Inside the Labour Camps

  • Tyranny in Chongqing Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Ms. Tang Suzhen is over 60 years old. When she was incarcerated in Chongqing Women's Forced Labour camp in 2005 she was locked up in a confined space, forced to squat for long periods of time, and stand in "military postures" for extended periods of time. Guards Hu Xiaoyan and Chen Yanyan instigated drug addicts Luo Deying, Zhao Qin and others to beat her, curse at her, tell her lies, force her to stand in the hot sun, physically punish her, add unknown drugs to her food, and only allow her to sleep for two to three hours a day. After two months of such torture she had become emaciated, her feet were so swollen that they wouldn't fit in her shoes, and she couldn't concentrate. During this time she was not permitted to see her family.
  • Escalation of the Persecution of Practitioners in Masanjia Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Female Falun Gong practitioners held in Masanjia were pressured to write repentance statements giving up Falun Gong. Some of the guards wrote the statements themselves and then tried to force the practitioners to copy them and read them in front of other practitioners. They would count this as a real repentance statement written by the practitioners themselves. The women who refused to do that were tortured. One from Beijing was tortured so severely that she could no longer straighten up and had to remain so far bent over that she was almost touching the ground. Ms. Li Jinqiu was forced to keep her legs fully stretched out on either side for a very long time. She ended up crippled.
  • Falun Gong Practitioners Tortured to the Point of Mental Collapse in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

    Ms. Wang Shuxia and I were in the same cell at Diaobing Detention Centre in 1999. She was a kind and beautiful young lady. After she was taken to Masanjia, she was mentally disoriented upon returning home. Officials from the Diaobing Police Station were well aware that she was mentally traumatised, but they still sentenced her again to Masanjia for two years. Within two days after arriving at Masanjia, she was tortured to death. Ms. Su Juzhen was mentally traumatised. I saw the scars on her body and heard her screaming as she was being beaten with electric batons. She could no longer recognise anyone. Masanjia caused her death as well.
  • Falun Gong Practitioners Beaten and Forced to Take Unknown Drugs in Jiangsu Women's Forced Labour Camp

    I have witnessed the cruelty and ruthlessness of the guards in that forced labour camp. Practitioner Ms. Zhang Fengying was healthy before the persecution. While she was in a forced labour camp, guards claimed she had high blood pressure and forced her to take drugs, which afterwards resulted in open sores on her skin. Other practitioners became swollen after taking the same drug. The guards still ordered the drug offenders to administer the drug. Ms. Zhang Yuhua, a physician, was tortured with the "flying the airplane" technique in the yard. They also grabbed her by her hair and hit her head on the floor, pinched her neck, and kicked her, resulting in many scars on her neck.
  • Persecution and Forced Labour at the Chongqing Women's Forced Labour Camp

    The labour camp subjects practitioners to forced labour. The older practitioners are sent to the sweet shop to wrap sweets, and have to meet a high hourly quota. In December 2009, camp guards raised the quota again, adding one jin (1 jin = 1.1 pound) to the hourly quota. The practitioners who are 45 years of age and younger must wrap ten jin of sweets every hour. The practitioners who are 46 to 60 years of age must wrap nine jin. Practitioners who are 61 to 65 years of age must wrap 6 jin, and practitioners who are 66 years of age or older must wrap five jin per hour. If one misses the quota by nine hours in one week, she is forced to sit upright for two hours every night as punishment if she is over 60 years old, forced to stand for two hours every night if she's younger than 60 years old.
  • Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Liu Ying and Others Being Persecuted in Shanxi Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Shanxi Women's Forced Labour Camp detains many Falun Gong practitioners. The guards torture them and force them to do labour. The ventilation in the workshops is poor. The glue they use is poisonous. The team leader wears an anti-poison respirator while Falun Gong practitioners wear ordinary white masks. Falun Gong practitioners are deprived of sleep over a long period of time. They only sleep for five and a half hours a day. They are forced to sit on small stools and are not allowed to talk to each other. They are restricted on the times to go to the toilet. They are forced to listen to recordings that slander Falun Gong; the recordings are played very loudly. Falun Gong practitioners are tortured physically and mentally.
  • The Brutal Persecution of Practitioners in the Hebei Province No. 1 Forced Labour Camp

    On January 1st, 2009, in Hebei Province's No. 1 Forced Labour Camp, practitioners resisted body searches and any harassment. Guard Wang Wenping took practitioner Ms. Wang Weiyue to an office, slapped her face more than ten times, and tied her to a torture chair for four days and nights. All the practitioners were brutally tortured. Ms. Bai Fengyu and Ms. Ren Shufen were tied to the torture chair for two days and one night. Ms. Zheng Baohua was tied to that chair for five days and nights. Other practitioners were made to stand in the extremely cold corridor from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp Brutally Tortures Ms. Feng Xiaomei

    Ms. Feng Xiaomei was arrested in May 2009 and detained at Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. In the camp Ms. Feng did not acknowledge the "transformation" attempts nor make any statements defaming Falun Gong. Guard Liu Ziwei yelled at her, "I will torture you so that you will feel worse than death." After that, Ms. Feng was deprived of family visits, showers, and access to the toilet. Despite her poor physical condition, guards forced her to do labour with other inmates. By then, she was very weak and there had been blood in her faeces for several months. But the guards still forced her to make more than 500 file folders every day, a workload that even a healthy person could hardly finish. If she did not finish, the entire group was deprived of rest and forced to stand. Every day after work, Ms. Feng was exhausted and could barely walk.
  • Practitioners Beaten in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

    From the summer of 2007 to July 2008, more than one hundred practitioners from Beijing were sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Zou Shuqin, in her 50's, was one of them. Her original sentence had expired in Beijing, but because of the Beijing Olympics, five practitioners were transferred to Masanjia and forced to serve another six months. In 2008, whilst in Masanjia, Ms. Zou had shouted "Falun Gong is good" in the dining hall and was quickly dragged out. She was taken to the fourth floor, where she was shocked with electric batons, brutally beaten and kicked. Ms. Zou was hung up off the ground for a long period of time before being taken back to her cell. At about 11 p.m. that evening, Ms. Zou had a severe headache and started to vomit. She was then sent to the clinic.
  • Yinmahe Labour Camp in Jilin Province Subjects Practitioners to Brutal Torture and Hard Labour

    While Mr. Yang Xingli was in the labour camp he was assigned to the "isolation division" where Falun Gong practitioners were closely monitored and brutally tortured. In order to force him to write the "four statements" promising to give up his Falun Gong practice, the guards first made him sit on a small bench for extended periods of time. At night, detainees assigned to monitor him showered him with fists and kicks. Seeing that he was not moved, they used sewing needles to prick his whole body, leaving needle pricks everywhere. The guards also beat Mr. Yang savagely on numerous occasions, three times being the worst.
  • Older Practitioner Ms. Wang Quanhua Subjected to Three Years of Forced Labour

    Guards at Guizhou Province Women's Forced Labour Camp have mentally tormented and physically harmed Ms. Wang Quanhua for three years. The camp is a hell on earth. She was placed in a dark cell and guarded by a dozen drug offenders who took turns monitoring her around the clock. Ms. Wang was forced to stand straight and still at all times. A tiny movement would result in her being beaten and kicked. Ms. Wang developed swollen legs from standing so long.
  • The Persecution of Practitioners in Handan City Forced Labour Camp, Hebei Province

    A typical day in Handan City Forced Labour Camp starts at 6:00 a.m. After washing, the forced labour of making wreaths begins and doesn't stop until 9:30 p.m. There is almost no break time. The three insubstantial meals include two small buns, a piece of pickled vegetable, and a ladle of thin rice soup for breakfast, two buns with a scoop of bok-choy (Chinese cabbage) soup, sometimes with tree leaves or worms in it, for lunch, and two buns with a scoop of thin rice soup for supper. The food is not enough for anybody. As soon as a refill is announced, the other inmates all run to get more, leaving nothing for Falun Gong practitioners. In addition, the workshop is in the dining hall, and the irritating smell left from the work materials lingers.
  • Women's Forced Labour Camp in Shandong Tortures Falun Gong Practitioners

    Ms. Li Mengting, 45, was once detained for three years at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. She was arrested by police and sentenced to two years of forced labour for distributing Falun Gong fliers on a train and is detained at the Jinan City First Women's Forced Labour Camp. The guards tried to trick her into giving up her practice of Falun Gong. When that failed, they started beating her brutally and depriving her of sleep. When she went on a hunger strike to protest, the camp guards tied her on a "death bed" and left her there for over fifty days. They force-fed her with a tube fixed at the end of the bed. She was not released from the bed until she was on the verge of death and mentally deranged. She was coerced into writing a guarantee statement to give up practising Falun Gong.
  • Practitioners Tortured with "Carrying a Sword on the Back"

    "Carrying a sword on the back" is one of the cruellest methods employed for torturing practitioners. The guards first pull the practitioner's hand behind his back by pulling his hand over the top of the shoulder of the same hand. They then pull the other hand up from the lower back. The wrists are then handcuffed together. Although most people who are tortured like this feel extreme pain in less than twenty minutes, practitioners are forced to stay in this position for up to four hours.
  • Practitioners Treated Like Slaves in Benxi Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province

    Guards in Benxi City Forced Labour Camp not only brainwash and torture practitioners but also force them to perform strenuous hard labour to produce products for the camp. Practitioners are forced to straighten diodes by hand. They have sticky chemical substances on them which is harmful to the labourers' health. Practitioners have a quota of 40 boxes of diodes per week. The practitioners have to straighten the diodes in the early morning and later are forced to take brainwashing classes. From noon to 9 p.m., the practitioners are forced to straighten diodes. The practitioners have to earn 30,000 yuan for the camp each year.