Dear leaders of Shandong Province, Linyi District, and Linyi City:

How are you? We three sisters are all Falun Gong practitioners. Although we started to practice cultivation a little late, its astounding effects in improving health and its profound and boundless inner meaning have saved us from much suffering. We have understood the true meaning of life by reading the book Zhuan Falun. Our bodies have been purified and our hearts have been upgraded. The benefits from Dafa are beyond words.

However, our three families, totaling more than one dozen family members, have been suffering constant tribulations and terrors very unexpectedly. The inhumanly bad treatment and torture we three sisters experienced are even more shocking. The eldest sister has been put into jail once, the second eldest three times, and the youngest sister twice, just because we once appealed for the right to practice Falun Gong. We were forced to undergo "brain-washing" in a "transformation class" after being released from jail. The torture we suffered in the class was far worse than those in jail. To "transform" us, they hired some "young men" from the society at large most of these young men had served in the army and knew some martial arts. According to what they said, the leaders told them they would be rewarded 5,000 Yuan for each practitioner they successfully "transformed." They could use any method to do so as long as the practitioner was still breathing. If they did not show progress, they would be fined or fired at any time. Under this mandate, these young men started to torture us with police batons, electric batons, and wooden boards, in turn. The eldest sister was beaten from morning till night for four consecutive days; her body was all covered with wounds and bruises. She fell into unconsciousness four times. The second eldest sister fainted once, and she was handcuffed to an iron pipe and could not bend or squat down. She stayed a whole night in this position. Her two legs were black and severely swollen from the beating.

In the three months' "transformation class," the leaders have used all kinds of means to slander and abuse our Teacher Li Hongzhi. All the walls were covered with filthy words slandering and abusing Teacher Li Hongzhi. They covered the whole floor with enlarged pictures of Teacher Li and forced us to abuse our teacher and they stomped on the pictures of Teacher Li. We regarded this as too mean and ridiculous for the village authorities. We protested their actions, so they caught us and forced us to step on the pictures of Teacher Li. They beat us up with their fists and feet until we fainted. As soon as we woke up, they stuck our fingers, necks, and backs with big needles to the point of bleeding. Sometimes, when they were tired of beating, they ordered us to jump on top of master's pictures. Otherwise they would beat us up until we fell down on the ground. They then smashed our heads against the wall by pulling our hair. Our heads were cut and bleeding, and we were left paralyzed and dizzy on the ground. A few days later, they got a new idea called "pushing a cart". They ordered the eldest sister to lay on the ground with her hands supporting her body and walk on her hands while the second eldest sister held her feet and pushed her. And then we had to exchange positions and do this until we were exhausted. Sometimes we were ordered to stand on one leg for several hours while holding a chair or with a bowl placed on the head. We have been suffering such kinds of tortures almost every day in more than 40 days. We were not allowed to speak; otherwise they would slap us on the face or mouth.

The more shocking things happened later. They saw that they could not conquer us with these tortures, so the leaders bought snakes, scorpions, and toads to bite and terrorize us. A 67-year-old practitioner in the next room had been beaten every day just because she practiced Falun Gong, even though she had never gone to appeal. Her legs were horrendously swollen from the beating. They hung her by the handcuffs for a few hours until the handcuffs were broken and she fell down, unconscious, on the ground, which awoke the people on duty. After they woke up, they put scorpions on her hands and provoked the snake to bite this old lady's neck. The snake left one tooth in this old lady's flesh when she struggled instinctively, and the tooth was not pulled out until the next day. That snake died as a result.

Another incident involved a man who was ordered to beat us, and who was very strong and fierce. He intentionally beat us on our breasts. The second eldest sister's breasts were severely swollen from the beating. They used us as living targets to practice boxing. They even mocked us while beating us: "You practitioners also fear pain and electricity? Where is your energy?" However, they felt very uncomfortable once they finished beating us. That strong man said: "I have felt so badly after beating you, please beat me up so that I can repay the debt." We are practitioners and we can keep our great forbearance and compassion all the time without caring about the suffering. They were all strong and well-trained young men. How could we, several weak ladies, survive their brutal torture if not for the extraordinary power of Dafa? Right now, our bodies are still covered with wounds.

To all kind-hearted people: Is there anything wrong with our practicing Dafa? There have been about one hundred million people practicing Falun Gong since 1992 when master first introduced it to the public. The government also praised Falun Gong in the beginning. We sisters all got rid of our diseases since practicing Falun Gong and we were determined to cultivate it until the end. Why did the government change its tone and ban Falun Gong? We behave ourselves according to Dafa, we cultivate ourselves according to its principles, "Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance", and we try to be free of fame, gain, and sentimentality. We are kind daughters, wives, and mothers in our families, and kind friends to our neighbors. We obey the law and try to be good people wherever we go. We just practice in our homes or in the parks, never bothering anybody. How could some individual high-ranking leaders be so brutal as to ban Falun Gong? What is wrong with this society? Is there any law in this country?

We are all growing up in the "new" China. We want to tell the truth to our government because we trust it. We believe that there are only a few harmful human beings in the government who want to persecute Dafa practitioners, using their authority, and that the majority of the officials are good. We hope those officials with conscience and righteousness will tell the truth about our suffering to the higher authorities. We hope all leaders can calm down when facing such a big issue and not just readily believe the slander. The truth will radiate its brilliance some day, and the evils will be eliminated in the end. The law of heaven is judging everything. The future position of everybody will be decided according to his or her own actions. Every official in Linyi City: we hope you will be responsible for your own future, your elderly parents, your wives, and children, and choose the best path for yourselves. Kindness and evil will each receive their own retribution. The great Buddha Law will be revealed in the world again.

Three Falun Dafa practitioner sisters in Linyi City, Shandong Province

August 6, 2000