The Destruction of Mind and Body Through Brainwashing
Introduction
Jiang Zemin's regime has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in China for nearly five years since July 20, 1999. They deny the fact that they have violated Falun Gong practitioners' freedom of spiritual belief [as warranted by the Chinese Constitution]. Instead, they try to justify the persecution by claiming that Falun Gong practitioners violated the Chinese laws.
On April 6, 2000, Liu Jing, the head of the CCP Central Committee "610 Office," attended the United Nations Human Rights Commission's 56th Session and had a Q&A session on the topic of "Falun Gong" in China. Mr. Liu declared that the CCP government "adopted the policy of protecting and persuading and educating the majority of Falun Gong practitioners," that the government would "persuade the remaining few Chinese people that were still obsessed with Falun Gong into giving up Falun Gong willingly with utmost kindness and reason. The government would only punish those criminals who violate the Chinese criminal law by getting involved in activities of evil cults."1 However, no matter what approaches the CCP government has used against Falun Gong practitioners, be it trying with "extreme tolerance" to "persuade and educate" Falun Gong practitioners out of practicing Falun Gong or to shock them with electric batons of over ten-thousand volts to force them into renouncing Falun Gong, the government has violated the constitutional right to spiritual belief on a large scale—the most fundamental human right of Falun Gong practitioners. This kind of "persuasion and education" is to blatantly despise and systematically destroy the present Chinese Constitution and laws. The "610 Office" that Liu Jing is in charge of is a special governmental organization that Jiang Zemin established for one sole purpose: to persecute and force Chinese citizens to give up their personal belief in Falun Gong.
What the Chinese government has openly shown off to the world is the "transformation" of Falun Gong practitioners, which has in itself proven that this suppression is in fact persecution of the human right to personal belief. This investigation report will demonstrate that it is the "transformation rate" [or the percentage of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners forced to renounce Falun Gong in writing], rather than any particular decree in effect, that has been playing a critical role in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
1. The Order to "Transform" Falun Gong Practitioners Came from the Highest Level of the Government and Was Disseminated to All Executive Unit Levels
1.1 The Documents from the Chinese Communist Government About "Transformation"
"Transformation" is the order from the highest level of the CCP government. ("Transformation" is the term used by CCP government officials, while the international community normally describes it as "brainwashing." The former will be used in this report.)
Around July 20, 1999, a series of official documents that marked the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong (a.k.a. Falun Dafa). "Notice from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party that Forbids Chinese Communist Party Members to Cultivate in Falun Dafa" (referred to as "The Notice" from now on) is one of the most important documents issued at that time. The Notice included the order to make Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members practicing Falun Gong transform. It specifically described the transformation standards: one must "willingly break off ties with the Falun Gong organization, and draw a demarcation line with Falun Gong in one's mind and expose the problems of Falun Gong." 2 On August 6, 1999, the CCP Central Government's General Office published another document titled "The Chinese Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Organization Department's Opinions on How to Address the Issue of the Party Members Cultivating in Falun Dafa." It included specific rules and explanations for the contents including transformation in the Notice. 3 The above-mentioned two notices were just orders that were limited to the Party members who practiced Falun Gong.
On August 24, 1999, the Xinhua News Agency published "The Notice from the Two Offices" from the Chinese Central government's General Office and the State Council's General Office. Its requirement was to "do well to educate and transform the majority of the Falun Gong practitioners and to liberate them from Falun Gong." 4 "The Notice from the Two Offices" and "The Notice" were similar in content except that "The Notice from the Two Offices" targeted all Falun Gong practitioners. "The Notice from the Two Offices" proposed for the first time that "to do well to educate and transform the Falun Gong practitioners and liberate them from Falun Gong is an important mark for evaluating the effectiveness of this struggle and gaining the final victory for this struggle."
In these three official documents, Falun Gong practitioners were classified into three categories: ordinary cultivators, key members, and a handful of people who organize the activities "behind the scenes." The documents emphasize that even those who practice Falun Gong solely for their health cannot be considered as "liberated from Falun Gong" if they "do not have the correct understanding about Falun Gong," which means that they refuse to give up their belief. It is evident that this persecution was meant to target all Falun Gong practitioners' belief from its very beginning.
1.2 The Documents from the Justice System
From January 16 to 18, 2001, Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen made the work arrangements, through the national Justice Bureau leaders' meeting, for educating and transforming Falun Gong practitioners. 5 On April 25, 2001, the CCP Organization Department printed and published the compiled experiences from the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp's Party Committee in Liaoning Province, the Beijing City Forced Labor Bureau's Party Committee, and the Qitaihe City Party Committee in Heilongjiang Province in struggling with "Falun Gong." Among them, the main topic was about "transformation." 6 The justice system of Inner Mongolia listed the assignment of making "Falun Gong" people transform as a significant political task and the foremost task of re-education through forced labor.7 In its 2002 work plan that was issued to its subordinate work units, the Zhejiang Province Government listed the "transformation rate" as the top-priority target of the year to make Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated in the forced-labor camps renounce Falun Gong. [8] In its breakdown of the 2003 important work plan, the Anhui Province Justice Bureau transferred the effort to reinforce the transformation work geared for Falun Gong practitioners and increase the "transformation rate" to the Administration Bureau of Re-education Through Forced Labor. 9
1.3 The Documents from the Local Governments
In addition to the above-mentioned justice departments, other government administrative units also had specific assignments. The Provisional Management Methods for the Development of Hubei Province Civilization Community, and the Implementation Plan for the "Civilization Community Project" of Donghu District in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, all specified that "100% transformation rate for Falun Gong practitioners in the community" was one of the standards for the "Civilization Community." 10, 11 In their work to "make Falun Gong practitioners transform" in the Ningxia Autonomous Region, they adopted the "Help and Education Responsibility System" in which "Senior leaders are responsible for the core Falun Gong members, the work units are responsible for the key members, and the Party members are responsible for the ordinary members." 12
The 2003 Annual Compulsory Work Objective set for the Wuhan City Political and Judiciary Committee (City Comprehensive Management Office) stated that the "transformation rate and retaining rate of Falun Gong practitioners must reach at least 45% based on prior year base figures." 13 The local Donghai Street Party Committee in Hexi District, Tianjin City, implemented the "Trinity Unified Work System" for Help, Education, Transformation, and Surveillance that consisted of streets, police stations, and work units where the key persons lived. This system fully carried out the "Mutual Guarantee of Responsibility System," and established an organized network in which "Leaders cover regions and districts," "Section chiefs cover specific locales," and "Community Party Secretary and local police cover specific persons." They adopted a method in which the Help and Education team signs "Responsibility Paper to Help and Educate Falun Gong People" with the Party Working Committee. Local street communities, police stations, and work units initiated and signed a "Work agreement on collectively fulfilling the educating, transforming, and monitoring of key Falun Gong practitioners." 14
In order to fulfill the work of "Transformation, Prevention and Control" at every level, Jingjiang City in Jiangsu Province passed measures such as "Leadership responsibility, duty responsibility, leadership responsibility investigation; adopted the methods of holding concentrated transformation classes, sending for hospital treatment, dedicated personnel for monitoring." 15 The Nanjing City Qixia District Maqun Street Community signed the agreement of "Four Responsible for One" with the local government, and paid the Responsibility Fee. The focus was on the transformation. 16
Through the above-mentioned agreement implemented at every layer of society, the objective of persecution originating from the highest level of the CCP Central Government was finally implemented at the lowest, local community level.
1.4 The CCP Central Government's Decision to Use Violence in "Transforming" Falun Gong Practitioners
The "transformation" went through a development process. At the beginning of the persecution, "transformation" was used as one of the persecution methods. Back then, the CCP government's official documents and the media reports both reflected that the persecution as a punishment focused on those Falun Gong practitioners who practiced the Falun Gong exercises in public and/or appealed in Beijing. A typical case is the report by The Wall Street Journal reporter Ian Johnson about Ms. Chen Zixiu from Weifang City, Shandong Province, who was tortured to death for appealing in Beijing. A series of reports followed. 17 Even under the circumstances at the time, the direct cause of Ms. Chen Zixiu's death was still that she refused to give up Falun Gong.
Since January 23, 2001, when a group of people alleged by the state-run media to be Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square (an incident that upon analysis was proven to have been staged by the government for the purpose of framing Falun Gong; see WOIPFG investigation reports on the "Self-Immolation" Incident on Tiananmen Square at http://www.upholdjustice.org)18, "transformation" became the main weapon Chinese authorities used in eradicating the Falun Gong group physically and spiritually. The procedures of "transformation" also became systematic. According to an article by John Pomfret and Philip P. Pan titled "Torture Is Breaking Falun Gong; China Systematically Eradicating Group" published in the Washington Post on August 5, 2001, a Chinese official revealed to the reporter that the persecution was not successful in the early stage. It was not until 2001 that the Chinese government came up with an "effective" method. The effective method includes three aspects: violence, high-pressure propaganda, and "brainwashing." Among them, "brainwashing" plays a critical role. According to this Chinese official, the Chinese government has resorted to violence since the very beginning of the persecution, but it was not until 2001 that the government decided to encourage the extensive use of violence. According to the Chinese government's own reports, there are very few cases in which Falun Gong practitioners renounce Falun Gong without being subjected to violence. In terms of the high-pressure propaganda, it has been proven that the Chinese government staged the Tiananmen Self-Immolation Act and repeatedly broadcast the video showing the12-year-old girl Liu Siying lying in the bed with her whole body pitifully charred. They also broadcast other people acting as Falun Gong practitioners, claiming that they believed they would ascend to heaven by putting themselves on fire. Eventually, many Chinese people were influenced by the lies and began believing the governmment propaganda against Falun Gong. The last element of the three-pronged attack on Falun Gong is forced brainwashing or "transformation," which is addressed in this report. All three aspects are indispensable.19
2. "Transformation" is Persecution Directed at the Belief of All Falun Gong Practitioners
2.1 The Persecution Targets All Falun Gong Practitioners
The policy to "educate and transform, and liberate them from Falun Gong" stated in the "Notice from the Two Offices" targeted "the majority of Falun Gong practitioners," plus "key members," even "key members who have made serious mistakes," indicating that the "transformation" was in fact aiming at all Falun Gong practitioners. 4 Even "a handful of key members who organize activities behind-the-scenes," and those "who must be punished by law" are also targets for transformation, except that they cannot be "liberated." Further evidence is that the "transformation rate" required by each level of the government was to be calculated on the basis of the total number of local practitioners. 10,11,12
2.2 Jiang Zemin Personally Set the Keynote for the Persecution of Belief
"Transformation" is actually the process by which people are forced to give up their belief. In fact, from the very beginning, Jiang's regime has always treated Falun Gong as an issue of belief. On the evening of April 25, 1999, after approximately 10, 000 Falun Gong practitioners had gathered in Beijing to peacefuly appeal, Jiang Zemin wrote a letter to the CCP Politburo Standing Committee and other leaders concerned. In the letter he said, "Our communists' beliefs—Marxism, materialism, and atheism—can certainly defeat what is propagated by Falun Gong, can't they? If we can't defeat Falun Gong, wouldn't that be a big joke?" 20 This shows that Jiang opposes Falun Gong on the basis of its being the opposite of "materialism and atheism."
The same proposition was held in the CCP's main guiding document for the persecution of Falun Gong — "Notice from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party that Forbids Chinese Communist Party Members to Cultivate in Falun Dafa." In the first part of the notice, which is titled "Fully Recognize the Political Nature of 'Falun Gong' and its Severe Damage; Members of the Chinese Communist Party are Forbidden to Practice Falun Dafa," it emphasizes that "Falun Dafa propagates idealism and theism, which is totally opposite to the fundamental theory and principle of Marxism," that "As a member of Chinese Communist Party, one must firmly believe in Marxism; one must not believe in Falun Dafa," and that "On this serious issue that concerns the fundamental belief of the Chinese Communist Party, every Chinese Communist Party member must take a firm stand and hold unequivocal views. Everyone must deeply understand the political nature and severe danger as well as the political nature of the Falun Gong organization, and everyone must keep the same ideology as the central committee." 2 The whole paragraph talks only about belief, without a single word of reference to any "legal issues" such as "illegal appeal" or "illegal assembly," which leads one to the conclusion that the Falun Gong issue was fundamentally an issue of belief.
2.3 Falun Gong Practitioners Are Punished for Their Belief, Not for "Breaking the Law"
In the "law education class" [transformation or brainwashing class] held in Chengde in 2000, it was clearly announced by a government department that one would be dealt with leniently by the government as long as he or she gave up practicing Falun Gong completely. It was also stated that those who were dead set and stubbornly held onto their belief would definitely be punished by law. 21 This shows that Falun Gong practitioners were punished not for breaking the law, but because they would not give up their belief in Falun Gong.
3. "Transformation Rate" Forces Falun Gong Practitioners into Choosing Between Spiritual Death and Physical Death
3.1 Any Form of Deprivation of Belief is Persecution
In order to deceive the international media, the Chinese government spent a huge amount of money to build deceptive "garden style" jails and labor camps, 22 and they loudly claimed that their transformation work on Falun Gong practitioners has been done very gently, like "a spring breeze." 23 However, the purpose of transformation is to force people to give up their belief, so no matter whether it is a "spring breeze" or a violent beating or torture, the transformation process itself is persecution. Abundant evidence and testimony 22 leaked out from the jails and labor camps in China, as well as numerous reports from independent media, 19 clearly indicate that the main method of transformation is violence. The Chinese government did not mention what they would do if the required transformation rate was not achieved by the "spring breeze" approach. However, even from the official government reports, one can see that in order to achieve the required "transformation rate," jailors and staff in labor camps would eventually resort to deprivation of personal freedom and applying violence, which lead to physical annihilation.
3.2 "Transformation" is Carried Out by Depriving Practitioners of Personal Freedom
"Transformation" can only be done in an environment where personal freedom is deprived. According to the article titled "We do not believe the Spring Breeze cannot bring them back," while the whole city of Beijing "encountered many difficulties and experienced some setbacks" in the course of educating and transforming Falun Gong practitioners, "Beijing Re-education-Through-Labor Bureau has firstly found the breakthrough inside the wall of incarceration." 23 For finding the "breakthrough," the Beijing Reeducation-Through-Labor Bureau received the first award from the Ministry of Justice and became an "Anti-Falun Gong Advanced Group" in Beijing. 24 The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) deems that the fact that the "breakthrough" first appeared in the forced-labor camps, and that the staff in the Beijing forced-labor system could "solve" the problems that could not be solved by all levels of the Party's officials, the government officials, and the theorists, is a result of the special nature of the forced-labor system. Substantial evidence has revealed that the forced-labor systems in Beijing as well as nationwide have widely applied violence and torture on illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners. [Appendix I] Whereas, Zhou Kaidong, former head of the Beijing Re-education-Through-Labor Bureau who first came up with and was responsible for this plan is currently serving his term in prison for receiving a huge number of bribes. 26
Since the labor-camp environment in which Falun Gong practitioners are deprived of their personal freedom and subjected to violence cannot be directly applied to the society, thus "under the instruction of the CCP Beijing Committee, the Beijing Reeducation-Through-Labor Bureau deployed its essential forces and went out to educate Falun Gong practitioners in society, and to assist the relevant local and central government departments to run law education and training classes. They have achieved success and have accumulated precious practical experience for Beijing Legal and Law Training Center to hold large-scale education classes. Such concentrated education classes won the approval of relevant central departments and by the CCP Beijing Committee and had opened a new channel to educate and transform a large number of people obsessed with Falun Gong." In other words, a law education and training class is a "transformation" place set up by local non-judiciary organizations to mimic the environment in prisons and labor camps. The transformation method worked out by the officials in Xigang District of Dalian City requires "sending [Falun Gong practitioners] to the legal and law education schools, conducting concentrated education and transformation in confinement, and focusing on dealing with the most difficult." 27
How is the required transformation rate achieved? The most common approach is to implement forcible brainwashing with a number of people attacking one person. Such a method was put forward as early as August of 1999 in the "Notice from Two Offices," which advocated "the method of 'one person being responsible for one practitioner' or 'several people being responsible for one practitioner.'"4 The method implemented by the Changchun City Luyuan District Street Committee is known as the "six-function-as-one responsibility system," which means that "each street committee leader, each official, each community director, each police officer, family members [of a Falun Gong practitioner] and each workplace is assigned to be responsible for the transformation of one Falun Gong practitioner." This method won recognition by the CCP Central "610 Office." 28 A record was set in the Slate Mining Co. owned by Tonghua Iron and Steel Group in Jilin Province, where 20 people "helped to educate" one practitioner. 29
3.3 Persecution Escalates for Those Who Resist "Transformation"
The Fangzhuang area of Beijing's Fengtai District took the following actions: "For the 31 Falun Gong practitioners who had not been transformed in that area, except those who were sent to forced labor camps, 15 were sent to transformation class, and 4 were assigned to be transformed by organizations at various levels. The transformation rate is 100%." 30 Obviously, those sent to forced labor camps were not included in the base number when the local transformation rate was calculated. Therefore, even if the exaggeration factor to boast achievements is ruled out, this 100% "transformation rate" was achieved only after the 12 practitioners whom they failed to transform had been sent to forced-labor camps.
Similar descriptions can be found in the 2002 general work summary of the Guangnei Street Committee of Xuanwu District in Beijing: "All Falun Gong practitioners registered in Guangnei area have been transformed, and the transformation rate is 99%." [This is the original quote from the report, but it is not clear why it turned out to be 99%.] However, the "incarcerated practitioners" were not included. [The original report did not offer further explanation on this, but the term "incarcerated practitioners" should include those who were detained, sent to forced-labor camps, or sentenced.]31 Whereas, the 100% "society-wide transformation rate" claimed by Maqun Street Committee of Qixia District in Nanjing was achieved after those Falun Gong practitioners who refused to be transformed were sentenced. 16 There is a mechanism in China's political game called "passing problems on to a higher level." Since all kinds of transformation classes are usually co-run with upper-level departments, in order to achieve or exceed the required "transformation rate" set by the upper levels to get awards or avoid penalty, forcibly sending un-transformed Falun Gong practitioners to "transformation classes" and labor camps has become a common practice for the base-level departments to relieve pressure.
On January 17, 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yan from Qingan County of Heilongjiang Province was arrested and severely beaten. Later he was sent to the Suihua Labor Camp for one and a half years of forced labor. Since Liu Yan was badly injured, the labor camp refused to take him, but the police left him there anyway through the police's personal connection with the labor camp. Liu Yan died from torture on July 21, 2002. 32 Li Yumei, Party Secretary of Laiwu City in Shandong Province, managed to persuade the major responsible department to admit some Falun Gong practitioners who failed the physical examination into forced labor camps by exerting pressure and offering bribes. On January 12, 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Wang Hui from Laiwu City, Shandong Province, was sent to Wangcun Labor Camp. Upon refusal by the labor camp, she was sent to Jinan Labor Camp after police officer Su Guojian offered bribes via his classmate connection.33 It has been a common practice to send Falun Gong practitioners to labor camps through bribes and personal connections.
3.4 Torture Is Used to Achieve "Transformation Rate"
There are "transformation rate" requirements for brainwashing classes, forced-labor camps, and prisons as well. 8 For example, the Judiciary Bureau in Shenzhen City issued an order that "during the 15th National People's Congress period, the transforming rate of Falun Gong practitioners in forced-labor camps must be kept above 80%." 34 In order to meet the requirement, all these places have adopted torture methods extensively with no exception [Appendix I]. [There is a large number of such cases reported each day on www.faluninfo.net, www.clearwisdom.net] Mr. Zhang Liang is a Falun Gong practitioner from Weifang City, Shandong Province. He was tortured with a method called "Stew the Eagle," during which he was forced to stand 24 hours a day continuously for over a month and was not allowed to sit down or sleep. The persecutors took turns yelling and screaming at him; they tussled and beat him countless times. This torture caused him to become numb and disoriented. Both legs and feet became terribly swollen. His skin and flesh looked pale and transparent, as if it could open up at any time. His lower legs swelled to the same size as his thighs. He could not put shoes on and was forced to stand barefoot on the cement floor. In the end, his legs could no longer support his body and he could not walk at all. He frequently fell against the wall and fell down to the floor. 35
Sanshui Forced Labor Camp in Guangdong Province set up a torture chamber in order to force incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief. One torture method used there is called "Split the Body by Five Horses." They would handcuff the four limbs of a practitioner and pull them outwards in four directions simultaneously with their utmost strength. On January 2, 2003, labor-camp policeman Zhang Wujun used two cuffs to cuff Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Huang Zhufeng's hands, and then he ordered prisoners to pull him hard in two opposite directions at the same time, causing his hands to bleed and flesh to tear apart. His shoulders were disjointed; 28 days later, his right arm suffered from amyotropy as a result of the cruel torture. 36
Another example can be seen in a report on Beijing Judiciary Administration Net. It was about the "brainwashing" of a practitioner named Du by Li Jirong, head of the No. 4 Division in the Beijing Female Forced Labor Camp. After describing how Li Jirong conducted the "difficult and detailed mind education work," the report wrote, "…through continuously working on Du day and night for 16 days, Du finally signed the renunciation statement." 37 This clearly shows that the renunciation statement was a result of 16 consecutive days of deprivation of sleep, not to mention other forms of torture.
Mr. Zhao Ming is a graduate student from Trinity College in Ireland. He has personally suffered tortures at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp and Xinan Forced Labor Camp (a Female Forced Labor Camp) in Beijing. In his report, he wrote:
About two weeks before my term ended, they finally started to torture me. First, they didn't allow me to sleep for two days…. Then one evening, Jiang Haiquan pretended to invite me to watch TV. After I watched for only a short while Jiang suddenly rushed in and said, "Section Head Jiang wanted to talk to you." He then pushed me into an office. It was a very small office with a bed on the floor, and on top of it scattered many pieces of strips torn from a quilt. There were five policemen standing there, including Administration Section head Jiang Wenlai, Education Section head Yang Fenghua, Education Section deputy head Jiang Haiquan and team leaders from the "striking hard class" Liu Guoxi ad Liu Xincheng. I realized immediately that they would torture me with electric shock. Jiang Wenlai said, "Why did you want to talk to our director? This is what you get for doing so!"
First they threatened me and asked me to "transform." After I sternly refused their request, they started to tie me to the wooden boards of the bed to prevent my body from jumping up from the impact of electric shock. They tied my feet, my legs, my upper body and arms separately. They also tied my head with a cotton string through my mouth. After they tied me up, they threatened me again and demanded that I must "transform." I refused again. They then took out a bundle of electric batons and distributed them to each police there. The electric baton was 20 inches long. Except for the two electrodes on the top, there was metal wire spiraling around it. This portion of the baton was able to send out electric shock to a long stretch of area. They used at least six electric batons to shock me all over my body.
My body started to tremble violently. They stopped every now and then to coerce me to sign the renunciation statement. The vicious policeman Liu Guoxi was very experienced in using the electric baton. He held an electric baton in each hand and put them in parallel and moved around closely to my chest, using the winding wires on the batons to send electric shocks to my body. My whole upper body was trembling due to the electric shock. I was short of breath and felt as if my throat were in flame. I bit into the cotton strip tied across my mouth, breathed heavily and didn't utter a sound. My ears were filled with intense crackling sounds. After a while, one of my legs started to twitch and twinge with extreme pain. I felt that the air in the room was no longer air. Each particle of it was filled with violence and evil.
I could hardly keep my mind clear and sensible under such form of enormous torment. However, they didn't stop until I agreed to write the "transformation" material they wanted. I remember that the date was March 27, 2002. I truly experienced the most vicious means of mind rape by this evil political regime of hooligans." 38
Chen Gang, now living in the U.S. in the state of Pennsylvania, was in a forced-labor camp for one and half years for practicing Falun Gong. In the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, the police only let him sleep 2 to 4 hours every night. Once he was not allowed to sleep continuously for 15 days. He was punched and kicked as soon as he closed his eyes. The police also electrically shocked the sensitive parts of the body such as head, neck and chest, etc., using several high-voltage electric batons simultaneously. Under electric shock, his skin and flesh were burned black and his whole body trembled violently as if he was being roasted in a fire and bitten by venomous snakes. Once, the police ordered more than ten inmates to beat him so viciously that even his face became distorted. And then they tied his feet and legs tightly, tied his two hands behind his back, and finally tied his legs up to his neck. It almost choked him to death. They pushed him under a bed and had several people sit on top of the bed to press down on his back with all their strength. Chen Gang was pressed so hard that he felt that his bones would break. After this torture, he couldn't walk for two weeks and was almost paralyzed (another practitioner, Lu Changjun, did become paralyzed from this type of torture). He was on the brink of mental collapse.
Chen Gang mentioned that he had given in against his will because he could no longer stand this kind of inhuman torture of his body. However, this has destroyed his dignity and will. In describing his true mental feeling during the persecution, Chen Gang said, " At that time, I was tortured to the verge of death and was facing two choices: die or give in. To give in meant to betray my character and my belief, and the pain associated with it is more than death itself. Usually, when facing death, one feels scared and suffers the anguish of grief; however, when you choose to give in to live in humiliation, the suffering makes you feel that you would rather choose to die, because your dignity has been tarnished and your soul is no longer pure. So at that time, I felt that I would rather die than live. 39
3.5 The Nature of Genocide: "Transformation" Means Death to the Soul; Resistance Means Death to the Body
According to the Clearwisdom Net website, as of April 30, 2004, the number of verified deaths from torture of Falun Gong practitioners was 958 40. In a broad sense, each one of them died because they would not renounce their belief. According to incomplete statistics from five provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, and Hebei), out of the 588 persecution death cases in these five provinces, the direct cause of 232 cases was that the victim "refused to be transformed," constituting about 40% of the total number. And out of these 232 cases, 213 pracitioners (91.8%) died from severe torture, 55 practitioners (23.7%) died from force-feeding, and 32 practitioners (13.8%) from other causes (such as falling down from high buildings, drug injections, and force-feeding of pesticide, etc.) 41. (Note: Most of the practitioners dying from force-feeding and other causes were also tortured, making it difficult to count them separately. As a result, some have been included in different categories.)
The requirement of 100% transformation rate is an attempt to force all Falun Gong practitioners to choose between renouncing their belief and suffering from continuously escalating persecution. For dedicated practitioners, the former choice means the death of their spirit, and the latter means the possible death of their physical body. From all perspectives, the actions of the Jiang regime constitute intentional genocide targeting the entire population of Falun Gong practitioners.
4."Transformation Rate" Quotas Are How the Jiang Regime Forces All Levels of Government to Participate in Persecution
4.1 The System Comprising "Leadership Responsibility," "Veto by One Vote," and "Leadership Responsibility Investigation" was Established to Coerce Government Officials into Participating in Persecution
As stated above, the instruction of "transformation" came from the highest level, which is implemented through ministries and committees in the central government, various administration departments and all the way to the lowest level of street committees, forced labor camps, and prisons. The "transformation rate" is the major factor that was used to turn the persecution order from the highest level in the central government into the implementation of torture and death rate in the prisons, labor camps, and brainwashing classes. The major officials from all levels of the Party and administration departments, and the heads of politics and law committees should be held responsible for the implementation of the persecution through the Party and the government administration system.
It is stipulated in Article 105 of "Constitution of the People's Republic of China," that "Local people's governments at different levels are the executive bodies of local organs of state power as well as the local organs of state administration at the corresponding level. Local people's governments at different levels practise the system of overall responsibility by governors, mayors, county heads, district heads, township heads and town heads." 42 Within the CCP, composed of major members of the Party committee of all levels, the Leadership Team to Deal with Falun Gong Issue and its standing unit—the "610 Office" —are in charge of the persecution of Falun Gong. The Social Security Comprehensive Administrative Committee and the Politics and Law Committee at different levels specifically carry out the persecution. 43
Luo Gan, the main executive for implementing Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong, who is also the main responsible chief of the CCP Central Leadership Team to Deal with the Falun Gong Issue, chairs the CCP Central Social Security Comprehensive Administrative Committee and the Politics and Law Committee of the Central Government.44 The "610 Office" at different levels is part of the Politics and Law Committee. 43 In the year 2001, when summarizing the progress of social security comprehensive management work at the "National Social Security Comprehensive Management Work Meeting," Luo Gan specifically stated that the Chinese government had "fought with Falun Gong, educated, saved and transformed a lot of 'Falun Gong infatuated people,' under the leadership of CCP Committees of different levels, with coordinated effort of all related departments, and organized power of grass-root units." The policies that are often adopted in the persecution of Falun Gong include "leadership responsibility of social security comprehensive management," (usually abbreviated as "leadership responsibility") "veto by one vote," and "leadership responsibility investigation." 45
4.2 Party and Government Leaders Are Held Liable for "Transformation" Problems Occurring Within the Scope of their Responsibilities
During the work of "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners, the Ningxia Autonomous Region CCP Committee and the Ningxia Government instituted a system for "leadership responsibility investigation," in which the primary leaders of the Party and administration are held primarily responsible, and the specialized leaders held directly responsible. This system holds all levels of leaders responsible for transformation; whoever slacks off in performing their managerial tasks or their education and transformation work would be found out and blamed.12 Hefei City issued a "Policy for Leadership Responsibility in Dealing with Falun Gong." It stated clearly, "whoever in charge, whoever has the liability." Specifically, the leaders of all work units in which there are Falun Gong practitioners have to sign an agreement of liability acknowledging that the leaders will be directly liable for any problem that may occur, and the superior of those leaders will be held in joint liability.46 In Beijing, the Bureau of Re-education Through Labor has been implementing such a policy: the primary leader holds primary liability; at each level, the leadership responsibility and job responsibility should be well-defined; it is each level's responsibility to ascertain the liability of its immediate subordinate to guarantee the implementation of the orders from above. 24
Through guaranteeing the "transformation rate" and implementing the system of defining responsibility at each level, Jiang Zemin has turned the major officials of the Party and administration, as well as political and legal circles, into telements of his persecution system. From another perspective, this explains why these officials, especially those who actively drive the persecution campaign, must hold legal liability for the torture and murder within the scope of their functions and powers.
5. The "Transformation Rate" Is Considered an Accomplishment of Each Level of Government and Is Commended by Higher Authorities
In addition to the above-mentioned punitive measures such as "Leadership Responsibility," "Veto by One Vote," policies are also made to encourage officials at various levels to participate in the persecution, among which the major form of encouragement is the "Commending Conferences" hosted by each level of government and each department.
On February 26, 2001, the national justice and administration system held a Commending Conference to honor those who had been actively involved in "re-education and transformation." The commended units include the Masanjia Labor Camp of Liaoning Province, the Beijing Bureau of Re-education Through Labor, the Women's Forced Labor Camp of Jilin Province, and the Shayang Forced Labor Camp of Hubei Province. Among individuals who were commended was Su Jing, the director of Branch Two of Masanjia Labor Camp 47. A large amount of evidence shows that all these units and individuals have actively used brutal methods in torturing and murdering Falun Gong practitioners. [Appendix I]
On March 14, 2001, the justice and administration system of Liaoning Province held a Commending Conference in Shenyang City. Units commended include: Branch Two (for females) of the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp (Model Unit of Reeducation and Transformation Work); five units, including the Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp of Shenyang City (Second Prize of Collective); four units, including the Anshan City Forced Labor Camp (Advanced Units of Reeducation and Transformation Work); individuals including Huang Wei, chief of the Fushun City Forced Labor Camp (First Prize); Cheng Diankun, vice director of the Shenyang City Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp, along with 17 other people (Second Prize); Li Rongchen, director of the Forced Labor Administrative Division of the Shenyang City Justice Bureau, along with 54 other people (Top Individuals on Reeducation and Transformation Work); Yang Jian, director of the Women's Branch of the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, along with 13 other people (Third Prize). 48 The evidence of crimes committed by these units and individuals in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners can be found in Appendix I.
In 2001, four model individuals were commended by the justice system in Beijing as "Satisfactory Police Officers of the People," three of whom were awarded for being actively involved in transforming Falun Gong practitioners. One of them is Huang Qinghua, female, 42 years old, director of the 4th Ward and the 9th Ward of Beijing Youth Penitentiary, commended for "transforming" Yao Jie and Teng Chunyan. She was honored as being an "Excellent Party Member" of the city judiciary system, "Advanced Worker of National Judiciary System," "Satisfactory Police Officer of the People" of the Beijing Bureau of Prison Management, "Model and Satisfactory Police" of Beijing, and winner of the First Prize for individuals. Another individual who was commended is Li Jirong, head of the 4th Division of the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp and the only representative in the 16th National CCP Conference from the national forced labor education system. Li was honored as the "Top Individual in Fighting Falun Gong" in Beijing and the nation, "the Second Class Hero and Model from the National Judiciary System," and winner of the "May 1 Working Medal." The third person is Li Guangxing, director of the 6th Ward of the Beijing City Prison, who was in charge of persecuting Wang Zhiwen, Ji Liewu, Zhu Keming, Li Chang, and other Falun Gong practitioners (the former members of Falun Gong Association in Beijing). 49
Others units and individuals commended for "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners include: Beijing City Women's (also called Xinan) Forced Labor Camp; Xie Suhong, political commissar of the Women's Forced Labor Camp of Guangdong Province (Second Prize, Advanced Individual of Reeducation and Transformation Work in National Judiciary System); Ouyang Daixia, deputy head of the 9th Division of the Hubei Province Shayang Forced Labor Camp (Top Ten Outstanding Police Officers of Hubei Province, winner of "May 1 Working Medal," Advanced Individual of Reeducation and Transformation Work in National Judiciary System, the Second Class Hero and Model) et al. [Note: these are just a few examples, for detailed information please contact World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong.]
These Commending Conferences are held annually in all provinces and cities. Through such commendation in large scale to reward those who persecute people practicing Falun Gong (which emphasizes virtues such as truth, compassion, and tolerance, and encourages people to be good), an atmosphere of promoting the wicked and punishing the kind is gradually spread throughout the society.
6. "Transformation Rate" Is the Tool Used to Extend
Persecution to Every Corner of Society
6.1 Party, Government, Work Units, and Youth Organizations Participate in "Transformation"
Party and Government organs at all levels are the main executives carrying out the effort of "transformation" in the society. In Jilin Province, the Party Secretary Wang Yunkun, Governor Hong Hu, Deputy Party Secretary Chen Yujie, and former Deputy Party Secretary Su Rong all directly participated in the "Multiple Persons Responsible for One" transformation activities. 50 Chaoyang District in Beijing established 720 Help and Education teams. More than 962 Party members joined the volunteer groups, and more than 5,000 local government officials and residential group leaders participated in the "help and education" effort. 51 Prisons and labor camps were the key places where the transformation effort was carried out. Furthermore, under the unified deployment by the CCP's Central Committee, enterprises 52, 53, Women's Federation 54, Communist Youth League 55, scientific community 56, theoretical research community (which will be covered in a separate investigation report), school and education community 57 all participated in the transformation effort in different forms to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
6.2 The Unconstitutional and Unlawful Brainwashing Classes
Among the many tactics used for transformation, the "transformation class" (that is, brainwashing class) established under various titles is worthy of note. The "transformation classes" are often called "Law Education School," "Law Education Center," "Law Education and Study Class," "Law Education Training Center," "Education & Transformation School," "Love & Care Education Center," etc. Such classes are often held by various institutions and branches from Central government agencies 59 to street residential committees 31, such as Provincial Politics and Law Committee, "610 Office" 58, and District Women's Federation 54.
Regardless of the various titles, the following characteristics are the same. Falun Gong practitioners who are abducted to a "transformation class" lose personal freedom. No legal procedures are required to hold such a class. The classes are not under the jurisdiction of any government branches (although sometimes the classes were organized in the name of government branches), law enforcement agencies, or social services. Such a class has never been registered or listed. There have not been any legal articles or public party and government documents to acknowledge its nature or status. The classes are not under the supervision or control of any organizations but they possess the power to arrest anyone without legal warrants. Their staff has no law enforcement titles but enjoys power above and beyond regular law enforcement personnel. They can beat people to death without any legal responsibilities. Their illegal and atrocious nature even surpasses the infamous "Isolate and Investigate" and "Mao Zedong Theory Study Class" established during the Cultural Revolution. The "610 Office" has organized many "transformation classes"; however, the "610 Office" itself doesn't have any legitimacy to begin with, nor does it have any legal right for law enforcement. 43
In the first 10 months of 2001, more than 200 sessions of "transformation class" were held at Chaoyang District in Beijing alone. 60 Families and work units of those Falun Gong practitioners who were abducted to the classes were forced to pay exorbitant living expenses and transformation fees.61 Wu Xiuping, the Chairperson of the Beijing Women's Association and a member of the Standing Committee of the City Political Consultative Conference, once revealed that the government spent taxpayers' money doing the "transformation," and the average amount spent on "transformation" of each Falun Gong practitioner was from 5,000 to 6,000 Yuan. 62
Torture is often used in the "transformation classes." We will give one case as an example here.
According to a report by Clearwisdom Net in February 2002, Mr. Ding Wen, in his thirties, from Shiyan City, Hubei Province, was abducted to the Zhangwan District "transformation class" located in Shiyan City. He was tortured to death on January 14, 2002. The police tried to block the news; those who either knew about or were involved in this case were threatened not to reveal or talk about it. Ding Wen had been beaten many times during his detention in the "transformation class." In the winter of 2001, he was forced to do push ups, to run and to stand in "army corps" posture in the cold weather, which caused him severe stomach pain and vomiting. His physical health deteriorated severely every day. He went on a hunger strike on February 19, 2001, with other practitioners. Under the orders of Yan Judong, Xia Baozhong of the "transformation class" and Min Tianxiang of the Zhangwan District Police Department, and hoodlums Huang Chengjun and Fu Baoan, dragged male Falun Gong practitioners one after another to the restroom on the second floor, closed the door and beat them savagely inside the restroom. They kicked practitioners' abdominal area. Ding Wen suffered internal abdominal bleeding because of the beating. Practitioner Li Guoyun who was in his sixties urinated blood as the result of the kicking. Another practitioner suffered chest parenchyma damage because of the beating. Practitioners were not allowed to sleep at night for two days while being cuffed to the water pipe in the restroom.
At the end of March 2001, Ding Wen suffered beating again. When he was being pushed to the window, he had no choice but to jump out of the window to escape the savage beating. He suffered serious injury to his waist and was sent back to his work unit. At the end of August, Ding Wen went back to his hometown to continue recovering from his injuries. However, the police from Hongweipian abducted him from his hometown and sent him to the brainwashing class again. In September, a practitioner staying in the same cell with Ding Wen escaped. The hatchet men in the transformation class interrogated Ding Wen alone and severely tortured him. They applied tortures such as "carrying a sword on the back," [The practitioner's hands are tied behind his back with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. The police then apply a great deal of force to pull the two hands toward one another and handcuff the two hands together] beating, force-feeding of alcohol, and force-feeding of vinegar after Ding Wen got drunk from the alcohol. He was tortured continuously for five days before he was sent to a detention center. One month later he was again sent back to the brainwashing class. He was tortured to death on January 14, 2002. His wife Chen Rongmei was still being detained at the brainwashing class organized by the Second Automobile Factory. 63
6.3 Implication Policy in Low-Level Governmental Units
"Transformation" also consists of punitive measures, including financial penalties to pressure people who work in low-level governmental units to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong. The community director from the Yuejianglou Street Committee of Xiaguan District in Nanjing, and the supervisors of the work units where Falun Gong practitioners worked, signed a leadership responsibility agreement. The responsible persons in practitioners' work units were asked to pay 200 Yuan and the local committee director to pay 100 Yuan as a deposit. At the end of the year, if the predetermined "transformation rate" was achieved, the responsible persons would not only get their deposit back but would also be doubly awarded by the local community. For those who could not accomplish the required goal, their deposit would be forfeited, they would be subject to public criticism and further fault investigation, and the committee director would get his bonus deducted at the end of the year 64.
7. Propaganda Used to Incite Hatred in Families and Society to Create an Environment That Supports "Transformation"
In order to create transformation pressure for Falun Gong practitioners, many farming regions in Hebei Province impose such regulations that if anyone in a family practices Falun Gong and other members do not draw a demarcation line with the practitioner, the family will not be allowed to be voted for in award competitions such as "New Trend Star," "Law-Abiding Star," or "Science and Technology Star." Some regions even have the "vote out" rule; that is, if any farming family has a member who practices Falun Gong and is difficult to "transform," that family is not even allowed to participate in all these "Star" competitions temporarily. 65 Through their neighborhoods' opinions, the pressure is thus applied to the Falun Gong practitioners' families. In Luanping County of Hebei Province, the officials organized family members, coworkers, classmates, friends of Falun Gong practitioners, and the local police to take charge of transforming Falun Gong practitioners. "If they fail to 'transform' Falun Gong practitioner once, they will do twice, three times and even up to dozens of times." 66 Even more blatant is the Summer Villa of Chengde City with its title "National Civilized Tourist Zone of Scenery." The Villa puts big signs saying, "Falun Gong practitioners are prohibited" at its scenic sites. 65
On February 27, 2001, at the press conference organized by the State Council News Office, Liu Jing, director of the Office to Prevent and Deal with the Evil-Cult Issue in the State Department [i.e., the CCP Central "610 Office"], gave an example to claim how "successful" the brainwashing is: A lady in Shandong Province "took the initiative" to send her husband to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp and asked them to do her a favor to "help" her husband! 67 This example in fact showed how the brainwashing twisted people's mind and confused people's sense of right and wrong.
Another typical example is Lin Chengtao, who was a research associate at the Basic Research Institute in Xiehe Medical University of China. Mr. Lin was a key technical staff member of the National "863" Project [a high-technology research and development plan proposed in March 1986] and the CMB Project of Sino-American Medical Foundation. In October 2001, Mr. Lin was abducted to the No. 2 Division of Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing. At the end of 2001, his wife, who had been brainwashed in the Beijing Xinan Female Labor Camp, sent a letter to the Tuanhe Labor Camp and suggested that the No. 2 Division Head use the same torture methods being used in the Xinan Female Labor Camp like electric shock, physical punishment, mental torture and deprivation of sleep, and so on, to force her husband to give in. The police forced Mr. Lin to read his wife's letter again and again. In the end, Mr. Lin could no longer stand this kind of mental torture and had a mental breakdown. 68
8. Brainwashing Foreign Residents and Citizens is the Export of Chinese Communist Ideology
On January 22, 2003, Charles Lee, a U.S. citizen from California, was arrested by the Mainland China police right after his flight landed at Guangzhou Airport. Lee was accused of intending to make use of TV broadcasts to tell people about the persecution of Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three years in prison on March 21, 2003, and was sent to Nanjing Prison. Because Lee is a U.S. citizen, the Chinese "Anti-Cult Law" is not applicable to him. [This report will not address the illegitimacy of the Chinese "Anti-cult Law".]
Yangzhou City Intermediate People's Court (public prosecutor: Procurator Zhang Jinghong, Assistant Procurator Yang Chunguo, Chief Judge Huang Shunxiang, Judge Yuan Jianghua, Assistant Judge Yi Xiaotao) charged Charles Lee with "Sabotaging the TV Broadcast System." 69 However, in Nanjing Prison, the officials ordered prisoners to beat him in order to prevent him from doing Falun Gong exercises 70 and forced Lee to take a "transformation class" in an attempt to force him to give up his belief. 71 They even summoned Charles's elderly parents to put pressure on him.72 Not only do those acts have nothing to do with the "charge" against him, but forcing a U.S. citizen to change his belief is beyond the scope of the Chinese judicial system. This is a typical example of how the CCP is exporting its ideology.
Note: Regarding the current human rights status in China, legal requirements, and for the safety of the concerned individuals in these investigations, some details are not shown here. For those who need specific reference materials and have other special requests, please contact WOIPFG direcly.
World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Tel：1-347-448-5790；Fax：1-347-402-1444；
Mail Address：P.O. Box 84， New york, NY 10116
Website： http://www.upholdjustice.org/, http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/
