(Minghui.org) In the past 22 years of persecution of Falun Gong, countless Falun Gong practitioners have been taken to brainwashing centers and ordered to renounce their faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation practice that teaches Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been persecuting the practice since July 1999.
Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, has played a leading role in holding brainwashing sessions where practitioners are pressured to renounce Falun Gong. Currently, there are about 70 documented brainwashing centers in Wuhan.
Often known as “Legal Education Centers” or “Transformation Learning Centers,” the brainwashing centers are located in government offices at every level of government, colleges and universities, state enterprises, and private companies and residences. Places such as nursing homes, hospitals, welfare homes, guest houses, and hotels are also used to hold brainwashing sessions.
Starting in 2021, the authorities in Wuhan gave the brainwashing centers new names, such as “caring homes” or “caring centers,” in order to avoid the increasing international scrutiny of the hidden crimes taking place in these facilities.
According to the latest information collected by Minghui, between January and June 20, 2021, 43 practitioners and a family member in Wuhan City have been held at thirteen brainwashing centers, nine of which were recently established.
In March and April of 2021, 18 practitioners were arrested and taken to various brainwashing centers. Among the 21 practitioners who were taken to brainwashing centers between May 18 and June 20, 16 were sent to the Jiang’an Brainwashing Center.
1. Physical Deprivation
Inside a brainwashing center in Wuchang District, the guards forbade the practitioners from using the toilet, sleeping, washing up, or drinking water, unless they renounced their faith. The practitioners were given little food. The authorities lied to the practitioners’ families saying that they lived well in the brainwashing center.
2. Brainwashing
Four practitioners from Qiaokou District were subjected to brainwashing in the E’touwan Brainwashing Center. The practitioners were placed in separate cells. Each practitioner was watched closely by two helpers and a so-called teacher.
The practitioners had to go to brainwashing sessions twice a day, where they were forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong. They were not allowed to close their eyes or lower their heads while the videos were shown, nor were they allowed to look out the windows as they walked through the hallways.
3. Using Former Practitioners to Deceive Practitioners
Zhang Quanhao is a former Falun Gong practitioner who gave up the practice under pressure. Zhang works with the brainwashing center authorities to deceive other practitioners into giving up the practice. He currently works in a brainwashing center in Jiang’an District. He also goes to practitioners’ homes with local officials to harass them.
Former practitioner Suo Hanhua also works in a brainwashing center in Jiang’an District to brainwash steadfast practitioners.
Gong Lianghan is a member of the Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judicial agency tasked with persecuting Falun Gong. She harassed several practitioners on March 19 and threatened to put them in a brainwashing center if they did not sign statements to renounce Falun Gong.
4. Threats to Take Away Pensions, Housing, and Jobs
Mr. Fang Wanggui, a 90-year-old practitioner who lives in Wuchang District, was forced by the authorities to go to a brainwashing center. In January 2021, Li Jie, head of the Zhonghualu Police Station, and three others broke into his home. They dragged him to Nanhu Brainwashing Center and released him at night. This happened three days in a row.
Inside the brainwashing center, the officials ordered Mr. Fang to put his fingerprint on statements renouncing his faith. After he refused, they threatened to suspend his pension, confiscate his house, and destroy his son and daughter-in-law’s business. Mr. Fang still refused. On the third day of this ongoing harassment, three officials from the Dufuti community took him to the brainwashing center, grabbed his hand and forced him to fingerprint the documents. “You did it yourself!” they said to him.
Two Brainwashing Centers in Wuchang District (one recently added)
1. Nanhu Brainwashing Center: located behind a restaurant near Nanhu Hospital. 2. There is a brainwashing center inside a hotel nearby, operated by the Wuchang Police Department.
Two Brainwashing Centers in Jiang’an District (both recently added)
1. One is located in a remote poor area on Wangjiahe Street in Haungpi District. The person in charge of this brainwashing center is Yan Dingguo, head of the Office of Discipline Commission in Jiang’an District. 2. Shiqiao Brainwashing Center is located inside the Jiang’an District Construction Management Station (No. 7 on Shiqiao Alley).
Two Brainwashing Centers in Qingshan District (both recently added)
1. One is located at No. 12-3 on Gongye 2nd Road. The place is provided by the Design and Research Institute of Wuhan Iron & Steel Group. The Political and Legal Affairs Committee of Qingshan District runs it. 2. The other is located on Yangang 2nd Road in Honggangcheng.
Two Brainwashing Centers in Hanyang District (both recently added)
1. Fengbi Brainwashing Center sits on Qinduankou Street near the old steel market. 2. Hanyang Brainwashing Center (address unknown).
Qingling Brainwashing Center in Hongshan District (recently added)
This brainwashing center is run by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Hongshan District 610 Office. It is located inside Yuanshizui Middle School in Qingling Township. It sits on a wasteland and the nearby residents have relocated. The government spent six million yuan building the brainwashing center and a surveillance system specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and political dissidents.
Other brainwashing centers include Donghu Technology Development Area Brainwashing Center (recently added), E’touwan Brainwashing Center in Qiaokou District, Yusunshan Brainwashing Center in Jianghan District and Liuji Brainwashing Center in Xinzhou District.
1. Mr. Han Kai, a senior engineer from the Zhongnan Design Research General Institute, was arrested at work on June 15. Wang Qiang from the General Public Security Office ordered the arrest, and members of the Jiang’an District Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Baibuting community carried out the arrest.
2. Officers from the Siweilu Police Station looked for Mr. Liu Li at home on the evening on June 7. Nobody answered the door. The officers cut off the water and electricity to Mr. Liu’s home and were stationed outside of his door overnight. In the morning (June 8) the officers hired a locksmith to open Mr. Liu’s door and they took him to the Houhu Brainwashing Center.
3. Officers from the Zongguanjie Police Station in Qiaokou District and officials from the Yimei community ransacked Ms. Deng Xiuqin’s home. The officers arrested her and took her to the E’touwan Brainwashing Center on June 8.
4. Officials from the Changjiang community and staff members of a brainwashing center arrested 70-year-old Mr. Shi Xuan on June 3.
5. The authorities arrested Ms. Guo Ping from Qingshan District on June 2. According to her community official, she was taken to a brainwashing center in Huangpi District.
6. Ms. Zhang Ke from Jiang’an District was taken to a brainwashing center around June 1.
7. The authorities in Jiang’an District put 12 practitioners in brainwashing centers between May 18 and 31. The practitioners are Ms. Yang Jiamin, Ms. Chen Hanzhen, Ms. Feng Xiaoyuan, Ms. Bao Julian, Mr. Zhang Changming, Ms. Ling Li, Ms. Chen Guangzhen, Mr. Lu Jin, Ms. Tian Yinghui, Ms. Chen Wenjuan, Ms. Jin Qiuzhen, and Ms. Tian Huifang.
8. Ms. Xi Guoxiu from Hanyang District never returned after she left her home on May 24. Her family, after asking around, found out that she was taken to a brainwashing center.
9. Mr. Liu Tao from Donghu Technology Development Area was arrested on May 16.
10. A group of officers broke into Ms. Xia Yulan’s home in Wuchang District and took her to a brainwashing center on May 4.
Jiang’an District (16 practitioners): Ms. Yang Jiamin, Ms. Chen Hanzhen, Ms. Feng Xiaoyuan, Ms. Bao Julian, Mr. Zhang Changming, Ms. Ling Li, Ms. Chen Guangzhen, Mr. Lu Jin, Ms. Tian Yinghui, Ms. Chen Wenjuan, Ms. Jin Qiuzhen, and Ms. Tian Huifang, Ms. Zhang Ke, Mr. Shi Xuan, Mr. Han Kai, and Mr. Liu Li
Qingshan District (8 practitioner +1 non-practitioner): Ms. Xiang Changqing (twice), Dr. Tang, Ms. Liu Meili, Ms. Zheng Xinlian, Ms. Shao Zhaodi, Ms. Zhou Huifang, Ms. Guo Ping, Mr. Zhang Wei, and Ms. Li Yuzhen’s son, a non-practitioner who suffered brainwashing because his mother refused to renounce Falun Gong
Qiaokou District (5 practitioners): Ms. Xiong Lihua, Ms. Li Jianqun, Ms. Yin Guixiang, Ms. Huang Yongmei, and Deng Xiuqin
Hongshan District (4 practitioners): Ms. Zou Liyu, Ms. Wang Aiqun, Mr. Wang Xianqiu, Ms. Li Chunlian, Ms. Zhang Wei
Wuhan District (5 practitioners): Mr. Fang Wanggui, Ms. Xia Yulan, Ms. Xiong Hanlian, Ms. Zhou, and Ms. Liu
Hanyang District (2 practitioners): Mr. Feng Jiwu and Ms. Xi Guoxiu
Donghu Technology Development Area (2 people): Ms. Zhang Hongzhen and Mr. Liu Tao
Jianghan District (1 practitioner): Ms. Zhou Yuqin