(Clearwisdom.net) Editor's note: The author of this article, Yu Ming, had been abducted and taken to Beijing's Lugu Police Station in late October of 2003, and was later sentenced to forced labor. Since he is known in the Beijing labor camps as being steadfast in his belief in Falun Dafa, Mr. Yu is currently still being held in the "Dispatch Center." We hope that the international community will pay attention to his situation.
Background
I used to be a modestly successful businessman in China and once had a big and very happy family. But because of the Jiang regime's savage persecution of Falun Dafa, I have now lost everything. The factory to which I had devoted all my effort is now out of business. My father died with great sorrow. I have suffered all kinds of tortures and now have become destitute and homeless. My 4-year-old daughter cannot see her father. I want to write down the details about my ordeals, hoping to get the attention and support of the kindhearted people in the world. This persecution has not just happened to me. There are still hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China who are suffering from the same kind of cruel persecution I have experienced myself.
1. Brief introduction
I am Yu Ming, currently 31 years old, the former president of an apparel factory in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. I had previously made a lot of good business deals and achieved a certain amount of success. In spite of the money and fame I obtained from my business successes, however, I had not found the true meaning of life. I felt a void in my inner self.
In July 1997 I began to study and practice Falun Dafa (Falun Gong), a practice introduced by Mr. Li Hongzhi. This is a very peaceful, traditional Chinese exercise, guiding people to enhance their morality and character with the aid of the characteristic of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It enables people to understand the true meaning of life and reach a higher level of being. Moreover, through the practice of these five sets of beautiful and peaceful exercises, people will naturally acquire a healthy body. Through practicing Falun Dafa, I quickly got rid of previous bad habits. The power coming from the goodness of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" enabled my family and me to feel peace and happiness. I truly experienced the great power of Dafa, a power that is indescribable and profound.
My apparel business became more and more successful. Most of the workers in my factory were laid-off workers from government-run enterprises that had gone out of business. I voluntarily hired them, and thus helped the government to solve the unemployment problem and enabled those jobless people to have a livelihood. My career and life became better and better each day.
However, since July 1999 when Jiang's regime started the illegal persecution of Falun Gong, my happy and peaceful life has been completely destroyed.
2. My difficult experience of protecting human rights and freedom of belief
(A) Force-feeding
On January 1, 2001 I was peacefully distributing materials explaining the facts of Falun Gong and the persecution at the Beijing University of Language and Culture. A police officer saw me and took me to the Dongsheng Police Station in the Haidian District, where I was interrogated for a whole night. I had not violated any laws. However, without abiding by any due legal procedures, the police sent me directly to Cell 16, Row 3 of the Haidian Branch of the Beijing Police Department detention center.
In the detention center, the police used a special, big chain and locked my hands and feet together. Day in and day out, I could only bend my body to sit down on the floor or lie down on one side. I could not lie down straight, nor could I stand straight or walk. The police call this special torture instrument the "dog chain." The torture instrument is only used on death row inmates or dangerous inmates who have obvious tendencies to attack others with force. The chain could cause serious injury to a person's body, especially the hands, feet and back, and constitutes a huge humiliation to a person's psyche. I could wash my face and go to the bathroom in the cell only with other's assistance. This caused me extreme suffering and inconvenience. Chinese law strictly prohibits the use of this restraining device under normal conditions. However, this group of police officers ignored the law. Under orders from Jiang's regime and due to instructions from personnel in the "610 Office," they use it at will on those Falun Gong practitioners who clarify the facts about Falun Gong [the "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems].
The authorities used the most obscene methods and the most vicious ways to persecute Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners, to try to force practitioners to give up their belief. I questioned the detention center police as to why they opposed the law and regulations of the Chinese Constitution and tormented me with such a torture instrument that so gravely insults human dignity and impairs physical health. The police to my surprise ridiculed me, "So? Do you have a problem with it? Law? What is the law? Jiang Zemin is the law! We will do what Jiang Zemin says! If you have a problem you can talk to Jiang Zemin. Do you dare? We'll kill you!"
Later I reminded them again that (former) Premier Zhu had told the Public Security Departments not to torture Dafa practitioners and I asked why didn't they listen to him? The police gave the impression that I was not worthy of an answer and said, "Are you really that dumb? Now it is Jiang Zemin's regime. If we do not follow him, how else would we get our paycheck and bonuses? Power comes out of a gun. Since Jiang has the gun, then Jiang is absolutely right. He is the power! He is Number One! It is Jiang's idea that we do so. We also do not want to do this way. But it is our job. If we don't do it, we will lose our job."
After hearing all that I felt that I wanted to cry, but I had no tears. What times we live in now! Living in China is still like existing in a backward society where they play out the rules of a personal regime. The police do not really protect society according to the rule of law; they apply the rule of violence to feed Jiang Zemin's personal greed for power. Therefore, Jiang Zemin is the evil ringleader who persecutes Falun Gong; he absolutely cannot get away with his crimes!
I understand the value of life. As a Falun Dafa practitioner I have an even deeper comprehension about the value of our human form. I love life very much! But I also treasure defending truth and righteousness, I will uphold my dignity as a human being. We do not oppose the government! All we oppose is the evil persecution initiated personally by Jiang Zemin.
To protest against the persecution, I went on a hunger strike. I wanted to validate Falun Dafa with my life and bear testimony to the people there that Falun Dafa is innocent. Three days later the police started to force-feed me.
(To be continued)
