(Minghui.org) Ms. Chen Biqin, 64, from Bijie City, Guizhou Province, began practicing Falun Gong in 2004, and her illnesses went away. However, in October, 2012 she was arrested for talking about Falun Gong in public, and was sentenced to four years in prison.
In prison, she suffered a relapse of her old illnesses. After her release, she was hospitalized, which ended up costing her entire savings. She finally resumed the practice of Falun Gong in April 2017, and once again, her life was renewed.
Ms. Chen Biqin used to work at a local water company. Before she retired at 43, she was very sick. She suffered an unknown eye problem in which her eyes were itchy and painful, frozen shoulder, and bone disease in her knees. She had tried all kinds of therapies, but none worked.
In April 2004, a friend of hers told her about Falun Gong. She started reading the books and doing the exercises right away. Though she was illiterate, she was able to learn to read the entire book of Zhuan Falun (the main book of Falun Gong) within a few months. Equally amazingly, all of her illness symptoms went away within that time.
Ms. Chen was a warm-hearted person who often helped others, but she also had a short temper. At her workplace, she was awarded as the “model employee” almost every year, but she often had arguments with others. After learning Falun Gong, she followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and tried to improve her temper. People around her saw the changes in her. She was happy every day.
Ms. Chen wanted to share her story with others and inform them about the unjust persecution. In October 2012, she passed out Falun Gong materials at a local bus station, and was arrested. Seven months later, she was sent to trial. In court, she defended herself, but the judge cut her off, claiming that her statements were against the court. Finally, she was sentenced to four years in prison. She was eventually sent to the First Provincial Women's Prison (a.k.a Yang'ai Prison).
In the first two years of her detention, she was held in a brainwashing center. The prison staff forced her to read and watch materials that slander Falun Gong, and then forced her to write down what she “learned” from the materials. Every imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner had to do the same.
Each of them was watched by two inmates 24/7. Ms. Chen was sandwiched between two inmates wherever she went: while eating, sleeping, and even in the bathroom. Inmates would gain reduction of prison time if they did a good job monitoring Falun Gong practitioners. They often beat practitioners if they refused to watch brainwashing materials or write statements renouncing Falun Gong.
Ms. Chen, who had only received a 2nd grade education, was unable to write anything, so she was often beaten. Once the inmates grabbed Ms. Chen by the hair and banged her head against a wall. She almost passed out. At night, they didn't allow Ms. Chen to use the bathroom. Four four years, four inmates were assigned to take turns watching Ms. Chen, and they had all beaten her.
Ms. Chen was forced to do heavy labor from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. Her main job was to make shoes, and she was paid 9 yuan (roughly 1.3 U.S. dollars) a month.
In this harsh environment, Ms. Chen quit practicing Falun Gong, and eventually all her old health problems came back. Before she was released, her eyes itched and had pain every day; her shoulders were so painful that she could not even hold a blanket; the bone disease in her knees got worse and she could not walk. Even so, she was still forced to do the labor. Every morning, the inmates carried her to the factory.
Ms. Chen had knee surgery in October 2016, right after she was released. After spending 100,000 yuan (roughly 20 thousand U.S. Dollars), her knees still didn't function properly, and she was still tortured by the eye and shoulder problems.
Moreover, she had developed a lung problem while in prison, with a chronic cough and difficulty breathing. Several times a day, she felt like she was going to pass out from shortness of breath. She tried many western and Chinese medicine therapies, but nothing worked.
Finally, she resumed practicing Falun Gong in April 2017. In a few months, all of her illness symptoms went away. She said her life has been renewed once again by Falun Gong.