(Minghui.org)
Name: Kang Shuqin (康淑琴）
Gender: Female
Age: 65
Address: Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province
Occupation: Retired teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2002
Most recent place of detention: Shanxi Women's Prison (山西省女子监狱)
City: Taiyuan
Province: Shanxi
Persecution Suffered: Detention, illegal sentencing, imprisonment, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, long-term standing, brainwashing, brutal beatings, damaging force-feeding, drug administration, forced labor, denial of restroom use.
Taiyuan City Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Kang Shuqin, a retired teacher at the 45th Middle School, was illegally sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Chinese communist regime in 2002. She was detained in Shanxi Women's Prison, where she was subjected to all kinds of brutal abuse and violent corporal punishment, such as beating, cursing, being forced to stand for an extended period, shocked with electric batons, detained in confinement cells, sleep deprivation, and tortured with drugs that damage the central nervous system. Additionally, she was forced to do heavy labor that was inappropriate for her age.
The following is Ms. Kang's narration of the persecution she experienced in prison:
“Falun Dafa is a profound teaching from the Buddha school, and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the highest principle of the universe. Practicing Falun Dafa benefits all people and nations and doesn't cause any harm. However, for my faith in Falun Dafa, I was wrongfully sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Chinese communist regime and held in Shanxi Women's Prison, where I was severely persecuted.
During my 11 years of imprisonment, I witnessed how the Chinese communist regime has used the prison system as a means to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. I would now like to expose the brutal torture and violence that I experienced in prison so that the world can see the evilness of the communist regime, in the hope that people will awaken.
1. Being Forced to Stand for Extended Periods
I was transferred from Taiyuan Detention Center to Shanxi Women's Prison in 2003. I was isolated from other inmates as soon as I was brought to the prison. Four people were in the cell, including me. The other three prisoners were there to watch me. They didn't allow me to sleep, sit, or move around. They forced me to stand still and watch videos that slandered Master Li and defamed Falun Dafa. They would start yelling, and punching or kicking me as soon as I moved around even slightly.
My health rapidly declined due to the extended period of standing. My legs swelled and I couldn't bend over or walk. The prison guards saw that they couldn't “reform” me with this method, so they brought in several collaborators to share with me their so-called cultivation experiences. In fact, these people tried to instill their crooked understandings of the Fa principles onto me and defame Master and Dafa. When their despicable tricks couldn't achieve their goal, the guards transferred me to the “Reform Center,” also known as the 8th Supervision Unit, where most collaborators worked. Two practitioners from another supervision unit who weren't reformed by the guards were also held in the center.
2. Detained in a Solitary Confinement Cell, Beaten and Tortured
I was locked in a solitary confinement cell by a prison guard named Lei Runxiang. The cell was located in the innermost corner of the building. It was a hidden place that only authorized personnel had access to. Whatever happened inside the cell couldn't be heard from outside. After the guard pushed me into the cell, she closed the curtains and latched the door. Eight collaborators (including Du Xueqing, Jian Hongli, Zhao Guifen, He Shuling, etc.) were already waiting for me inside the cell. As soon as I got in, they sternly asked: “Do you still practice Falun Gong?” I said, “Of course. Falun Gong is beneficial to all people and creates no harm whatsoever. Why not?”
They started hitting and kicking me all over and frantically banging my head against the wall as soon as I replied. I protested their torture by going on a hunger strike. If not for Master's protection, I would have been severely injured by the torture.
Reenactment: Punching and Kicking
The next morning at 3 a.m., they took me to a large classroom and forced me to watch videos that defamed Master and Dafa. I turned my head to the side. They grabbed my hair and forcibly held my head to face the TV.
Torture Demonstration: Barbaric Force-Feeding
During the hunger strike, they firmly held down my hands and feet, and grabbed my nose. As a result I could barely breathe and my legs were desperately kicking and struggling. They force-fed me with foods and drugs, which looked brown in color. Because of the force-feeding, I suffered severe injury that I still can't recover from even after a long time has passed.
After I left the confinement cell, another group of Falun Gong practitioners from other units were transferred there, where they were met with severe beating and torture. It was a prison section within the Shanxi Women's Prison that was specifically designed for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners who have been tortured there include Guo Yunzhi, Guo Shuanmei, Zhang Xianping, Zhou Kejin, Wang Qiaolan, and a dozen more whose names I don't know. Practitioner Ms. Mao Aiping was persecuted so brutally that she vomited whatever she ate. She vomited several times a day, and became extremely feeble. She was tortured to an extreme by the inmates and prison guards.
50-year-old Ms. Guo Yunzhi was taken to Shanxi Women's Prison for shouting “Falun Dafa is good” in January 2005. She was directly taken to the confinement cell as soon as she was brought in. Under the command of Lei Runxiang, she was severely beaten and tortured by the prisoners. They stripped off her clothes in the winter and took off her shoes. They forced her to stand on the cold brick floor and poured cold water over her head. They violently kicked her in her lower body. As a result she was in so much pain that she couldn't walk. She was tortured in this way for one and a half months. They also completely deprived her of sleep or use of the toilet for an extended period of time. They forced her to urinate in her pants, and forced her to lie on the wet blanket after midnight.
Torture Demonstration: The Death Bed
The more sinister torture against Ms. Guo was tying her hands and feet to four corners of an iron bed. They tied her in this position for many days without giving her food or water. The ropes cut into the flesh of her wrists and ankles, and blood dripped out. Because of the harsh environment, the wound didn't heal. Soon she had infections, and pus coming out of the wounds. To this day, the deep scars are still visible in her wrists and ankles. They even knocked out Ms. Guo's two front teeth while force-feeding her with poisonous drugs.
3. Persecuted for Exposing the Truth
As the prison was preparing activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year in January 2006, several practitioners and I delivered the truth-clarification materials that we produced earlier about the beating of practitioners in prison to the hands of the warden and section chiefs. Because of this, Ms. Guo Yunzhi, Ms. Zhou Kejin, Ms. Wang Qiaolan, Ms. Mao Aiping and I were met with another round of persecution.
Warden Xue Yuexian instructed her staff to deal with the matter seriously. Lei Runxiang was furious and launched the investigation. I again went on a hunger strike to protest, but met with more barbaric forms of force-feeding and sleep deprivation. Because of this incident, Lei was transferred out of the prison half a month later. At that point, the “reform center” within the prison was disbanded. I was transferred to Unit 10, and the remaining practitioners were also taken elsewhere.
I was forced to do heavy and physically demanding labor after I was transferred to Unit 10. I started my work at 7 a.m. and came back at 8 p.m. There was no time for a break. Additionally, I was forced to take tasks to the dorm to complete and by the time I finished them it was already midnight. The workload in Unit 10 was extremely intensive and my health started to deteriorate and become very weak. Even with that, I was not spared by prisoners who would beat, curse and subject me to corporal punishment at will.
Practitioner Ms. Zhou Lan was sentenced to five years for distributing truth-clarification materials in the winter of 2008. She was sent to a cell after she was taken to Unit 10. Prison guard Jiao Huiqing selected a group of prisoners that were convicted of drug abuse, drug trafficking, theft, and gambling to monitor Ms. Zhou, deprive her of sleep, hit her, force her to stand for an extended period, and persecute her with other cruel tortures. Among the prisoners involved in the persecution of Ms. Zhou were Duan Yiling, Li Feng, Sun Ye and Lu Aiwu. Ms. Zhou never stopped clarifying the truth to people and had tried to convince them to quit the Chinese Communist Party since she entered the prison. She would shout “Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” when she saw a lot of people in the hallway of the building. After she shouted, prisoners would rush to her and start hitting her violently. Then, they would forcibly drag her into the cell, latch the door behind, and beat her violently until they got tired.
For many years, Ms. Zhou had bruises all over her face, body, and hands. In order to “reform” her, Jiao ordered prisoners to deprive her of sleep 24 hours a day for 24 days. During this period, afraid of causing distraction to other inmates in the cell at night, they took Ms. Zhou out of the cell and dragged her to the water room. They then latched door and started punching her face and head violently as soon as she fell asleep. On the morning of June 14, 2009, prisoners under Lu Aiwu fetched a bamboo stick over one meter long, six millimeters thick and two inches wide, and violently hit her head, causing a one-inch deep wound. Her blood flowed out of the wound, dripping from the top of her head to the face, neck, ears and the rest of her body. Under the protection of Jiao, the perpetrators went unpunished. However, after an appeal by practitioners, the guard on duty finally reported the incident to the warden, and Lu was at last handcuffed.
4. Deprivation of Sleep and Use of the Toilet
Jiao used another trick to persecute me in the second half of 2009. She didn't allow me to go outdoors, sleep, use the toilet, or take a break between 5 a.m. and midnight.
Practitioner Ms. Li Yan was transferred to Shanxi Women's Prison from Taiyuan Detention Center around the winter of 2012. She was directly taken to the cell following the transfer. Jiao selected Sun Ye and a few other prisoners who had committed crimes of drug trafficking, drug abuse, robbery and fraud to watch Ms. Li.
On a daily basis Ms. Li was woken up at 4 a.m. and forced to watch videos that slandered Master and Dafa until midnight. She couldn't use the toilet, go out of the cell and she was not given enough food to eat. She would be beaten and tortured as soon as she stepped out of a boundary encircled by them.
Lei Runxiang, hailed as an “advanced element” by the Chinese communist regime for sparing no effort in the persecution of Falun Gong, was responsible for the deaths of Ms. Feng Peizhi and Cao Shuangmei. She brought in two collaborators from Beijing and the Northeast region. This set off another wave of persecution against righteous practitioners like Ms. Zhou Lan. To resist the persecution, I again went on a hunger strike. Under Master's reinforcement and protection, I overcame the evil's persecution and deterred the evil.
This is the 11-year experience of persecution I was subjected to, and I have described only a small portion of the crimes against over 100 Falun Gong practitioners in Shanxi Women's Prison. I expose it, hoping that people around the world who have been poisoned by the communist regime can see the most brutal and vicious atrocities the Chinese Communist Party has perpetrated against humanity.
