The Torture I Endured in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

I was arrested and subjected to forced labour three times from 2000 to 2009. Each time I was detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. The following is what I experienced and witnessed in the camp.

First Term in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp: Electric Shock, Solitary, Hung Up, Forced to Stand for Long Hours, Deprived of Sleep

In 2000, I was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp for the first time. In order to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] practitioners, the most vicious methods of torture were used. For newcomers, the guards first play propaganda videos full of lies that slandered Falun Gong. If that didn't work, the torture started: beatings, verbal abuse, electric shock, solitary confinement, handcuffing, and term extensions--all to make them give up their belief.

A wave of intense brainwashing took place at the end of 2002. Many thugs were gathered together in Masanjia from all the forced labour camps in Liaoning Province. More than 200 practitioners were subjected to enforced brainwashing. I was made to squat down and stand upright for long hours and I was also handcuffed and hung up.

Both of my hands were handcuffed to a heating pipe, and the tips of my feet could barely touch the ground. I was hung up twice, each time from two to two and a half hours. I was also made to stand straight for five days and five nights. I was not allowed to sleep and not allowed to move. My legs swelled so much that I had difficulty walking.

Practitioners Ms. Wang Fang and Ms. Sun Suqing were brainwashed with me. They were also handcuffed behind their backs for more than two hours. As a result, both of them had deep holes in the centre of their hands. Ms. Sun was tied up in the lotus position (double-crossed legs) for 14 hours. Another practitioner who was detained on my floor was tied up with double-crossed legs for five days, which caused one of her legs to become disabled. We saw her every day when we went to the dining hall downstairs. Whenever she had to go up or down the stairs, two people had to help her. One of her legs was completely motionless and she was barely able to drag the other along the floor.

Another incident happened in the first half of 2001. A steadfast practitioner was taken to a room and forced to bend over with her upper body forward. A large, heavy guard sat on her back and broke it. She was paralysed and unable to stand or sit. She had to be carried to go to the restroom. Even in this condition, she was still held in the labour camp and not given any medical treatment.

Second Term in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp: Mouth Taped Shut, Detained in Solitary, Loss of Consciousness Due to Beating, the “Stretching” Torture

At the end of 2004, I was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp again. Once when fellow practitioner Yang Yanting and I refused to listen to the audiotape that slandered Falun Gong, Li Mingyi, division head, put us in solitary confinement. On the way there, a guard sealed my mouth with tape, and I had difficulty breathing.

The solitary cell was less than three-square-metres. There was no bed or bed cover, only a straw mat. It was cold in March and I didn't have a coat. At night, the guard purposely opened the window in the hallway so the cold wind could blow in and freeze us. We were only allowed to go to the toilet twice a day. The food consisted of a steamed corn cake and pickles. There was no drinking water, which made us unbearably thirsty. I was confined with another practitioner, Liu Hong. I asked her whether the story was true that some practitioners were tortured with four toothbrushes bound together and inserted into their vagina. She said it was true. She then told me what they had done to her during her detention in Dalian City. She was stripped naked and covered with a long coat. Her hands were cuffed together. They shoved a shoe brush and a thick stick into her vagina for more than an hour.

In April 2005, Su Jing, head of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, ordered the “strict administration” of those who refused to be brainwashed. We were not allowed to leave the cells or be visited by our families. We were not allowed access to daily supplies and all our watches were taken away. The food was steamed corn cakes, which were very tough to chew. It hurt my mouth to eat them. Once I opened a corn cake and saw that it was already rotting with green slime growing inside.

Guard Zhang Lei was in charge of the team I was in, and she treated practitioners very badly. We were not allowed to wash our clothes. She would take our clothes away if she heard that we were washing them. Once as I was washing one piece of underwear, Zhang Lei took away the basin and the underwear in it. When practitioner Wang Huinan was found washing her clothes in the toilet, guard Wang Shuzheng yelled at her, kicked the basin, and overturned it.

Several practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment. Every day more than ten guards force-fed them. Normally they put the feeding tube through the nose. However, they once opened practitioner Li Baojie's mouth and dumped the food into it. Ms. Li was unable to breath and lost consciousness. She died the next day in the hospital.

I was twice subjected to beatings while I was detained. Once when guard Zhang Lei was giving us a hard time, I tried to stop her. I said, “Please don't treat us this way. We are all good people.” She left and then returned with a group of male guards. She ordered me, “Pick up your belongings and follow me.” I said, “I'm not going anywhere.” They started to beat me until I lost consciousness. Another time, the guards searched practitioners' belongings and then did body searches I called out, “Falun Gong is great!” The guards sealed my mouth with tape and tied my hands behind my back. I wasn't released until that afternoon.

The steadfast practitioners are detained on the first and second floors. Those on the second floor called out together “Falun Gong is great!” several times. More than 100 practitioners called out together, and the sound seemed to shake heaven and earth. There were about 40 practitioners on the first floor. We also together called out “Falun Gong is great!” several times.

In February 2006, Su Jing, head of the labour camp, prepared several torture methods, one being the death bed¹. Steadfast practitioners were tied to beds for 24 hours a day with their limbs stretched and fixed in position. They were not allowed to eat or go to the toilet. The guards would force-feed them. There was a hole in the middle of bed which was connected to a portable pot. The practitioner was required to greet the guard if she needed to use the portable pot. Practitioners Teng Shiyun and Liu Zhenwen, who were in the cell with me, were tortured with the death bed. Liu Zhenwen didn't greet the guard for three days and had no choice but to soil her trousers. One practitioner from Dalian City was bound to the death bed for six months.

In 2006, more than 20 male guards in Masanjia Labour Camp were organised to form a “working team.” They beat the practitioners every day to force us to follow all the camp rules, such as wearing the prison uniform, wearing the prison badges, sitting on small stools, doing slave labour, and greeting the guards at the entrance. Because we refused to greet the guards at the entrance, the practitioners in our cell were denied food, use of the toilet, and sleep for two days. The first day we were only allowed to go to the toilet after midnight. The second day, we were only allowed to use the toilet after 2 a.m. We were forced to sit on the stool or the guards would beat us. A practitioner from Dalian City was slapped on the face 20 times because she refused to sit on the stool.

The guards forced the practitioners to put on the prison uniform every morning and beat those who refused to. Practitioner Ms. Teng Shiyun lost the sight in one eye due to a beating by guard Liu Yong.

The guards did everything they could to force us to give up our belief. Wang Huinan and I were dragged into the guard office. Several male guards came in and beat us two small women. After they slapped our faces so hard that we fell down, they pulled us up and beat us again. We said, “Stop beating us. It's not doing you any good.”

Guard Fan Yakui was the worst and even took away the two thin coats I wore. After being beaten, we were locked in a room and “stretched.” Our arms are stretched out and tied to two beds with one up and the other down; we could not completely stand up or sit down and had to crouch over. Both arms are usually stretched so far that the victim's tendons often snap, which, according to the guards, was the idea. That day, besides myself, practitioners Ms. Wang Yulan, Ms. Yang Liwei, and Ms. Yang Cunjiao were all "stretched." I was tortured like this for 12 days.

If we refused to do slave labour we were beaten. After I refused, guard Liu Yong pulled me up and threw me against a pole. A egg-sized bump immediately appeared on my head. Next I was dragged out and forced to stand straight without moving. Later when I was ordered to do the labour, I refused again. Several guards beat me. They kicked me, and I fell down and was unable to breathe. I called loudly, “Falun Gong is great!” Suddenly they walked away. At that time, I had five or six walnut-sized bumps on my head and I was covered with bruises.

The next day I still refused to do the labour. Two guards dragged me into a room and started to slap my face. They claimed they would not stop until I gave in. When they got tired and their hands hurt, they used fly-swatters to beat me. I kept telling them, “Don't treat practitioners this way. It's not good for you!” They refused to listen and continued to beat me. I started to call out again, “Falun Gong is great!” I saw the fly-swatter being pulled away by an invisible force. Then the guards stopped beating me. I was locked up in a room and subjected to the stretching torture.

Practitioners Ms. Wang Huinan and Ms. Yang Liwei were also subjected to the stretching torture because they refused to do slave labour. When others in the cell saw us being tortured so severely, they also refused to cooperate.

In the following days, we were ordered to wear the prison badges. In the morning, they put the badges on everyone, and shortly afterwards we threw them away. Sometimes the guards even sewed the badges on our clothes but we still pulled them off. During this time, practitioner Ms. Yang Liwei and I suffered the most severe beating. A male guard punched me in the face so viciously that my face was bruised and one of my teeth was broken. Ms. Yang suffered an even more severe beating. She said it felt as if her head was about to explode. For two weeks we refused to cooperate. Then five of us, including Ms. Yang Liwei, Ms. Wang Huinan, and Ms. Yang Cunqiao, were detained alone and subjected to the stretching torture. Ms. Yang Cunqiao who organised the practitioners in the cell to stop the guards from persecuting practitioners, had an injured ankle bone from kicked by a guard. Instead of sending her to a doctor they subjected her to the stretching torture, which caused her to limp for a long time.

One night while I was still was being "stretched," a guard opened my handcuffs and took me to a room covered with evil cartoons that slandered Falun Gong. He handcuffed me to a heating pipe and played a videotape that slandered Falun Gong. I called loudly, “Falun Gong is great!” Guard Li Mingdong stuffed the filthy rag used to clean the floor into my mouth. Later, guard Ma Jishan forced my mouth wide open with a stick and asked whether I still would call out. I said I would. I was not released until 2 a.m. By that time, I was covered with blood. I was taken back to the cell and put back on the stretching torture. Finally, when it was nearly dawn, I was allowed a short nap, but they did not take off the handcuffs. I had been “stretched” for 36 days; Ms. Wang Huinan, for more than 40 days; and Ms. Yang Liwei, for more than 20 days. In the end, one of my arms was disabled.

During that time, one practitioner on a hunger strike was force-fed, and guard Ma Jishan broke one of her teeth on purpose using a pry bar. Another practitioner was subjected to a special version of the “stretching” torture. Not only were her arms handcuffed but also one of her legs. She couldn't straighten up her other leg to support her weight, which caused the handcuffs to cut deeply cut into her leg. After just one day of being tortured this way, her leg was disabled. Every day she had to be carried; otherwise she had to crawl. From August to September 2006 when the guards conducted the brainwashing, this practitioner persisted in her belief and was tortured. Guard Liu Yong kicked her in the face and put his cigarette butts in her mouth.

The Third Time in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp: Mouth Sealed With Tape, Handcuffed to a Metal Frame, Arm Broken

When I was taken to the labour camp for the third time, I called out “Falun Gong is great.” Zhang Huan, deputy of the division, punched and kicked me. He sealed my mouth with tape, which made me almost suffocate. Then I was taken to the storage room and handcuffed to a metal frame.

Two hours later, division head Zhang Jun, deputy head Zhang Huan, and guard Zhang Danhui took me to another room. They told me they would not try to “transform” me and would leave me alone as long as I agreed to recite the labour camp regulations and do the forced labour. I refused and said, “I haven't violated any laws. It's illegal to detain me here. I will not do any labour.”

They started to beat and kick me. Zhang Jun kicked my wrist so hard it broke. I was beaten to the ground. When they pulled me up, my broken wrist fell over and the bone stuck out. My hand dangled. The clinic doctor confirmed it, and I was taken to the hospital. The bone specialist was not there. A surgeon tried twice to reposition the fractured bone and put on a plaster cast without giving me any pain medication. Two months later when the cast was removed, my hand dangled just like before. They put another cast on my wrist for more than five months until I was released.

When I was taken back to the camp in a plaster cast, they still wouldn't give me a medical release. I was detained alone in a room with one arm handcuffed to a bed for two weeks. Later, because I had severe stomach bleeding due to the hardened steam buns we had to eat, I was allowed to go home early.

The above was what I experienced in Masanjia Labour Camp. It's only a small part of the atrocities being done to Falun Gong practitioners. The crimes taking place in the labour camps are countless, and many practitioners are tortured in isolated areas because the guards there are afraid that their crimes will be exposed.

Note

1. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.