Testimony of sister Gao Tongwei

China Aid Association
The mission we have received from the Lord is to proclaim the gospel to the end of the earth. To do that, there must be workers. So our church has adopted a method to train the workers. All these years our church has been doing this. This has become a focus since 1986. The church wouldn’t decide if to hold trainings or not by the number of the workers or the situations. It is a must for the church at present. Therefore, the church has never stopped this work. However, Satan attacks us wherever there are trainings going on. Sometimes the government also persecuted us and scattered us. In 1999, God called on about 90 young brothers and sisters to devote themselves to the missionary works. The church gathered them together and held trainings for them. There were too many of them, so they were divided into two classes. I was a teacher of theology for Class 2, and my name is Gao Tongwei. Here sitting beside me is my ex-student. (The student said, “My name is Tang Fang. I was a student of theology of Class 2, in the year 1999.”) They registered on January 26th. Class 2 studied at a reception house in Linji, Yingzhong, Zhongxiang City. In   the third month, when we almost got down to decide on sending them on mission, a nephew of the reception family called Wang Rongzhong came to the house and found us. He was a policeman at Huangzhuangshuilu Police Department. He said nothing to us. But the second day, he told some people to come to the house, and surrounded us. (Question: what time was it?) It was about 9 a.m. On April 5th, 1999, we were studying theology on the second floor. As we were reading the genealogy of Jesus attentively, these men broke in all of a sudden and said, “Freeze!” The students were all very young and were ignorant of this kind of things. Some were scared, and some were in a panic, and yet some hid the books, Bibles, notebooks and so on in the hay sacks.
Those men asked the students were they were from, their names and age. Then they said that we were to go for some questioning. They lied to us, “It’s just a couple of questions. You can come back after that.” Then they told the students to go downstairs. There were several older ones, and the cops were afraid they might run away. So these older students were dragged along the way at the end of the team. I wanted to go amongst them, but I was held back to the rear too. Another ten students followed me. When we got down, we were escorted to a car. There was another one, which had been filled with our people. 43 students were caught besides me. There was another teacher of theology in the house. She had been preparing for the lessons when the noise was heard. She shut the door instantly, and pulled the key off. She had no way out. Those cops kicked on the door and demanded the hostess of the reception house to open it. This hostess we called aunt said she didn’t have the key. As they kicked on the door, the son of the family came back. He said, “It’s my room. There’s nothing in it worth looking.” The cops let it be. Or else she couldn’t escape either. These students were all very innocent. They had been undertaking the trainings for two months, and were extremely zealous for the Lord. We had been talking about Hudson Taylor, who came to China and talked about how 250 thousand people would be dead without knowing God in a week, and 12 million in a year in China. The zeal to find lost souls was in the students as well. As they were escorted away, they were still singing, “I don’t live for myself! I live for the Lord. I’m carrying the sacred mission€¦” And “God, give me a willing heart to love China” The cars went along the road. The students were singing and crying. Some in the front car waved to those in the other car. Their singings drew the attention of people in the street. They all came close to look at what kind of people we were. The cars arrived at Huangzhuangshuilu Police Department. The cops there told the students to get off. I was the last one; so I tried to escape when no one was paying attention. Three people saw me and came after me. Seeing I ran away, all of the students started to run. The cops were shouting, “Like cattle, these freaks.” They shut the gate, so no one could escape. I was caught by those three men. Later I tried again to run away, but was taken back again. They then had me handcuffed, saying, “Behave yourself! How dare you to run? They would all run when you do!”
I was taken to an office. There was a very young brother (a student) in the room, who was handcuffed too. They interrogated the brothers and sisters, saying that according to the law, Chinese citizens under 18 years old should not believe in Jesus. Some of them were under 18. As the executive department of the law, the police department should offer them advice, I thought, but those cops did nothing like that to us Christians. All I heard was them shouting at the students. From where I was, I could see a sister being questioned. She was asked many things. I could hear nothing, for I was kind of far away. I could see the cops smashing at the tables and chairs, forcing her to talk. Later we were shut in together. She told me that the cops threatened her, trying to force her to speak about many things. She refused. The cops said, “Are you talking or not? If you don’t, we’ll burn your nose with the boiling water.” She stood up and lifted her head, saying, “Let’s see you do it.” Those people did grab the thermos and were about to pour it on her. But somehow they didn’t. They just showered curses upon her instead. One of them smashed at the table. She was frightened by the bang. A sister from Zhongchaihu was still a teenager. They beat her brutally with a big club till she passed out. Then they poured cold water on her to make her come back to herself. She hasn’t recovered even today. A sister from Chongqing was also abused brutally. They hit her hard in the face with big clubs. Her face was all red and swollen.
Tang Fang: That sister was but fourteen. After they beat her, I saw her face was swollen and asked her what had happened. She said, “They said I was ugly like a pig, and that they would beat me to death, put me in a sack, and throw me into the river.” I said, “Did you cry?” She said, “I wouldn’t cry in their face, no matter how hard they struck me.” She was very young, but had an intimate relationship with the Lord. She hadn’t thought that it was a bad thing to believe in the Lord. On the contrary, her faith became stronger. The students were locked up in one place, while I was set outside, handcuffed. I was slightly older than them, and they would tell me whatever they got in mind. Seeing them so innocent and zealous for the Lord, I just wanted to hold them in my arms.
Gao Tongwei: After I had been questioned, those people called me over. Then they handcuffed me from behind to an iron bar. Another sister was handcuffed to a rail of the staircase. She wanted to use the bathroom, but those people wouldn’t let her go. (She was handcuffed from behind too.) She called out to them to undo the handcuffs and let her go to the bathroom. Those people laughed at her and said ugly things to her, “Pee in your pants!” The students were all very gloomy. Seeing that we were all shut in, they knew that it was not just something simple. We were abused brutally, so we all went on a hunger strike to protest.
We were angry at what the police were doing to us illegally. The Chinese law said that the citizens had freedom to believe. We had done nothing wrong. Even when we were taken away in the cars, the villagers nearby tried to stop them, saying, “These folks are not doing anything bad. We are not bothered either. What do you arrest them for?” The neighbors were our witnesses. We were protesting against their shutting us in. They said, “You don’t want to eat? Get starved then!” We had the Lord with us; we didn’t feel hungry. What had happened made us too gloomy to eat anything anyway. There were more than ten brothers locked in the room next to ours, while the tens of sisters were locked in the other. There was only a wall between us. The students began to sing A Chinese Heart, Onward, Christian Soldiers, I Don’t Live for Myself, and Therefore We Do Not Lose Heart, the lines of which were from 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18. We sang and cried and sang some more. We felt that we could express the genuine love the students had with each other and their teacher with the singing. As a teacher of theology, I looked at hem, and remembered the plan to send them on mission and their innocent mind, as well as persecutions from the police all these years. I thought about many things. I knew that many students would be sent back to their hometowns, and many others would be imprisoned. The students of Class 2 might never get together again. I was heartbroken to think about this. On the second day of our hunger strike, at about 4 p.m., the produced a paper and demanded us to sign. We got no idea what kind of paper it was. So we asked, “What is it?” They said, “Sign it, and we’ll let you go.” We said, “We would like to read it first.” The handwriting was terrible, and some characters were intelligible. We asked them to read it to us. They said, “Sign it, and you’ll be released after two weeks.” We said, “Why should we sign for this?” I protested and refused to sign. Seeing that I said no, the students also said no. Liu Congzheng and some other people pushed me out, seeing that the students were following me. After getting me out, Liu Congzheng said, “You’ll have to sign today!” I wouldn’t. Those people said, “You won’t? You’ll be dead if you won’t!” A person gave me a hard kick, and sent me lying on the ground. They still pressed on me to sign. Then the sisters were demanded to sign too. There was a sister called Li Fen, who refused to sign. Two cops held her, each from one side, and a third one grabbed her hair. They twisted her arm to her back, and another person pulled at her hair and pushed her to the ground. The brothers, who had been told that they were to be sent to the lockup, were put to a corner.
Tang Fang: I didn’t know we were to be abused at the lockup. The first day, they interrogated me and beat me, especially burning me with cigarettes and fire, and pour boiling water on me. Later they picked out the younger ones and were going to send them away. The elder ones were told to sign. It was not that we simply refuse to sign, but we wanted to know what the paper was all about. If we did anything against the law, we would sign. But we were told to sign without being informed what for. They picked one sister out to make an example out of her. She refused their request, asking to read first what it was. They wouldn’t show it to her. On the contrary, they pulled her hair, threw her to the ground, trampled on her, and gave her blows. We were all indignant at his. They were executors of the law! We were still young; shouldn’t they speak to us and give us advice instead? But all they did was beat us and threaten us. In the interrogations the day before, we had been beaten for a day. Qiaoying and Xiaoyan were only fourteen. We were really mad that those people should beat them like that. They were not behaving like executors of the law at all. We all rushed forward to rescue that sister from their brutal blows. Seeing that we were coming at them, he was frightened and said, “What do you want? What do you want?” He had no idea that we young folks should be that courageous. As a result, we were separated and called up one by one to sign. They struck us with clubs right in our faces. We were not scared though, for we knew what we were doing. It was clear that we had done nothing against the law. They said that I had broken the law, but we knew we didn’t. It was written in the Chinese laws that the citizens had freedom to believe. The teacher of theology was the first one to be called out, and she was brutally beaten. When it was my turn, I still refused to sign. I said, “You are executors of the law; we are common folks. You should speak to us with sensible words. If we have broken the law, we are willing to go to jail. But we have to understand what the paper says.” A young policeman, thin and tall, said to me, “You are all idiots and scoundrels. It is simply a waste of time to speak to you. There’s no sense to it!” I put my hands behind my back. He pulled at my hands, but still I refused. He slapped me across the face three times. After we were brought back, we were told to go out and sign one after another. But still not everybody signed. Then 6 brothers and 9 sisters were taken to the lockup. After that, the teacher of theology said, “Would you please€¦I’d like to see€¦” She turned her head to the cells of the other fellow believers. Liu Congzheng said, “What are you doing?” She said, “I would like to see my students. Is that OK?” He said, “Out of the question!” He grabbed her hair, and knocked her head on the wall. We could see that her head was black and blue and all swollen. A man gave her blows right on the head. We were taken by force into the lockup.
Gao Tongwei: I was to be separated from the others, for I was the teacher of theology. The fifteen of us were to be sent to the lockup. I really wanted to have a glance at my students. But Liu Congzheng stopped me, and beat me. There was a brother called Wu Peng from Yingcheng, who thought that Liu was going too far. He said, “You guys are so mean.” Liu gave him a blow, and blood gushed out. I handed him a piece of paper to wipe off the blood. Then we were taken to the No.1 Prison of Zhongxiang City in several cars. Among the forty odd students, over 20 were in the lockup, and 6 brothers and 9 sisters in the No.1 Prison of Zhongxiang City. After we got there, those people tried all that they could to force us give up our Christian belief. Liu Congzheng was one of the team dealing with the case. He had interrogated the fifteen of us. When the brothers first got in there, they were frisked with their clothes stripped off. They were beaten too, we heard. It was a common thing to be abused by the inmates. They suffered a lot. Sometimes they were mean to us, and sometimes coaxing us. All they wanted was to make us give up our Christian belief. A woman official called Zhou said, “You can give other people haircut, can’t you? You can make a better living out there for sure! As long as you say that you don’t believe in Jesus anymore, we’ll let you go at once.” But how could we forsake our faith? We knew the Lord is good, and the faith is good. It could bring people joy and peace. We had experienced the Lord’s might in the Holy Spirit. We knew He loves the human kind. We were willing to share the Good News with other people. That was why we evangelized. If we didn’t think Christianity was good, we wouldn’t have devoted ourselves to the gospel. They did all they could to “talk sense” into us, and gave the students a lot of pressure.
Tang Fang: On arriving at the lockup, we were told to sign. We refused, and they said, “You won’t? We’ll lock you here for ten years and see to it that you become spinsters!” We weren’t scared, and insisted that we wouldn’t sign. As a result, they beat us. We said we couldn’t sign. They replied that they would teach us how. We were like meat under the chopper. After we signed, we were shut in. Our buttons were cut off, and we were frisked with no clothes on. On the first day we were interrogated one by one. Most time it was Liu Congzheng who interrogated us; he would come each day.
Gao Tongwei: They said, “After you sign it, we’ll let you go in two weeks.” As it turned out, it was not until over a month later that they released some of us. We were sent off one by one. In the end there were three of us: we two and another sister. We refused to tell them our names and addresses. We were together in one cell, while the other sister in another. We two agreed that we won’t tell them our names and addresses, as long as she was still there. If she was released, we would tell them; it was no big deal. After about three months, the three of us were put in together. So we planned on what we would do. It had been over three months; they might sentence us to one year at the most, we thought. So we just refused to talk to them. It was God’s time to act, I guess. He did listen to our prayers. He used a wonderful way to rescue us. About the fourth months I was shut in, I fell ill all of a sudden. My face, feet, legs and the entire body was swollen. I just saw my feet grew swollen. I didn’t even realize I was ill. I was still wondering how come I grew bigger. In just a couple of days I was so sick that I couldn’t even take care of myself. The other two sisters asked the officials to get a doctor for me. The other inmates in the lockup also mentioned it to the officials, saying, “We got someone really sick here, and you won’t even do anything for her?” We asked for ginger to rub on my back so that I could sweat a little, but the officials refused. In the end I couldn’t even use the bathroom or eat meals. I barely had the strength to move a spoon. The other inmates all got scared at this sight. Then they called for Liu Congzheng, saying, “See? We got a really sick person here.” He asked, “What’s your problem?” I said, “I’m sick.” Seeing that I was almost dying, the officials took me to a hospital to be examined. I asked them what was wrong with me, but they wouldn’t tell me. I couldn’t escape anyway; I couldn’t even stand. I was carried upstairs and then downstairs. I just heard from a voice far away that if it grew more serious, I would have to receive an operation to get another kidney. The doctors didn’t tell me the truth either. After I got back, I was given no medicine or treatments. I just heard people in charge of the prison affairs, the superintendent, Liu Congzheng and Ms. Zhou, who was supervising us whispering together. I was put into a sitting position in a corner. I guessed that they were discussing if they should let me go. The next day, after I had had breakfast, at about 9:30, Liu Congzheng came and called us to the outside. The officials shouted at me, “Are you afraid that you won’t be able to pay for the expenses? Tell your folks to pick you up then. Look at you, sick like this. You can’t even stand up!” I said yes, that I had become useless to them. Liu Congzheng said, “Never mind. If you still refuse to tell us your name and address, we’ll drag you to a mountain in Kedian (Kedian Township, Zhongxiang City) and dump you in the forest.” They just didn’t want to take the responsibility. Then they asked us to sign a paper of release, so that we could go. I was a village girl; I had no idea about the laws in China. It was not until I got out that I knew even a person in a lockup could be treated for her illness for free. But those people€¦When I was put in there, I was healthy. Then I was tortured till dying. Even those fellow inmates said that they were just shirking the responsibility and wouldn’t take me to the doctor. After the examination, at about 10 a.m., we were asked to sign. Then we asked those people, “What about the other one in the cell?” Liu Congzheng said, “It’s not your business.” I couldn’t walk, so they took me in a car to a bus stop, and left us there. That was the end of the dealings with us, they would say.
Tang Fang: Before they caught the teacher of theology, they took me for her, for I was slightly older. They were very hard on me and watched over everything I did. Then I was separated from the teacher of theology. In one cell on the other side, there were just several young sisters. They all aged less then 20. Later I was put into the same cell with the teacher of theology. They interrogated from the other side first. When Liu Congzheng and other people interrogated them, they cheated and coaxed them. Our brothers and sisters were young and honest and inexperienced. The church had sent us some stuff like towels, toothbrushes, and bowls. Liu Congzheng and other cops lied to us, “We bought these for you. See? We do care about you.” But we knew it was the church that sent these to us. There were many of us there, and the church would send us whatever we need, though she herself was in trial. But the cops said that it was them who bought us these things. Some of the brothers and sisters believed them, for they were still very naive. The teacher of theology and I were in the cell where the inmates had been there for a long time. The cops also coaxed us, trying to make us tell them our names and addresses. Actually it didn’t bother us to give them the account, but there was another sister there. We couldn’t just leave her alone in the lockup. On the other hand, if we did tell them, the church members in our hometown might be in trouble too. They had paid a big price to have us out there evangelizing. So we didn’t tell them anything, even when we were about to get out.
Gao Tongwei: We two were released in the middle of August. I couldn’t walk by then, so she carried me out. The other sister’s name was Hu Rong. She didn’t tell them anything about her name or address, and was locked there for another several weeks. In the end, Liu Congzheng said, “Can’t you even give me a false name? I can finish my task even with a false one before I could let you go.” The sister said, “I wouldn’t do that. If you need one, make one up yourself.” In the end the cops put down a false name and address and sent her away. She had been detained for six months, which didn’t damage her faith at all. Now she is in high school and to be graduated. She had been assigned to a very good school to study theology. The two-month’s training and six months in jail increased her understanding about God. After she was released, she asked eagerly to participate in the training for a second time, for she didn’t get to finish the previous one. After the second training, she joined the Gospel Legion. She is still a member today, carrying the mission of the Lord!
Gao Tongwei and Tang Fang
April 7th, 2004