Falun Gong Practitioners Used as Slave Labour in Shuanghe Female Forced Labour Camp

Since July 1999, about a thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been jailed in Shuanghe Female Forced Labour Camp in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province. The authorities use both hard and soft tactics, including threats, brainwashing, and torture to force the practitioners to renounce their belief. Here we expose the camp's savage acts to the world in order to stop the persecution.

1. Brainwashing

To brainwash every practitioner separately, over a dozen collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have turned against Dafa due to brainwashing and torture] curse the Teacher and Falun Dafa around the clock. Using high-volume audio, they force the practitioners to watch defamatory videos again and again and also make the practitioners read slanderous materials along with them. Batch after batch of collaborators came and went, but we refused to yield.

Sometimes the camp police talk to the practitioners hypocritically, or they have collaborators threaten the practitioners, claiming, "They will either add to your term or sentence you to life in prison if you refuse to yield." In addition, they make use of the practitioners' family members who cry and implore them to abandon their belief when visiting. Some police even provoke the practitioners' spouses to file for divorce. Using all kinds of means, they try to force the practitioners to give up their righteous belief.

Policewomen Wang Mei and Zhang Xue handcuffed practitioner Zhang Xueqing and made her suffer in freezing temperatures out in the yard overnight, then forced her to sign a one year extension of forced labour in the camp because Ms. Zhang refused to write materials defaming Falun Gong.

Practitioner Xu Hongmei tried to send a letter to her husband, but policewoman Wang Ying rewrote it, turning it into a brainwashing letter before dispatching it. Because Ms. Xu protested what was done, the policewoman and others put a gag over her mouth and locked her to a metal chair for several days.

Practitioner Cheng Chunmin refused to sign the so-called "Statement of Transformation" and tore it up later because a collaborator signed it for her. As a result, policewoman Wang Mei beat and cursed her, and then locked her to a steel chair.

The "Statement of Transformation" is a customary trick used by the perpetrators to persecute the Falun Gong practitioners. They usually give a computer printed statement to each of those who are forced to take brainwashing sessions. The sessions will end immediately if the practitioners sign the statement renouncing their belief. It will still be acceptable if collaborators sign it for those who are unwilling to do so themselves, but if the practitioners refuse to recognize it, they will be tortured. For example, Ms. Li Aiying refused to yield after two different terms of forced labour, so she had to serve an extended term and was always beaten while handcuffed. Another practitioner, Liu Rui, refused to sign the statement. Policeman Lu Dasheng kicked her over twenty times and policewoman Guo Li slapped her face thirty times before locking her to a steel chair.

2. "Strict Control"

The practitioners that refuse to renounce Falun Gong are isolated in small cells and are closely watched by inmates called "sandwich" prisoners. They are also placed under many "forbidden" rules. Among those "sandwich" prisoners, the most wicked were the two collaborators, Liu Changyun and Li Na. Li Na who always extorted money from, cursed or beat the practitioners, and destroyed the practitioners' possessions, including printed copies of Teacher's articles. Upon hearing complaints, the police claimed she was acting appropriately, so Li Na ran rampant for a time. Seeing her savage behaviour, a newly jailed practitioner discussed the issue with others, and they reached a common understanding. Meanwhile, the practitioners kept taking up the matter with the police, and eventually the "sandwich" was dismissed. The police team leaders Wang Yan and Zhao Lijuan used to encourage the "sandwiches" to beat or curse Falun Gong practitioners, but they had to retreat under the practitioners' protest.

Those who are under "Strict Control" are not allowed to see their visitors. Ms. Zhu Chuyue didn't think it was reasonable and wanted to talk to the camp director. The team leaders Wang Mei and Zhang Zhijie were so annoyed that they assaulted Ms. Zhu using "security check" as a pretext. After hearing Ms. Zhu's protest, they locked her to a steel chair for thirty-two days and then added three months on to her term.

3. Slave Labour

The forced labour camp makes prisoners pack pesticide for a chemical plant in order to make money. With only a gauze mask, most of us were scorched on the face and skin by poisonous chemical powder. Many people coughed out bloody sputum, but every day had to lift and move thirty pesticide buckets, each weighing over 30 kilograms (about 70 pounds). We were forced to work over a dozen hours every day without enough food to eat. The police and prisoner squad leaders kept yelling and swearing in the dusty and noisy shop.

Sixty-year old women also had to do this work if they refused to give up practising Falun Gong. On purpose, the camp forced the practitioners to do the "pouring pesticide" job, which was the dirtiest and most hazardous one. We could hardly see each other through the haze of pesticide dust in the shop, where practitioners' eyes were frequently scorched. With no water to drink in the hot summer, in addition to hunger and fatigue, some practitioners fainted.

Those who compromised with the authorities would get their terms shortened. The practitioners that firmly adhered to their belief never got a penny from their labour and had to serve extended terms. If we reasoned with the collaborators that tried to brainwash us with lies, the camp authorities would reprimand us and extend our terms. One of the examples was practitioner Xie Qiang. Policewoman Wang Mei added two months on Ms. Xie's term.

4. Food

Except for holidays, the practitioners have neither vegetables to eat nor hot water to drink. The pickles every day are salted from smelly turnips. The so called "vegetable soup", made of a cabbage leaf and half a chopped potato with skin and dirt in boiling water, has a sickening smell. During the SARS period, the camp fed the jailed Falun Gong practitioners steamed dinner rolls made from industrial grain, which by law is forbidden to be used for human consumption. After eating these ultra black and offensive smelling rolls, most of the practitioners suffered stomachaches and diarrhoea, and some developed chronic enteritis.

Under these circumstances, the practitioners had to labour in the sweltering shop. Some were so hungry that they had to buy snacks from the camp store, which is notorious for selling inferior and phony goods at high prices. The camp still forbids the practitioners' family members to bring them any food so the camp store can make money through selling what it has. During the SARS months when most of the plants were isolated in the country, the practitioners were forced to get up at three o'clock in the morning and work in heat, hunger and fatigue. The camp made a lot of money by this method. For months, the practitioners made a net profit of 180,000 yuan for the camp but had to eat what was worse than pig food.

5. Sickness

Those who compromise with the authorities or prisoners will be released on medical parole if they are sick. But for the practitioners that firmly refuse to renounce Falun Gong, even if they are supposed to be on medical parole, the camp police will still imprison them until they are on the verge of death.

Practitioner Wang Yongfang suffered pulmonary tuberculosis, which was diagnosed in a hospital. The camp director Dong tried to force her to renounce Falun Gong when he asked about her physical situation. A collaborator claimed the camp would let her go, but she had to give up her belief first. Because Ms. Wang refused to cooperate with them, the camp didn't approve her medical parole. With her health getting worse, she also suffered cholecystitis and cardiac muscle anemia. She now has difficulty walking on her own but is still being jailed.

Practitioner Cheng Chunmin suffered hepatitis B, but the camp refused to release her.

Practitioner Li Jing opened a banner in the camp so policewomen Wang Yan and Zhao Lijuan beat her badly. Then they added to her term and locked her to a steel chair for forty days, leading to paralysis. She is still in jail.

Practitioner Cui Xuemin was force-fed by policewoman Wang Yan and others for four months. She was not released until she was near death.

Phone Number of Shuanghe Forced Labour Camp: 86-452-2451085

Police Group Leader Zhang Zhijie: 86-13946289956 (mobile)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/26/65827.html