First Hand Experience of Cruel Brainwashing at the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp (Part 1)
By Zhang Yijie
(Part 1) (Clearwisdom.net) In July 2003, I walked out of the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. It
marked the end of my two-year-and-four-months hellish ordeal! Since July 1999, for more than seven years, the Communist regime has employed
all of the most evil methods to brutally persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The
labor camp is one facility where the persecution is most widespread, most
concentrated, most frequent and most ruthless. It is a living hell. Countless
Falun Gong practitioners were sent there and held over long periods of time.
They are physically tortured and mentally tormented as they are monitored around
the clock and brainwashed by various cruel methods. The terror at the labor camp
still makes me shudder. The evil Communist regime's officials convey this
message via violent brainwashing, "You cannot live your way! You must live
as we tell you. You must dump what's in your head and replace it with what we
allow you to think. You must replace your belief with the belief we give
you!" After I broke free from the labor camp with the power of righteous thoughts,
a powerful force drove me to write about my experiences. I still feel
heart-piercing anguish when I relive the nightmare in my mind, but the
environment in which I live reminds me of what I once went through, and it
reminds me of my responsibilities. After I went home, officials from my
workplace and from the street Party Committee still kept me under surveillance,
as they do to this day. I encountered various types of interference when writing
this article from memory. I was interrupted many times during the writing
process. I tried my best to eliminate the interference and record some parts of
my personal persecution experience at the labor camp, though they are only
fragments. All names in this article are real, as it will assist in the exposure of and
opposition to the persecution, and also calling for an end to the persecution
and investigation of the perpetrators. Through this article, I record the facts and the period in time that they
happened, and if they are still occurring. As of early 2000, large groups of Falun Gong practitioners were being
illegally sent to custody centers, labor camps, and prisons. The wicked Party
misused the manpower at labor camps to suppress and kill a large group of kind
and innocent Falun Gong practitioners who believe in Truthfulness, Compassion,
Forbearance. Everything that is done at a labor camp centers on
"reform." This reform is spiritual murder, as it aims to destroy one's
belief, so one is spiritually dead. The labor camps also carry out the
"physical destruction" part of the Party's policy regarding the
practitioners. They have further developed the existing "psychological
reform," a violation of human rights, into endless mental torment and
physical abuse. Thus, a complete "reform" system was put into
operation since the early stage of the persecution. (a) Lots of fabricated and slanderous brainwashing information.
Since 2000, the labor camps sold several books called "Assorted Teaching
Material on Falun Gong" in which they viciously attack Master and Dafa with
lies. They force every practitioner to buy the entire series. This
mind-poisoning information is all over the labor camp. (b) Deceive and motivate the entire society to participate in brainwashing.
The government deceives and encourages social groups and individuals to
persecute Falun Gong practitioners. What is more evil is that the camp officials force determined practitioners'
workplaces to suspend practitioners' salary or fire them. If the practitioner is
the breadwinner of the family, the whole family will suffer. They lie to the
practitioners' families and trick them into crying at the labor camp. The
families sometimes kneel and beg the practitioner to give up her belief. They
verbally attack the practitioner, or throw themselves against a wall and
threaten divorce, which assert tremendous pressure on the practitioner. (c) Step-by-step reform procedure. The officials have a very evil system
that goes step by step and pushes one down the path of no return. Once a
practitioner makes the smallest compromise, the officials will continue to
torture and torment him to make sure he follows the reform procedures and
completely betrays his belief. The first thing a practitioner is forced to do after entering the labor camp
is to write a guarantee statement that promises not to practice
Falun Gong, not to teach Falun Gong to others, and not to hurt or kill himself.
Dafa practitioners would never hurt or kill themselves; this item is there to
make sure Dafa practitioners who go on hunger strikes to protest the persecution
do not go against the order of labor camps. The second step: the practitioner is forced to write a repentance
statement. They force the practitioner to say that peaceful appeal, truth
clarification and distribution of flyers is illegal, and he is guilty of
disrupting social stability. The third step: the practitioner is forced to write a statement to announce
that one has broken away from Dafa and Master. The fourth step: the practitioner is forced to write an article to
"expose" and "attack" Master and Dafa. The officials inspect
the practitioners' articles, and if they think the practitioner's thinking
process is not up to their standards, they will decide the practitioner has not
been completely "reformed" and will repeatedly force the practitioners
to revise or rewrite the article. They also appoint specialized personnel to
brainwash and help revise the statement. Someone will write the statement in
case the practitioner is illiterate, and make the practitioner sign her name.
They do not rest until the practitioner's statement is considered
"qualified." The fifth step: a large meeting is held to "expose" and
"attack" Master and Dafa. The entire process is filmed and kept on
file. The reformed practitioner is forced to read aloud her statements in front
of the whole division. The labor camp assigns special personnel to videotape the
ceremony and put it on file. After all of these procedures, they continue to
observe and test the practitioner for a period of time in order to solidify the
"fruit" of reform. When the officials think it's time, they carry out
the last step. The sixth step: test and acceptance. The people who administer "test and
acceptance" are usually officials from the Education Section higher ranks.
They usually ask the practitioner questions and judge, based on her answers,
whether she is completely reformed, half-reformed, or pretending to be reformed.
They decide whether to accept her answers as pass or fail. Those who pass
usually receive a sentence reduction of from two months to seven months, most
often two months. If the person actively assists the evildoers, helps brainwash
other practitioners and attack other practitioners, she will receive a sentence
reduction of from three months to seven months, in addition to rewards such as
being allowed to meet with family during holidays and even go for a visit home.
If the person fails the test, she will be further brainwashed and placed under
constant watch until she is completely reformed. If the person changes her mind
some time after reform, such as by publishing a solemn announcement to void the
statements, the officials will deprive her of a normal life and throw her back
into round-the-clock physical and mental abuse. (d) The labor camps use two groups of people to aid them to persecute
Dafa practitioners. The above describes the format and methods of reform, and
the following tells the direct persecution by the guards. The labor camp sets a
reform quota of more than 95%, and this standard is connected with the guards'
bonus. It is said that a guard will receive more than 1,000 yuan for
reforming one practitioner. As more and more Dafa practitioners are arrested,
more and more money is issued to the guards. Financial interest is a strong
incentive that drives the guards to persecute Dafa practitioners. In order to improve the reform rate, aside from personally persecuting the
practitioners, the guards also use two types of people to assist them in the
process. The first type of people consists of detainees - other than Falun Gong
practitioners - such as drug addicts, prostitutes, pornography traffickers,
robbers, burglars, thieves, and other criminals. The guards rely most heavily on
the drug addicts. The drug addicts used to be the biggest headache for camp
officials as they have a terrible reputation and are difficult to manage. The
guards used to call them scum. These addicts are surprised and excited at the
appearance of Dafa practitioners because they found themselves in a different
light--they became trusted partners for the guards, as the officials seek
assistance from them during persecution. The guards pick every single one of the most vicious criminals and assign
them as class heads, to surround and attack Dafa practitioners. With
instruction, acceptance, tacit approval, hints and rewards from the guards,
these criminals quickly became a special group during the detention of Dafa
practitioners. Because the guards use and trust them, they enjoy a relaxed
environment and privileges not given to labor camp detainees. They don't have to
work and are not restricted by camp rules and regulations. They can eat and
sleep any time they want, and they steal, intercept, and throw away Dafa
practitioners' belongings. They verbally and physically attack people. The
guards order them to watch and assault Dafa practitioners and notify the guards
of the practitioners' actions, and they do everything the guards cannot do
themselves, including various schemes and tortures. The second type of people the guards use are collaborators,
people who were once Falun Gong practitioners but are "reformed" and
now actively assist the guards to reform other practitioners. These people can
also do what the guards want but cannot do themselves. First, the collaborators try to confuse the practitioners by misinterpreting
and twisting the meaning of Dafa. They are well educated and boast of their
self-proclaimed high-level cultivation status. They are the most deceptive and
become the ones who most directly target the "reform" of Dafa
practitioners. Second, they await the guards' every call 24 hours a day. They don't leave
"their post," have "no off-duty" and are ready to attack at
any time on orders from the guards. Third, they spy on any practitioner who pretends to reform, who announces
that her statements are void, or who delivers Master's articles. One
practitioner who used the time allotted for brainwashing to share experiences
with me was later never seen again because the collaborators reported our
meeting to the camp officials. The collaborators spy on practitioners, find out
information, gain practitioners' trust and report to the guards. They live among
practitioners and use every opportunity to create conflict. They provide the
guards with firsthand information on the practitioners' every thought and move.
To be more accurate, they are devils sleeping alongside the practitioners. The
collaborators are able to persecute the practitioners in a way that even exceeds
the ability of the guards. When these two groups of people are organized, coordinated and ordered by the
guards, the evil acts committed by them all together are unscrupulous and
without restraint. The labor camp carries out systematic and continuous mental torment of Dafa
practitioners through theoretic guidance. There is a "Psychiatric
Consultation Room" at Division 3, and someone said all guards at Division 3
have studied psychology. Normally, psychiatric consultations are aimed to reduce
stress, resolve mental suffering and remove mental barriers so people can regain
mental health. Yet, the camp staff uses their knowledge of psychology as a way
to "open up" Dafa practitioners, which goes against the true purpose
of psychiatric consultation by turning it into a form of vicious mental torture. This mental torture lasts throughout the entire time the practitioners are
held at the labor camp. It is continuous and systematic. The camp staff observes
the practitioners' emotions, and studies the practitioners' thoughts and actions
with the evil motives and the eyes of professional trainers. They probe the
practitioners' hopes and wants at the labor camp, and every practitioner's
willpower and endurance, their personality, strength and weakness, hobbies and
pet peeves, and things that make them happy or sad. They also have detailed
information on every practitioner's academic profile, career profile, work
places and achievements. They know everything about the practitioners' parents,
brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, children and relatives, and so on. As soon as a practitioner arrives at the camp, the camp staff at all
divisions makes the practitioner take a written psychiatric test. They analyze
and study the practitioner based on the test results, and they make a
fundamental decision on the practitioner and sort the practitioners into several
types. They then make a step-by-step brainwashing plan, based on the
characteristics of each individual practitioner before they make the first
"breakthrough." At this point they know every tidbit about the
practitioner's objective existence, except what goes on inside the
practitioner's head. During the following months, the camp staff puts into use every weapon in
their arsenal of mental torment. Dafa practitioners must persevere solely based
on their righteous belief and understanding of the Fa. They target the
practitioners' weaknesses and find a crack. They decide when to pressure you in
a certain way, when to treat you with fake kindness, when to teach you a lesson,
when to get your parents and siblings to attack you, when to make you feel
guilty through manipulating your children, and when to make your spouse pressure
you and threaten divorce. They inflict psychological damage on the practitioners
while calling it psychiatric consultation. This direct evildoing continues until
the last minute of the practitioner's stay at the labor camp. I refused to reform and as a result was held in a solitary confinement cell
for a long time. The guards watched me around the clock and ordered the inmates
to secretly write "surveillance dairies" in which they recorded my
mental state after I was rudely awakened in the morning, how I ate and drank
water, how many times I used the restroom, what I said during brainwashing
sessions and what I said the rest of the time, the issues to which I was
sensitive, receptive or resistant, and the things for which I expressed joy,
sadness or anger. They secretly recorded my every emotion and every act and
reported to the guards once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Sometimes
they held several "attack meetings" and "education and assistance
meetings" in one day, during which the guards listened to the inmates
report every aspect of my life that day. They would quickly adjust their
brainwashing plan and change their tactics if a sudden problem arose. They based their policies on the most recent information on my thoughts and
decided on the spot to put me under "strict control," savagely beat or
torture me, or scream that they would make me feel "worse than dead."
On the other hand, they showered me with insincere praise, sent me food and
drink, and brought me out of solitary confinement. The camp head and all guards
would celebrate my birthday, and sometimes they even threw two birthday parties
for me. Besides making wild claims and threats, the guards listen, observe and
instruct the on-site collaborators to administer brainwashing. After a while the
guards secretly call out the collaborators and inmates and give them tips. When
the collaborators and inmates return to the cell, they would change their faces
and start beating and kicking the practitioners. I endured frenzied torture at
the hands of these people because I persisted in my belief. When I accidentally discovered their "surveillance diary" I was
shocked and infuriated by this egregious tactic. They recorded my every word and
move, my facial expressions, how many sips of water I drank, how many times I
visited the restroom, and other things. I stopped talking to them and looked at
the evildoers with a blank face to destroy their omnipresent control. At fist, this psychological attack inflicted me with tremendous anguish. I
felt an invisible but incredibly heavy pressure weighing down on me when my
every thought and act was recorded. It's easy to make someone snap if one is
placed in this existence for a long time. It's possible not to say a single word
for one day or for one month, but it's difficult not to suffer a mental
breakdown if one does not say a single word during over two years of detention!
An ordinary person would either lose his ability to think rationally or break
down completely. I was changed into a completely different person after two years. Recently, I
accessed all of the information written about me on the Minghui/Clearwisdom
website and saw this passage, "She was persecuted over a long period of
time at the labor camp...but none of these could make her change her belief.
Finally, a guard said, 'We can't do anything with her.' I saw for myself that
she wasn't allowed to go to sleep until 2:00 a.m. every day and even when she
went to the toilet, she was followed and watched by assigned inmates. When I saw
her, she already looked heavy-hearted, with blank eyes and halting speech."
It's true that I experienced slurred speech, slow movements and blank looks.
However, I had Master and the Fa in my heart at all times. I got through it with
courage and determination. I did not go insane. I recovered quickly through Fa
study and doing Dafa exercises soon after I left the labor camp. In order to gain maximum control over the practitioners and coerce the
practitioners to reform, and to also make sure reformed practitioners do not
void their statements and return to Dafa, the camp staff requires Dafa
practitioners to write a statement about their life, including stories from
their childhood. The practitioners naively pour their hearts out on paper, recounting their
experiences and spiritual changes before and after they practiced Dafa, and
deeply repent the mistakes they made in the past and use this opportunity to
bring closure to a time that is too painful to look back on, and to express
remorse for their mistakes and therefore find some comfort within their hearts.
The camp staff, however, uses this document as a lethal weapon with which to
strike the practitioners whenever they see fit. They even publicly ridicule the
practitioners with innocent childhood mistakes in order to maximally traumatize
the victims and warn the other practitioners. It wasn't until then that the
practitioners realized they were deceived and used. This tactic is indeed
despicable! Is murder considered the most evil? Is physical damage considered the only
form of harm? No! When a person's thinking is controlled, her innocence is
violated, and the small and last space to think freely is invaded. When her
belief is killed - what is more cruel, excruciating and miserable than this? It
is the biggest crime. I know that the mental breakdown of a practitioner is the
direct result of psychological devastation and spiritual murder. During the time
I was held at the labor camp, I heard more than once about this - that this
practitioner suffered a mental breakdown at this and that division -- it was too
many to count. At the Group Drill Division I saw Liu Shuhua, who was tortured to
the point of insanity. I have since been unable to erase this from my mind. We became pure through cultivating Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. A
pure mind manifests itself among people as purity and persistence in upholding
the truth. But when our belief is defamed and murdered over a long time and it
is peeled from our heart through violent means, "insanity" becomes a
most desperate protest and tormented appeal; it is a living death. By having
watched Liu Shuhua, I am keenly aware of the pain associated with this spiritual
murder that defies description. I cannot in a single article describe this degenerated and wicked
"psychiatric consultation" because this grave spiritual destruction
and spiritual murder proceeds from beginning to end to control and run through
the whole process of this evil central nervous system - forced brainwashing and
"reform." 3. Compelled to Write Statements Three Times The evildoers know very well that for Dafa practitioners, Master and Dafa are
supremely sacred and inviolable. This is also what they fear the most. They try
extremely hard to find a breaking point and use various wicked schemes to
destroy Dafa practitioners' willpower and belief in Master and Dafa. They used omnipresent mind control to torment the practitioners. They forced
wicked theories upon practitioners and maximally tormented us psychologically.
They forced us to accept a state of mind they thought worked best to destroy us,
when we would feel the most mental anguish. They claimed practitioners who
refused to "reform" were "possessed by animal spirits" and
"mentally manipulated." They screamed that we have ways to beat off
your "animal spirits" and break your "psychological
manipulation." They actually don't believe in animal possession themselves,
otherwise they wouldn't dare to do bad things. They use it as an excuse to carry
out the mental persecution. During the first two months at the labor camp, the evildoers ordered the
collaborators to brainwash and take turns attacking me around the clock. They
let me sleep for only two to four hours each day, to exhaust me mentally and
physically, without giving me a second of a break. When I refused to accept
their devious theories and remained rock-solid, they lost patience and turned
into monsters. The collaborators shouted in my face, "We'll see how long
you'll last. You have to reform, whether you want to or not! If you don't
reform, we'll make you! It's a battle of good versus evil between us and
you!" They persecuted me as a group by coercing me to read articles that slander
Master and Dafa. They wrote curse words against Master and Dafa on my face and
clothes. They also wrote them on slips of paper and hung them from my clothes.
They drew a circle less than a foot in diameter on the ground and forced me to
stand inside it, and wrote vicious words attacking Master and Dafa outside the
circle. For a while they didn't let me sleep or even close my eyes day and
night. They made me stand up straight. I would accidentally step on those
slanderous words when I dosed off and waddled outside the circle. They did all
of these things in order to achieve control over my mind. When all of their tactics failed, the evildoers said to me, "You suffer
from the most serious case of psychological manipulation as well as animal
possession, and that is why you are most stubborn!" Those wicked people
said that they must break the "shell" that exerts mind control over me
and beat out the animals that possessed me before I would take the first step
toward reform. They escalated the persecution of me. They used violence, framed
me and grabbed my hand to write guarantee statements and vulgar words cursing
Master and Dafa, making it appear that I had compromised, hoping I would break
down and submit to their will. Violence thus began. One day three female drug addicts named Duan Huizhen, Liu Fengqin and Luo
Jinfeng swaggered into my room, although the labor camp policy clearly states
visits to other cells without permission is strictly forbidden. All three of
them came at once. I had a bad gut feeling. The collaborators assigned to watch
me put a piece of paper and a pen on the bed board and said to me, "Let's
put everything on the table. You didn't reform, even after such a long time, so
you must take punishment since you didn't take our kind advice. You are
controlled most severely, and the government [guards] told us to help you. You
must write it [guarantee statement] now and we won't do anything to you. I'll
ask you again: will you write it?" I said, "I already told you a long time ago I won't write
anything!" "Fine, then we'll just make you!" The three addicts and three collaborators, Hao Lihua, Chen and Wang Yan ran
up to me, pushed me to the ground and held me in place. One person stood on
either side of me, pinning down my knees with their feet. Two other people
grabbed my shoulders and arms, and one person stood behind me grabbing my neck.
Yet another person grabbed my hair. They held my body because they were afraid
if I had struggled I would not write the statement. They put a blank piece of paper on the floor, and one person grabbed my hand
that I had made into a fist, and tried to put the pen in my hand by violently
poking my hand, to open it. With the point of the pen, they poked a hole in the
area between my thumb and index finger and it bled. They seized my arms and
hands with a death grip and pushed my hand downward, toward the paper on the
floor. I flung my arm and the pen flew out. They picked it up and stabbed my
hand with it repeatedly. I ignored the pain and tried to my best to free myself.
I pulled my arm back in the opposite direction where they were trying to make me
move. They spent a lot of time, but I didn't write a single word. The six of
them were exasperated and all laid on me. They used all of their strength trying
to manipulate my body, right arm and right hand. They were very strong and
energetic as they got plenty of food and sleep each day, but they still could
not make me write it. I was fighting with all my might. I had no other thought but "I cannot
let them succeed." They sweated and panted heavily, but the paper was only
filled with squiggly lines that didn't make sense. They knelt on my body and
starting beating and twisting me. I shouted in order to expose their crime. Drug
addict Liu Jinfeng hurriedly shut the windows, and the others viciously shoved a
towel used to mop the floor into my mouth. I knew I was going against six people, but I must persevere until the end.
Even if I had died I would never let the evildoers write slanderous words
attacking Master and Dafa through my hand. I struggled against them, and my hand
was bleeding everywhere from being stabbed and scratched. They frenetically
wrestled me, and we rolled on the floor. I was gagged with a dirty towel and I
was soaked in sweat but I still persisted, and the paper had only random lines
on it. I felt none of the exhaustion accumulated over the previous days and had only
one thought in my mind, "I absolutely cannot write a single word!" I'm
still amazed that I had the strength to resist them and persisted until the end
with such fortitude. They used up all of their energy but still could not
achieve their goal. Eventually they gave up. They got up from the floor,
cursing. The guards and collaborators were resentful. They clenched their teeth and
screamed, saying they must "fix" me. With orders from the guards,
these six people went ahead and violently attacked me two more times, each time
more sadistic than the last. They failed all three times. My mouth was bleeding
from being rubbed with a towel, and my knees were injured from being stomped on.
My back was sprained during the struggle, and my right hand was bleeding and
ulcerated from being stabbed repeatedly. My right arm shook uncontrollably, and
tufts of my hair were pulled out. They couldn't get anything from me after three
attempts. They looked at the paper filled with chaotic lines, although the paper
was almost reduced to a pulp and screamed, "Look, what this looks
like!" I said, "It's nothing! If it is really the words you forced me to write,
you would have committed a huge crime! Besides, you wrote it, and I
didn't!" I was calm and collected. They cursed me but couldn't do anything
about it. I felt the crucial importance of willpower after resisting three incidents of
violent coercion with my life. During the long struggles, if the thought of
giving up had flashed across my mind for even one instant, I would have broken
down completely! When our willpower is strong, the evildoers can't do anything
to us. I was physically weak at the time after a long period of malnutrition and
sleep deprivation. My body trembled like a leaf in the wind after each struggle,
but still I had unimaginable power each time. Usually I would not be able to
fight off even one of them, not to mention the frenzied attack of all six. It
would have been beyond me! As a disciple of Dafa, however, I know that Master
had borne everything for me and helped me through it, because I had
determination! At first I didn't believe the guards wearing badges would instruct common
criminals to beat me. I could not accept the psychological torment and physical
torture as well as insults to my dignity as a human being. I looked for an
opportunity to escape during all three struggles. I wrestled myself free and ran
out the door or I shouted, hoping the guards would come and stop the atrocity. Once I broke free and ran outside. When I described the violence to the
guards on duty, they looked indifferent and listened half-heartedly. One guard
stood up and walked away. Their office was only a few steps away from my cell.
They heard my voice and protests, but they ignored me. Why? They had themselves
meticulously arranged the assaults and instructed the inmates to carry them out.
When I showed them the hole on my hand and my bleeding mouth, they coldly peered
at me and smirked. I suddenly felt the shame of having been deceived. Human nature and
conscience were being destroyed here, the law was being unscrupulously violated
here, and I felt so stupid and naﶥ! The collaborators and drug addicts yanked me back into the cell right in
front of the guards saying, "So you are appealing against us? Who do you
think you are? You can't take it anymore? 'Reform' if you can't bear it! If you
don't, you'll get something much worse later on, and this is nothing compared to
what's to come!" Collaborator Wang Yan, who said I was fine-skinned and therefore would not
last long commented, "Liu Shaoqi [former Chinese president who was tortured
to death during the Cultural Revolution] held a high position and he had to bow
his head. Who do you think you are? You are fighting against something much
bigger than yourself! You won't like what's going to happen to you! Do you want
to oppose the Party? Hahaha!" A drug addict said, "You have pretty good endurance, but you will simply
have to reform in the end, no matter how good you are! I've seen too many like
you. If you don't reform we will slowly kill you!" I wiped away sweat with my trembling arm and bloody hand and I quickly
subdued the anger in my mind. Instead, I felt great compassion, tolerance and
fortitude growing. Although I had been sent to custody centers several times
before and had similar experiences, I still had illusions about the Communist
Party, which boasts of greatness, glory and righteousness. The inhumane
treatment and humiliation at the labor camp had changed my perceptions from
shock and sadness to courageously facing the tribulations with determination. (a) "You have only one way to go" Beijing is an oven in August and September. The drilling ground at the labor
camp was dry and hot. Heat waves bounced around. I felt as if a little spark
would set off a major fire by kindling the air particles. Someone shouted, "Zhang Yijie, come out." I walked out after I had
already gone through individual military training for an entire morning. It was
past lunchtime and everyone was taking a nap. I saw six inmates standing on the
drilling ground. They looked like they were waiting for me. I joined the group,
and a guard started putting us through exercises. The inmates made some noises
and were clearly unhappy about having to do drills at midday when the scorching
sun was at its worst. Beads of sweat streamed down our faces. The robbers, thieves and drug addicts
could barely take this kind of suffering. They started swearing. The guard
appointed inmate Hong to train me one-on-one and told her to be
"strict" with me. The inmates now realized they were accompanying me
in the drill only because I had not "reformed." They immediately
turned against me. I knew the guard was using the inmates to torture me and
incited hatred of me, by forcing them to go through the drill with me. Hong began to train me. The guard went into the shade. Hong barely kept her
anger to herself. She shouted arrhythmic orders in a strange tone. After 30
minutes she had reached her limits, and the guard finally came out of the shade.
Hong thought the guard was going to take her place, but instead the guard told
her to train all seven of us. The guard was trying her best to exhaust the
inmates' patience. The inmates were tired and furious. They purposely bumped against me, kicked
me and said, "So, you haven't reformed. You must have a screw loose in your
head! Let me tell you, you'll have the time of your life if you don't
reform!" They vented all of their frustration and anger on me. Hong kept kicking me
saying, "I am telling you to reform now! Why do you refuse to reform after
everyone else has reformed? I'll teach you a good lesson next time. The
government [guards] won't let you off the hook. You'll see!" A short break turned into a group assault. They hit and kicked me. The guard
pretended to look away, as this was exactly their plan. Hong said, "Are you going to reform or not? You're making me suffer with
you! Look, all these people are baking under the sun just because of you! Are
you happy now?" I said to Hong calmly and slowly, "I didn't make you come. You came
willingly to bake under the sun." She froze, and then she glared at me and
realized what was really happening. The labor camp officials have countless methods to torture Falun Gong
practitioners and have absolutely no scruples when abusing Falun Gong
practitioners as they know the practitioners won't fight back. They do, however,
approach the true criminals with caution and sometimes let the criminals get
away with things because they didn't want trouble for themselves. After my
conversation with Hong, all of the inmates refused to go to the drilling ground. The guards had no choice but to drill me themselves at another place. They
took me to a sidewalk completely exposed to the sun on the east side of the
building. Four head guards - Gao, Wang Yu, Yang Jie - and deputy division head
Wei Chunhong took turns putting me through punishment, which they call
"training." Army formation exercises are used as a way to torture
"major targets" [Falun Gong practitioners] at the labor camp. They asked me countless times, "Reform or no?" I answered countless
times, "Impossible!" Because of my answer they coerced and tortured me more often than I can
remember. They made me walk back and forth hundreds of times on the 200 ft.
path. They made me do different military steps, including walking and running,
and turning left and right. The guards stayed in the shade of the tree while
shouting commands. When she grew tired she ordered me to stand in military
postures. I was hot, drowsy, hungry and thirsty and exhausted beyond
description. Every minute felt like a year. My vision became blurry, and sweat
streamed down my neck and back. My shirt and pants were soaked. The little bit
of sleep, scrap of food and sips of water I was given that day had long been
used up under the sweltering heat and physical torture. I propped myself up
through sheer willpower. I encouraged myself to never bow to the evildoers by
constantly reaffirming my righteous belief in Master and Dafa. They saw that I was extremely weak and tried again and again to
"reform" me. I thought, "How can you understand the mind of a
Dafa disciple?" I knew very well at the time that I must be mentally
prepared to face the upcoming days with a strong will. The tortures they had put
me through were only the beginning. As long as I persisted in Dafa cultivation
and refused to reform I would face all forms of evil and torment at the labor
camp. They would undoubtedly resort to crueler means to destroy me. I told
myself, "I must be tough. Reform is never for me! I have only one path, to
practice Dafa with determination! There is no other path or choice. There is no
suffering that is too great for me, a Dafa practitioner! I've already cast aside
thoughts of life and death. What else is there to fear? Therefore, there is no
tribulation that is too great for me!" I cannot recall how long I was standing there. The guards took a long break,
and after their rest they told me to do a slowed down version of a goose step by
raising my arm and leg and keeping them in place for a long time. I was forced
to stand on one leg and keep the other leg at a certain height and angle and
switch to the other leg after a period of time. After several minutes I was
sweating profusely. My entire body shook and I was staggering. Each time before
I was about to collapse I put down the raised leg to support my body. I could
not stand for the length of time they required of me, so they forced me to keep
doing the same exercise over and over. Eventually I became dehydrated and felt
as if I had been roasted dry and completely powerless. With a loud noise I
collapsed on the ground. I picked myself up and fell again and struggled to get
up, only to fall down again. I remembered Master's words, "Each and every barrier must be broken through, At first I thought, "Are there going to be that many barriers? Are there
going to be that many evils?" Now I realize there are indeed many barriers
and lots of evils! It's up to me to figure out how to break through the barriers
and defeat the evil! The head guards were tired and furious. They said to me, "Zhang Yijie,
why are you doing this to yourself? Fine, feel free to wrestle us. I'll have to
see what you're made of. You'll have to endure if you don't reform. Don't you [Falun
Gong practitioners] talk about endurance? You have to be trained this way if you
refuse to reform! Look at you. Your face is white as a sheet and you are in
terrible shape. How long can you go on like this?" They reminded me several times, "You are different from everyone else.
You can get out of here if you reform. One practitioner from a division was
taken out after she reformed. Everyone in your division has reformed. You are
the only one left. Forget about ever getting out if you don't reform. No one can
get out without becoming reformed first. You can't get out via any social
relationships. You'll get a sentence extension and the big tortures. That's what
you'll get!" I said, "I never thought about getting out through any relations. I
wouldn't be here in the first place if I wanted to get out through any
relations. Since you arrested me and took me here, I never thought about getting
my freedom by making compromises with you!" I fixed my eyes on the head guards and said slowly, "Do you know that
you also have to endure and pay for everything that you are doing to me right
now? Because good is rewarded, and evil will reap its own peril. You can
savagely beat me, torture me, take food and water away from me, bake me under
the sun, drill me endlessly, and you can even take away my life, but you cannot
take away my soul. None of you can change my mind and my belief, and my thoughts
are dictated by my belief!" When torture failed to subdue me, even more ruthless tortures followed. A
deputy division head and three head guards took turns drilling me day after day.
Each session ended only when I could no longer get up from the ground. I was
surprised that I was able to get through all of it. They never forgot to torment me psychologically at the same time as they
pushed me to my physical limit. They made sure I suffered even worse mental
anguish than the heat and exhaustion under the sun. One day during the drill, guard Wang Yu said, "Zhang Yijie, stop and
sing a song!" I thought, "Singing is a beautiful thing. It can help
people adjust and relax them. But who has the heart to sing in this devil's
den?" I refused, saying I didn't know how to sing. Wang Yu said in an
authoritative tone, "Of course you do, everyone does!" I think she was
talking about "The Same Song." I firmly refused to sing that
particular song as I truly hated it. I remember that I became familiar with this song under unique circumstances.
I was forcibly abducted by officers from the Security Bureau inside the
government compound under broad daylight on January 3, 2001. I was taken to a
brainwashing class held at the Xinan Labor Camp, by an Office of the Central
Government's Party Committee where they tried to reform me. I fought against the
persecution with everything I had. I went on a hunger strike and refused to
listen, talk or read anything they gave me. They held me at the brainwashing
class for 15 days. One day they brought several collaborators from the labor camp and said the
collaborators were going to sing for me. They introduced the collaborators to me
saying, "This is a Ms. X from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is a
professional singer, and this is Ms. Y., a state class one actress." They held a score in their hands and said they were going to sing for me.
They sang "The Same Song." The professional singer said to me,
"You'll love this song! All Falun Gong practitioners love to sing this
song!" I remained silent. I refused to learn the song. Besides, the lyrics
were revolting. They sang it several times and stopped singing when they failed
to detect any interest from me. Several of them talked to me, trying to reform
me, but I didn't answer them. They were later taken away. The singer was right. Everyone who reformed at the labor camp loved to sing
"The Same Song." They sang it during the exercises, during contests,
during work, during large meetings and small meetings. They sang it before
meetings and after meetings. They always cry when they sing the song, and they
would cry as they sang it. Everyone was weeping and wailing after they started
singing the song. I saw the first of these "choruses" at a camp-wide meeting held for
[current and former] Falun Gong practitioners. I was shocked by the crying that
filled the entire auditorium. I analyzed the lyrics and tone of the song and
understood why the practitioners who were "reformed" cried, and why I
hated the song. The song lyrics speak of time, hopes, attachments, losses,
sorrows and an inexplicable evil substance. Only those who were crying know what
else was in that song. A plethora of feelings struck me at that moment, sadness, pity, and anger.
The crying only encouraged the evildoers and heightened the evil atmosphere at
the meeting. The evildoers on the platform and in other parts of the auditorium
were smug, and the crying was a demonstration of their achievement to reform
practitioners. They announced a brief intermission and made the practitioners
finish singing the song while crying. I was indignant. What is there to be proud of when coerced reform is done
only through physical torture and mental persecution? Did they convince people
through good acts or the law? Who can say that the gut-wrenching cry is not a
most desperate protest against the evildoers? I've always hated that song since. The evildoers made everyone sing this song
on all occasions. To put it simply, they wanted to make everyone cry. I called
it "the devil's song" and never hummed a single note of it in any
situation. Some labor camp officials said that Dafa practitioners who didn't reform like
to sing "The Plateaus of Qinghai-Tibet." Indeed, the same belief in
Dafa gave us the same interlinked mind. I was deeply attracted to this
song when I heard it for the first time and learned it while being held at a
Custody Center in Guangzhou. When I felt lonely or sad, I quietly sang this song
in my mind. The broad and lofty tune made me feel an infinite mystery and
wonders of the universe. It awakened distant memories and hopes, thereby
encouraging me to overcome difficulties and persevere until the end. Guard Wang Yu didn't ask me to sing "The Same Song." She said,
"Zhang Yijie, sing 'Mom is the Best in the World'." I immediately knew
what she was after. The worst tactic from the evildoers at the labor camp was to
destroy practitioners' wills by mentioning our children. They try to make us
miss our children and families and then accuse us of being heartless and of
abandoning our families. They tell us how difficult life is for our families,
how much our children miss their mothers, and how pitiful the little kids are,
in order to make us feel guilty, blame ourselves for being kept away from our
families and make us miss our families terribly so they can destroy our
willpower. They succeeded in beating down many practitioners with this tactic,
and this song had become their trump card. When practitioners sang this song
they would start crying, and the scenes from the film where this song was taken
would appear vividly before our mind's eye and remind us of sweet family life.
Some practitioners couldn't stop crying. Several months later they [again] observed and studied me. They watched me go
through sleepless nights and days without food, various types of physical
torture and mental torment. They saw me grow emaciated before their eyes. I
seldom spoke. They thought I had reached my limit in physical and psychological
tolerance. People are usually at their weakest during these times. They thought
they could perhaps make a breakthrough with me somewhere, so they never missed
any opportunity to launch a psychological battle against me. Guard Wang Yu repeatedly coerced me to sing the song "Mom is the Best in
the World." She said, "You have a son and a daughter, and you must
really miss them. I heard that you were brought to the labor camp soon after
your children went to college, and when they were on a school break they
couldn't find their mother. Don't you feel terrible? Don't you miss your
children a lot?" I didn't say a word. She again urged me to sing the song. I thought that I
must let her know that it doesn't work on me. 5. Eighteen Sleepless Nights One day several people suddenly came into my room during the daytime. They
shut the door and windows and closed the curtains. They even covered the small
glass window the patrol guard uses to look into my room. I knew from the intense
atmosphere that another round of persecution had begun. They changed the group of people assigned to watch and persecute me. Chen,
Hao and Wang continued to stay in the group, and drug addict Han Xuwei, as well
as Zhen Jie, Tang Jianshu, Liu Hong and several others were brought into my room
to join the group. Another round of persecution started after the group of
people was changed. They watched me around the clock and made sure I did not
fall asleep or take a nap. They took turns brainwashing me, and they also made
me watch videos that slandered Master and Dafa. They worked in shifts, each
shift consisting of two people. One shift was before midnight and the other
shift was after midnight. After brainwashing and various types of tortures failed, they loudly claimed
that I was "psychologically controlled" and I was "possessed by
animals." In order to confuse me and create self-doubt, they kept saying it
over and over, and the guards said it repeatedly at all meetings. On the other
hand, they watched my every move, facial expression and mood. They seized on the
slightest subconscious move I made to prove their point, that I was manipulated
and possessed. They would reinforce this claim, trying to instill it in my mind,
in order to bewilder me and try to start my self-doubt. They wanted to make me
lose myself and accept brainwashing and reform. After this experience I
understood why and how some people had a mental collapses. When the collaborators brainwashed me, they sat in a circle on small stools,
with me in the center. They talked to me for an entire morning, afternoon,
evening and sometimes throughout the night. They forced me to look at the person
who was talking, with my upper body in an upright position, my knees together
and my hands on my knees. When I nodded off from exhaustion and drowsiness, they
shouted, "Look, look, the animals are possessing her again! Beat the
animals out of her!" They then started kicking my legs and feet. In order to reject their endless, wicked theories and slanderous attacks, to
have a break for my nerves that had stayed on high alert at all times, and to
preserve the remaining bit of my energy and strength, I gradually learned to
shut my mind and not listen to them, and I could go somewhere else in my mind.
Sometimes I stared at the grass and ants around my feet, the treetops in the
distance, or a certain object in the room, and I tried my best not to let the
evildoers move me. It was really hard for me not to hate them. Every time hatred
arose I tried to eliminate it because Master said that cultivators must not
hate. Guard Jiao said in a menacing voice, "They [collaborators] were all like
you when they didn't reform. You'll be fixed once we knock out your possessing
animals and those who psychologically control you." I said, "I am clear-minded! You are the ones who are completely mentally
controlled! You are manipulated by devils and by animals! No one forced me to
practice Dafa. I practice on my own accord out of pursuit for the truth, because
Dafa awakened my soul. Why should I agree with your filthy theories?" A vengeful look fled across Jiao's eyes, but she smiled as she walked away. They tortured me day and night. They made me stay up night after night and
brainwashed me day after day. When I moved slightly, if I didn't put my hands
and feet where they required, or if my attention was not on what they talked,
they would jump up and say, "Look, look, her possessing animals are here
again. She is different from others. Her shell is especially thick. It's typical
mental manipulation!" They said things like this and tried to shove them
into my mind. A little later I couldn't help but doze off. They kicked me and screamed,
"Look! Her animals came back! Beat her animals! Beat her! Make her come to
her senses!" I couldn't take it anymore and I said, "Don't do something so
ridiculous. You can't achieve anything by doing this to me. I won't fall into
your trap." I knew very well that they wanted to drive those fabricated accusations into
my mind in order to confuse me and repel my righteous thoughts, so I would lose
mental control and lose myself. I warned myself all the time that I must
maintain a strong main consciousness. My mind must be righteous and I must act
with righteous thoughts and righteous actions. I must not let them move me,
otherwise those evil things would really enter my mind, which was exactly their
goal. I don't remember exactly what day it was, but it was around the tenth day...
Each night two people watched me and ordered me to sit on a small stool in the
middle of the walkway between two beds, so I could not lean on either bed, and
they wouldn't let me close my eyes. When I shut my eyes they shouted,
"Zhang, open your eyes! Open your eyes! If you want to sleep, you must
reform! If you don't reform, don't think about sleeping!" I wasn't affected in the least. They continued this mental coercion for a
while and they felt it didn't have any effect, so they gave it up and resorted
to violence. After a whole day of brainwashing and an entire night of repeatedly watching
Dafa-slandering videos, my tightly shut brain finally relaxed amid snoozing
sounds in the room. At this time my mind and my heart were free. I let my mind
wander and thought about everything. I thought more about the happy times before
July 20, 1999, when I bathed in the glory of Dafa, the date when I had changed
into a completely different person, from the inside out. It was more than four
years, but it felt so short. I never expected the severe situation after July
20, 1999, and wondered when this tribulation would end. Where are all my fellow
practitioners who were like my brothers and sisters? Did they also lose their
freedom? Are they also determined? When I thought about them, my heart was light
but also heavy. My shirt was soaked in tears when I thought about Master. Late into the night Hao Lihua and Hao got up and asked me the same questions
they've asked countless times, "Zhang Yijie, will you reform or not? So,
you'll make us suffer with you? Where is your compassion? How dare you say that
you practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance?" Hao cursed me. Hao and
Chen were both in their thirties. Hao, Chen and Wang Yan were always together,
like shadows. Wang Yan is another collaborator. She wrote filthy articles in
Master's name and passed them to the Men's Labor Camp. She is really wicked. The
three of them had the guards' greatest trust. I had a feeling that they would
take actions against me at any time. They would do worse things to me because
all of their previous tactics had failed. Later that night they received orders from the guards and started hitting me.
Hao and another person yanked me from the stool onto the floor. They wrapped my
entire body in a quilt and knelt on me. One of them held my head in place and
put their knees in my face so I could not breathe. Another person kicked and
stomped on all parts of my body. I struggled and put my face next to the floor
so I could breathe. I used my free hand to protect my head. They screamed as they beat me, "Beat her possessing animals! Beat out
her mental control! Peel off her shell! You are tough, you won't reform, you are
the only one practicing cultivation and no one else is [practicing
cultivation]!" They kicked and beat me like madwomen. My head and shoulders
were held down tightly, so I could not move or get away. My face was held
against the floor so I could not make any sound. They kicked my back, chest and
abdomen. They also kicked the rest of my body as if I were a sandbag. One person
lifted one of my legs and vehemently kicked my private area. I struggled and
freed my leg in order to protect myself. When they released me, two people started kicking and beating me together. I
didn't even have the strength to move or get up. I never made any sound. Those
two people heaved, and the sound of kicking lasted for a long time. It was a
night that seemed to never end. Usually, the guard on duty would open the door many times throughout the
night to see if I was sleeping, and if the collaborators were slacking off. This
night, however, the guard never came. They stopped before dawn, probably from exhaustion. From then on I noticed
the guard disappeared completely whenever I was beaten. It was a sure bet that
he would not show up at any time during the beating. I didn't moan after a long beating. I remember the two of them pulled me up
and tried to put me back on the stool as they cursed me. I could not sit up. I
can't recall how long I had lain on the icy concrete floor, how I got up or what
happened afterwards. I felt as if I had lost my memory. Miraculously, when I
became fully conscious, all of the physical pain was totally gone. I still treated them with compassion after the beating, as I had always done.
One of them regretted her actions and wrote a letter to me. I said to her,
"I don't hate anyone. Cultivators do not bear hatred, but I cannot
understand how you can listen and help the evil do these kinds of things. You
once practiced Dafa! Even if you had not, you shouldn't beat a woman in such a
rampant manner and put her in such a terrible situation. Not even an ordinary
person would have done it. Where is your conscience as a human being? What you
have done is beyond reason. You must know that coercion and crimes cannot change
people's minds. I hope you think it over!" Protest It was in 2001, a few days before October 1, the date that marks the
Communist Party usurping power and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The 2001 National
Day and Mid-Autumn Festival fell on the same day. Another group of practitioners
were brought over from the Beijing Labor Reeducation Dispatch Division. I felt
the persecutors were becoming more and more evil in brainwashing. It was indeed
the year when the evil was running most rampant. One day the guards ordered several people to beat me. In the past they dared
not hit my face but this time they punched my face with brutal force. Soon, my
face was severely bruised. My face was numb and I felt blood running down, but
when I tried to wipe away the blood with my hands there was nothing. I realized
the sensation was caused by blood vessels bursting under my skin. I felt my head
and face swell. When I touched my face, I could tell that my face was so swollen
that it was even level with my nose, and my upper lip flipped outward. I had
black and blue eyes from the beating, and I could not open them for my swollen
face had sealed my eyes. I knew I was disfigured from the beating. A while later the guards told us that everyone at the labor camp would join a
party in the courtyard after dinner and told me that I must go. I thought,
"Why would they still ask me to go out, with me being tortured like this?
In the past they always carefully isolated me from others. It is unusual, what
is this all about?" Suddenly some people entered the room, they secretly and nervously said,
"Being beaten too severely, her eyes are even sealed." "What
should we do?..." Then I heard someone leave the room. I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't see who those people were. Quite a
while later the person who had left came back, whispering to the other people in
the room, "They gave me a bottle of 'Heal Quick,' hurry up and spray her
with it." They discussed it and said this medication is used for external
injuries and is very good at quickly reducing swelling. They sprayed medication "Heal Quick" all over my face. Tears
streamed from my eyes because the spray burned like having been stung by a wasp.
After the beating and application of the spray, my vision became blurry, and I
saw dark spots in front of my eyes. They sprayed me over and over. I was then
not aware of their intention and I just wanted the swelling to go down, because
the other practitioners would become afraid when they saw my face. That is why I
didn't stop them from repeatedly spraying me with "Heal Quick." In the evening I was taken into the courtyard and sat in a designated seat.
The other practitioners hadn't seen me for the past few months. They knew that I
was held alone. None of them expected to see me with a horribly disfigured face.
They looked at me with shock and fear in their eyes. I calmly glanced over the group, which sat in a square of approximately 40 m.
in diameter. I saw many new faces, and I knew they had just been brought here.
Suddenly I realized why the guards had brought me out here. They rarely allowed
other practitioners to see me and never let me participate in any activity. This
time they wanted to brandish their "victory" by displaying me on
stage. They wanted to shock the new practitioners, shock the practitioners who
they thought have not completely "reformed," and shock practitioners
who they thought had not actually "reformed." I was stunned at this
realization. They are so malevolent! So malevolent! My physical wounds hurt, but
my heart and mind hurt even more! Division head Jiao Xuexian looked at them and looked at me. She finally tore
off her hypocritical mask and revealed the "fruit" of several months
of fanatic persecution and reform efforts. She knew what was done in the dark
will come to light, and her true self finally emerged. She smugly and arrogantly
said to the other practitioners, "Zhang Yijie had a cosmetic procedure!
Zhang Yijie had a cosmetic procedure!" What she meant was, "Do any of
you want to end up like this?" Everyone fixed their eyes on me the whole time. I saw all kinds of looks. I
understood Jiao's meaning and straightened my back. I had a determined but calm
look on my face. I didn't display the slightest discomfort. I wanted to send
this message through my body language, "I simply refuse to reform! I will
practice Dafa with determination. I will always have a backbone even if they
beat me to death! All of this farce doesn't affect me at all, and coercion
cannot alter my belief. Violence cannot subdue me!" My existence was an
encouragement for other practitioners, and I was boosting their confidence. The
evildoers said "important" Dafa practitioners could talk with their
eyes. Exactly! I greeted them and exchanged meanings with them through my eyes
and my smile. The evil could never block the communication between hearts and
minds. I was upset when the other practitioners started dancing. I thought, "I
didn't know you guys were in this mood." But then I thought, "No, who
doesn't miss their families during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Who would truly
enjoy the environment here at the labor camp? Who reformed from the bottom of
their hearts? My mental state and my mood would affect them, while other
practitioners were also worried and cared about me. During the dance some practitioners purposely approached me and greeted me
with their eyes. Some practitioners secretly gave me a thumbs-up. I returned
their greeting with my eyes and smiled at them. One bold practitioner grabbed me
and danced with me. I seized the opportunity to slip in a few words during a
twirl and said, "Cultivate with determination, jump off the wagon [of
reform], beware of x [a person's name] and help x [another person's name]. Try
to help all reformed practitioners to return to Dafa!" It was more than the evildoers could take. Deputy division head Huai circled
the yard and stared at me. The drug addicts saw her face, and they jumped up and
followed me. I smiled and kept talking to other practitioners as I turned my
body. I didn't let my face reveal any secret. I passed my positive mood and
determined will onto other practitioners. I smiled kindly and calmly, and I was
telling the evildoers that coercion and violence couldn't change people's minds.
Their "display" effort was in vain. The evildoers couldn't stand it anymore. They hinted to the drug addicts to
drag me away. They realized they had been defeated once again. The result was
exactly the opposite from what they had hoped to achieve. They also canceled
their plan to make me read a slanderous poem on stage. I went through one long day after another, one dreadful night after another.
I couldn't remember exactly what day it was. The curtains were drawn over the
windows day and night, and the door was tightly shut. I could tell it was
morning, noon and evening only from three small buns--breakfast, lunch and
dinner that were brought to me. One night I quietly talked to collaborator Zhen Jie, hoping she would realize
from Fa principles that "reform" is wrong. She had worked at the
Shandong Knitting Factory Master had mentioned in Zhuan Falun. I felt
deeply sorry for her because she once had such a great, predestined relationship
with Master and Dafa. Another collaborator, Tang, was older than me. We argued
with each other when she tried to reform me, and I firmly opposed reform. Both
of them still had Master and Dafa in their hearts, however. When they worked the
night shift I was able to close my eyes for a little while sitting on the stool,
to get some much-needed rest. When the patrolling guard came, they nudged me
awake. There are several types of people who "reformed." One type knew
"reform" was wrong, according to Fa principles, but they pretended to
"reform" because they wanted to leave the labor camp or they could no
longer endure the physical torture and mental torment. Another type was confused
and thought "reform" was right. The third type completely went to the
opposite side and actively assisted the evildoers, committing lots of crimes. Late at night I sat on the small stool and fell sound asleep as I listened to
the snoring in the room. Collaborator Hao lay on her bed and looked at me. She
made guttural noises in her throat to wake me up. After I was forced to stay
awake for many days, my mind often went blank day and night, and I felt as if I
had been sucked dry. I cannot describe the feeling. It was beyond the desire to
sleep. What's the physical limit for a human being to go without sleep? What's
the limit for sleeplessness when someone is being physically tortured and
mentally tormented at the same time? Someone said, "x [another
practitioner] had a mental collapse from sleep deprivation." They wanted to
destroy me with the same sleep deprivation. I kept falling from my stool. Every time I fell I picked myself up and sat
back on the stool. When I fell again, I got up again. Hao was afraid that I
would lean against the length of the bed, so she forced me to sit on the floor
in the middle of the room without any objects to lean on. The sound of me
falling on the floor woke up collaborators and drug addicts, and they were
angry. I tried my best to hold back the feeling of exhaustion and sleepiness in
order to not affect them. At dawn, drug addict Han Xuwei, head of the "taking the fort" class
went out and reported to the guards. When she came back she picked on me again.
She cursed me for being "stubborn" and refusing to "reform,"
and blamed me for disrupting their life rhythm. Han Xuwei and the other
collaborators desperately wanted to leave the labor camp. They would do anything
for the guards. One day a collaborator named Zhang Yanchun arrived. Zhang Yanchun had
replaced Liu Hong, who was kind to me, and guard Jiao therefore
"fired" her. Zhang Yanchun saw me, walked around me once and stood
still and she said bitterly, "So you are Zhang Yijie? You exposed the
brainwashing class online and prevented lots of people from reforming. Do you
realize the consequences? So you are sleepy? I'll make you sleepy! I'll whip you
blind today!" She started to whip my eyes with a flyswatter. She didn't use
the flat side of the flyswatter but turned it and used the narrow edge of the
flyswatter only to whip my eyes. She whipped my eyes with brutal force and
shocking precision. I felt the intensity of her evil intention and carefully
shunned away. She once practiced Dafa, but now she is a well-known wicked collaborator, one
of the three at the labor camp. She carried out brainwashing and reform at the
Legal Training Center for a long time. She viciously twisted Dafa principles,
slandered Dafa and spared no effort in "reforming" Dafa practitioners.
I looked at her face. It was black and covered in bumps. Her face was filled
with an evil and murderous look; it so accurately reflected her mind. She
whipped away while attacking Master and Dafa non-stop with lies. She said, "If you don't reform in the study class, we have to keep you
in the labor camp. If you don't reform, we'll make you. We'll lock you up. So
can you endure? Fine, then endure!" I kept closing my eyes to protect my
eyeballs from the rainfall of the flyswatter. Tears flowed from the whipping.
She didn't stop until she had had enough and was tired herself. My highly
wrought nerves finally relaxed. Over time the flyswatter had left a deep imprint on my brain. In the next two
summers I would tremble despite myself whenever I saw a flyswatter at the labor
camp. The feeling of my eyes and face being whipped would flash across my mind,
and the whipping scene vividly replayed itself. Each time I would secretly throw
the flyswatter out the window. The guards thought I wouldn't be able to last a few days with beating and
sleep deprivation. Sleepless nights, however, proved too much for the guards and
collaborators. The round-the-clock "battle" stopped on the 19th
day. They had gone through their arsenal of torture methods and were so
sleep-deprived they could no longer do it. The drug addicts said, "It's a
waste of time to say anything to Zhang Yijie. We can watch and follow her all
the time, and we can brutally beat her, but it won't work on her. She is tough
and can endure, but we can't take it anymore! Tell the 'government' that we
quit!" Collaborator Tang Jianshu is the woman who I previously mentioned was older
than me. She experienced the 18 nights of around the clock brainwashing, and
witnessed some of the atrocities. It is said that after I was wrapped in a quilt
and beaten at midnight she went to head guard Jiao and said she wanted to
withdraw from the "taking the fort" group. She said such beatings
would kill me, and she didn't want to be held liable. I don't know what prompted
Jiao, or if it was perhaps the "workers" all giving up, but I was
moved to another room where the environment was just as bad. I stayed in the
same room with collaborators Hao, Chen, Wang and two drug addicts who were also
prostitutes. They were responsible for watching and brainwashing me daily, but
now I could sleep for a few hours at night. (To be continued)
And everywhere does evil lurk." ("Tempering the Will" from Hong
Yin)
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/11/16/142459.html
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