Practitioners Recall Suspicious Blood Draws in Mudanjiang Prison and Daxing Women's Forced Labour Camp

“Special treatment” in Mudanjiang Prison

I'm a Falun Gong practitioner from Muling City, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang Province. I took my child with me to purchase an ink cartridge in Bainaohui Shopping Mall in Mudanjiang on May 7th, 2002, when I was arrested by police from the Domestic Security Division of Yangming District in Mudanjiang. Later I was sentenced to four years in prison by the Yangming District Court and incarcerated in Mudanjiang Prison.

Between 2002 and 2006, I underwent three “health checkups.” Each time, they took my blood pressure and drew a syringe of blood. There were over 5,000 inmates in the prison at the time, and over 90 were Falun Gong practitioners. The health checkups were only conducted on the Falun Gong practitioners, and the results were filed and recorded. I thought it very strange that meticulous health records were only being kept on practitioners. Some of the prisoners said, “See, the prison is looking after you so well, they are even giving you checkups.”

But no one really believed that the prison was giving Falun Gong practitioners any “special treatment,” in view of the cruel torture they were subjecting us to.

I was detained in Ward No. 16 for forced labour. I was locked up in solitary confinement twice and put in shackles weighing 24 kilos. I was only given one pancake a day to eat. I was chained up this way for 30 days in a row.

Practitioner Mr. Pan Xingfu who was deputy head of Shuangyashan Telecommunication Bureau and Mr. Zhang Hongquan, an engineer from the Daqing Oil Field Administration Bureau, were detained in the same prison. They both died as a result of torture. Practitioner Mr. Zhang Yutang from Mishan was brutally beaten by inmates under the instigation of guards Zheng Yuhe and Lu Xiaohui. He almost became crippled from the vicious beatings. Ex-serviceman Tang Xianguo was also often punched and kicked by inmates who were assigned to monitor him.

The guards were extremely unscrupulous in their treatment of Falun Gong practitioners under the directives of Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] that “death of Falun Gong practitioners from beating is nothing and shall be counted as suicide.” This raises the question: Why were Falun Gong practitioners given the “special treatment” of having their health and physical condition constantly checked?

When I was released in May 2006 I read the reports about organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners while they were still alive. It has come to light that in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prisons and forced labour camps all over China, practitioners have been subjected to “health checkups,” and their blood is taken for tests. The results and relevant details were kept in computer files so they could be easily referenced and matched with a potential organ recipient. Once a match was made, their organs are harvested and their bodies cremated. From my years of being persecuted in prison, I know that the CCP is capable of any and all forms of evil. I was fortunate to come out alive.

Frequent Blood Draws and Disappearances of Practitioners in Daxing Women's Forced Labour Camp

By Falun Gong practitioner Ming Yu from Beijing

I'm a Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing. I was arrested in 2003 for distributing DVDs about Falun Gong, and was later sentenced to two years of forced labour. During the two years that I was detained in Daxing Women's Forced Labour Camp, my blood was taken many times, especially after 2003 when I was detained in Division 5. They only drew blood from Falun Gong practitioners.

We thought it was strange and wondered why they kept drawing blood from us. Each time, they would draw at least half of a syringe from each person. Clearly, they were using our blood for a specific reason. I asked the division leaders why they kept taking blood from us, but they never gave me an answer. Division leader Chen Xiuhua called a special meeting for those of us who questioned the blood draws, and we were put under “strict control” for over a month.

Later, I went to see a team leader and told him that I didn't want to have my blood drawn any more. He said, “You all have to have your blood drawn. We are taking care of you.” Each time my blood was taken, I was held down by two inmates. As time went by, I became more and more uneasy about the blood draws. At that time, the atmosphere in prison was filled with terror, especially at night when the guards beat and tortured people. One night there were 118 of us, but when morning came only 116 were left in the cell. No one knows where the two missing practitioners were taken.

I hadn't heard anything about the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners until after I was released in 2005. When I remembered the numerous times our blood was taken, my heart shook, since it was entirely possible that we were being tested to have our organs taken. I know first hand that the CCP is capable of any form of evil.

Last winter while I was shopping in a clothing store, I had a conversation with a middle-aged man. He told me that he'd had a kidney transplant and could not stand being cold, so he wanted to buy a thick down jacket. Another time when I was taking a walk I overheard two older men talking about their colleague who died because his kidney transplant wasn't successful, even though he paid a lot of money for it. I also heard that two people who live nearby recently had kidney transplants. It makes one wonder where the kidneys came from and how many Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of organ harvesting?