[Minghui Net] I am a Dafa practitioner in Liaoning Province. I began practicing Falun Gong in February 1999. Before I started cultivation, I was a person who pursued fame and self-interest. After I obtained the Fa, I understood how to conduct myself to become a good person and an even better person. I took everything lightly. Dafa purified my body and mind. I thank my Teacher, thank him for his compassion, and the salvation he has offered to us.
On July 22, 1999, Jiang Zemin's regime banned Falun Gong as an illegal organization. I did not understand why they used the name of the nation and pushed good people to the opposite side of the government. Falun Gong is a piece of pure land; it's the only pure land in the world. In September 1999, I went to Beijing to legally appeal. I was illegally arrested and detained, and I was accused of disturbing the social order. Isn't it granted by the constitution as law that a citizen has the legal right to appeal?
In November 1999, I was sent to the Masanjia Labor Camp because I didn't want to betray my conscience. I answered "Yes, I will continue practicing" when I was asked, "Are you still going to practice or not?" I was then illegally sentenced to forced labor for 1 year. This is the "Chinese legal system." I was among the first group of 11 Dalian City practitioners sent to labor camps. On the way to the Masanjia Labor Camp, the police told us if we could not be "reformed," we would suffer big tribulations.
To effectively watch us, the labor camp grouped us in a place that is today's Masanjia Labor Camp No. 2 Female Branch. As soon as the 11 of us from Dalian City entered the front gate, we felt the eeriness of this place. We started to feel terrified from the bottom of our hearts. We didn't know how they would torture us. Just as expected, we were brutally beaten when we practiced the exercises. All we wanted was to become healthy by practicing Falun Gong and cultivating our xinxing (mind nature). The practice has saved the country a lot of money on medical expenses. However, the government persecuted Falun Gong, causing many families to be broken up and innocent people to lose their lives. Where can we find the freedom of belief guaranteed by the Chinese constitution?
While we were detained, other prisoners were ordered to watch us day and night. They kept their eyes on us and didn't allow us to study the Fa or practice the exercises. We were not even allowed to talk. If the officers found practitioners doing the exercises or studying the Fa, the detention terms of those prisoners would be prolonged. Therefore, prisoners were extremely "dedicated" to watching us. They even kept the light in the cell on all night long. Once found practicing the exercises, a practitioner would be brutally beaten. Almost all practitioners were abused with difference degrees of being cursed at, beaten and electrically shocked.
To demand a reasonable environment to practice the exercises, we started a hunger strike. One practitioner was locked in the toilet for 1 night because of attempting to practice the exercises. Some practitioners were forcibly fed after going on a hunger strike. All Dafa practitioners in 4 teams were punished by being forced to squat down. The head of the team forced practitioner Qi Yuling to eat. All practitioners would be permitted to stand up only if she would start to eat. This harsh situation went on for over half an hour. Qi Yuling was tortured inhumanly. Tubes were inserted through her nose, which caused her to lose her voice. She was brutally beaten and tortured many times because she practiced the exercises. She became so skinny and bony. When they beat practitioners, they normally did it behind closed doors. However, when the practitioners returned, we could always find the wounds on their bodies.
Every day, we were forcibly brainwashed. We were forced to listen to tapes or watch videotapes that slandered Dafa. While listening, practitioners were not permitted to close their eyes, stare at one place or talk to each other; the time for using the toilet was limited and under the monitoring of the prisoners. We were mentally controlled like this every day; our rights to our beliefs were deprived; our souls were being corrupted. Originally a kind and selfless person, I started to become dull and apathetic. There is a saying in Chinese, "When a lie is repeated a thousand times, it will become the truth." Misled by the lies, I gradually believed in their words slandering Teacher. I lost the ability to distinguish the true from the false. I lost the ability to think independently and became their tool to mentally manipulate other practitioners. Under their control, my head was stuffed with the lies with which I was indoctrinated. I was completely brainwashed by them. Under their directions, I went around and spread those evil sayings. I was released in April 2000. Only after December 2000 did I began to recover and gradually return to a normal state. It took 8 months to break away from those mental controls and dark shadows. Again, I was able to follow "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and started to become a normal person who can think and judge independently.
They forced the practitioners who refused to be "reformed" to read books slandering Dafa. They also asked those "reformed" persons [the people whose minds have gone astray due to Jiang Zemin regime's brainwashing and torture] to read those vicious lies. Once a practitioner in our cell refused to be "reformed," so the head of the team called me out and asked me to read to her from a book that slandered Dafa. They told her, "Listen carefully; you must know what she's reading. You will be questioned later." They forcibly indoctrinated her with their false theory.
The heads of the teams were especially hypocritical to those "reformed" persons. The purpose was to isolate the practitioners who could not be "reformed." The "reformed" ones watched practitioners closely and tightly, and tried to persuade them. Sometimes a few "reformed" persons tried to "reform" a practitioner; sometimes a few of them took turns battling a practitioner. If the practitioner was still not "reformed," they started the physical punishment. They did not allow practitioners to sleep, brutally beat them, electrically shocked them or forced them to remain in one posture for a very long time. They would not stop until the practitioner was "reformed."
A few days ago, Masanjia Labor Camp told the foreign reporters that there were no male prisoners detained there. It's not true. We often saw the male detainees of the No. 6 team going to work during our morning workout time. I also saw male Falun Gong practitioners at the first meeting after I was detained in the Masanjia Labor Camp.
During my half a year in the Masanjia Labor Camp, I eventually understood the so-called policy of "Education, Reform and Saving." Practitioners were "reformed" with "education" through brainwashing -- "reformed" with beatings and electrical shocks, and "saved" with brutality and abuses. We call for the attention of all the people in the world. Please don't let them continue to persecute innocent people. Restore the reputation of Falun Dafa. Restore the reputation of Master Li.