PureInsight | September 20, 2004
[PureInsight.org]
Chapter 4: Hell on Earth
June 10, 2003. 2 a.m. Beijing, China
It was the same nightmare. It was happening all over again.
But this wasn't a nightmare, Li cried to herself. It was really happening. Or it had happened. Whatever. She felt it.
She was in one of Beijing's most notorious forced labor camps. People often described it with dread as "Hell on Earth".
And it felt like it.
She heard soft but intense and painful moaning from all around her. She walked through the narrow walkway, peering into each of the cells.
It was very, very dark, but she could make out the forms of men writhing on the floor. They seemed to be in complete agony.
Their bodies were skin and bones. But, a soft, effervescent light shone on their skin. Li even felt that she could make small halos of gentle light around their heads. After days of intensive torture, even as they moaned in pain, they looked noble and dignified.
Li knew that they were Falun Gong practitioners who had been subject to the cruelest, most sadistic forms of torture ever unleashed on man.
A sharp cry came from another cell. Li rushed to see what was happening.
A putrid smell came from the cell. A man, hands cuffed behind him and legs hooked to a heavy weight, was being dunked into a bucket of yellow liquid by a pair of sadistic policemen.
Li involuntarily took a few steps back. She knew that the bucket contained feces and urine mixed together. The police were using this repulsive torture to try to make him give up his faith in Falun Gong, so that they could get a large bonus, maybe even a promotion.
Li took a closer look at the man who was being tortured and humiliated. He looked like he was in his early twenties. He was thin and dressed only in his underwear. Cigarette marks on his chest and abdomen indicated that he had been burnt with cigarette butts by the police. Long gashes on his feet still bled profusely.
Despite all this, the young man's body emitted an effervescent glow, and he looked patient and composed, even though he was obviously in pain. In contrast, the two policemen looked dark and gray; their eyes were bloodshot and their faces looked as if covered with soot.
A louder cry emanated from the next cell. This voice was more familiar.
Li screamed as she ran to the other cell. She knew the voice, and she had been through this nightmare before. Yet, each time the nightmare seemed to grow more and more real, and she was seeing details she had never seen before.
It was night, but it looked like the labor camp never slept. Or at least it seemed so. She knew that most, if not all, labor camps had policemen and officers on shifts so that they could torture Falun Gong practitioners day and night to give up their beliefs.
All because the Jiang regime had made it clear that it would reward handsomely those officers and labor camps that caused Falun Gong practitioners to "reform" or turn away from the practice. No means were too extreme to wipe out a practice whose popularity had turned the Chinese strongman and dictator jealous.
This was why more than 1000 Falun Gong practitioners had been tortured to death in horrifying circumstances. It was why hundreds of thousands of innocent men and women had been thrown into forced labor camps to face brutal and medieval forms of torture, why perfectly sane and peaceful citizens had been thrown into psychiatric hospitals and injected with mind-altering drugs, why Falun Gong practitioners had been thrown out of their schools and jobs. And it was why female practitioners, young and old, had been subject to terrifying sexual abuse and humiliation.
The whole country had gone along with the perverted foolishness of one petty minded Chinese leader to protect their own interests. They had looked the other way as their own sons, daughters, spouses, brothers, sisters, parents and colleagues who practiced Falun Gong had been taken away one by one to be tortured, raped or murdered.
And Li was now watching this happening to her own husband.
Zhang was hung up from a steaming metal pipe on the wall by cuffs on his wrists. His feet were just above the ground, and the cuffs had cut in so deep that blood was seeping from his wrists.
He was stark naked, and his healthy and muscular body had been reduced to skin and bones.
Zhang's body was crisscrossed with cuts that were probably the result of brutal beatings from sharp-tipped instruments. Dark spots all over his body indicated burnt flesh; flesh burnt through hours of torture with 30,000-volt electric batons.
One of the two police officers stood next to him grinned with sadistic pleasure, as electric batons in their hands produced a buzzing sound.
Li screamed, but she knew it was useless. No one seemed to hear her. It was as though she was an invisible observer of this nightmare.
The nightmare had haunted her for two years now. Each time, the nightmares were a little different, but not too much off. They had started a few months after Zhang had been sent to the forced labor camp.
Li watched in horror as the policemen began their taunting.
"So, you're a tough one, from what I've heard. You haven't broken under whatever sort of torture that is imposed upon you. Well, you will break once I'm done with you." The younger of the two policemen laughed.
Zhang shook his head. He looked weak, but she could see spirit in his eyes.
"No", he replied. "Your physical tortures cannot break my will. My will is built through cultivating in Dafa, which gives me a spiritual strength you cannot imagine."
"Look, young man," the older policeman said. "You are a young professor, and from what I've heard, you're smart, intelligent and have a nice family. Why don't you just save us and yourselves this trouble and just give up Falun Gong? That way, you can go back home and reunite with your friends and family and live a happy life."
"Yeah", the other police officer said. "Look at how much trouble you are causing your parents. They come here once a month pleading with us to see you, but we can't let them see you because we are not allowed to."
Zhang replied with patience, "Would it cause us all less trouble if I gave up the practice? I don't think so. Falun Gong – Dafa – has taught 100 million people around the world to be good and kind-hearted people. The teachings imparted by the founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, whom we respectfully address as Shifu or Master, has taught people in over 60 countries to live by Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."
He continued, "It had made rebel youngsters kind-hearted and warm and caring towards their parents. It has caused families on the verge of splitting apart and divorce to come back together. It has enabled people in schools and workplaces to be more at harmony with each other and treasure virtue and doing good. It brought health and happiness to all the people whose lives it has touched."
"Yeah?" It was the first policeman. "Then why did the Chinese government ban it? Why did it cause the deaths of 1400 people? Why did people burn themselves up at Tiananmen Square? Why did a Falun Gong practitioner kill …"
"Lies." Zhang replied. "They are all lies. You know, Jiang controls the entire media in this country, and he doesn't allow any voices other than his to be reflected in the media. Think about it – why do things like this seem to happen only in China? Falun Gong is practiced in 60 other countries around the world. How come none of these criminal activities blamed on Falun Gong here happen in any of those countries?"
"This persecution is just like when the Nazis were in charge of Germany, Hitler's propaganda minister launched an all-out attack against Jews. What happened? Six million Jews perished in the Holocaust. The world was aghast when the full horror of it was revealed."
"The same thing is happening today in the persecution of Falun Gong."
Zhang's flesh was weak, but his spirit and voice were strong. Li was proud of her husband – he was a man who would stand up with his life for her, their family and their spiritual faith.
But she cried as she witnessed the damage that had done to his body and mind by those who were afraid of his courage and belief.
"Well", the older policeman replied. "I know you're right, but I'm really sorry. I have to continue. This is my only source of income, and I have to do what Jiang tells me to do. My family depends on the money I earn from them – even though it is dirty and stained with the blood of innocent citizens."
Li saw that that the older policeman was tired. He had put his electric baton down and was wiping sweat and tears from his face. She felt that he seemed to have a conscience, but she wondered how far he would follow it.
But the younger policemen didn't budge. "What nonsense!" he shouted at his older colleague. "I don't care about right and wrong; good and bad. If I make you 'break' from Falun Gong, I get a bonus of 20,000 yuan. That's the salary of more than 10 months of hard work, all in one shot! And I may even get a promotion! And no one will even know if you die – you will have died in vain!"
Zhang looked straight into his eyes and said, "2500 years ago, Jesus and the early Christians were persecuted in cruel and demonic ways - they were burnt alive or thrown to the lions to be eaten alive. But today? Christianity is respected, because people know that it is good. Nero and the Roman empire that launched the persecution have disintegrated."
"The same thing will happen to Jiang Zemin and those who follow him. Falun Gong's good name will one day be restored, and justice will catch up with those who committed crimes against Falun Gong practitioners."
The young policeman took a step back for a moment, as though shocked by the power of truth. Then, screaming, he switched on his electric baton and launched a frenzied persecution, striking Zhang all over his body, especially his sensitive areas.
Li grasped the iron bars of the cell and screamed.
June 10, 2003. 4 a.m. Beijing, China
Li was still screaming when she woke up. It took her a minute to realize that she was awake and out of the nightmare.
"Li, what's wrong? What's going on? Are you all right?" Zhang was awake and he sounded concerned and worried.
Li cried. She buried her head in Zhang's chest, feeling safe and protected for the moment in his strong and comforting embrace.
It was very early in the morning, Li figured out as she tried to stop sobbing. The only light came from the full moon outside. She could hear the sounds of the nocturnal insects outside.
"Are you all right, Li? Do you want to tell me what's going on?" Zhang asked her as he gently stroked and kissed her head.
Li was silent. She felt the three scars that ran across his chest. They weren't very prominent now, but she could still feel them. She felt glad to feel the flesh and muscles building under his skin again – he was stronger now than he had been when he had escaped from the forced labor camp.
Silently, they hugged each other without talking. Li was happy that her husband was back – she had missed and worried about him so much when he had been in the forced labor camp.
She realized that she was lucky that she also practiced Falun Gong and was able to understand his pain and sacrifice. She knew the pressure had already torn apart many happy families apart, because the spouse, parents or children of a Falun Gong practitioner did not understand the sacrifices that the practitioners were making – for their sake and for the sake of righteousness and justice across the world.
Finally, Li said, "Zhang, I had a nightmare." And she described it to him, still hugging him and wishing that she would never let go of him.
Zhang laughed dryly. It was terse and pained.
Li looked at his face. Dim light from the moon fell on his face, and she was able to see the pain in his eyes as he looked at her.
Li asked him, "Zhang, did it happen? Did it really happen?"
She was calmer this time as she waited for his answer.
Zhang's reply was to tighten his embrace. Li closed her eyes and rested her cheek on her husband's chest again.
Finally, Zhang sighed and nodded. "Yes, Li, it did. I was one of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Falun Gong practitioners ruthlessly tortured in state-run labor camps under Jiang's orders."
He kissed the top of her head and continued, "You know, I didn't really mind the physical pain I was going through. What hurt me the most was the emotional suffering of you and my parents, the suffering of the millions of other Falun Gong practitioners being subjected to this persecution, and the suffering of their families. Thinking about that caused me pain; but it also gave me strength to walk through those dark days and nights in the labor camp."
Li kissed her husband's chin and gently stroked the cleft on his chin. She smiled at him.
"Don't worry, Zhang. Falun Gong's good name will be restored one day. People are awakening to the truth of the persecution. Jiang's lies and this wicked persecution cannot go on forever."
They embraced each other even more tightly. The long period of separation and suffering hadn't torn them apart; it had only brought them closer together, and more and more determined to expose the wicked persecution of Falun Gong in China and to end it through peaceful means.
