Mr. Chair and honourable members, first of all, I would like to thank you for the efforts you made in assisting me in achieving my freedom, in order to help all Falun Gong practitioners.
I was arrested in Shanghai as a Falun Gong practitioner and I was put in prison. I was forced to read propaganda materials. After reading them, I was transported by police car to my home, and I was imprisoned at home with four guards guarding the door until the next day. I was taken to the police station. The four guards left. They told me it was a study workshop for me, and that if I changed my mind, my way of thinking, they would let me go. They said I had to agree with them by saying that Falun Gong was evil. Otherwise, I would have to stay there until I changed.
In China, this is all illegal. Their behaviour is considered illegal. My wife is a Canadian citizen, so what they did is illegal. According to Chinese law, Chinese people can have freedom of speech.
My wife came back to China to see me, and I went with my wife to complain about this imprisonment and to ask for a good environment in which to practice. When we went to the office, what we encountered were fully uniformed police, and we were sent back and I was in jail for 15 days. Then I signed a petition. I was accused of disturbing the peace and was put in prison for a year and a half. I was forced to take cold baths during winter time. I was beaten physically. I was forced to do labour work. I suffered a lot. Every morning, I had to get up early to go work—labour work—and come back late at night. Every day I worked for more than 12 hours. My chest and my back had hemorrhages as well as rotten parts. It was very painful. I had to put a diaper underneath my underpants, and everyday I had to tear it off, and my skin would come off with it.
The food was very bad. We had to use steel needles to sew up leather balls, and it's very hard work. Every day, I would hurt my fingers with those needles, and the skin would peel off, and every day we would also get wax on our hands from handling the balls, and they are all hazardous chemical substances.
We suffered a lot. I couldn't sleep well because of the pain, and also the rotten areas of my body, so they had to send me to the clinic, the clinic inside the prison. Even the doctor accused them of not being human beings because they sent me so late. However, I did not give up. They, as a result, extended my imprisonment to two years from one year and a half. They said, “If you do not change your mind, you will never leave the prison until the end of your life.” I said, “If I do not leave, I will stay here until the end of my life.”
Thanks to the Canadian Parliament as well as the government, other organizations, and related personnel, on January 13, 2002, I was released. Then subsequently, I came to Canada.
I would like to thank the Canadian Parliament, as well as the government members who offered me assistance. I am very happy, because in this free land I can continue my practice of my Falun Gong beliefs. In China, there are hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners. They are still suffering. They are still being oppressed by the Chinese government.
I would like to thank you for your help and ask for your assistance in the future.
Thank you.