Once Paralyzed after Being Tortured in a Forced Labor Camp, 77-year-old Woman Harassed Again for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) Ms. Lei Baoliang, 77, of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, started practicing Falun Gong in 1993 and soon recovered from the many illnesses that once plagued her.

However, she was detained on multiple occasions and brutally tortured after the Chinese communist regime started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. In particular, in 2002 she became paralyzed as a result of torture.

On May 8, 2021, Ms. Lei was again harassed at home by Yanquan Road Police Station officers. They stayed at her home for four hours.

The following is Ms. Lei’s personal account of what she endured.

Life Renewed

I met an elderly man by chance in November 1993. He was smiling and looked very kind. I asked him what he was wearing on his chest and he told it was a Falun Gong badge. I was curious and asked him many questions, even following him back to his home. Seeing that I truly wanted to learn Falun Gong, the man gifted me a copy of Falun Gong.

When I opened the book and saw Master Li Hongzhi, the founder, looking so compassionate in the photo, I suddenly felt I had finally found what I wanted. My many health problems, including a herniated disc, hepatitis B, rheumatoid arthritis, amblyopia, and advanced breast tumors disappeared after I started to practice Falun Gong. I felt I had changed into a new person.

Practicing Falun Gong allowed me to understand the true meaning of life and gave me a goal. I knew how to be a good person and was no longer confused. I became broadminded and could sympathize with others.

In 1994, I had the chance to attend Master’s classes in person in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. I had to take a bus. Another passenger pushed the window too hard and my hands ended up cut and bleeding. I didn’t react to it as I was worried that the person would feel bad, since he didn’t do it on purpose. I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t practice Falun Gong.

Another time, I was knocked down by a car and had difficulty breathing. I didn’t hold the driver accountable, just waved him away, and forced myself to get up and keep going. When I looked back, I saw the driver frozen on the spot, as if he was stunned by the miracle he had just witnessed.

I once picked up a purse in a transportation station in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, and searched for the owner even before I picked up my own luggage. The owner thought it was simply amazing. I wouldn’t have done that in the past.

I used to have an intense resentment for my ex-husband’s brothers, who took possession of the bricks and wood that I’d bought to build my house in the countryside. I planned to take revenge when my children grew up. But after practicing Falun Gong, I felt otherwise and didn’t tell my children about it as I was afraid they would look for trouble.

Another thing that had a big impact on me was my father’s death when I was three. My father was given a home by his parents as he had served in the army. My aunt (the wife of my father’s brother) was jealous and uttered a curse that my father would die in another place. Not long after, my father really died while on a trip. My mother remarried and deserted me. I grew up like an orphan. I really hated my aunt. But after practicing Falun Gong, I forgave her, as I came to understand that everyone has their own fate and there are deeper meanings behind things that I couldn’t see.

Arrested and Tortured

After the Chinese regime started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal on October 25 that year. Like many other practitioners, I was arrested at the Beijing train station. The next day, I was transferred to the Chenzhou Liaison Office in Beijing and held for three nights before my employer and the Chenzhou police came to take me back. I was released after my employer paid the Chenzhou Office 2,700 yuan. The money was later deducted from my salary.

After my fellow practitioners and I got off the train at the station in Chenzhou City, the police started videotaping us. I was taken to my employer’s hotel and detained. The workplace staff monitored me around the clock.

My employer’s secretary took me home on November 10 and ordered me to hand over my Falun Gong books. When I refused to them to a police officer, he forced my son to drive me to Guimenling Detention Center. I was detained there for 15 days before I was transferred to Chenzhou No. 1 Detention Center.

I was detained for over three months and then given two years of forced labor in March 2000. The Baimalong Forced Labor Camp where I was held added six more months to my term with the excuse that I refused to be “transformed.”

At the labor camp, I was searched, and my new leather shoes were cut open to see if I’d hidden any Falun Gong writings inside. In the camp, other detained practitioners and I were subjected to many brutal methods of torture.

“Crushing the Cereal” and “Skinning the Tiger”

To force me to “transform,” over 10 people were assigned to persecute me. A few burly men lifted me up and threw me on the ground. In an instant, I felt as if my head had cracked open and I saw stars. After they did this repeatedly, I was bleeding, my organs were injured, and my ribs stuck out. This torture method was called “crushing the cereal.”

They kept hitting my liver area in order to make me suffer more. Several people scratched and pinched me. They pinched the tops of my shoulders to numb the tendons and muscles. They also poked my head, as if to peel off my skin. They called this “skinning the tiger.” In addition, they used their palms to chop my neck and the back of my head and slapped me in the face.

While they took a break after they got tired of beating me, I was forced to stand facing the wall.

Pulling Eyelids and Ears; Hitting the Neck

In the labor camp, the first place we went every day was the TV room, where we were forced to listen to propaganda that slandered Falun Gong. I refused to listen or watch and recited Falun Gong lectures in my head. The inmates came over and pulled my eyelids up and down. They also pulled my ears and forced me to write my thoughts. When I refused to be “transformed,” they punched me on the head and neck. They also hit my ears, and, in an instant, I couldn't hear anything. At times, they rolled a paper cone and shouted in my ears.

I was pinched in sensitive areas such as my underarms and ears. They also pulled my hair. They tore the buttons off clothes. I had bruises over my body after the torture.

Torture re-enactment: Beatings

The inmates sworn at me and verbally abused Falun Gong and its founder when they were not beating me. I was tortured this way for 18 days.

Beatings

I was monitored 24 hours a day, even when I was sleeping. They hung a piece of cloth in front of my bed and over the door of my cell. Maybe they didn’t want others to see them torturing me.

Because I couldn’t fall asleep at night due to the pain, I wanted to meditate to recover. In less than a minute, an inmate pulled my legs down and started beating me.

Locked in Solitary Confinement

In 2001, I was locked in solitary confinement for 28 days. There was only a cement board that served as a bed and a piece of torn cotton blanket. The toilet was a pit, which was filled with feces. There was a water faucet but no water.

The guards handcuffed me, tied a chain to the handcuffs, and then pulled down. I fell over, nearly hitting the ground. The handcuffs cut into my wrists like a knife. Later, I was dragged to a tree and tied up. They put a bag over my head, leaving only my nostrils visible. Afterward, they taped me tightly so that I couldn’t break free.

Torture illustration: Hung up and tied to a tree

I struggled and refused to cooperate when a guard tried to force me to walk into the solitary confinement room. A group of people then pushed me in, and the guard ordered me to kneel down. When I refused, he kicked me in the back, and I fell over. He then pulled me up and handcuffed me to a door that prevented me from standing upright or squatting down. At night, I slept on the cement board. I was held there for 28 days and starved for the first two days.

Handcuffed in a Large Confinement Room

I was locked up in a large confinement room with 16 other practitioners after I was released from solitary confinement. There was a box of electric batons and handcuffs placed at the door. We were not allowed to use the restroom and had to relieve ourselves in a small pail in the room. Our meals were pushed under the door. Several guards monitored us around the clock. Whenever they had a chance, a group of drug offenders would come in and drag us around.

On March 8, 2001, all the practitioners in the room went on a hunger strike. The authorities pulled our hands apart as far and they would go and handcuffed them to the bed rails. We were handcuffed together. If one of us moved, everyone would be in pain.

Torture illustration: Handcuffed to bed

As they put the handcuffs on, the guards placed a cushion under our feet to lift us up. Once everyone had been handcuffed, they removed the cushions and left us hanging in the air. The handcuffs instantly cut into our wrists and we felt dizzy and had difficulty breathing. Some fainted, and some went pale and sweated.

Injected with Unknown Drugs

On March 18, 2001, I was dragged to a car and taken to a hospital for a comprehensive physical. Several people held me down during the exam and injected me with unknown drugs. I was healthy at that time and couldn’t understand why they were examining me. I kept telling the doctors about Falun Gong but no one said a word.

After returning to the labor camp, I was put in the labor camp infirmary with two other practitioners. Every day we were injected with unknown drugs. After a while, our knees became weak and we had no energy. Our brains couldn’t control our legs. One of the practitioners even had symptoms of dementia and could only walk by leaning against the wall.

Abused by Strict Control Team

When I told the authorities that I was going to expose what they did to me when I got out, I was transferred to the strict control team and forced to sit on a small stool every day while facing the wall. The authorities determined how we should sit on the stool.

One night, I yelled in shock when I opened my eyes and saw a face in front of me. That person said that she was trying to hear if I was reciting Falun Gong lectures. Another night, two guards dragged me out for briefly crossing my legs. While dragging me to the office, one of them hit my left leg with an electric baton, causing my left foot and toes to turn black.

Another time, a captain took a glass filled with an unknown white substance and forced it down my throat while I was pinned down.

In addition to the torture, I was forced to do the unpaid labor, sometimes until as late as 3 a.m.

Paralyzed

I was tortured until I became paralyzed in January 2002. Someone had to help me move my legs when I went to bed and someone had to feed me. My knees were swollen and my whole body itched and was covered with small bumps. My skin bled if I scratched the bumps, eventually causing areas of skin to fester. I couldn’t straighten my body. Due to the cracked skin, my skin turned a variety of colors, from red to black to green and later yellow.

Torture illustration: Injecting with unknown drugs

In early May 2001, I had no appetite due to the damage caused by the unknown drugs. The guards dragged me to the basement where an elderly practitioner was held. There was an audio player broadcasting propaganda, and I could see signs of a struggle from what was on the ground. No one else was detained there except for when they were being tortured. After dragging me to the room, the guards grabbed my hair and banged my head against the wall.

To encourage the elderly practitioner, I recited Falun Gong verses and “Falun Dafa is good.” The audio player stopped immediately. The guards then dragged me away from the practitioner and handcuffed me to a bed. They decided to use two audio players to brainwash me but one player had no power and the other malfunctioned. They also shocked my mouth with electric batons. I don’t know how long I was there.

Because I had no appetite, the guards tried to force-feed me. They pinched my nose and used a bamboo tube that had been sharpened at one end to force-feed me. I screamed when the tube cut my throat.

Once, I was called to a meeting room and saw a woman sitting at the podium. Before I sat down, I saw someone trying to videotape me. I covered my face and ran out of the room. I knew that they were trying to frame me.

A man and a woman from the Provincial Women’s Federation came to talk to me one day. I was locked in solitary confinement and felt dizzy. I told them about how Falun Gong taught me to be a good person and that I would never change my mind about practicing Falun Gong.

Another time, the guards asked me why Falun Gong practitioners self-immolated on Tiananmen Square. I told them that those were not Falun Gong practitioners and asked if they had seen any one of us hit back when we were being beaten.

In 2001, the labor camp held an s ceremony. Without thinking of my personal safety, I stood up and shouted to expose the persecution of Falun Gong. Other practitioners followed suit.

Afterwards, the labor camp retaliated by injecting me with unknown drugs and putting me on IV drips.

Arrested and Sentenced Once Again

Only a few months after I was released, around August 2002, I walked past the home of practitioner Ms. Deng Guojun (she has since been persecuted to death) and visited her. The people who were monitoring her reported us to the police. Both of us were arrested and taken to the local Party school.

After two days, we were transferred to our own workplaces to be persecuted further. I was once again monitored by security personnel of my company. The police interrogated me a week later and asked where I’d gotten my Falun Gong materials. They wanted me to renounce my faith and threatened to send me far away if I refused to change my mind. I was later transferred to Luosiling Detention Center.

I was forced to stand trial in the Beihu District Court a few months later. I shouted “Falun Dafa is good” in the courthouse. A plainclothes officer punched me when there was no one in the hallway. I saw stars and had to hold onto the wall to keep from falling down. None of my family or friends were allowed to attend the trial, so I defended myself and was given 1.5 years in prison. I was ordered to serve my time in the local detention center.

The guards closed the door and took away the television when I refused to do the unpaid labor at the detention center. There were over a dozen of us in the cell, and the room was very smelly because the restroom in the cell was dirty. The guards did this so that the other inmates would hate me and torture me. Once, I was meditating outside. It was a cold day and an inmate took a pail of freezing water and threw it in my face. I was choking and my clothes and hair were sopping wet.

A captain snatched away a handwritten Falun Gong book that someone had passed to me. When I went on a hunger strike, the guards chose a few male inmates to drag me out into the hallway. I was pinned down and they stomped on my hair. A metal tool was inserted into my nose, and I screamed. An inmate then said that he was not afraid that I might die as he inserted a tool into my mouth and dumped a milk-like liquid into my mouth. When an inmate thought that it was milk and went to taste it, another inmate gave him a glance. I knew that they probably had put toxic drugs in it.

Despite the torture, many of the detained Falun Gong practitioners never gave up explaining the facts about the practice to other inmates. Our kindness earned the admiration of some inmates. I recall that, on the eve of a Chinese New Year, all the inmates in a cell suddenly started doing the Falun Gong exercises with the practitioners, except for one mute. When I asked her why she didn’t participate, she signed to me that she used drugs and thought she might not be qualified to learn it.

One inmate used to believe the slanderous propaganda about Falun Gong. She was so scared that she didn’t even dare look at us. When she slept, she always turned her back to us, so she felt safer. But after spending some time with us, she changed her mind and once said, “I think Falun Gong practitioners are the most reliable and kind people. I will also learn Falun Gong when I get back home.”

Above is only a small portion of what I’ve suffered and a drop in a bucket compared to all the brutalities still being carried out against the practitioners. Despite the persecution, I have never regretted my decision to practice Falun Gong and stand up for it. In fact, the guards and police officers being used by the communist regime to carry out the persecution are the real victims. I truly worry about the consequences they will face for committing such evil.