How the Masanjia Labour Camp Tries to Destroy the Human Spirit

While the guards at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp brutally persecute Falun Gong practitioners, the media propaganda of the Chinese ruling Party dubs Masanjia as, "A special campus for purifying the spirit." The following report explores how they are actually destroying the human spirit in a most vicious and horrifying manner.

On December 9th, 2002, Liaoning Province organised a so-called "Assistance-Through-Reeducation Task Force" composed of agents from "610 Offices" and Public Security Bureaus of all Liaoning Province cities, and collaborators [former practitioners who, under pressure of persecution and brainwashing, yielded to give up their belief and assist in the persecution]. The task force was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp to torture steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. Day and night for more than a month, practitioners were shown propaganda videos defaming Falun Gong, in a systematic attempt to brainwash them.

During the "SWAT Team Campaign [against practitioners]," no work was carried out in the labour camp, and the place was tightly sealed, with no one admitted from the outside. The guards threw posters with the portrait of the founder of Falun Gong on the ground in all of the prison cells and tied practitioners up, dragging them over to step on the posters. They used every possible means to torture practitioners: long-term sleep deprivation, the Tiger Bench torture, shocking with electric batons, beatings, kicking, forceful body bending, suspension by handcuffs, exposure to freezing temperatures, and forced long-term squatting. Practitioners were also confined to bathrooms for extended periods of time, where they had to live and take their meals; they were also frequently tied up and suspended in the bathrooms. The "Assistance-Through-Reeducation Task Force" left the camp on December 27th, 2002. Masanjia Forced Labour Camp continued their "SWAT Team Campaign" until March 2003.

During the "SWAT Team Campaign" many steadfast practitioners became disabled or were driven to a state of mental collapse from the abuse and cruel tortures inflicted by the prison guards. Some practitioners died shortly after they were released. Still, Jiang's regime calls the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp a national model for the rest of the country to emulate.

In mid-October 2003, Masanjia started another round of their "SWAT Team Campaign." In November 2003 Liaoning Province convened a meeting of people from all city-level "610 Offices" and Public Security Bureaus in the Masanjia Labour Camp conference room. On December 5th, the "Assistance-Through-Reeducation Task Force" came to Masanjia again. Falun Gong practitioners suffered heightened torture and harassment, until the team left at the end of December. Among the torture and abuse, practitioners were forced to work with toxic materials. Many practitioners suffered headaches, dizziness, vomiting, allergies, sore eyes, festering skin, nasal bleeding and breathing problems.

The following examples detail several cases of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners:

Song Guixiang, 40, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 1 of Brigade No. 1. Prison guard Xue Feng and brigade leader Wang Xiaofeng tortured her. From the beginning of 2002 to the end of 2003, during the "SWAT Team Campaign," prison guards and collaborators suspended Song Guixiang in the air for four days and four nights. She could not use the toilet, and subsequently suffered problems with her bowels and bladder. Ms. Song was also tied up with her legs in the lotus position for 24 hours, causing her to become physically disabled. No one helped her to use the toilet, so she had to inch forward while in the sitting position. While Song Guixiang was using the toilet, collaborator Li Guiqin (60, living in Caoyang District) cursed her. Song replied, "You hung me up for four days and four nights, bound with ropes!" With that, Li Guiqin kicked her and said, "Say that again!" After that day, prison guard Xue Feng and other prison staff locked Song Guixiang up on the first floor and deprived her of sleep. As a result of such prolonged physical and mental abuse, she suffered uncontrollable drooling, tremors in her hands, and inability to stand. She was shut in a small confinement cell on a Tiger Bench. Ms Song had scars and bruises all over her body after she was released from the cell.

Liu Yanwen, 40, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 3 of Brigade No. 1. The prison guard who persecuted her was Huang Haiyan. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" in December of 2002, Liu Yanwen was suspended with her feet off the ground. She was not allowed to sleep for more than two months. Her detention term was extended by six months. Ms. Liu was detained in Masanjia for two or three years. She was shut in a tiny, stuffy cell, and forced to sit on a Tiger Bench. Liu Yanwen was frequently dragged and beaten because she resisted the persecution. She was released at the beginning of 2004.

Huang Guifen, 40, from Fuxin, was detained originally in Masanjia Squad No. 2 of Brigade No. 1 and later transferred to Squad No. 1. Prison guard Xue Feng put her in a small, windowless cell and on a Tiger bench. After she was released from the cell, her legs and feet were swollen and misshapen. From the end of 2002 to the beginning of 2003 during the "SWAT Team Campaign," Huang Guifen was not allowed to sleep. Prison guards and collaborators suspended her in the air, which resulted in her becoming disabled, with two broken arms. Then she was shut in a cell on the first floor under the charge of a collaborator. Ms. Huang was released in the latter half of 2003.

Zhang Yuxia, about 70, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 3 of Brigade No. 1. Her persecutors were prison guard Huang Haiyan and brigade leader Wang Xiaofeng. Because she was determined in her belief in Falun Dafa, prison guards locked her into a tiny, stuffy cell and put her on a Tiger bench. In September of 2002, during the "SWAT Team Campaign," Zhang Yuxia was tied up with her legs in the lotus position while collaborators kicked her and dragged her around. She was not allowed to sleep for two months. Because of this abuse, Ms Zhang's eyes couldn't stop tearing for more than two months.

Tian Li, in her 30s, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 5 of Brigade No. 1. Zhang Chunguang was the prison guard in charge. Tian Li and another practitioner were detained in an interrogation room, where two prison guards and a collaborator tried to strip off their clothes. Ms Tian suffered severe bruises on her abdomen while protesting. She could not eat for months, and became too weak to get out of bed. Tian Li was emaciated and became so weak that her relatives had to carry her out of the labour camp when she was finally released in May of 2003.

Wang Yan, in her 30s, from Dalian, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 6 of Brigade No. 1. Prison guard Ren Hongzan instigated collaborators Li Shufen, Liu Zhenhua, Liu Yang, and Song Yunxia to harass her. Ms. Wang was often beaten to the point where her eyes and face became terribly swollen. She was handcuffed to a three-foot bench in a triangular room for two months. Her hands were bruised and scarred all over from the handcuffing, and she was driven to a state of mental collapse by the barbaric brutality. When she ate food, the collaborators would not allow her to eat; when she became so confused that she did not know to eat food, they would mock her, saying that she had a mouth but could not eat. Ms. Wang was force-fed with water-soaked noodles and rice mixed with garlic, and was forced to live and eat in a toilet room for more than a month. After prison guards shocked her with electric batons, they covered her face so that others could not see the injuries. Wang Yan was very pretty before, but after these brutal abuses and torture, she was disfigured. Ms. Wang died a few days after she was released in September of 2003.

Sun Changjun, in her 30s, from Anshan, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 1 of Brigade No. 1. Squad leader and prison guard Xue Feng frequently tied her up and handcuffed her. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" of 2002, Ms. Sun was severely abused: she was deprived of sleep and shut in a tiny cell even though she could not eat due to frequent stomachaches. She became terribly pale. Sun Changjun was locked in a cell on the first floor. She was released in 2003 due to severe health problems caused by the torture.

Zhou Huimin, in her 50s, was detained in Masanjia Squad No. 1 of Brigade No. 1. Because she protested against the persecution, the squad leader, prison guard Xue Feng frequently beat, cursed and handcuffed her. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" of 2002, Ms. Zhou was deprived of sleep, forced to squat motionless day and night; and not even permitted to walk. Around March and April of 2003, the prison guards forced her into a toilet room to be exposed to brainwashing propaganda, or else face torture. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" in December of 2003, Xue Feng ordered four collaborators to drag Ms. Zhou to a clothes-drying area, where they brutally beat her with big wooden sticks.

Li Guijie, in her 40s, is from Jinzhou. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" in December of 2002, prison guards threw her into a tiny cell, stripped her down to a thin undershirt and pants, and forced her onto the Tiger Bench in the cold cell for three consecutive days and nights without sleep. Ms. Li is currently still detained in Masanjia.

Wang Yunjie, in her 40s, from Dalian, was detained in Squad No. 2 of Brigade No. 1 with Shi Yan as squad leader. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" in December of 2002, the "Help-Through-Reeducation Task Force" operators took her to the General Building to be tortured for six consecutive days and nights. One day in 2003, Ms. Wang was ordered out of the room and several prison guards beat her brutally. Wang Yunjie was released only because her health was deteriorating from the torture.

Liu Baohong, in her 20s or 30s, from Dalian, was held in Masanjia Squad No. 6 of Brigade No. 1, under the persecution of prison guard Ren Hongzan. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" in December of 2002, she was deprived of sleep and subjected to forced brainwashing. Later they transferred her to the first floor, and cruelly forced her to maintain the second Falun Gong exercise position (two arms holding the Falun) for a whole day while they shocked her hands with electric batons. After she fainted and fell to the ground, a collaborator then tied her up with her legs in the lotus position. Ms. Liu was tortured in this way for more than a month, and then she was dragged into a toilet room, where she was kept for more than two months. Later Ms. Liu was transferred to Squad No. 4, whose leader was a prison guard by the surname of Cui. During the "SWAT Team Campaign" in 2003, Ms Liu was deprived of sleep for an extended period. She continues to be detained in Masanjia.