[Minghui Net] My name is Chen Guimin (Pseudonym). I am 58 years old, and for more than five years I have cultivated Falun Dafa, which has greatly benefited my family.
On July 21st, 1999, my husband and I went by train to appeal in Beijing. At three different stations along the way, police boarded the train with electric batons asking passengers if they were Falun Gong practitioners going to Beijing to appeal to the government. At Tangshan station in Hebei Province, police confiscated our train tickets. More than ten other female practitioners were also forced off the train at Tangshan station, even though their tickets were to Tianjin. The police took us off the train and released us. That night, two nieces of mine visited my house. When police from our municipal Public Security Bureau came to detain me, they found my nieces and took them away for interrogation.
On July 22nd, we found our way to Beijing. At night we slept in a park, though we saw some plainclothes police in the park as well. Some practitioners went to the Great Wall and Wang'er Mountain to avoid arrest, but even in such remote places they still saw police patrolling, which is not a normal practice.
On the morning of September 28th, a group of policemen rounded up me and a dozen other practitioners and sent us to Shangdi police station in Beijing. There we saw a 10 year old practitioner who had been separated from his parents by the police. After confiscating our Dafa books, the police asked us to squat, then kicked and beat us, not even sparing people over 60 years old. The police slapped both my husband and me on the face and kicked us repeatedly. After this torture, they handcuffed us to a tree with our hands behind our backs. One practitioner was handcuffed and tortured for a long time. Another practitioner was handcuffed to an electricity pole. The police did not even allow people to use the restroom. They also verbally abused us. After the interrogation, the police sent us to a hotel, where they took away all of our money (830 Yuan from my husband and me). We were not allowed to eat for a whole day. The next day, we were handcuffed and escorted back to our hometown, Tieling, in Liaoning Province. The tight handcuffs caused several blood blisters on my wrists. I was detained for a total of 60 days on two charges. During detention, we continued our practice. As a result, the guards cursed us and even tortured us with whips.
On October 19, 1999, my eldest daughter and her child went to appeal at the State Appealing Office. They were intercepted by plainclothes police waiting at the entrance. After they found out the name of my daughter's hometown, a police officer from their hometown sent them to a makeshift detention center and kept them there for four days. The police packed several dozen people into a small conference room. No one was allowed to leave. They charged each person 5 Yuan per day to rent the conference room. In addition, practitioners had to pay for the cab ride to the detention center. At night on the 22nd, more police from practitioners' hometowns arrived to take them back. During detention, some practitioners went on hunger strikes to protest the inhuman treatment. As punishment, police sent some to a correctional facility, and a practitioner named Xiao was sent to a mental hospital. In the correctional facility, police hit practitioners' faces with electric batons to force them to write "Guarantee Statements" to stop practicing Falun Gong.
During her appeal trip to Beijing, my second daughter was detained and sent back to a detention center in our hometown. After 9pm the first night, police blindfolded her and shouted, "Let's shoot her." Then they pushed her onto a bus. When the bus stopped at an unknown place, the police dragged her upstairs. With an electric baton, the police tortured and interrogated her for a long time. On the second night, I saw my daughter walking back to the cell with chains on her feet. The torture continued for more than ten days, with the heavy chains making her ankles bleed badly. Despite the hardship, she kept on practicing in the cell. To punish her defiance, the police put a "neck clutch" on her. The "neck clutch" was made of two curved iron rods, which were locked around her neck with a heavy lock and attached to an iron hoop on the floor with an iron chain. Once chained by the clutch, a person can only lay on his or her stomach. Even restroom breaks are not allowed.
On November 26, I was released after paying 2000 Yuan [about US$250, average monthly wage in China is about $60] bail. One day, two police officers, accompanied by two street administration officials, came to my home to force me to write a "guarantee statement." They took away my Dafa books and tapes, and afterwards, they took me to the police station for further interrogation.
At 7 AM, New Year's Day of 2000, four police officers came to my house and took me to a detention center. The director of the District Political and Law Committee said, "We set up an education class for you. We will not stop the class until you promise to stop practicing and curse your teacher." I and 11 other practitioners were not allowed to eat for a whole day. On the fourth day, ten practitioners had a chance to share experiences about the benefits of Dafa. Then I was tricked into illegal detention, and my second daughter and her husband were also detained. My daughter's 65-year-old mother-in-law was sent to a reform camp, and my 11-year-old grandson was left home alone.
Later, a practitioner and I were handcuffed. My detention lasted 37 days. I was released the day before Chinese New Year [starting on January 24, 2001]. On February 16th, 2000, I went to the detention center to send something to my daughter. Arriving home, my husband and grandson told me that someone had once more come to detain me. Unable to stay at home, we decided to go to Beijing to appeal again. After we arrived in Beijing, two soldiers stopped us. One asked me to curse Master Li. When my niece said, "I never curse people," they took her aside for interrogation. A bus came with many soldiers, and someone shouted, "Throw them into the bus!" Afterwards, we were released, so we went to a State Appealing Office. At the entrance to the office, more than a hundred plainclothes policemen blocked the street in three lines. Twenty practitioners banded together, but no one could enter. My husband, niece and I could not enter, even though we linked arms. We were arrested again. On February 22nd, I was sent back to my hometown detention center, where many practitioners were brutally tortured because they dared to practice while in custody.
On March 29th, 2000, I was sentenced to one-year of forced labor in the Masanjia Labor Camp. We were forced to make silk flowers. Later, we were rescheduled to study in the morning and work in the afternoon. In this Labor Camp, Wang, the head guard, gave electric shocks to Wang Hui and Dang Yanhua. The guard asked Zhou Guirong to squat and did not permit her to sleep. Pan Qi suffered a lot of hardship in Group One and then transferred to Group Two. Song Xiuting chose to die rather than denounce Dafa. Some practitioners had suffered a great deal before coming to the Labor Camp. Zhou Min's hunger strike lasted 7 days. A practitioners named Cui was beaten so hard that the stick broke. We were not allowed to sleep before midnight, and we were forced to listen to the vicious lies aimed at "transforming" us. Any one who dared to disagree was treated with even harsher torture. Pan Qi's sentence was extended for 3 months. Each practitioner was forced to write a "disclosure statement," a "repentance statement," and a "guarantee statement." Blinded by the lies, I was "transformed."
In June, the water supply in the Camp was shut down for two days, and practitioners had to fetch water from a nearby well. There was livestock manure around the well, which polluted the water and caused many practitioners to suffer from high fever and diarrhea. Some were sent to the Masanjia Hospital; some received intravenous injections or took medicine. Head Guard Wang forced practitioners to take medicine as a precaution, but I did not take any. I got a high fever, headache and stomachache at first, but I recovered on the second day. We later learned that the well water was for livestock only, not for humans. á
On July 3rd, 2000, I was put into the 2nd group of the 3rd team in the No.1 Female Department. There I saw and heard many courageous stories about practitioners' determination to safeguard Dafa. I could not forgive myself. I decided to correct my mistakes with my words and deeds. I would never again be blinded by the malicious lies. I declared my "disclosure statement", "repentance statement" and "guarantee statement" to be invalid.
Here, practitioners had to listen to vicious lies everyday until they were "transformed." Those practitioners who were not "transformed" were put into a small cell and deprived of sleep. Some, such as Li Jinghua, Lin Shuli, and Liu Me were ordered to squat for a long time. The untransformed practitioners were forced to make clothes with criminals and work overtime until 11pm. People in their 50's were not spared. Practitioner Wang Xunzhi's husband sent her a letter from Tianjin, but all she was allowed to see was a photo enclosed in the envelope. The citizens' were completely deprived of any rights.
On October 1st, 2000, I was released, though I was still under surveillance. My husband was detained for 15 days of administrative detention, then for an additional 15 days after his 30 days criminal detention. Now, my elder daughter is out of the country. My second daughter is serving a 3-year sentence at Dabei Prison in Shenyang City. Two small children have been separated from their mothers. Our family life is shattered.
From detention centers to labor camps, many guards told me that we are good people. I want to tell every one: "Falun Dafa is great. Falun Dafa is being wrongfully persecuted."
I love my country. That's why I am telling the truth. Why is it that some people cannot discern good from evil? I hope all kind people around the world will support us. People's hearts cannot be suppressed. I feel very happy to be a Dafa practitioner and would like to protect Dafa with my own life. No matter how many times they arrest me, I will firmly cultivate in Dafa without any complaints or regrets.
A Falun Dafa practitioner in China