PureInsight | November 29, 2004
Part 4. Sentenced to Forced Labor
[Note: Inside the forced labor camps, the inmates often loudly yelled to one another, "Do you know what the biggest cult in China is?" "It is the forced labor camp!" ]
Chapter 3. Water Still Not Calm
Detained again
In the afternoon, policeman Wei Daping wanted to send me to the local detention center again. I said determinedly, "I won't go there. I did nothing wrong. I haven't been allowed to go home yet. For what reason will you send me to the detention center again? As a law enforcement officer, you know what you are doing is against the law. I will file an appeal if you send me to the detention center." Wei Daping said, "If you want to appeal your case, you have to wait until you arrive at the detention center." Yet again, Wei Daping sent me back to the Jiurucun Detention Center without any cause.
On arriving at the detention center, I told the guard on duty, "I want to appeal my case. I was released from the labor camp after I finished my sentence. But the local police station sent me here directly without letting me go home first." The guard said, "Today is Chinese National Day. Everyone is off duty. You have to wait till October 3rd to file your appeal when everyone is back at work." I told him, "Speaking of Chinese National Day, I spent the day in this place back in 1999. I have spent all the major holidays during the last several years in prison. Why? It is simply because I wanted to speak the truth and be a good person. I have been detained a total of 11 times illegally and then sent to a labor camp. Do you know why I was sent to the labor camp? The media report turned white into black, saying practicing Falun Gong caused me to become paralyzed. In reality, you know, before I was sent to the labor camp, I had already been detained here a total of 10 times. You know I am telling the truth. When I wrote a letter to the TV station to clarify the facts, I was sent to labor camp. Don't you think I was treated wrongly? Why is Jiang's regime so scared of people who speak the truth? Have you thought about this?" The guard listened to me quietly without saying a word.
The next few days passed by very slowly. On the morning of the 3rd, when a guard came to do a inspection, I told him, "I want to write an appeal letter to appeal my case." After I finished it, I personally handed it to the head of the detention center with the surname of Yang. After a while, Yang told me, "I have contacted the Wannianchang Police Station by phone. They will not resume their normal working hour until the 8th when the holiday period is finally over. So you have to wait until the 8th."
The evil cannot achieve its goal after exhausting all means
In the morning of the 8th, Yang called me out of my cell. When I went out, I saw policeman Wei Daping from the Wannianchang Police Station, Office Manager Li Qiangjun as well as some people from the local residential committee were there. They said they would let me go home immediately if I write a letter promising that I would give up practicing Falun Gong. I replied, "Falun Gong is so good. Why can't I practice it? If I wanted to write a pledge, I would have done that two years ago. Why would I wait until today? You have been dealing with me for more than two years now. You should know me well and know Falun Gong well." They said, "Other than the fact that you practice Falun Gong, you are a good person in every sense of the word." I told them, "I became a good person only after I began to practice Falun Gong. Tell me what on earth makes Falun Gong bad?" They said, "No matter. Since the government says it's bad, it's bad. We follow the orders of the government."
Seeing that I refused to write the pledge, they turned around to leave. I held onto one person and insisted on going home. I simply refused to stay at the detention center a day longer. Director Yang tried to console me, "Zhong Fangqiong, you should just be patient and stay here for a few days longer until your 15-day sentence is up." It was just like what Teacher said, "Although the evil seems awfully vicious, it has now exhausted its tricks, and can merely keep escalating the labels it puts on our practice and keep using the media to fabricate things; with its sick mind, it keeps forcing students to write so-called 'repentance statements' and to sign its stuff. It knows very well that that's all fake and can't change people's hearts, so why does it insist on doing that? Why does it insist on having you sign that paper? Why does it insist on having you say, 'I'll stop practicing' before releasing you? One person says 'I'll keep practicing,' and they slap him with a sentence; another one says 'I'll stop practicing,' and just for this they set him free. The difference between these is unbelievable, isn't it? Is this normal? It's not. Isn't that obvious? They just want to make you fall, they just want to make you say those words." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference" in Guiding the Voyage)
On October 10th at about 9 am, I was suddenly called out of my cell again. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. When I got outside, I saw Wei Daping waiting for me. He said to me, "Get your things packed up. I am taking you home." I returned to the cell to pack my things up. Practitioner Feng Xiaoyun and another practitioner who were being detained in the same cell as me were surprised. They asked me, "Weren't you sentenced to 15 days here?" I replied, "They are the ones who have broken the laws. Actually we should not stay here even for one day." (Feng Xiaoyun was eventually sent to a labor camp. She remains a determined and steadfast practitioner. . She was a graduate of Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology).
Encountering problems trying to get an ID card
I finally was allowed to go home to my mother and son. I had been illegally detained at the labor camp when I was supposed to get the official title for the condo I purchased. Neither my elderly mother nor my 9-year old son was able to handle the transaction. So we never received the official title for the condo. After I got home, I tried to get it. I was told that I needed my ID card in order to finish the paperwork. My ID card had been confiscated when I went to Beijing for the first time to appeal for Falun Gong. So I had to apply for a new ID card.
In November, I went to the Longtansi Police Station since my official residence falls under its jurisdiction. Policeman Liao Youliang met with me. As soon as he saw me, he asked me, "How are you doing nowadays?" I said, "I have gotten my health back after returning home. Today I am here to apply for a new ID card so that I can get the official title for my condo." He told me, "You need to write a summary of your current understanding on the subject of Falun Gong." He handed me a piece of paper and a pen. I sat down and started writing. I wrote that it was Falun Gong that brought me health and gave me a second life, and it was Jiang's regime that persecuted me, jailing me for two years and causing me unable to make money to support my elderly mother and young son. I also wrote Falun Dafa is good and had been grossly mistreated. I also wrote that I would continue to practice Falun Gong. After reading my statement, Liao was furious, "I can toss you back to jail based on what you just wrote." I stood up and said with dignity, "What you said carries no authority! Why don't you policemen dare to hear the truth? Do you want me to lie and deceive you so that you will feel better?" I continued to look at him with righteous thoughts. His voice lowered and he finally said, "Well, I will just put your statement in your file then."
Liao told me to go to the ID Card Center to get a new ID card. After I got there, the staff there told me that I had to get the local police station to stamp my application. So I went back to the police station the next day. Liao was busy and he told me that I could go to the local district office to get my application stamped. I sent forth righteous thoughts as I walked toward the local district office. When I got there, I said hello and told the people there who I was and why I went here. They were very surprised upon hearing my name, "Oh, you are Zhong Fangqiong! We got in trouble many times because of you, and we were forced to write numerous self-criticism letters because of you. But we have never seen you in person." I told them about the miraculous improvement in my health after I began to practice Falun Gong as well as why I had been arrested and sent to the labor camp. Upon hearing that, they were very sympathetic. They joked, "It seems that you are very capable person. You should make more money and help us get our office fixed up. Look at what a bad shape it is. We are poor and have no budget to fix it up." I replied, "If I had not been persecuted by Jiang's regime, I would have been able to continue to operate my business. There are a lot of road construction projects in the city. I would have made hundreds of thousands of Yuan during the last two years." Then I started to fill out the application to get a new ID card. They told me, "You cannot write that you original ID card was confiscated when you sent to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. You can only say that your original ID card was accidentally burned or dropped into water or things like that." I told them, "My teacher told us that we can't tell any lies." One staff member said, "I think Falun Gong is good just based on what you just said." Eventually I did obtain a new ID card.
Translated from: http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/20/79562.html
