sister Liu Nian's testimony—-He hit me in the face with a leather belt. He took toilet paper rolled it into balls and put it into my nostrils and ears

China Aid Association
Liu Nian

My name is Liu Nian. I am a female, Han Chinese, and 17 years old. I live in Hanyoutian, Hubei province.
       On the 2nd of August 2005 we were visiting a family in Zaoyang city, Lutouzhen. After breakfast we heard some of the gospel workers say that the police were downstairs. We also heard some noise coming from below. When we went downstairs we saw a man looking through a bag. We also saw another man holding a bible in his hand saying, “I found this in a bag. Quickly look in the other bags. I’m sure they all have bibles.” With that they wanted to search all our bags. We went back upstairs to the verandah. We were there only for a short while when about ten plain clothes policemen came up. They had two or three people guarding us and said, “Don’t let them escape through the window.” They were constantly calling on their mobile phones. More plain clothes police arrived all the time. They did not show any identification. Soon there were no less that twenty. They took the two foreign teachers and a sister away. Then they escorted us all into cars, even the host family’s aunty Ren Daoyun with her grandson was pushed to the front door. A person around 50 years old said, “Take them away. Take them all away!” (We later discovered that he was the Head of the Security Bureau, Zhang Xujin) When aunty Ren wanted to get some clothes and a drink of water, they did not allow her.
       After about five minutes we were taken to Lutouzhen Police Station. More than ten people were waiting for us inside. One man took advantage of us while we were not prepared and took our photos. Another person was taking a video outside in the courtyard. We were all registered. Then at about 11 o’clock a coach arrived and took us to Zaoyang No 2 Detention Centre. After we disembarked we were registered there as well. They asked about our names, ages, and addresses. They emptied the contents of our bags. One person asked me, “Do you have any money on you? Take everything out.” He also searched my backpack, saying, “What’s inside here? Throw everything out.” They took 63.5 yuan from me. They even confiscated my bible. After being in our cell a little while they started to interrogate us.
       The person who interrogated me was a slightly overweight middle aged man. When I wanted to look at his identification to know his name, he didn’t allow me to see it. He asked me when and why I became Christian. He also asked if I had seen two foreigners. I said “No”. At the end he wanted me to sign my name and write, “the statement above is correct”. I noticed that the material had some discrepancies and said, “You have written incorrectly. I only had been a Christian for one week.” He said, “You fool. Don’t talk nonsense. If I want to write one year, that’s fine too. Get out of here!” When I was signing another document “Register of Suspects under Questioning”, I didn’t not look very carefully and just signed it. Afterwards, however, I discovered in one column the words “they used an evil religious organization to break the law”.
       On the 3rd of August after breakfast, they called us out to have fingerprints taken. They said that it needs to be filed. On the afternoon of the 4th, Xiao Li took me out of the cell and brought me into an office. I only saw Zhang Xujin, Lei Youxin, and an overweight man wearing a T-shirt in the room. Zhang Xujin asked me again about my name and address. I answered as before at registration. Then Qiu Yunfei entered the room. He took off my glasses and put it on the table. He then took me by the hair and pushed me backwards. I heard Lei Youxin repeating the answer I had just given. He made a fist and said, “When I listen to this prisoner I get upset.” He then punched me in the face. I felt as if my face had exploded with pain. He also said, “You fool. You are all disciples of Gong Shengliang. Do you know Gong Shengliang, your South China Church’s teacher?” He then showed me a photo. I said that I didn’t recognize the person. He then kicked me in the face and said, “When I see you I just get upset. Get out!” When I got up and took my glasses to go out, he kicked me again from behind.
       After about an hour, Xiao Li called me again for interrogation. They asked me again about my name and address. I answered the same as before. Qiu Yunfei cuffed my left hand and pulled me around the room. He also cuffed my hands behind my back and pressed a bible in between my hands. He hit me in the face with a leather belt. He took toilet paper rolled it into balls and put it into my nostrils and ears. He then asked, “Is it sore?” When he saw that I remained quiet, he hit me again. He punched me on the shoulders with his fist, saying, “It is very sore, isn’t it? After a while you will become numb and stop feeling sore.” He asked me where I came from, whether I had a telephone, relatives, friends, or the numbers of class mates to contact. I said that I didn’t have any. He asked me how long I have been a believer. I said, “For little more than a week.” Zhang Xujin said, “I think she has been a Christian for at least a year.” Qiu Yunfei said, “She was trained during the last weeks of 2001. In 2001 these babies were about 12 or 13 years old, now they are around 16 or 17.” He asked me again for what purpose I had come. I said that I came to learn English. He said, “You still learn English? I tell you whenever Americans come to China, China keeps a record. Those two Americans’ notes, books, and diaries have all been confiscated. Everything that they have done the last few days is clearly recorded. When two foreigners come you just say that you learn English. What language has those two aliens then learned? Is it parrot language or the language spoken in hell? Have you seen those two foreigners?” I said, “No.” He said, “Still no! When we took the foreigners away where were you? You didn’t see anything? You were all on the verandah and when the foreigners were taken away you all came out. It seems you cannot manage to part with them. If you don’t speak I will add another bible between your hands. You will get enough.” As he was talking he punched me again. He said, “South China Church has many training meetings. Have you attended any of them?” I said, “No. I also haven’t heard of it.” He again slapped me across the ears. I started to cry. He said, “Your South China Church has a common disease. As soon as we give you big women a push, not even to mention cuffing, you start crying and screaming. You are all the same. You are really well trained.” He took a statement from one of the sisters and said, “The others have all talked. Do you still want to keep quiet?” I said, “My situation is different from hers€¦.” Before I could finish speaking, he slapped me several times. “What is not the same? Do you think being loyal to South China Church is the same as being loyal to Christianity?” He punched me and said, “You are neither very high nor very gracious” (你不是高原也不是恩惠) Zhang Xujin said, “You are also not that obedient.” Qiu Yunfei said, “You were all caught. Your teacher Gong Shengliang is from Zaoyang city. He is the head of your church. He made you to give your whole life to the Lord. Your whole church and many locations have been caught and sentenced. Only a few of you are left struggling on the side. You better listen to our advice. Go home and no longer join the activities of South China Church. Otherwise, we will catch you again. South China Church is an evil religion. It is forbidden by the country’s law. According to the law you need to practice your religion in the Three-self church. The Three-self church has many people. We never arrest any of them.” He further said, “South China Church is bad (拔钉子).  Did you know that?” I said, “I don’t know. Also I haven’t heard about it.” He then punched me and said, “You still don’t know?” I said, “My arm is too painful I can’t bear it anymore.” Qiu said, “Even if you can’t, you still have to bear it. You are still not speaking the truth.” He said, “They are really having a good time. Eating and drinking without having to work.” Zhang and another person were also cursing us, “Really cunning!”
They were eating and questioning us at the same time. I was cuffed for around half an hour. Then Qiu said, “Let me release you so you can think clearly. If you do not answer I will cuff you again.” After a while he questioned me again. I said, “I already answered all the questions, but you don’t believe me.” Since my arm was very sore, I said, “If you cause any injury to my arm, you need to take responsibility for it.” Zhang said, “Do you dare to threaten us. You will be lucky if I don’t beat you to death.” Holding a shoe wanting to beat me, Qiu said, “What responsibility? I’ll take her to the wilderness and feed her to the pigs. In any case, no one cares about her.” Zhang said. “Let’s quickly sell her and get it over with.” Qiu took a bible and hit my left arm with it. “Is it sore? You can burn things, but we can restore it again. We found many books, many traces of all your history, a lot of evidence pointing to South China Church. You are part of the same group. You are all of the same sort. Do you know the meaning of ‘same’ here?” I said, “I don’t know.” They hit my head and face again. All in all, whether or not I spoke they hit me. Later he took toilet paper made it into a ball and put it in my nostrils and ears. I said, “Do you want to kill me?” They didn’t say anything. Zhang asked me again about my address. Qiu said, “You don’t need to ask, she can’t hear, I blocked her ears with toilet paper, she can only use her mouth to breath.” They all laughed together. Later, because they had to eat, they concluded the interrogation. When they left, Qiu said, “The first time we questioned you we were still rather polite, the second and third time will become progressively more severe. Tomorrow there will be much worse to follow. If you make me angry I will really show you who I am.” That night when I lay down I was aching all over my body. I thought a lot. I did not know where our two teachers were. How they were going. How they are being treated. Were they also mistreated like us? They came into our midst to teach us and to encourage us, but we did not protect them. We really did not look after them well enough. Rather that we suffer more so that they can go back home safely. I also thought about the path that the Lord has determined for us to walk. I am grateful to be able to share in the sufferings of our gracious Lord, the apostles, those before us, and the teachers and students in jail. I said, “O Lord, I don’t ask that you take away this suffering, I only ask that you make me worthy to receive this blessing.”                    
On the afternoon of the 9th of August at 4 pm, Lei Youxin came and ordered us to sign a document entitled “Detention Notification Register”. I noticed the following words written on it, “joined an illegal meeting of the evil religious organization South China Church.” I refused to sign. He said, “If you don’t sign you will be imprisoned for half a year.” I still refused to sign. He asked me again. I said, “We do not believe in an evil religion, it was also not an illegal meeting.” He said, “If the central government says you are an evil religion, then you are an evil religion. Every meeting that hasn’t received government approval is illegal. Why didn’t we catch the hundreds of people worshipping in church?” I asked him about the witness statement on the document. He said, “At that time we discovered more than a thousand magazines of the South China Church, ‘Salvation and China’. Also some of you already confessed that you belong to the ministry team and that you came to do Bible Study. And you still say that you came to study English.” He also said, “If you don’t want to sign just write down the reason why you don’t want to sign.” So I wrote, “I have nothing to do with an evil religion.” He said, “Good, this is fine.” Again he wanted me to sign other documents, “Committal and Release Register” and “Register of Suspects under Questioning”.
At dawn on the 10th the duty officer of the Detention Centre, Zhang Falian, made another record and said that it was for my detention papers. I noticed the characters “using a secret society to disrupt the social order”. I asked him, “How come you charged us with this? Whenever did we disrupt the social order?” He said, “The charge was determined by the police. It has nothing to do with us. We only carry out their instructions.” When I wanted my detention notification, they sent me to the police station. He also asked me. “Did you know that you are charged with breaking article 24 of the Public Order Regulations, ‘using a secret society to disrupt social order’?” I asked him why they counted the time from the 9th. He said, “This is the time allowed for interrogation. It was decided by the police. We can’t do anything about it.”
On the morning of the 13th at 9am, Lei Youxin had us prepare our things to leave. When I signed my release papers, I asked the secretary for my release certificate, he said, “I can’t give it to you, it has to be filed.” I asked him for a blank release certificate, but was refused again. Then Qiu Feiyun and Xiao Li gave us some travel money. I said, “Twenty yuan is not enough. I won’t be able to go back.” Qiu then said, “That’s not our problem. If it is not enough just walk back.” He refused to give any more money and said, “If we find out that you join the activities of the evil religion South China Church, we will arrest you and will not be so nice to you again.” I then inquired about the things that were confiscated. He said, “Find the person who took the things from you, it’s not me.” I then asked the Director of the Detention Centre, Shen Mingjin, he said, “Your things were not taken by us and you still want money! What about your living costs here?” We then wanted him to write out a receipt, he said, “We do not give receipts here.” Later, when I was released a sister gave me 10 yuan. It was only in this way that I managed to get back to Hechang.
I was arrested on the 2nd of August and released on the 13th of August. I was in custody for 11 days.
                                         Liu Nian (in my own hand)
20 August 2005
Note: Dong Haiyan (Code name : Liu Nian).  Main name: Dong Tongfu. Female, Han Chinese, 20 years old. Live in Henan, Puyang city. She joined gospel ministry team in 2001.