Masanjia Forced Labour Camp -Wrecking Lives, Destroying the Human Conscience (Part I)

By Minghui.net Reporter Chu Tianxing

Liaoning Province, notorious for carrying out the persecution of Falun Gong, is No. 4 on the list of provinces that have the highest number of murdered practitioners. Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, also called the "Ideology Education School of Liaoning Province," is located in a suburb of Shenyang City, and is known worldwide for its forced-brainwashing techniques. Over the past four years and seven months, from July 1999 to February 2004, at least 99 practitioners were murdered there because of their belief in the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Their ages ranged from 27 to 65 and majority of them were only between 31 and 39 years old.

Part 1. Covering up crimes while persecuting Falun Gong

1. Wasting large amounts of money to deprive people of their beliefs

A senior official from the Judicial Department from Liaoning Province once said in a large meeting at Masanjia, "The money we've spent on dealing with Falun Gong has exceeded the cost of a war."

Masanjia is a well-equipped, large institution, which can detain up to seven thousand people each year. It has its own fishery, called "Masan Fish Ground," a brewery called "Dalong Brewery Company," and a clothing manufacturer. It also runs the "Masan Machinery Factory." The main workforce in these businesses are comprised of the labour camp's detainees. Each of them is assigned a certain workload. If the work is not finished in time, the detainee will be punished.

There are buildings for male cells and also for female cells. The female quarters are called the "Female Cellblocks of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp." The female cellblocks have been specifically used to detain female practitioners since the beginning of the persecution against Falun Gong. As the persecution escalated, the Second Female Cellblock of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp was established by the end of October 1999. It has been specifically used to detain and persecute female practitioners. Most of the female practitioners who refused to be brainwashed are held with the regular prisoners in the Female Cellblock and they are forced to do extra-heavy physical labour. The Female Cellblocks are located next to the 9th Division male cellblocks. For those who accepted brainwashing, they are put together in the Second Female Cellblock. The facility is open to visitors (Here, the term, "open to visitors" means that the brainwashed people are often sent out to poison the minds of others. They may also receive visitors and are available during investigations from the central, provincial and city governments.)

The original Female Cellblock then became the First Female Cellblock. Because the Second Female Cellblock is "outstanding in their "tactics and "achievement" in Falun Gong persecution, the higher authorities have often commended Su Jing, head of the Second Female Cellblock. The First Female Cellblock is not willing to fall behind either. The two compete for recognition and gain. They come up with all kinds of new torture and brainwashing methods comprised of both hard and soft tactics. Particularly in the beginning, when the Second Female Cellblock was just established, in order to achieve a high rate of getting Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief and to earn awards, the police came up with much more varieties of torture and brainwashing, with electric shock batons and other physical punishment most commonly used. These are ruthless and outrageous methods. Even the prison cell heads in the male cell block from the No.6 division, located across the street, were shocked and felt that their abuse tactics couldn't match those of the police from the Second Female Cellblock. They said, "The police from the Second Female Cellblock are really vicious and ruthless."

A practitioner from Liaoning Province had been to Beijing four times to appeal for Dafa and to tell the facts about Dafa to those kind, conscientious fellow citizens who had been deceived. On October 29, 1999, this practitioner was one among the first group of over a dozen practitioners from Jinzhou City and also from among other practitioners from Liaoning Province and other areas who were sent to Masanjia. He was released on September 12, 2000.

The practitioner wrote a testimonial after regaining his freedom, saying, "I am just a common Chinese citizen. By mere chance in June 1994, I fortunately walked through the holy gate of Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa freed me from the mire of a painful life and taught me the true meaning of being a human being. However, I never thought that such a noble spiritual belief, which can make people healthy and hold them to high moral standards and grandly benefit society without doing any harm, would be framed and persecuted by some highly placed Chinese authorities. Now, because of persecuting Falun Gong, Amnesty International has labelled Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese government, a human rights scoundrel."

"Masanjia first applied hard tactics and then soft tactics, trying to force Dafa practitioners to give up their practice. But all these tactics were useless. In order to achieve their evil goals, the labour camp distorts the principles of Falun Dafa in order to confuse those who didn't study the Falun Dafa teachings thoroughly. Because all the practitioners are disgusted with the evildoing scoundrels who defame the founder of Falun Dafa, Masanjia personnel take a deceptive and insidious approach to achieve their purposes. For example, when practitioners first arrive at Masanjia, the police will show very friendly faces; this is an obvious contrast to previous situations in which the practitioners were badly beaten. This is the first step Masanjia uses to confuse the practitioners. The police appear friendly, neither beating nor scolding. In the second step, Masanjia instructs those who succumbed to brainwashing and are collaborators with the police, to take turns trying to brainwash the newcomers. The third step involves using hard tactics; they use electric batons to shock the practitioners. In the fourth step, the prison police personally talk to the practitioners; they observe the practitioners during their casual conversations, trying to find their attachments and weaknesses. Once they find any attachment, they will attack that weakness until the practitioner gives in and accepts the brainwashing."

2. Following the example of the Nazis, playing the game of "open the concentration camp to the public."

During World War II, the Nazi government in Germany had permitted selected public officials to visit certain concentration camps. In order to calm down growing public attention they presented a false picture to the outside world during those visits. Now, over a half century later, Jiang's group is playing a similar game with the forced labour camp system. Since May 22, 2001, foreign media such as representatives from AP and numerous others were permitted access to Masanjia, under certain conditions.

When Zhang Chaoying, the head of Masanjia, answered a foreign reporter's question, Zhang claimed that they had never detained male Dafa practitioners. According to the practitioners from Liaoning Province who had been detained in Masanjia, the Division for Newcomers of Masanjia started to take the first male practitioner on November 19, 1999; by August 2000, it had detained 34 male practitioners. On February 18, 2000, it sent five male practitioners to the 6th Division of Masanjia, trying to brainwash them.

Because of "outstanding achievement" from the Second Female Cellblock of Masanjia in persecuting innocent people, Wang Maolin and Dong Jufa who were in charge of the Central Party Committee's "610 Office" inspected Masanjia and confirmed their "achievement." They also provided detailed reports to Jiang Zemin. Liu Jing, another head of the CPC's "610 Office" had been to Masanjia many times and had helped Jiang Zemin to decide to make available a six million yuan fund. They also ordered Masanjia to quickly set up the so-called "Masanjia Ideology Education Base." The whole project was estimated at 10 million Yuan; the four million deficit would come from local Liaoning Province governments.

In the beginning of 2000, the worldwide denunciations against Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong mounted, both inside and outside of the Party in China. Jiang's regime couldn't wait for "the Ideology Education Base" to get finished. They moved the Juvenile Forced Labour Camp to "the other place," which had just recently been built inside the complex of Masanjia. They decorated the compound and carefully selected a group of brainwashed people to officially set up the Second Female Cellblock of Masanjia. It is open to the public and is used to deceive the domestic and foreign media and people from around the world.

3. Lying that They "Never Detained Male Falun Gong Practitioners"

In October 2000, to increase their "reform rate," Masanjia Forced Labour Camp personnel stripped 18 female Dafa practitioners and threw them naked into cells of male criminal inmates (not male practitioners). This evil event was exposed internationally and evoked worldwide concern. To continue their abuse and mistreatment under the persecution, the camp officials lied, saying they had never detained male Falun Gong practitioners, implying they did not have cells for male criminals inmates either.

To expose the lie that they "have never detained male Falun Gong practitioners," one Dafa practitioner from Liaoning Province once sent an e-mail to Clearwisdom.net. He said, "I am a male Dafa practitioner and have been detained in Masanjia. Recently I got an opportunity to re-visit Masanjia. To my surprise, in less than the two months after I left, the 'original' Masanjia had undergone many changes which confused 'the outsiders'."

"When walking up to Masanjia, I noticed that a duty office was added next to the entrance gate, as well as personnel specifically assigned to guard the entrance. The original entrance seemed to have an atmosphere of 'nervous suspicion.' The personnel guarding the entrance diligently watched strangers and vehicles that were passing by. This camp had been set up for many years and never had entrance guards in the past. When did they add this guard facility and why?"

"Walking along the paved road in the yard of the camp I felt very familiar with it. When some male practitioners and I were detained here we had cleaned this road countless times. We were also assigned to clean the rubbish bins along the road and in the residential areas for up to one year. Following the road I came to the 'Masanjia Juvenile Forced Labour Camp' located inside of the main Masanjia complex. Goodness! How did the big sign 'Masanjia Juvenile Forced Labour Camp' which was originally welded to the steel arch entrance door get replaced with 'The Second Female Cellblock of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp'? Where were the juveniles, younger than 18, who used to be detained here? Why was 'The Second Female Cellblock moved to here? Wasn't it located next to the Sixth Division of Masanjia? (Note: When I was detained there, I was held in the yard of the juvenile labor camp. The juvenile labor camp was recently built. A total of 34 male Dafa practitioners paved the stone road and established the lawn. It was in the August of 2000. Soon after that we were transferred to the Division for the Newcomers."

In June 2001, another Dafa practitioner from Mainland China said in an e-mail to Clearwisdom.net, "Those depraved men in power thought that if they moved the Second Female Cellblock away from the Sixth Division and away from the male cells, they would be able to cover up the fact that they had stripped 18 female Dafa practitioners and then threw them into the male cells. But what they have forgotten is that the real Second Female Cellblock, the four-story building located on the north side of the Sixth Division, still detains several hundred female Dafa practitioners; the original curtains are still on the doors; the curtains still clearly show the logo 'The Second Female Cellblock.' The sign for the Second Female Cellblock of Masanjia has been removed from the original building, but what they cannot remove is the truth of what actually happened there."

4. Brainwashing under the Personal Attention of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee

Besides the former leader Jiang Zemin who personally started this persecution out of his jealousy, some government officials in China are also following his persecution policies with zeal to pursue personal political capital, to win personal promotions and to get rich. These government officials also stage unconscionable acts, using Masanjia as a showcase.

In February 2001, the United Nations Human Rights Commission Report/ Special investigation of torture against Women pointed out that Luo Gan knew of the deed in which Masanjia officials ordered the camp guards to strip the clothes off 18 female Dafa practitioners and throw them naked into the male criminals' cells. Allegedly, Luo Gan had personally inspected Masanjia and had been there many times. He is supposed to have screamed, "intensify the persecution against Falun Gong."

Xinhua News Agency reported on February 26, 2001 that the "610 Office" of the Central Party Committee, including Luo Gan, gave a so-called "commendation" to over a hundred groups and 271 individuals for their roles in persecuting Falun Gong. During the commendation conference, Chen You, the political leader of the Tiananmen Square Division of the Beijing Public Security Department, and Su Jing, head of the Second Female Cellblock at Masanjia gave speeches to the conference attendees, telling them about their experiences in persecuting Dafa practitioners. Most of the attendees had taken part in the persecution. The Tiananmen Square Division from the Beijing Public Security Department is responsible for beating and abducting the Dafa practitioners who peacefully appeal on Tiananmen Square; the Second Female Cellblock officials at Masanjia are notorious for the cruel means they use in persecuting Dafa practitioners.

For actively co-operating with Jiang Zemin's group in persecuting Falun Gong, Su Jing, head of the Second Female Cellblock at Masanjia was rewarded with 50,000 Yuan and was named a "first class hero." The assistant head, Shao Li, was rewarded with 30,000 Yuan. The head of the general division, Wang Naimin, and the heads of all sub-divisions closely imitated them; they forced Dafa practitioners to write "commendation letters" for them, and to give them silk banners and inscribed boards. They were trying to deceive those visitors who were arranged to come to visit Masanjia with these false commendation letters and silk banners. According to reports, the entire police unit at Masanjia was named "a second class hero collective" and every team head received a monetary reward, with the amount depending upon their team's "reform" rate.

According to news from Shenyang City, on February 10, 2002, the Liaoning Daily had reported that in the afternoon of February 5, 2002, Wang Weizhong, deputy secretary from the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and the head of the provincial leading group for social stability went to Masanjia to "greet the basic level judicial police officers [Su Jing and Sun Fengwu] who are diligently working in the battle front of politics and law." The report in the Liaoning Daily also said that Wang Weizhong gave full recognition to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp's "achievement."

(To be continued)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/27/68521.html