A massive hunt for Falun Dafa practitioners took place in Changsha City, Hunan Province, on January 18, 2001. Family members of practitioners who were arrested were placed under 24-hour surveillance so they could not warn others. Many practitioners were arrested from the West District of the city: Some were accused of engaging in criminal activities while others were held for "disturbing the social order".
Among those who were held in the Yuelu Detention Center were:
- Luo Yabing from Luoyan Factory,
- Zhang Liping and Jiang Deying from Hunan Normal University,
- Wang Wei and Zhou Shuai from the Bureau of Aerospace; Zhou Shuai had been on a hunger strike for 20 days,
- Li Lihua, Li Dinghua, and Liu Qingxi from the Fish Farm,
- Wang Peihua from Hunan Normal University
- Wang Jianping from the Canvas Factory
- Lu Yuye, a graduate student from Hunan University
During the night of January 18, the Vice-Director of the Center stormed in the room and yelled at Zhou Shuai and Wang Wei, who were on a hunger strike. He shouted: "If you die from this hunger strike, your life is not as worthy as a dog's". We knew that we had to stop this. So we, as a group, shouted, "Suffocate the evil" and "Falun Dafa is Righteous". The shouting continued for 5 minutes. The guards seemed to be shocked, and left the room. The following day, Zhou Shuai was carried out for force-feeding. They were unable led to force her mouth open, even with a metal tool.
Two days later, a guard named Wang and a health care person in the Center forcibly took Wang Wei away on the pretext of giving him a medical checkup. When Wang Wei was sent back, he was staggering, he could not keep his head upright, and his hands were trembling. It was apparent that he had been drugged. Wang said, "This is what happens to people who practice Falun Gong." He then took Wang Wei around, showed him to other inmates and blasphemed against Falun Gong at the same time. We tried to stop him by shouting, "Eliminate evil" and "Suffocate evil". We told the guards that we would make sure that their actions are revealed to the public. Wang retorted, "Go ahead and post it on the Web! Why don't you overthrow Jiang Zemin first if you are so capable?" "There isn't much you can do now. If you guys ever become legal, I will hang myself. If you do not cooperate with me now, I will send you women to the male cells". There is hardly any humanity left in these guards.
Zhou Shuai had been arrested nine times. She was beaten into a coma when she was arrested in Beijing. After she had been on a hunger strike for 9 days, she was sent back to Changsha where she continued her hunger strike. For 22 days, she had been running a low-grade fever. Zhou Shuai and three other practitioners were later sent to Zhuzhou Female Detention Center. Six practitioners were still locked up at the Yuelu Detention Center; they were reportedly to be transferred to Zhuzhou as well.
All the other practitioners were forced into a Reformation Class. Each had to pay a "tuition fee" of 4500 yuan. (Translator's Note: The average annual income in China is 5877 yuan) They will not be released until they are reformed.
Something has to change this brutality led by Jiang Zemin.
Practitioners in China
