Remaining Steadfast Despite Being in Prison

(Minghui.org) I had been on a hunger strike for six days in the Dalian Detention Center when the verdict was issued in 2014. I remember leaning against the wall when the cell window opened. A guard stuck his head in and said, “Your verdict is issued. You have been sentenced to six years in prison. Do you want to appeal?” “Yes, of course.” I said. He called in the cell head and told him, “The supervisor said that if he wants to appeal, give him only one piece of paper and ten minutes. You watch him and don’t allow anyone to help him.”

My Appeal

I wrote, “The air is free. Why is news information not freely circulated? Chinese people yearn to learn the truth. They have the right to know the truth. I followed their wish and installed satellite dish to receive NTDTV for them and told them the truth. What crime did I commit? Here I solemnly warn those people in the legal departments who follow the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) policies and persecute Falun Dafa practitioners to stop doing so from now on. You still have time to turn yourself around. If you continue following the persecution policy, you will not be able to make restitution for the crimes you committed against Falun Dafa and practitioners.” 

The cell head looked at me with admiration after he finished reading my appeal and said “You are so courageous. Aren’t you afraid of being given a heavier sentence if you write this? You don’t defend yourself at all in your appeal.”

When my lawyer went to see me in the detention center, he asked me why I didn’t appeal after he read my file. I told him that I did. He said that there was no appeal in my file. 

Near Fatal Blood Pressure

I had been on hunger strike for ten days. A doctor measured my blood pressure after I was given IV drips, but the machine didn’t show a reading until the third try. The low pressure was 10 and the high reading was 60. The doctor and guards were afraid. They called an ambulance and sent me to Dalian 210 Hospital for emergency treatment. I didn’t cooperate in the hospital. Eventually a detention center officer talked to me and asked me not to fight because the center was applying for release on medical bail for me and would release me when my condition was stable. 

Two judges went to the ward five days later. They read the verdict against me: My appeal was dismissed and the original sentence was upheld. 

Taken to Dabei First Prison

At 4:30 a.m. on the 16^th day of my hunger strike, four policemen instructed the inmates to carry me downstairs. I was put into a van that drove to a prison. Four inmates carried me upstairs. I was photographed and they tried to get my fingerprints. I refused to cooperate. Half an hour later, I was carried to a van. Several practitioners were inside it. 

After driving for several hours, the driver shouted, “We’ve arrived at the Dabei First Prison [Shenyang City, Liaoning Province].” My heart churned a bit. I knew this was an evil prison that specialized in persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners. Many practitioners had died there. I calmed down and said to myself: “You are able to handle this.”

The other practitioners were escorted into the prison one after another. Finally, I was the only one left. When the prison guard saw me lying in the van, he said, “We won’t accept him as his condition is too poor.” The policeman in the van became anxious and phoned a superior. They talked for nearly an hour before the prison agreed to accept me. I later learned that they contacted the 610 Office and the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and told them that I was released three times because of my hunger strike and they would not release me under any circumstance this time. So I was carried into the Dabei First Prison. 

Negate the Persecution and Create a Cultivation Environment

I was carried into a dark room. No one took care of me. One inmate went in and touched me every few hours to see if I was still alive. One day a prison guard asked several inmates to carry me into his office. He said his name was Jin Xu and he was the captain of the 19^th ward. 

“I have seen your file,” he said. “You were released on bail for medical reasons three times before. Your situation is special. Here it is very normal for inmates to die. If you start to eat, I guarantee that we will not forcibly transform you. You can buy daily necessities and can receive visits from your family.” I thought about it and agreed. I must get out of there alive. 

Jin Xu disappeared when he saw that I started to eat. But they only allowed me to see my wife once. The reason was that my wife told me, “If any inmate dares to beat you, tell me. If the guard beats you, you remember his ID number and tell me, I will sue him.” They no longer let me see my wife. 

The 19^th ward is a high-security area, where practitioners are imprisoned and forcibly transformed. If a practitioner didn’t write the three statements, he or she would be held in solitary confinement and restrained on a tiger bench until they were transformed. Even under such cruelty, some practitioners remained steadfast and refused to be transformed. 

The food there was terrible and we were not given enough to eat. I went on hunger strike for a long period of time. My health was poor due to malnutrition. There were no basic necessities, not even toilet paper. Should I accept this? We should have been protected by the prison law. Inmates have the right to see their family members and buy food. 

I went to the cell head and said, “I will go on a hunger strike today to protest that the prison has deprived us of our basic living rights. Guard Jin Xu promised me that I could see my family and buy goods. Why don’t the guards keep their promises?”

Inmates kept coming to me trying to persuade me to give up my hunger strike. I told them that Jin Xu broke his promise. They force-fed me and tortured me while I was on a hunger strike. I was not moved. They were scared when news of my hunger strike was published on the Minghui website. They talked to me every day. when I was on hunger strike for 18 days, the guard in my ward promised me in person that I could buy goods and see my wife every month. I demanded the right to practice the exercises every day. They didn’t object. 

Since then, I read the Fa and practiced the exercises in the 19^th ward in Dabei First Prison. No matter how bad the environment was, I continued reading the Fa and doing the exercises. Other practitioners were encouraged and demanded their basic rights as well. Finally the prison agreed that we could buy basic necessities. 

Validating the Fa with Dignity in Prison

I had no sense of time in the prison. I was in the 19^th ward for over a year, and many practitioners were not transformed. The cells could not hold any more practitioners. They decided to transfer the practitioners to other cells to transform us before the Chinese New Year. The practitioners learned this via various channels. 

The guard in charge of "transforming" practitioners in the 19^th ward came to talk to me one day in December 2015. He said, “All of you are going to be reassigned to different cells. All of you will be forcibly 'transformed' by using such methods as being locked in dark confinement, being burned with cigarette lighters, being deprived of sleep, etc. No one can withstand this. Please think about it and let me know.”

I met practitioner Aiping when I went back to the cell. He was washing clothes. He was very determined in cultivation and was tortured. He was in the 19^th ward for the longest time. I saw he was worried. I asked him if he heard the news. He nodded. I said, “Remaining steadfast is more valuable than losing one’s life.” He agreed.

Many guards showed up the next morning. We were told to pack up everything and whoever was called had to leave with his belongings. I was transferred to the 2^nd ward. Practitioner Aiping was transferred to the 1^st ward. These wards were the worst. Both of us started a hunger strike before they began to persecute us. Due to practitioners’ righteous thoughts and actions, this new round of persecution in the Dabei First Prison ended one month later. Most practitioners remained very determined in their cultivation. 

I didn’t cooperate in the 2^nd ward. I didn’t work. I studied the Fa and practiced the exercises every day. I bought everyday necessities and saw my wife once a month. Whatever the interference was in the following years, I followed the same pattern. I went on hunger strikes many times to fight for the environment that was legally granted. The guards never tried to transform me. 

“Master Li Is Amazing!”

A guard told the inmate team heads one day in September 2018 that the prison demanded that inmates start to go to work early, finish late, and squat during head counts. Anyone who didn’t obey would be punished. My team head went back and held a meeting. He said, “Everyone, listen carefully. Whoever doesn’t squat down, be prepared to be punished.”

When we finished work that evening, hundreds of inmates stood in five rows. When the guard ordered: “Counting,” everyone squatted down except for me. I stood there and didn’t say anything. Everyone looked at me. The guard shouted at me, “Why don’t you squat down?” I looked at him and smiled. At that moment I was very proud to be Master Li’s disciple. Seeing the situation was not good, an inmate head tried to ease it and said, “He’s like that. Just ignore him. Everyone, stand up. That’s all for today. We will talk about it tomorrow morning.”

That night everyone talked about me. Some said, “Look at that Falun Gong practitioner. Master Li is amazing. He doesn’t give his disciple a penny but the disciple still follows him, even facing the risk of death.” 

The guard complained a bit to me the next day. That was the end of it. 

Due to my righteous thoughts and actions and compliance with Dafa’s principles, the inmates respected me. The guard rarely caused trouble for me. The inmate in charge respected me a lot. The inmates who monitored me didn’t find fault with me. Some of them became good friends with me. This laid a good foundation for me to clarify the truth to them later on. 

Clarifying the Truth and Saving People in Prison

One young practitioner in the 2^nd ward was “transformed” soon after he was sent here. He had to do hard labor every day. He was happy that I was there. He went to see me whenever he had a chance. I always encouraged him and told him not to be discouraged. I said it didn’t matter if he fell, he must stand up. I showed him Master’s articles and asked him to improve himself following the Fa. 

When the guard saw that I was close to the young practitioner, he found an excuse to put me into a harsher confinement cell. I went on a hunger strike for 18 days. The young practitioner indeed improved and wrote a solemn declaration to nullify his statement of giving up practicing. He refused to work. The guard thought it was because of me so they transferred the young practitioner to another cell. This young practitioner remained determined in cultivation when released. 

Many inmates thought that I had real power when they saw I was still healthy after going on so many hunger strikes. Some asked me if I had Falun Gong books for them to read. One inmate did a Taoist cultivation practice before and I lent him Zhuan Falun. He read it for two weeks and told me that he felt Falun rotating. I told him that Master was already taking care of him. He finished reading Zhuan Falun and was released a few months later. He said that he would definitely practice Falun Dafa. 

While I was in the 2^nd ward, almost all the inmates around me withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. 

Zhuan Falun Will Be with Me No Matter What

I managed to get a copy of Zhuan Falun soon after I arrived at the prison. I was so happy that I hardly slept that night. I made a promise to Master: The book will be with me as long as I am alive. It was not convenient to read the book in the work area. Every night when inmates went to sleep, I hand-copied paragraph by paragraph. I brought the hand copy to the work area and memorized it during the day. Though I had hardships day by day and year by year, I felt lucky and happy because I had the Fa with me. 

One day the cell head came to me and said, “Some inmates saw you hand copy the book. Do not cause me trouble. I don’t care where you read the book but do not read in the cell.” Since I couldn’t copy the book, I took Zhuan Falun to the work area to read. The book became dirty after a period of time in the workshop as it was dusty there. I was upset. My precious book got dirty. What should I do? I decided to clean it. I borrowed a rubber eraser and cleaned the book page by page. I was too focused one day that I didn’t see the new ward director who was just beside me. My book was confiscated. He was extremely angry and chastised the team head and cell head. 

I apologized to the team head and cell head the next day. I said, “Sorry I didn’t take good care of my precious book. I caused you trouble. I have to bear the consequence. I have made a promise to my Master that the book would be with me as long as I am alive. Since the book is gone, I don’t want to live. I will start a hunger strike right now.”

I was on a hunger strike for eight days. I worked every day as usual and made the bed myself. I didn’t need any help. The inmates were amazed. An everyday person would be in danger of dying after being on a hunger strike for seven days. But I still worked as usual. This showed people how extraordinary Falun Dafa is. I got my precious book back. 

The Prison Sued for Violating the Law

My wife hired a lawyer to lodge a lawsuit for me. The lawyer brought me a document and asked me to sign it, but the ward guard found all sorts of excuses to prevent me from getting the document. I was not able to sign it. My wife approached different departments in the prison but they passed the buck to each other. I talked to the guards again and again. They found all sorts of excuses. This went on for a year. 

When I met my wife, she said, “We are not able to continue the legal procedures because the prison is blocking us. According to the law, we will lodge a lawsuit against the Dabei First Prison and its administrators.” One week later the superintendent went to me and told me about the lawsuit. He said that no one dared to block it. He had to complete the procedure for me. 

My Wife Helps Me Oppose the Persecution

My wife and I got married after the persecution started in 1999. I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa when my son was not even a month old. I was arrested, sentenced, and persecuted. My wife was misled by the CCP’s propaganda, complained, and fought with me. But when she learned the truth about Falun Dafa and saw that the other practitioners helped me, she was really moved by their selfless actions. 

When I was arrested this time, she went to question the policeman who arrested me and asked him why he persecuted me. The policeman was so scared that he didn’t dare to handle my case. When I was on hunger strikes, she managed to find out the phone number of the guard in charge of my cell and rang him every day. She told him that there was no legal provision that could convict Falun Dafa practitioners. This alleviated the pressure on me in the prison. 

When she learned that I would be transferred to another prison, my wife immediately went to that prison and told the prison administrators that I was very weak and might die any minute. She said, “If you dare to accept him, we will sue you if there is any problem.” That prison didn’t dare to accept me. 

My wife went to see me every month during the six years I was locked in Dabei Prison. In order to save money, she never took the high-speed rail and only took the regular train. She arrived at Shenyang at two or three a.m. Then she took a bus to the prison to see me. She had to wait until noon before she could see me for just five minutes. We could only say a few sentences and then she had to leave. 

Because I was determined in cultivation, sometimes when she visited, I was not allowed to see her. She left crying. One day she was very happy when seeing me. She said that she would bring our son to see me next time. But they were not allowed to see me the next time. Later on I learned from the inmate in charge that guard Jin Xu wouldn’t allow them to see me unless they slandered Falun Dafa. My wife refused to do so and argued with Jin Xu. 

Another time, I was in a harsher confinement cell. My wife didn’t see me. She went into the cells and looked for me. The supervisor guard tried to negotiate with her. She said to him that she would video them and expose them online. They were so scared that they called the police. Things only calmed down when they deleted the photos in my wife’s cell phone. Later on the guard said to me, “Your wife is tough. She put my name online.” One inmate said, “You are so lucky. Without your wife, the prison would have killed you for what you have done.”

My wife has been blessed by Dafa. She has a good job. My son studied hard and was admitted to a university. Our elderly parents are healthy. 

I would like to thank our local practitioners for their selfless help throughout these years as well as overseas practitioners for their support and their prompt reports on the Minghui website, which helped reduce the persecution against me. 

I hope this article can encourage practitioners and their families in hardships.