First Hand Experience of Cruel Brainwashing at the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp (Part 2)
By Zhang Yijie
(Clearwisdom.net) (Part 2)
Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/2/13/82642.html
6. Withholding and Using Personal Mail The mail has been a friendly way to send messages relating life events,
happiness, care, and hope since ancient times. In the past seven years of
persecution, letters to and from each detained practitioner have been used by
the authorities as a part of the mental torture and stand as evidence of modern
people's moral decline. Mail is private, and laws forbidding others from opening, withholding, or
destroying personal mail are common worldwide. But inside the Chinese labor
camps, guards can violate this law at will. They have become the first readers
of all Falun Dafa practitioners' mail. If they think a particular letter will
not "help" a practitioner's brainwashing or not "help" the
collaborators who have already accepted brainwashing, they will
withhold the letter and never tell the practitioner about it. Sometimes they
black out certain sentences in a letter before giving it to the recipient. The
only contents they allow practitioners to read are those they think can help the
practitioners to accept the brainwashing, such as family members not able to
bear the pressure under the persecution, asking practitioners to give up, an
employer's complaints, misunderstandings of Falun Dafa, children missing their
parents, elderly parents complaining about their children practicing, the
family's living difficulties, how lonely family members are, a husband wants a
divorce, their elderly parents are sick, etc. Guards always give them such
letters, and they will use these kinds of letters to torture them. First, they force practitioners read those letters in front of the whole
ward, which consists of more than hundred prisoners. Then they make everyone
discuss the contents and try to make the practitioner the target in the
discussion. They arrange for collaborators ahead of time to scold them about how
cold they are and how their family is so pitiful. The pleading from children
missing their mothers is especially read in a very emotional way. Then they
scold them saying, "Where is your compassion as a cultivator? Where is your
tolerance if you are against the government?" Some collaborators cry and
say how they regret that their family is broken and how painful it is, etc. The
guards sit there, fanning the hatred. The practitioner who received the letter
often sobs, and the collaborators use the letter as a critical point in
brainwashing. After this torturous meeting is over, the guards force the
practitioner to write a letter of understanding, read it to everyone, and then
make them comment on their understanding. Many practitioners have given in after
the mentally torturing letter reading sessions when physical tortures were also
added. The letters are usually the results of the guards instructing a
practitioner's family or employer. The guards have clearly learned about the
family and work situation of each practitioner by reading their mail as well as
through other channels. They are also very familiar with each practitioner's
weak spots (attachments), and then they plan attacks. They give different
reasons to different practitioners to accept the brainwashing, such as to reduce
their term, to not complicate their husband's career future, to not hinder their
children's study, to keep their job, to keep their marriage, etc. If they didn't
have all those sore points to touch on, it would not work. Therefore, the
planned letters are aimed at practitioner's human attachments. All letters of reply from the practitioners must go through the guards. They
do not allow practitioners to seal their outgoing letters. If the ward leader
thinks that a practitioner's letter does not conform, they would either black
out the offending parts or force a rewrite. Practitioners are not allowed to
write about how bad the conditions are in the camp, about cultivation, or about
other related topics. Nevertheless, they commonly withhold the practitioner's
letters both incoming and outgoing to prevent the crimes in the camp from being
revealed to the outside world. Families of Falun Dafa practitioners cannot grasp
what cruel, inhuman torture practitioners have been subjected to both mentally
and physically. All "focus" practitioners--those who have refused to accept the
brainwashing--must ask ahead to write letters. Sometimes they are only allowed
to write once every several months. The miserable situation of these
"focus" practitioners is beyond imagination. There are monitors right
over their heads, and each practitioner's every move and word are under close
scrutiny. There are always three prisoners closely watching them 24 hours per
day. Family mail should be a huge comfort to these practitioners, but on the
contrary, it becomes a severe mental torture. The scolding from guards or
collaborators is easy to endure, but blame and misunderstanding from family
members are very hard to take. The guards even encourage family members to
threaten to commit suicide to force practitioners to accept the brainwashing.
The guards make a big deal out of it and torture practitioner's spirit to the
extreme, especially those who have children and old parents. In the end, these
letters are all collected, and practitioners are not allowed to keep them since
they are used as evidence. The first letter I received was from my daughter. The guards gave it to the
collaborators after reading it. After all the collaborators had read it through,
they passed to me and said, "Read it to all of us all." I answered, "You all read it, so why do I have to read to you!" I
put the letter away. They took it away. They commented on it, saying I was not
compassionate and I neglected my children and my motherly duties, that my
refusal to accept the brainwashing would interfere with their future, etc. In a
very sarcastic and humorous way, they read aloud my daughter's words on how she
misunderstood why I practiced. Seeing their ugly expression, I said, "If I think that accepting the
brainwashing is right, am I going to become a person like you? Even a dumb
person can tell you that accepting brainwashing is definitely wrong! "You do not have the right to read my mail or comment on the contents
because they are my own personal matter. What you did is immoral." They answered, "Who cares about morals? It is the camp's rule [to open
personal mail], didn't you know? Accepting the brainwashing is a trend, and you
must be "transformed" no matter if you want to or not, no matter if
it's early or late. If you still refuse to be "transformed," your
children will never accept you. I answered, "I decide on my own matters, not you." I tore the
letter up during dinnertime when they were not watching closely. They asked for the letter after dinner, and I told them I had torn it up.
They were so mad that they wildly jumped on top of me, beat me, and kicked me.
One of them reported to the guards that I had torn up the letter. The guard became very angry. I told them, "I have the right to do
anything I choose to my own mail; whether or not I tear it up is my own
choice!" They said, "You have no rights or freedom! You must remember that you
are in a forced labor camp, and you have not been "reformed" yet. You
must remember who you are and position yourself accordingly!" I said, "No matter who I am, I have to right to handle my own mail; the
law gives me such rights, but not you!" The guard was shocked, because she knew they were wrong. Then she said,
"Look at you. Your child has almost abandoned you, but you still keep your
faith. What for? I tell you, there will be no good end to your situation."
I protested that the collaborators had beaten me. She laughed coldly and left. My son and daughter went to the college together in September 2000 in other
provinces. Three months later, I was arrested and taken to a brainwashing center
and then this labor camp. In order to not interfere with their studies, my
husband did not tell them what happened to me at first. When they came home on their first vacation, they were eager to share stories
of college life with us, but instead they saw a very cold home when they opened
the door. The furnitures was all covered, and the dust was inches thick. The
cruel fact that their mother was serving a forced labor sentence was a terrible
calamity for them. As their mother, I can understand how deeply they were hurt. I still felt
that helping them during their developing and maturing to adulthood was my
responsibility. I was so eager to communicate with them through letters and make
up a bit for the emotional shock their young hearts were having to bear. I submitted my letters to my son and daughter to the cell leaders. They did
not find any contents that offended them, but they said I could not tell them I
was in Beijing; I had to tell them that I was in the Changping District Women's
Forced Labor Camp. Otherwise they refused to mail my letters. I was only trying to protect their weak self-esteem. If one of their
schoolmates or teachers saw that my letter was mailed from the labor camp, that
would be a disaster. It was my choice whether or not to put the camp's return
address on the letter, even though the other prisoners all did it. Facing their inhuman behavior, I tried hard to control myself. I knew they
were simply trying to torture me, make me angry, and attack me because they
never cared about this with the others who had accepted brainwashing. I took the letters back quietly. I decided I would rather give up mailing
them than give in to their evil ways. I clearly knew that this meant I could
never write to my children. My children's words of confusion and
misunderstanding filled my mind all the time. I knew that they were worried
about me, but I had to press all of that deep down inside. My channel of
communication with my children was blocked just like that. I saw others writing or calling their family every month or being visited,
but as a "focus" prisoner I had no such right. My children's letters
were all withheld. Not communicating with my children all these years has deeply
hurt them, but they do not believe that their mother has become cold and
unfeeling like the media propaganda tells them. They witnessed how I changed
fundamentally after I started cultivation. They just could not understand how
come their letter seemed to have sunk to the bottom of the ocean, and why did
their mother become a prisoner? Their mother taught them to have a good work
ethic, to be a patriot to our country, to be loyal to people and kind. Also, to
have integrity and manners, to obtain wisdom, and to be trustworthy. Why would
such a kind mother be dismissed from a good job and locked in a labor camp? They
could never find a logical answer. 7. Using Family Relationships to Pressure Us to Accept the Brainwashing During the process of trying to brainwash me, they used all sorts of means.
One of them was utilizing my emotions for my family: my elderly father, my
husband, and my two children. They were trying to mentally kill me. My two kids came to visit me when they were sophomores. Seeing the huge metal
gate and the tall cement walls, my son, even at 5'9," could not help but
cry. They were even more shocked to see that their mother had become so thin,
weak, and white haired in only one year. My daughter burst into tears! That
shocking moment changed them. Pain, hate, and shock were all pressed deep down
into their hearts. That short visit was filled with my children's sorrow. I tried my best to
tell them to be strong, to distinguish good from bad, that their mother had done
nothing wrong, and that they should study hard. I also told them why I could not
write to them and told them to not come any more. I held back my tears, smiled at them, and firmly told them in loud voice,
"Keep your heads high and your backs straight! Your mother is in a labor
camp to pursue Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, which is not
shameful!" Seeing their departing figures as they kept turning back to look at me, I
could not contain my tears. What is a broken heart? At that moment, I learned what it meant to be
"heartbroken!" Walking out of the labor camp, my two children carried with them unbearable
pain, unspeakable questions, and loss to school. Their father has an important
job to do, and he had no time to care about what was on their minds. It caused
knots in their hearts, but I cannot communicate with them through letters or
phone calls. My children could not bear such huge mental pressure. My son
thought of quitting school. He went to the other extreme and he rebelled, quit
his job in the student association, played soccer violently, fought with
schoolmates and teachers, violated school discipline restrictions, and cut
class. My daughter went to the other extreme. She wrote to me, one letter after
another, although she knew I might not receive them even if she mailed them. She
studied so hard that she earned a Bachelor's Degree with a double major and
joined the evil CCP. All of this happened but I had no idea. The guards and collaborators knew
about it well. They not only deprived me of my right to receive my mail, but
they also tried to hurt me with the facts revealed in the letters. One day guard
Jiao (female, first name unknown) came to me and said, "Zhang Yijie, you
are hurting your two children by staying in the labor camp. Your son has started
crying outside the gate when he comes to visit you. Aren't you sad?" She
left with a happy expression on her face because she thought she had hurt me
deeply. Another day, Jiao suddenly came again and told me, "Zhang Yijie, your
son is being disciplined at his university. He almost got expelled. His father
is in his wits end dealing with daily work and your son's affairs." Using my children to wear me down me was their usual means for mental
torture. They would never tell me exactly what happened but instead forced me
worry and guess. If I accepted the brainwashing, I would be allowed to
communicate with my family instantly. They just were trying to force me to give
in. Seeing that their tactics were not working, they would say, "Zhang
Yijie, do you cultivate compassion? You have abandoned your family and children!
Your husband is so busy, yet he has to be both a mother and a father to your
children. How hard it must be! You have a great family that people all envy
(which meant my husband had a high positioned job and we had two children in
college), so why don't you treasure it? Why are you so different from others?
You are so cruel that you have harmed your family with your selfishness! If you
keep on cultivating, you will ruin your children and your husband will divorce
you!" My husband is a poker chip that the evil used all the time. When Jiao tried
to attack me, she would tell me about what she had heard about my husband. One
day, after scolding me about my son, Jiao came again, "Zhang Yijie, I saw
your husband in last night's news. He went overseas with Premier Zhu Rongji."
I did not answer her. I knew her intention was not good. She continued,
"Zhang Yijie, you'd better accept the brainwashing quickly, because someone
has send women to your house. Your husband can get any kind of woman, so why
must he wait for you? You will never get out of here unless you are
'transformed.' If you keep on this way, your family will be gone." They had been using my husband to pressure me since July 20, 1999. They tried
to attack me with my husband's career future. Now they were using other women. I told guard Jiao, "There is this saying: 'The sky wants to rain, and
the mother wants to re-marry, but these things are not determined by you or me.'
If my husband truly wanted to divorce me, I wish him good luck!" Jiao was suddenly lost. She said in a totally defeated tone, "You Falun
Gong practitioners are inconceivable. Are you all stupid? You only know one way
to the end? Zhang Yijie, you are counting money when others are selling
you." I did not pay attention to her nonsense because no one can sell me or buy me;
no one can move me! The collaborators tried to cooperate with the guards to force me to give in.
They would cry to me, telling me how much they missed their children or how they
felt regret about their husbands or children. Viewing their performance, I was a
bit angry, "Stop it! Your tears can never move me! Before July 20, 1999,
you all know that every Falun Dafa practitioner's family was very happy and
harmonious! My Master told us to seek inwards amidst conflicts and cultivate
virtue and become better people. His teachings have helped so many family to
solve their problems and cure their sicknesses and made countless families able
to live in a warm, serene atmosphere. Exactly who destroyed our families? Who
ruined our children? We did not cause our families to be broken. Cultivating
'Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance' has nothing wrong with it. What do you
want me to 'transform' to?" The guards saw that the collaborators could not convince me, so they quickly
ordered them to leave. Otherwise I would have "turned the tables" and
helped them to start cultivating again. Family, husband, and children are half of the life of each woman, and for
some it even is their whole life. If they were able to have something for
themselves, it would be their career. The guards thought that I felt that I was
mistreated by the Foreign Trade Ministry (my employer) until nothing was left.
If my backyard was on fire, that would be the last straw. I knew their tactics,
but I was very sad each time they attacked me like this. I seemed to see the disaster coming, just as Jiao had described it. How was
my son doing? I felt bad for the mental stress my children were having to
endure. I thought about how I had brought them up amidst so many difficulties,
but they were like tender tree branches: they could not withstand heavy blows. I
even regreted that I had nurtured them too traditionally so that they could not
face such evil reality in such a mundane society. I longed to tell them how to
look at this cruel truth, how to face tribulations, and how to study hard, but I
was deprived of a basic right. I didn't know exactly what had happened to my
son, where my husband was, and if he truly wanted to divorce me. All these thoughts pained my heart and consumed my body. I had reached the
breaking point. I refused to let myself think about it. I thought about my faith
and rationality. I forced myself to recite Hong Yin
over and over again. I recited endlessly, "One can die in the evening if one heard the Dao in
the morning! One can die in the evening if one heard the Dao in the morning! One
can die in the evening if one heard the Dao in the morning!" Tears filled
my eyes, and this sentence filled my entire mind and body reducing the pain of
my emotions. A voice said to me, "If you can die for Dafa, then what hardship can you
not withstand?! As a cultivator, you must be in the Fa, in the Fa in every
moment. You cannot have hatred, because cultivators do not have hatred. If you
are not in the Fa, the hatred will eat you up or you will be 'transformed' by
their attacks. You might become insane due to the unbearable pain because a
human heart cannot bear so much." I lowered my head, letting the tears run down my cheeks. After a long while,
I dried my tears and lifted my head to face the collaborators and the camera
monitor near the ceiling. 8. Friends and Family Made to Suffer As Well One day, someone shouted in the hallway, "Zhang Yijie come out!" I walked out and followed the head of the cell to the visitors' building. I
sat in a empty room and waited. It had been a long time since the guards had
allowed anyone to visit me. I did not know who was coming. I rubbed my face to
look more energetic and also to loosen up a bit. The door opened, and my oldest brother stood in front of me. I stood up
instantly. When our eyes met, my brother cried. Was it because of my skinny
cheeks and white hair? Was it because I had changed so dramatically? It was only
two seconds, then he gained control of himself as if he had never cried. But of
course I saw all of it, clearly and vividly. As his younger sister, I could feel
the tide of his emotions being held back by the force of his rationality, being
locked inside for good. I sighed in my heart, "My brother is a real
man!" He never expressed his emotions, so it was unlike him when he walked towards
me, held my shoulders and said, "Yijie, let's go home!" My heart felt
a thousand things in his single sentence. I tried to hold back my tears. I answered, "Do you want me go home at the cost of my integrity or
life?!" I sealed the door tightly and prevented him confronting me in front
of the authorities. If in the past, my answer would have ignited a verbal war,
this time he was silent. I could tell that he was very sad and tried to control
himself. After July 20, 1999, I went to appeal on July 21st. My employer, the Foreign
Trade Ministry of the CCP, was involved in the political movement and tried to
force me to give up cultivating Falun Dafa, so that I could be "on the same
page" as the CCP. My family also tried to convince me. My oldest brother
was the most active of my three older brothers. My father, a history teacher,
cooperated with him. Once, they suddenly locked me up in a room and tried many
ways to force me to give in. My father used many historical stories about how
people had been wrong. My oldest brother is a provincial civil minister. He is
in charge of persecuting Falun Gong in that province. He knows clearly the CCP's
plan to eradicate Falun Gong. They thought they could save me from disaster and
stop me from ruining my reputation and losing profit or ruining my family. Because I refused to give up, my family members contradicted each other and
could not reach common ground. My father was so sad because he could not
convince his beloved daughter even though he was a history teacher all his life.
My oldest brother was about to jump out of his skin, but he had no other choice
but to reason with me with patience. At first I thought my oldest brother's attitude had influenced my family and
caused me lots of stress. I thought he was a person without a sense of justice
and that he was helping the evil. It was after I walked out of the forced labor
camp that I learned he had also had to bear much mistreatment due to my
cultivation. The evil extended its claws into my immediate family. On January 3, 2001, I was openly abducted by the State Security Bureau agents
in the yard of my workplace. They took me to a brainwashing session held by the
State Ministry Union. It was located in a forced labor camp. Those four big men
suffocated and almost killed me when they carried me into the vehicle. I went on
a hunger strike to protest the illegal abduction and forced brainwashing. I
absolutely refused to be "transformed" even after the 15-day session
ended. My die-hard will shocked the upper levels. They planned to force me to
remain in the facility until I accepted their brainwashing. My oldest brother
and my younger sister came to visit me during my hunger strike, and my older
sister and my daughter came to pick me up when the 15 days were over. The
Chinese New Year was coming soon, so they let me go home. I went to Changchun City in Jilin Province, my childhood home, to spend the
holidays and also to try to avoid further brainwashing. Nevertheless the
authorities chased me to Changchun City. On New Year's Eve, policemen and
neighborhood administrators knocked on our door, demanded 4,000 yuan,
and notified us that they were told to monitor me closely. I had no money. Where could I borrow so much money on New Year's Eve, which
is against the Chinese custom? I believed I did not violate any laws, but if I
stayed in my parent's house, my family would be deeply hurt, and I could not
return to Beijing to be further brainwashed. I had to leave home without saying
good-bye to my father. My disappearance angered the authorities. They put me on the national
"Wanted" list. They blamed my older brothers for not cooperating with
them, for releasing me, and for interfering in my case. They blamed my older
brothers for four "crimes." On top of that, they, along with the
Foreign Ministry Head, wrote to the Jilin Province CCP Committee, requesting
that they discipline my oldest brother, the provincial civil bureau head, and my
third older brother, the office chairman employed by the provincial justice
bureau. Jilin Province CCP Secretary Wang Yunkun commented on the letter: "Deal
with it after the investigation." This "order" caused my two
brothers huge mental pressure and severely hindered their daily life and work. Official mistreatment of my brothers forced my departure. They authorities
would not even allow me to spend seven days of a holiday peacefully with my
family. They forced me to hide out on New Year's Eve and even implicated my two
older brothers! If they truly manage the country with integrity, like they claim ("Save
people from flood or fire, give water to the thirsty") or even if they
simply were reasonable, how could they abduct people in broad daylight? How
could they "transform" people with violence? I was a government
employee, yet I was treated so unfairly. It is beyond imagination how dark the
local counties and cities are. They can abduct people just to change their
thoughts! In order to change your beliefs, they will dismiss you from your
position, fire you from your job, lower your salary, send you to a remote area,
force you to go through brainwashing and sentence you to forced labor if you
refused to accept the brainwashing, and complicate your families. Where is the
justice?! Where is the law?! After July 21, 1999, my oldest brother and family members one by one saw me
being mistreated until I was forced to disappear. After I was arrested in
Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, my family witnessed the government mistreat
me further. They could not accept all of that calmly. They have righteous
thoughts and were forced to think over the painful facts. The right and wrong
and the good and vicious were manifesting in their daily lives and influencing
their conscience. They woke up from the painful persecution and distinguished
right from wrong. My oldest brother has been an honest official for over 20 years.
Nevertheless, no one dared to ignore Secretary Wang Yunkun's order. It is fairly
easy to be accused of a "crime" under the CCP's evil rulings. Soon after, the Jilin Province high level officials gathered together to
"study." My oldest brother was late due to work-related matters. He
asked a colleague, "What are we studying today?" People answered passively, "The three representations of Jiang." My oldest brother was annoyed and said, "What is there to study?"
and he left immediately. Later, a disciplinary punishment in his case was announced inside the
provincial CCP, which means that they eventually followed Wang Yunkun's order. (To be continued.) November 14, 2006
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/11/17/142460.html
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