Inside the Labour Camps

  • Ms. Li Xintong in Critical Condition from Torture--Still Being Held in Changchun Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Ms. Li Xintong, from Jilin City, Jilin Province, has been detained in the Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp of Changchun. Four months into her forced labour camp term, she was subjected to forced injections and drug administration, which caused severe heart disease symptoms, including marginal lung function resulting in restricted oxygen intake, heart palpitation, heavy breathing, and stiffness in the chest. Camp authorities refused to acknowledge her critical condition and refused to release her for medical treatment. Ms. Li's husband Yu Hong, her father Li Zhijun, and mother Guo Hongqin were also arrested at the same time as Ms. Li.
  • Products Made by Detainees at Jilin Province Women’s Labour Camp

    After July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong, the number of Jilin detainees increased dramatically. From 2000 to 2001, it reached a peak of 3,000. The arts and crafts products were exported to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, and other countries. Falun Gong practitioners were forced to work 15 -18 hours daily in Jilin Province Labour Camp. The work area was on the same floor as our cell. The conditions were terrible. Feathers filled the air,and stuck to clothing, bed sheets, and dishes. The air was filled with a strong odour from the feathers, dyes, and adhesives.
  • Exposing the Torture of Falun Gong Practitioners in Heilongjiang Province Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Falun Gong practitioners sent to the labour camp are immediately given brainwashing. Every morning, inmates had to get up at 5 a.m., and they were only allowed to go to bed late between 10 – 12 midnight. There were no breaks in between, and they were not allowed to use the toilet for extended periods of time. Practitioners were made to sit on small stools less than one foot high and watch programmes slandering Falun Gong. They had to write guarantee statements renouncing their belief. If they refused to watch the programs or shut their eyes, guards would physically punish them. And if they refused to write statements, their prison sentence would be extended.
  • Eyewitness Accounts: Forced Labour Inside China's Labour Camps and Prisons

    I was sentenced to Suihua Forced Labour Camp in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, in the spring of 2007 for practising Falun Gong. In June 2007, all the inmates were forced sort and package a large quantity of toothpicks that had been accidentally soaked in sewage. The contaminated toothpicks mixed with faeces and dirty toilet paper were already dried. We could hardly breathe with the stench of urine and faeces. We were not even given any masks or gloves for protection. There were about 80 of us, but it took us nearly two weeks to finish the work.
  • The Chinese Communist Party's Hidden Crimes in the Forced Labour Camp System

    In 2012, a few days before Halloween, Julie Keith from Oregon pulled out a box of Chinese-made Halloween decorations from her storage, intending to decorate. Astonishingly, when she opened the box she found a letter calling for help from Unit 8, Department 2 of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province, China. The letter stated: “If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever...
  • Practitioners Tortured and Made to Do Hard Labour at Fenjin Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City

    Officials at Fenjin Forced Labour Camp in Changchun try to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners in an attempt to get them to renounce their belief and force them to do hard labour, so that the officials there can make huge amounts of money from it. Practitioners at the camp are made to work in a factory that produces bird craft products, which are then exported to Japan. The place is filthy and very dusty. The air is filled with a pungent odour from coloured dyes and the smell emitted from the glue is suffocating. There is no ventilation, which causes extreme pain to the eyes and throat.
  • Ms. Wang Ling, 65, Mentally Incapacitated after Being Tortured in Labour Camps for Eight Years

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Ling was arrested by officers from the Public Security Bureau of Tieling City for her faith in Falun Gong. She was sent to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City three times for a total of eight years and tortured with stretching, hanging, freezing, bundling, beating, etc. All of her teeth were knocked out. At present, she is mentally incapacitated and very feeble, and can only walk slowly. She can't stand for very long.
  • Exposing the Forced Labour Situation at Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Forced labour is used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) labour camps to further punish, abuse, and torture Falun Gong practitioners and implement a long-term persecution of Falun Gong. People have to stand to pack mung beans. Some people do the weighing, some do the bagging, and others do the sealing and transportation. Since the mung bean bags are heavy, our arms are very sore at the end of the day with our waists and backs also in great pain. We are exhausted every day. For one batch of work, we may have to work from a few days to as long as two weeks. Packing dry tea is also a very tiring job. Prior to packing, several cartons of tealeaves are poured onto a large table. The dust from the tea gets onto people's clothes, skin, eyes, ears, mouths, and lungs, making one choke.
  • Products Made with Slave Labour at the Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp

    There are nearly 300 women detained in the Hebei Province Woman's Forced Labour Camp. More than 100, almost half, are Falun Gong practitioners. The three “brigades” in the labour camp are known as the second, the third, and the fourth. The slave labour is labelled "practice labour.” In fact, the forced labour camp abuses its detainees to do cheap labour to make huge profits. The productivity of each brigade is directly linked to the officers' bonuses. Between 2008 and 2009, the detainees wrapped a huge number of disposable chopsticks in paper. They had also put handles on boxes for milk products. The boxes were transported in containers by large trucks. In the same period, the detainees made boxes for moon cakes, packaged toothpicks, and chopsticks.
  • Atrocities Behind the Products Made by Slave Labour in Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison

    The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Women's Prison, also known as the “Yinghua Garment Factory,” enslaves their detainees, which include criminal inmates and innocent Falun Gong practitioners. The prisoners make uniforms for the Public Security and the Industrial and Commercial agencies. They also adorn embroidery on sweaters, make fringe for scarfs, pick loose wool and small objects off sweaters, package disposable chopsticks and toothpicks, and sort buckwheat. The semi-finished products arrive at the prison, go through a finishing process and become end products with a “Made in China” label on them. Most of the products are exported through foreign trade, including the sorted buckwheat.
  • Mr. Song Tiemin Tortured in Suihua Forced Labour Camp, Two Teeth Knocked Out

    Mr. Song Tiemin was arrested two years ago for practising Falun Gong and served two years of forced labour in Suihua Forced Labour Camp. Two of his front teeth were knocked out when he was being tortured. Mr. Song finally returned home after suffering two years of detention. He recovered with his family's love and care, but the shadow of the physical and mental torture he endured in the labour camp has not gone away. He has woken up in the middle of the night with scenes from the labour camp in his head. There are still thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China suffering like Mr. Song.
  • Chen Xuzhong from Jinchang City Gansu Province Arrested Again after Twice Being Persecuted in Forced Labour Camps

    Police arrested Falun Gong practitioner Chen Xuzhong at work on November 15th, 2011. This was the third time he has been arrested after serving five years of forced labour. In Gansu Provincial First Forced Labour Camp food was very poor and barely enough, while the workload was huge. There were no breaks during the day. After one day of slave labour, practitioners could hardly stand up up straight. In the harvest season they had to leave for work at 6:30 a.m. and didn't finish until 9:00 p.m., 13 or 14 hours.
  • The Forced Labour Persecution behind the “Jin-long-yu” (Gold Dragon Fish) Brand

    “Jin-Long-Yu” is a brand of cooking oil commonly seen in grocery stores and supermarkets in China. People barely notice the small tag hanging around the bottle's neck, and it's more unlikely that they would know that the knots were tied manually by inmates and Falun Gong practitioners in Shanghai Women’s Prison. Over the years, the target quota for each person went from tying 300 knots an hour to 650, which is equal to 5200 knots every day based on eight working hours a day. The strings are coarse, so the skin on the knot tier's fingers peels off after rubbing the strings repeatedly. This is especially true in winter time, when it’s cold and dry.
  • Recent Crimes Committed by Lu Yaqin and Other Guards in Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp

    In Hebei Province Women's Forced Labor Camp, seven practitioners who appealed to the government were shocked with electric batons by guard Lu Yaqin on August 15th, 2011. Later, Ms. Ye was beaten by the head of Division 3, Liu Ziwei, with a large electric baton. That day, Ms. Ye's right hand became severely swollen, and afterward she had difficulty walking and going up or down stairs. Due to the damage to the radial nerve of her right arm, her thumb's muscle became atrophied and she couldn't hold chopsticks in her right hand while eating. For a long time, she requested to go to the hospital for medical treatment but she was always rejected.
  • The Tortures Used at Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp

    Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp in the Daxing District has been a place where Falun Gong practitioners are detained and tortured. The practitioners detained there have been tortured by means such as being detained in a solitary compartment, forced-feedings, and sitting on a small stool for long periods of time. One practitioner was tied up to remain sitting on the small stool for months. The flesh on her bottom was raw and festering, and the bone was exposed. Such physical torture is hard to tolerate, especially for older people. One would feel pain in the back and waist shortly after sitting in this position. Many people had swollen feet or legs after sitting on the child's stool.