One evening a policeman forced us to kneel down in the corridor. One cadre who came for inspection found out and asked: "Who has punished you like that? Who approved such measures?" The police did not dare to admit to it and immediately had practitioners go back to their cells. When the cadre left, the police again forced us to kneel down in the corridor. We were punished again like this the next day. This was repeated several times.

The Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp founded the Women's Brigade in November 2000. Although it hasn't been in existence very long, its high rate of forcing practitioners to give up their practice of Falun Dafa is well known throughout the country. Frequently, there were authorities from labour camps in surrounding areas that came to learn their techniques for breaking down Falun Gong practitioners and forcing them to renounce their belief. Many steadfast practitioners were transferred here from other forced labour camps in Shijiazhuang City, Tangshan City, and Baoding City in order to intensify the persecution against them.

In Baimalong Labour Camp, you can be tortured in a multitude of ways if you are determined to practise Falun Dafa. After six days, Chen was sent to the medical office for injections. After half a month, the director ordered two officers to watch her in the medical office. According to witnesses, the staff injected glucose, along with a nerve-damaging drug called "Winter Sleep," into Chen's bloodstream. After being injected with this drug, a person will gradually suffer memory loss and will want to sleep all the time. The medical staff injected Chen with small quantities of this drug each day, causing her to slowly become sick, as if she were suffering from a chronic disease. Doctor Lu from the Baimalong medical office is primarily responsible for the harm done to Ms. Chen's health.

In 2002, Dafa practitioner Lu went to Dalian City and was invited to a fellow practitioner's home. She was followed. Police arrested her, her husband and her son. Her husband was sentenced to three years of forced labour; her son to one year of forced labour; her sister-in-law was sentenced to three years of forced labour, and the women practitioners were sent to the Masanjia Labour Camp. It was the cold of winter during her detention at Yaojia Detention Centre in Dalian City. She paid the detention centre 300 Yuan for a quilt and bedcover, but never received them. The extreme cold prevented the 63-year-old woman from sleeping at night. She was also forced to work and sit on the bed in the day. They also physically and mentally tortured her.

"Policeman Li Jing was the orderly officer in charge of forced feeding one day in early July 2002. He required us to make a kind of paste. For each person, there would be 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, half a cucumber, 3 pieces of cabbage and some water. One of us said that Falun Gong practitioners would not be able to stand that since their stomachs were empty [from being on hunger strike]. But Li Jing shouted out ferociously, "They deserve that. Even if it kills them, it doesn't matter." None of us dared to speak out. Li Jing made a subtle threat, saying that we had to follow his orders 'or else,' and then left. The first one coming in was a young man in his 20's. After we fed him the paste, he held his stomach with his hands, and could not stand up nor sit down. His face turned pale, beaded with pea-sized beads of sweat. Seeing him suffering like that, my heart started to give. I started to regret this group of vicious predators and becoming a brutal henchman in the persecution of Falun Gong.

Lanzhou Zhenglin Nongken Food Ltd., in cooperation with Lanzhou Dashaping Detention Centre and Lanzhou No.1 Detention Centre, forced almost 10,000 detainees (including Falun Gong practitioners unlawfully detained after July 1999) to produce "Handpicked Melon Seeds". In the past few years, Lanzhou Zhenglin Nongken Food Ltd. has become the largest producer of roasted seeds and nuts in China, with its sales reaching 460 million yuan. Their main product, Zhenglin Hand-picked Melon Seeds, are exported to places such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, etc. The No. 1 Female Labour Camp in Shandong became the base for Jinan Tianyi Printing Co. Ltd., Detainees in the labour camp stick labels for products like "Beijing Jiangyaling" and "Shuanghe" (two of the trade names).

The Shanxi Province Women's Forced Labour Camp purchased many videos made by the Chinese propaganda to slander Falun Gong. In order to gain praise from their superior, the police desperately enacted the evil policy that was made by former Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin against Falun Gong. The police are getting more and more vicious and hateful toward Dafa practitioners. They have stepped up brainwashing and are resorting to violence constantly. In order to force Dafa practitioners into renouncing their belief, the police torture practitioners in many ways such as beating, electric baton shocking, forced feeding with a stomach tube, being hand cuffed for extended periods, etc. Due to the authorities cover-up of their crimes, the evidence we have is only a small portion of the total crimes that have been committed.

The police had arrested me six times since 1999, and caused my family a great deal of pain. Before the police threw me into the forced labour camp, they forced my husband to divorce me against our will. Hence, I had no home to return to after I was released and I became homeless. Later I moved into my mother's home and stayed with her and my young brother for a short period of time, but the police frequently came and harassed us. Sometimes the police would even break into my mother's home in the middle of the night, causing my mother and brother to live in fear and terror. In addition, the police fired me from work in 1999, because I appealed for Falun Dafa, and thus cut off my income. Later, my former employer granted me 150 yuan every month which was only enough to pay for the most minimal living expenses in the urban area of Jilin City.

From February 17 to March 1 of 2003, an 11-member delegation from the Labour Reeducation Bureau of Shandong Province (including Director Li Tinglu) conducted a survey in ten labour camps in Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province and Shanghai City. The findings of the survey were unveiled in a survey report. According to the report, "The labour camps of these areas have very actively engaged in forced labour production and have made remarkable profits. The forced labour production has not only provided financial support to the labour camps' operation, but has also brought material benefits to the police staff." The labour camps in the three areas "enjoy positive financial status. Personal incomes of police officers are substantially higher than that in Shandong Province. The bonus for each police officer in Shiliping Forced Labour Camp is always about 20,000 yuan every year."

Xinhua Labour Camp is located in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province. Since July 20, 1999, it started to jail large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners. For long periods of time, the Xinhua Labour Camp has been rampantly using severe torture methods. Some prison policemen said openly, "Labour camps should be run just like hell on earth."...The Xinhua Labour Camp is stained with blood, violence and deceit. Inside the heavily guarded gate, lies the darkest place in China.

Cheng Ling, aged 20, from Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, was illegally sentenced to seven years in prison just for preparing Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials. In 2001 when she was only 17 years old, Cheng Ling was thrown into Masanjia Forced Labour Camp for two years. Cheng Ling's mother and elder sister were also sent to this same camp to be persecuted. Her mother is still in detention there. Her father was also detained illegally many times...Cheng Guanghui's son was just 13 years old in 1999. He was a terrified witness to the arrest of all his family members, leaving no one to take care of him. He was emotionally devastated.

Practitioners have to endure forced hard labour beyond the tolerable limit. The major task is to fabricate and sew car seat cushions, which makes the practitioners' hands swollen. Another task is to stick eyelashes onto dolls. Each person is assigned 13 dolls a day. Several hundred eyelashes have to be stuck to each doll, one by one, with tweezers. This task gives practitioners headaches and causes eyestrain. Another task is to repair cloth, batches of defective linen, by mending. Each person is assigned 40 metres of linen cloth, and the repairs must be completed before sleeping. Sometimes one has to work until 11:00 p.m. to complete the job. They must get up at 5:00 a.m. each morning, and only 10 minutes are allowed for each meal. The rest of the day is spent working. Prison police Zhang Po said they have to make a 200,000 Yuan profit.

For fear of their evil deeds being exposed, the police subsequently transferred Huang Zhufeng to the Foshan Chinese Medical Hospital, where he currently is housed in room 404, building A of the Hospital of Orthopedics, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City. However, he is not receiving any effective medical treatment but merely being guarded by six policemen taking turns. His family has never been informed of his condition. Even on August 2, when his illegal term was up, he still was not released to his family. Later, Sanshui Labor Camp sent a vehicle to take his family members to Guangzhou City to see him, lying to them that Huang Zhufeng had his hands injured because he was inattentive and failed to follow instructions.

Every day, Falun Dafa practitioners were forced to work in the workshop or in their cells. The most frequent type of work supplied by the labour camp was to make ribbons for some factory in Changyi City, Shandong province, Christmas gifts for the Jinan City Arts and Crafts Factory; medicinal packages for the Jinan Donggang Printing Plant; pencils and coloured pens for the Jinan Youai Pen Factory, vases for an undetermined factory, as well as quilts for export. The labour camp took advantage of this type of slave labour to accumulate huge amounts of money. Not only did the guards get a very generous bonus and benefits, but a five-story, fully-equipped and decorated building was constructed between the beginning of 2000 and autumn of 2001, when the most Falun Gong practitioners were detained in the labour camp. The work generated for the imprisoned practitioners detained is endless.

The labour camp head and police claimed that they were going to construct more buildings. They also said that in different parts of China, all places for incarceration, such as labour camps and prisons, are expanding and more new ones are being built. They boasted of "catching all the Falun Gong practitioners and totally eliminating Falun Gong.". ...Some practitioners had been on a hunger strike for a long time. The authorities came into their room several times a day to force-feed them. Policewoman Zhang kept saying, "This is fun!" while she was brutally force-feeding Dafa practitioners. She claimed that she wanted to have fun force- feeding Dafa practitioners. Later, after she had done it many times, she said she did not have fun doing force-feeding anymore; she was tired of it.

Hebei TV station showed a programme defaming Yang Chunbao. Part of the programme said, "Yang Chunbao caused trouble intentionally in the labour camp. He did not use the washroom. Instead, he relieved himself on the bed, making the bedding dirty." There were several enlarged shots of him. According to several informed prisoners, Yang Chunbao was tortured to the point of being unable to walk. He had to relieve himself on the bed since he could not walk to the washroom and nobody was taking care of him.

The prison police would arrange a special "watcher" for every practitioner. The watcher was allowed to beat or verbally abuse the practitioner at will. An older practitioner, Ms. Lin Yunying, suffered verbal abuse every day from the watcher, who would follow her everywhere, even to the toilet. When the watcher went to the toilet, the practitioner had to be around. Sometimes, when the practitioner took a little longer time in the toilet, the watcher might scold or even drag her out before she could finish.

After learning all kinds of torture methods from other provinces and the notorious Wanjia Labour Camp in Harbin, the police brutally tortured practitioners in order to try to force them to give up their belief...One policeman told me, "Several days ago, Jiang Zemin sent someone here to check the transformation rate. I know that three instructors in the fourth division will get promoted and a bonus." In Changlinzi Labour Camp, one can get a 200, 300 or 500 Yuan bonus if he transforms one practitioner.

They allow persecutors to take turns to hound those who have not given up their beliefs. Sometimes, they harass the practitioners until late into the night, and the practitioners are not permitted to interact with anyone else during that time. They supervise the practitioners 24 hours a day, and force them to watch videos that defame and slander Dafa. If the practitioners refuse to cooperate, they are tortured using various tools, such as metal torture chairs, until they give in. This summer, the Shuanghe Labour Camp purchased 80 of these chairs.

The police were afraid of He Huajiang's shouting, so they choked him, beat and kicked him to push him into the vehicle. When his son heard his shouting, he ran out the door. The policemen even pushed his son into the car. The father and son were taken like this and then later separated at the police station. At the same time, He Huajiang's home was ransacked. He Huajiang was sent to the Longfeng detention centre that night. He was kept at an undisclosed location, and it was said that he would be put into a labour camp for a few years. He Huajiang's son was not allowed to go home until 11 o'clock that night. During that time, policemen threatened him and tried to force him to tell who some of his father's fellow practitioners were.

On June 29, 2003, the "News Overview" programme broadcast on Dalian's TV Station reported on the situation of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned in the Dalian Forced Labour Camp. The Chief and the "educators" (who are actually prisoners) from the labour camp swore in front of the camera, "Our policy towards Falun Gong practitioners is 'to educate and influence them with compassion.' We and Falun Gong practitioners are like 'brothers.' There is absolutely no such thing as persecution here." The TV station also showed the staff in the labour camp singing, dancing, and playing in a yard that was full of flowers and grass. Is this really the truth? The following will unmask the staged kindness of the Dalian labour camp staff.

During this period, he was still forced to get up at 6 am and climb up and down the stairways continuously without rest until about 10-11pm each day. Police in the camp didn't treat him as a human being and didn't care whether he would survive their abuse. After being force-fed for 50 days, his family was finally allowed to see him. He was in such bad shape physically that they could hardly recognize him. His mother and wife both wept uncontrollably; it was unbearable for them to face him directly.

The Jiang Zemin regime has been bloodily persecuting those who believe in "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance." As human beings, practitioners also have limits to how much their human bodies can sustain. As a result, it is no surprise that some practitioners have suffered severe mental trauma and mental collapse, or hurt themselves after being subjected to constant terror and torture in the forced labour camps. These incidences in turn expose the degree of the brutality and inhumanity of the persecution.

The government's policy of re-education through forced-labour stipulates that detainees can obtain 85 Yuan per month for living expenses (85 Yuan is about $10 USD). After deducting 5 Yuan for each incidental expense, actual living expense money given to each person was less than 60 Yuan per month. Under forced labour, we were forced to work long hours at the same task. Guards would deprive us of sleep for three days and nights in order to make us finish the assigned work within their time frame. Exhausted detainees would often fall sound asleep while squatting in the washroom or curled up under a pupil's desk. The suffering was so intense that, at the end of October, one drug-addict committed suicide by hanging himself and another jumped to his death from a building.

In order to resist the persecution, Ma Yulin went on a hunger strike. The cold-hearted police tried to force feed him but he refused to cooperate with them. The police then used pliers to pull out all his teeth on both sides of his mouth. The police and prison doctors also tied him up, and injected him with nerve-damaging drugs, which have caused various physical problems. Mr. Ma is currently extremely weak.

Police blindfolded Dafa practitioners and led them to an outside hotel room where they tied the handcuffed practitioners to a heavy chair and interrogated them day and night. The abusive authorities don't allow practitioners to sleep. Even closing their eyes for a brief moment is forbidden. Oftentimes several police officers took turns interrogating one practitioner. These officers often used physical abuse and torment such as slapping, shocking with an electric stun baton, handcuffing, and hanging up, which are the most commonly used tortures. Sometimes the police also beat practitioners in the detention centre investigation room.

They tied me on the Tiger Bench [a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm. tall] and beat me, hitting my ankles, legs, hands, head, and feet with sticks. My ankles were so swollen that they were as thick as my legs. They also covered my head with a plastic bag, and tied it around my neck to threaten to suffocate me. They did not open it until I had almost suffocated to death. Then, once I got my breath, they tied it again. They also clamped my fingers with two wooden sticks. I was in so much pain that I was shaking badly. After they got tired of beating me, they went out to have a tea break. After they came back, they continued beating me. Just like this, they beat me from morning until evening.

In March 2003, police officers Fan Xiaodong took turns beating practitioner Zheng Shuzhong. Mr. Zheng almost died from the severe injuries. He remained in bed over 20 days. He would vomit up whatever he ate. During a period of more than three weeks, Mr. Zheng endured unimaginable pain. He maintained the strongest righteous faith and survived the brutal ordeal. Even when Zheng was near death, however, the police did not slow their terrible campaign.

November 1 marks the 20th day the 13 Dafa practitioners have been on a hunger strike in the Dehui Jail. The malicious policemen would not release anyone even when their condition was critical. On one occasion, when a Dafa practitioner's relative went to appeal the situation, one of the Political and Law Committee said, "There will be someone responsible if anyone dies." When the relative asked about the reason for past-due detention, Wang Jishen, the supervisor of the court, replied, "Because of insufficient evidence, we need to start the investigation over."

In attempts to escape responsibility for his impending death, the labour camp authorities sent him home on September 1, 2003. At that time he could neither speak nor walk, and he shed tears in front of his family as he lay in bed. He passed away on September 21, 2003. After he died, his father who was in a critical condition was so grief stricken that his health declined drastically and he passed away on October 2, 2003.

While other non-practitioner detainees in the labour camp were widely praised or received reduced detention sentences for guarding or persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, the Falun Gong practitioners received extended terms of detention. The labour camp generally asks for one month extension of practitioners' terms from the Labour Education Bureau, but the latter usually gives at least three months extension or even longer. Many Falun Gong practitioners have had their terms extended from three to eight months simply because they refused to take part in exams aiming at attacking and defaming Dafa. There is no rule for such extensions at all; the labour camp simply did it at will using any random excuse.

For the slower workers, they would use what's called thinking re-education (or brainwashing) to prolong physical punishment. Sometimes the punishment could last until 4:00 a.m. in the morning and then they would not be allowed to sleep. For those that did not finish their work, they had to bring their unfinished work back to the dormitory to finish it. Usually they had to work until sometime between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. in the morning in order to finish it.

Because Shen Xiaodu never gave in, he was then taken to the brick kiln of the 4th Group of the 4th Brigade [hottest kiln at the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp]. First, they put him in the "Cold Gate" (which is above 40 C, 104 F). Then, they put him in the "Middle Gate" (which is above 60 C, 140 F). When Shen Xiaodu did not give up, he was put in the "Fire Gate" (which is above 80 C, 176 F). Shen Xiaodu still refused to give in. The "Fire Gate" that he was put in was not a regular one; it had just been opened. The temperature was extremely high, and the bricks were still glowing.

Mr. Zhang Wensheng was also forcibly held in a brainwashing class for several days. Criminal inmates kept his eyes open with a match so that he was unable to blink. He was continuously beaten in an attempt to force him to swear never to practise again. His body was swollen and he could not walk. He had to be helped to the bathroom. Under such pressure, he was forced to recant his belief. He was beaten again before an official meeting designed to further humiliate and reinforce that the practitioners had recanted their belief. On September 10th, Zhang Wensheng refused to write a summary of serving his terms and was tortured further and deprived of sleeping.

Due to the torture, Mr. Wu was extremely weak and did not have even enough strength to walk. In December, when he was on the verge of death, he was sent to a hospital. He was diagnosed with terminal tuberculosis. In order to avoid responsibility, Huludao City Labour Camp officials released him on bail for medical treatment. He was skin and bones when his family picked him up and he died a few days later. He was 35 years old when he died.

Two prisoners pressed her down and another one squatted behind her back, grabbing her hair and pulling it down, in order to take the photo by force. Because she refused to recite the prison rules, she was tortured with the method of "digging the wall" for two days. Since she was detained in the 4th Section of No.1 Division, she was often deprived of sleep and was not allowed to use the toilet, as a punishment for refusing to write statements renouncing and slandering Falun Gong.

After ten days of this, they no longer asked me anything, but routinely tied me up very tightly as soon as I had finished working each day. When I was half-hung, there was no point of support for my whole body other than my tiptoes. This time, after tying me for several days, they said they would let me go to sleep as long as I did not awaken earlier than they did. One day, I was beaten just because I had gotten up before them to fold my blanket. Another time, because I had been caught talking, the person on duty and the prisoners stuffed a dirty rag in my mouth, sealed it with tape, then beat my face and mouth, which became red and swollen. The person on duty also threw some hard-soled boots at my head.

The police at the labour camp seriously violate the law by opening and withholding practitioners' mail and packages that their families send. Practitioners do not have the freedom to correspond. They are not even allowed to wear watches. Practitioner Chen Yujing's family sent her a watch and other gifts, which were all withheld. The police can cancel practitioner's visiting hours at will, and visiting family members are turned away...On the day when the practitioners were locked up, viciously beaten and hemorrhaging from the savagery, in the courtyard, the labour camp criminals were made to sing and dance for the video taping of a sham happy scene for TV propaganda: showing the "tender loving nurturing" by the labour camp during the transformation of the practitioners, and the "wonderful life" the practitioners have while in the camp.

There were 130 practitioners illegally detained in the women's team of Dalian Forced Labour Camp. From 5:00 in the morning until 8:00 in the evening, they were forced to perform slave labour every day. The Chinese law concerning forced labour stipulates that shifts cannot be more than 6 hours per day. At the same time, policemen there subjected practitioners to various types of savage torture in order to force the steadfast Dafa practitioners into giving up Falun Gong.

In the first few weeks in Dalian Labour Camp, the guards tried to destroy us with heavy labour. They ordered me to take rocks (picked out from the coal) back to the mine shaft. They required me to move 120 wagons full of rock each day and they said I had to run. I collapsed on the first day, because I was too weak, but I had to do the same heavy labour the next day. Sweat poured out of my body. I was covered with salt crystals from the sweat. I felt dizzy under the baking sun. But I tried to be strong and never lowered my head.

In Xuchang Labour Camp, Dr. Li Jinke suffered many excruciating kinds torture and torment that would make most people tremble with fear...At present, he has been tortured into a semi-conscious state, and he is on the brink of mental collapse. In order to save this young doctor from dying in Xuchang Labour Camp, a dark den of evil, we appeal to all the kind-hearted people in the world to give assistance.

"However, at the same time that the campfire party took place, those steadfast and unyielding Dafa practitioners were placed upon torture instruments, were forced to stand painfully, or were handcuffed within small dark cells and made to sit on the icy ground while hearing music that defamed Dafa."-- Author

This persecution, that started more than 4 years ago, targets tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners who practise "Truth, Compassion and Tolerance." It utilises all the apparatuses of the nation, and its viciousness is unprecedented and unimaginable. It is also a disgrace to the whole of mankind. I hope that courts in all countries will uphold justice, and charge Jiang for genocide , since he is the person who is most directly responsible for this state-run terrorism. By doing this, we can safeguard the dignity of the law and the justice of humankind.

They shocked the practitioners with electric batons, burnt them with cigarettes, and drilled into their flesh in the underarms, thighs, and other soft areas of the body with the jagged edges of plastic pipes 6 centimeters in diameter. They then used toothbrushes to smear toothpaste, pepper, salt, and other substances onto the flesh. They also drilled into the chests of Mr. Liu Qinghua and Mr. Huang Yuedong, who remained firm in their beliefs despite the brutal and agonising torture.

If practitioners collapsed, the guards would bring pen and paper and ask the practitioners to write a so-called "promise letter" to give up Dafa. Some practitioners wrote the letter against their own will under such pressure. But once they realized what they had done, they wrote another letter to declare the previous letter null and void. The guards shouted that if the practitioners didn't write the "promise letter", they would remain in that bent-over position. That led to one practitioner's death and another being seriously injured.

At Xinan Forced Labour Camp, these practitioners were imprisoned with a group of juveniles. These juveniles were between thirteen and eighteen years old. The police forced these juveniles to monitor the practitioners. They also separated the six practitioners and would not allow them to communicate or meet with each other. One time, a boy helped to pass a note between the practitioners and was caught by the police. The boy was shocked with an electric baton.

They forced practitioners to do hard labour, exceeding human capacity, for 13 to 14 hours a day to punish practitioners, and also to reap the economic benefit for the camp. With different means of extorting money from practitioners and with practitioners' hard labour, the camp managed to built a ten-story office building, a visitation building, and a big boiler room within two years.

The inmates would also starve practitioners and/or deny practitioners access to the washroom as a form of torture. They rationed their food, giving each of them only 100g of rice per day. In the morning, three practitioners were given only one small bun to divide amongst themselves, with half a bowl of rice soup. Lunch is a bowl of broth containing only a dozen or so grains of rice. It is the same for supper. Practitioners were forced to drink 5-7 cups of water daily, but were not allowed to go to the washroom. Even elderly practitioners in their 50s and 60s were not spared.

The police forced criminal inmates to torture practitioners on hunger strike. These criminals applied the so-called "hip splitting" torture which was a form of sexual torture. They would hang Dafa practitioners spread eagle by their four limbs, and then forcibly insert sticks into their vaginas, inject them with hot pepper oil and beat them severely. They poured boiling water on their bodies and limbs.

On November 3, 2002, the eve of the "16th Party Congress," the No. 5 Team organized 13 brainwashing groups, with three Dafa practitioners in each. They then bought a pile of electric batons. At the time, the Gaoyang labour camp was full of the sounds of beating, cursing, and miserable cries from the practitioners. Terror overwhelmed the whole labour camp. Everyone had a heavy and depressed mood, and they all watched outside through a window trying to see where the cries came from. They saw where the sound came from, and they saw some practitioners being beaten to point that they lost consciousness.