Insights Into a Brainwashing Centre in the Xianning City Forced Labour Camp

A brainwashing centre named the Xianning Legal Education Base (XLEB) was set up in the Xianning City Forced Labour Camp in October 2013, under the direction of the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and the Politics and Law Committee in Xianning City. The original plan was to spend $49 million dollars for this facility, to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

1. An Illegal Organization

The XLEB was located on the second floor of the Xianning City Forced Labour Camp. However, at that time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had announced to the world that all forced labour camps in China had been shut down.

2. Run in a Cult-Like Manner

The XLEB had never been staffed with qualified law teachers, nor had it ever adhered to any legitimate legal procedures. It simply oversaw brainwashing sessions designed to force Falun Gong practitioners into giving up their beliefs. Thus, it operated in an evil and cult-like manner.

3. Practitioners Unjustly Arrested

The XLEB arranged to have Falun Gong practitioners arrested from their workplaces, while they were taking a leisurely stroll, or while they were out shopping. The police took the practitioners directly to the XLEB, without any legal formalities, whatsoever.

4. Use of Torture

The XLEB never upheld even the most basic of human rights, making the organization a human rights violator.

Falun Gong practitioners were forced to watch three types of videos, as part of the XLEB's overall brainwashing strategy. One video specifically slandered Falun Gong and its founder, Teacher Li Hongzhi. The second video disparaged traditional Chinese culture, and the third video was a direct attack on Buddhism.

5. So-called "Caring Association"

The XLEB asked three women, surnamed, Feng, Xue, and Gong, from the Wuhan City "Caring Association,” to help brainwash the practitioners. They brought a stack of Buddhist scriptures with them in an effort to instill Buddhist teachings into the practitioners, which had nothing to do with the teachings of Falun Gong. The women were very congenial, however their hidden goal was to slander Teacher Li, Falun Gong, and the Minghui website, an information portal for Falun Gong.

6. Violence Often Used

a) When the XLEB failed to coerced a practitioner into giving up his or her belief, it ordered a group of employees to hold down the practitioner and force them to put their fingerprint on a statement condemning Falun Gong. The group then split a bonus of about 20,000 yuan¹. In this way, they deceived their supervisors, themselves, and others.

b) Large, strong, male guards were used to threaten the practitioners into following the XLEB's rules and regulations.

c) Staff used extremely vicious and foul language whenever Falun Gong or its founder was mentioned, saying that they were not afraid of retribution. Guard Yao Xiong's behaviour was particularly alarming.

d) Groups of people took turns verbally abusing the practitioners and sleep deprivation was employed to further torture them.

e) Any practitioner who dared to start a hunger strike to protest the persecution was brutally force-fed.

f) As soon as a practitioner entered the XLEB, he or she was isolated from the rest of the practitioners. The practitioner was assigned to a room with three bunk beds. The middle bunk was for the practitioner, while the other bunks were for the staff to monitor the practitioners around the clock.

g) The staff attacked the validity of the Minghui website.

h) The practitioners' family members were pressured to force the practitioners to write a guarantee statement, stating that they would give up their belief. For example, they persuaded a practitioner’s son to kneel down for hours, pleading with his father to give up the practice. They also coerced a female practitioner's sister to repeatedly beat the practitioner.

i) Practitioners were regularly intimidated by threats, “If you don't give up the practice, we will lock you up in a detention centre or prison!”

7. Driven By Money, Many People Became Accomplices

The XLEB gave out bonuses and incentives to those who successfully coerced practitioners into giving up their faith.

8. Strict Management

The staff, police officers, and practitioners at the XLEB were closely managed, including being required to live at the centre, around the clock.

9. The Xianning Legal Education Base Was Run By Four Groups

The XLEB employed four types of people: 610 Office agents, so-called “helpers,” police officers, and religious personnel.

Yao Xiong operated the 610 Office in Xianning City, along with a young man surnamed Sun. Wu Liansheng, who worked at the XLEB as a “helper” participated in three brainwashing sessions run by the local 610 Office. He claimed that he had once practised Falun Gong but was forced to renounce his belief. He was later employed to help persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Police officers Zou Yu from the Xianning City Police Station, along with Liu Ning and Zhang Huilong, from the Wenquan Police Substation in Xianning City, actively persecuted the practitioners. Religious personnel, especially of the Buddhist faith, tried to deceive the practitioners by quoting religious scriptures in efforts to convince the practitioners to stop practising Falun Gong.

Yao Xiong, who is from Xianning City, previously worked as a secret agent for the Xianning City State Security Bureau. He was later transferred to the 610 Office in Xianning City, where he was very instrumental in persecuting Falun Gong. When Yang Song, the head of the 610 Office in Hubei Province, visited Xianning City, Yao Xiong fully cooperated with him. Yao Xiong not only harassed local practitioners, but also attempted to recruit a practitioner as a spy. Xianning City has held many brainwashing sessions to persecute Falun Gong.

10. Forced to Close Down

The XLEB never promoted legal education according to the law. It instead committed unspeakable crimes against humanity which actually undermined the implementation of law.

The XLEB was originally planned to be a long-term brainwashing project, however it closed down within less than two months. Among other things, this shows that the persecution of Falun Gong is becoming increasingly unpopular!

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.