THE PERSECUTION OF FEMALE PRACTITIONERS
OF FALUN GONG IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA


Although practiced by as many as 100 million people, it was banned -- under pain of imprisonment, torture and death -- by the Chinese government in 1999.
Falun Gong, literally "Practice of the Wheel of Law") also known as Falun Dafa, "Great Law of the Wheel of Law") is a system of "mind and body cultivation" introduced by Li Hongzhi to the public in 1992. Falun Gong refers to five sets of meditation exercises (four standing, and one sitting meditation), and Falun Dafa refers to a set of religious teachings Li claims to provide salvation for mankind .
Falun Gong has been the focus of international controversy since July 20, 1999, when the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) began a suppression of the movement nationwide, except in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The PRC government claims to have banned the group for what it considers to be illegal activities. The Falun Gong claims that the ban was the result of personal jealousy of the group’s popularity on the part of Jiang Zemin, a former President of the People's Republic of China. The suppression of Falun Gong is considered a human rights violation by a number of (mostly western) human rights groups and politicians.

The atrocities being committed against women who practice Falun Gong are escalating. The accounts below are just a small sample of typical examples of torture being endured by these women in detention centers and forced labor camps throughout China.:
• Widespread use of electric stun devices to shock women on sensitive body parts such as the genitals, breasts, mouth, head, and anus.
• Force-feeding using liquid mixtures containing hot pepper or a thick saline solution with only a small amount of water added; this usually causes severe vomiting.
• Forced injections of higher than normal dosages of drugs that damage the central nervous system.
• Prolonged hanging from shackles on the wrists.
• Forced standing for long periods of time in freezing temperatures, wearing little or no clothing and drenched in ice water.
• Piercing through the fingertips with sharp bamboo sticks or through the nipples with wire.
• Prolonged and daily beating with instruments such as wire cables, nail studded batons, planks, etc.
• Sleep deprivation.
• Beaten with poisonous iohuomals branches, a hemp-like perennial plant, with downy branches and piercing thorns that causes red, blistered and extremely painful, itchy skin.
• Public humiliation by being paraded through the streets wearing derogatory signs.
• Subjected to snake and scorpion bites or left outside without clothing in mosquito infested areas.
• Restrained with dirty items stuffed in their mouths, such as used sanitary napkins, cleaning rags, dirty socks, etc.
Chen Lihua 36, female, a farmer from Dawangzhuang Township. She was detained in an office of the township government on January 4, 2000, for going to Beijing to appeal. Dozens of young male officials led by Li (an official in the office of the communist party committee,) came to the office and forced her to take off all her clothes. Official Bo thrust an electric baton into her vagina, shocking her to the floor. Then, one man held her arm and electrically shocked her body and handcuffed one of her hands to the window. Official Wang held her other hand while Bo grabbed her breasts and shocked her upper body repeatedly. She was tortured this way for quite a while, and then was told to put on her shirt and sit on the floor. Dozens of men kicked her so hard that she rolled around on the floor screaming in agony.
A 14-year old girl was forced to walk with a heavy brick on top of her head and her feet were bound to heavy rocks. While she walked, guards repeatedly slapped her in the face. At night the officer ordered her to hold a position touching her toes with knees straight. When she could not maintain the position, the guards beat her with clubs. After being tortured like this for an entire night, she could not walk without being assisted by someone. Guards threatened practitioners who protested the mistreatment saying they would stuff their mouths with used sanitary napkins.
Because the sheer magnitude of these abuses against women this is only a small number of cases, representing the specific types of torture and brutality being unleashed upon female practitioners by Chinese government officials.