(Minghui.org) My name is Tong Yueying. I was a professor at Jilin University, in the College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, for 32 years. Due to my belief in Falun Gong, I lost my job, my happy family, and suffered humiliation and torture in a forced labor camp.

Forced Divorce

After the Chinese Communist Party started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, I went to Beijing in January 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong's reputation, and inform the government that the persecution policy was wrong. For this I was arrested and escorted back to Changchun, Jilin Province, and held in Daguang Detention Center for 15 days. I spent the Chinese New Year holiday there.

I was a core faculty member in the department, and a candidate for leadership positions in the university. Because I did not want to renounce my belief, as the authorities demanded, I was removed from my position of department chair, disallowed to teach, and became a janitor.

My husband was pressured by his and my workplaces to divorce me. Out of threats of a demotion, pay cuts, and termination, he divorced me in March 2000.

Injected With Unknown Drugs

Prior to the legislative sessions of the Chinese Communist Party in April 2000, I was taken to Tiebei Detention Center, only because several Falun Gong books were found at my home. I was locked up with death row prisoners.

A month later, I was charged with “disturbing social order,” and sent to Jilin Women's Forced Labor Camp to serve a one-year term.

Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were detained there. We all appealed our cases, but were severely tortured. Some were tortured with electric batons, and became incontinent.

The prison guards said publicly, “[Our] Killing you is treated as [your committing] suicide, [and then you are] immediately cremated.”

We resorted to a collective hunger strike to protest the torture. The guards then force-fed us on “death beds,” on which victims are tied up spread-eagle. Blood often squirted out of our noses and lips during the torture. The guards also ordered prisoners to scratch my face, and these scars remain today.

Li Hong, Sun Mingyan, and several guards once forcibly gave me an injection. One guard said, “This shot will ruin your practice.” I still don't know what the drug was.

A practitioner's mother came to visit her and saw the cafeteria staff adding white powder onto the food. She asked what it was, and was told, “I don't know what the drug is. I just follow orders from supervisors.”

Family Implicated

My father Tong Xin and my mother Jin Min also practiced Falun Gong. They were in their seventies when they were arrested on September 29, 1999, and detained for seven days. The local police often harassed them, which filled their lives with fear.

While I was in the forced labor camp, my child was not taken care of and could not go to school. My parents and siblings were in tears every day. My mother passed away in February 2002.

Forced “Transformation”

On top of the forced divorce, my workplace withheld my salary. Therefore, I lost my source of income. Under such huge duress, I was close to breaking down. Against my will, I wrote a statement denouncing Falun Gong. My case was then used as a typical “transformation” example. I was forced to do more things that were opposite of what a practitioner should do.

Li Guanghui, deputy director of the Jilin Province 610 Office, along with Huang from the Provincial Security Bureau, spoke to me before my release. They said they could help me with any difficulty, even illegal things, but said if they found out I was practicing Falun Gong again, they would kill me.

They also restricted me from leaving China for the next ten years, fearing their crimes would be exposed. The 610 Office has used my forced “transformation” to defame Falun Gong for years, hence deceiving countless people.

I deeply regret my mistake, and I have since lived in tremendous pain and struggle. I made a declaration on the Minghui website to resume my practice of Falun Gong on January 7, 2011. I would also like to extend my sincere apology to those who were affected by me, and I hope you will not believe the Party's propaganda.