(Minghui.org) Tube feeding is done by inserting a tube into the nose and down the nasal cavity. The tube filled with a liquid nutrient mixture that passes the esophagus to the stomach. What is normally a life-saving medical treatment has been used by the Chinese Communist Party to persecute Falun Gong practitioners who go on hunger strikes in detention centers, labor camps, and prisons.
Torture re-enactment: Force-feeding
This report documents 14 cases of Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning Province who were persecuted to death through force-feeding.
1. Ms. Sun Lianxia
In the autumn of 2000, Ms. Sun Lianxia from Dalian City went to Beijing to protest the persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested and sent to the Dalian Forced Labor Camp.
Photo of the late Ms. Sun Lianxia
Ms. Sun went on a hunger strike on December 18, 2000 and was force-fed by the police and assisted by criminal inmates. Her nasal cavity and esophageal mucus were injured, and her nostril bled when the feeding tube was inserted. As her nostril was blocked, she had to breathe through her mouth. She could not stop coughing up phlegm from her throat and inflamed trachea. She vomited blood, which made force-feeding difficult.
In the last two hours of her life, with Ms. Sun in critical condition, the force-feeding did not stop. She passed away on January 16, 2001 at the age of 50.
2. Ms. Li Xiumei
On the night of December 3, 2001, Ms. Li Xiumei from Dalian City was arrested and locked in an iron cage the entire night. Her hands were handcuffed to the cage; police shouted vulgarities at her regularly. She was later sent to the Dalian Yaojia Detention Center.
Photo of Ms. Li Xiumei
Ms. Li went on a hunger strike the moment she entered the detention center. Two days before she died, she was dragged out to be force-fed. Ms. Li returned exhausted and with a bruised face.
Out of breath, she said, “They pinched my nose and covered my mouth so I couldn’t breathe. They wanted to suffocate me. There are drugs in the force-fed liquids that cause people to become unconscious.”
On the next day, December 16, 2001, Ms. Li was dragged out to be force-fed again. She died at the age of 58.
3. Ms. Jin Lifeng
Ms. Jin Lifeng from Huludao City was working on August 14, 2001 when she was arrested and detained at Huludao Detention Center.
Photo of the late Ms. Jin Lifeng
Ms. Jin was force-fed on February 5, 2002 when she went on a hunger strike. On February 12, the first day of the Chinese New Year, police inserted the feeding tube into her lung, causing blood to ooze out from her mouth and nose. She died at the age of 39.
4. Ms. Kou Xiaoping
In November 2000, Ms. Kou Xiaoping from Anshan City was arrested and later sentenced to two years at Anshan Forced Labor Camp.
On the fourth day of the Chinese New Year in 2002, all the Falun Gong practitioners at the camp went on a hunger strike.
Four days later, the practitioners were force-fed. Many survived the experience with bruised faces, fingernails, and toenails. Their bodies and internal organs were in unbearable pain. They could not turn their bodies and needed help just to get out of their beds.
Ms. Kou was sent to the emergency room but passed away two days later at the age of 40.
5. Ms. Liang Suyun
Ms. Liang Suyun from Fushun City was arrested and sent to the infamous Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in February 2002 after protesting in Beijing against the persecution of Falun Gong.
Photo of the late Ms. Liang Suyun
Ms. Liang went on a hunger strike. Seventeen days later, she was dragged to the Fushun Petrochemical Corporation Petroleum Hospital to be force-fed while handcuffed to the bed. On March 17, 2002, Ms. Sun died at the age of 36.
To shift responsibility for their actions, the police said that Ms. Liang jumped to her death.
6. Ms. Zhou Yuling
Ms. Zhou Yuling from Fushun City was arrested on August 30, 2002. The head of Hong Tou Shan Police Station personally led her arrest.
Photo of the late Ms. Zhou Yuling
Officers slapped Ms. Zhou and shocked her with electric batons. When she refused to write “guarantee statements” renouncing Falun Gong, she was sent to the Qingqi County Dasha Gou Detention Center that afternoon.
Ms. Zhou started a hunger strike on September 1, 2002. On the seventh day, the head of the detention center instructed officers to force-feed her.
On September 20, the feeding tube was inserted into her lungs during the procedure. She died at the age of 49 after she was suffocated with quilts on the way to the hospital. Her lifeless body was covered in bruises, her eyes stared straight ahead, and her mouth was open. Her hands were balled into fists, and her legs were in a position of exertion.
7. Ms. Cao Guimei
Between July 1999 and December 2000, Ms. Cao Guimei from Shenyang City was arrested twice and sent to the Shenyang Longshan Forced Labor Camp. She once went on a hunger strike for over 40 days. After being force-fed concentrated salt water, she coughed non-stop and vomited blood for a month. She was later released and died at the age of 69 toward the end of 2002.
8. Mr. Huang Ke
Mr. Huang Ke from Fushun Petrochemical Research Institute was arrested in March 2003 and sent to Fushun No. 1 Detention Center. He went on a hunger strike and was forced-fed in the hospital.
He resisted the force-feeding and was sent home 10 days later.
Photo of the late Mr. Huang Ke
Mr. Huang was again arrested at the end of June 2003 and detained at Fushun No.1 Detention Center. He again went on a hunger strike and was forced-fed many times. On July 3, 2003, he died in the detention center at the age of 31.
During that period, Mr. Huang's wife, Ms. Zhong Yunxiu, was also persecuted to death after going to Beijing in October 1999 to protest the persecution of Falun Gong.
The couple left behind a young child and Mr. Huang's elderly parents.
9. Ms. Wang Xiuyuan
Ms. Wang Xiuyuan from Shenyang City was arrested on April 19, 2002 and sent to Shenyang Longshan Forced Labor Camp for two years.
Photo of the late Ms. Wang Xiuyuan
In July 2002, Ms. Wang was kicked in the chest by a policeman and landed four meters away. When she stood up, the policeman slapped her, causing blood to ooze from her nose and the corner of her eye. The policeman kicked her again, making her fall over and hit a heating pipe, which caused a bleeding head wound.
Ms. Wang grew weaker. She had difficulties swallowing food after a long period of torture. In February 2004, she went on a hunger strike. She was force-fed concentrated salt water every day through a thick tube that injured her stomach and esophagus.
In March, Ms. Wang's blood pressure and heart became abnormal, and she was sent to the Liaoning Provincial General Hospital. By the end of March, she could not talk and was on the verge of death.
The hospital informed labor camp officials of her condition, but they refused to release her. Instead, they said, “Handcuff her to the bed and continue to give her injections. She cannot die at the camp.”
Her family had to pay 3,000 yuan for her medical bills. Ms. Wang returned home on April 19 but passed away on April 27 at the age of 52.
10. Ms. Li Baojie
Ms. Li Baojie from Panjin City was arrested at her home on August 19, 2004 and sentenced to three years of forced labor. She was later detained at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.
Photo of the late Ms. Li Baojie
Ms. Li immediately went on a hunger strike. On April 7, 2005, over 20 propaganda “instructors” force-fed Ms. Li by holding down her head and limbs. One sat on her stomach while her nose was covered. A tool was used to ply open her mouth. Some type of paste was poured in, obstructing her windpipe. Her mouth was then covered up so she could not breathe.
The next day, April 8, Ms. Li passed away at the age of 32.
11. Mr. Gai Chunlin
Mr. Gai Chunlin from Fushun City was arrested at his home on April 17, 2005 and sent to the “Caring Education School.”
Photo of the late Mr. Gai Chunlin
Mr. Gai's family was informed on May 6, 2005 that he had died of heart disease. When the family saw his body, his face was scalded and distorted. The family requested an autopsy, as there were burns on the right side of his chest. The autopsy reported that his esophagus had been burned from boiling and that the skin would come off when touched. Mr. Gai had been force-fed boiling water.
12. Mr. Wu Liantie
On April 13, 2005, Mr. Wu Liantie from Shenyang City was arrested from his home. He was sentenced in December 2005 to eight years at Panjin Prison.
Photo of the late Mr. Wu Liantie
When Mr. Wu was taken to the brainwashing class on May 15, 2006, he was wearing a hat. A guard team leader asked him why he did not take off his hat. Mr. Wu replied that it was not wrong and that there was no need to take off his hat.
Hearing this, the team leader slapped him twice and locked him in solitary confinement. He was handcuffed to a “tiger bench” for over half a day before being released back to his cell at night.
On May 16, Mr. Wu started a hunger strike and was forced-fed. During his fourth force-feeding on May 22, screams could be heard. Mr. Wu was later taken back to the cell. There was a lot of blood in his stool. His pants were later stripped off, and the inmates used cold water to clean him up.
The prison doctor asked the official in charge if Mr. Wu should be sent to the hospital, as he saw that Mr. Wu appeared on the edge of death. The official replied that they should wait for the kitchen staff to cook meals first.
Mr. Wu was sent to the emergency room for resuscitation and died at around 3 a.m. on May 23, 2006. Blood stains were seen on his lips, teeth, and clothes.
13. Mr. Wang Wenju
Mr. Wang Wenju, an English teacher at Tanggou Middle School in Anshan City, was reported to police by parents after he told his students about the persecution of Falun Gong. He was arrested and taken to the Xiuyan Detention Center.
Photo of the late Mr. Wang Wenju
He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in February 2005 and transferred to Shenyang Prison on March 20. He was transferred to Fushun Nanhuayuan Prison in early April.
After being held in the “strict supervision area,” Mr. Wang went on a hunger strike. He was taken to a small hospital in the prison to be force-fed.
Prison guards tied him to a bed while a few inmates held him down. The guard then inserted a tube through his nose into his stomach. Blood immediately came out from his nostril. Thereafter, Mr. Wu was force-fed by the inmates on a daily basis.
With approval from higher authorities in the prison, the inmates tortured Mr. Wu by flicking his eyes when he slept, swearing at him, and refusing to loosen the ropes on his body or let him go to the toilet. He was forced to keep the feeding tube in his nose.
Later, Mr. Wu asked to have the tube removed so he could eat. The prison then demanded that he write a statement that guaranteed he would not go on a hunger strike again, but he refused. Prison officials refused to remove the tube or let him eat by himself.
Mr. Wang later lost consciousness and bowel control. He was transferred to the hospital on April 25, 2005. On April 27, he passed away at the age of 38.
14. Mr. Zhao Shouzhu
Mr. Zhao Shouzhu from Xinmin City in Shenyang City was arrested on the night of March 31, 2008 and sent to the Xinmin Detention Center.
When Mr. Zhao went on a hunger strike in protest, the police department and hospital worked together to inject unknown substances and force-feed him. The tube pierced his internal organs.
Mr. Zhao passed away at the age of 37 on April 20, 2008.
