the iron window and said goodbye to me. They had been released unconditionally, since the doctor could not get their blood pressure or inject fluid into them. The police were afraid and had to release them. One day another practitioner came to my cell. Her name was Fa Shuling. She was on a hunger strike as well. She had been arrested because she went to Tiananmen Square after our Fahui and unfurled a banner. She told me that many practitioners went to Beijing after the Fahui. She was told that she could be released since her husband is in charge of a department store, but she would need to promise that she would not go to Beijing again. Otherwise, her husband would divorce her. She signed the divorce agreement. She said that they had been married for many years and had never argued. After she signed the paper, her husband cried. She was also heart-broken. This is another example of how Jiang's evil gang destroys families.
After several days, the police interrogated me again and still did not get anything from me. When I had been on the hunger strike for more than ten days, they took my blood pressure and seeing it was over 200, started to inject me with some unknown liquid. When the second bottle was injected, my hands and feet became ice-cold. My whole body felt cold and numb. The inmates in my cell knocked on the iron door to call the doctor. The doctor said that the medicine was bad for me, pulled out the needle and sent me to the hospital. Practitioners and inmates all cried. I went into a semi-comatose state. They carried me to a car, and the prison doctor said into my ear, "This time, I must let you out." I knew that someone had removed my leg irons. They told me, "You are dying. Your blood pressure is150 -- 240." However, the next day, they locked me up again.
I was on hunger strike for 19 days. However, I resumed eating after that. On the second day since I began eating again, a guard lied to me, saying that I would go out to study for ten days and then be released. They took me into a car in leg irons. There were six to seven practitioners in the car, and Niu Jinping was among them. I just knew that I was sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp. Now when I think back, had I done better and had not left any seam for the evil, I would have broken the old force's persecution this time rather than increasing the tribulation. This mistake should not be repeated.