Practitioners Forced to Do Slave Labour and Exposed to Environmental Contamination at the Qingpu Female Forced Labour Camp

1. Packaging "Chachaxiang Seeds" under Unsanitary Conditions

For some time, the fifth team (a team formed solely to torture Falun Gong practitioners) at the Shanghai Qingpu Female Labour Camp was hired to package "Chachaxiang Seeds" (a food product). Practitioners put stickers on small plastic clamps (free giveaway with a purchase) and enclose one with each seed bag. The clamps were kept in washbasins generally used for washing the face and feet. Everyone was given one basin. This work is very unsanitary! Clamps that fall on the ground and are stepped on are not cleaned before they are put into the seed bags.

Besides Falun Gong practitioners, members of the fifth team include drug abusers, thieves, prostitutes and those who committed fraud. Most of those prisoners suffer from skin diseases. Isn't it obvious that a healthy person, having to live in such an unsanitary environment, would become infected with the same diseases? These rooms serve as bedrooms and working areas. Isn't it true that producing food-related products in such an environment is unsanitary and irresponsible? Wouldn't this be considered an environmental hazard and affect the consumers' health? They also package hairpins, rubber bands for the hair and backpacks that are used as promotional items. Work habits are appalling, as items such as food, clothes, etc. are dumped on the floor of the bedroom/working area for further processing. Even the people there say that they would not buy these products once they gain their freedom.

2. Forced Labour Involving Poisonous and Harmful Substances

Production changes from time to time. At one time the inmates had to package pencils. There were many boxes with pencils piled along the walls in the hallways and the lobby. Even the sunlight coming from the windows was blocked. Practitioners took the boxes into the bedrooms to package the pencils. When opening the boxes, there was an overpowering smell of paint. Isn't it well known that the paint on pencils is poisonous? The bedrooms are relatively small. There are10-20 people in each room. Pencils were piled up in the middle of the room. When moving around, one would inadvertently step on pencils. It was the middle of the summer and the windows were wide open, but the overpowering smell did not dissipate. Daily, these inmates work from 7 am to 9:30 pm, although the labour reform law, which regulates working hours, allows only six hours per day for such work. The pencils were moved to the hallways during the rest hours, but the smell remained. Generally it takes several days to complete each batch. The labour camp had taken on such tasks a number of times, though given the low profit margins, such work has been stopped.

3. High Intensity Labour

Camp authorities enforce production quotas. If the quota is not met, punishment ensues. Punishment includes sleep deprivation or being given only vegetables over a long period of time.

From late 2001 to early 2002, the most important task was to polish electronic components with a plastic material until they were smooth enough to fit into the respective electronic devices. The goal for those who renounced Falun Gong was 3.5 kg per day. The goal for steadfast Falun Gong practitioners was 7 kg. Sometimes practitioners would be forced to work until midnight. They often suffered from back and shoulder pain, as well as blurred vision. Thus, they were able to complete only about half of the assigned work. Their hands were swollen, their index fingers, because of constant use, got much bigger and their shoulder and elbow joints became stiff and painful. Regardless of the labour camp's regulation that stipulated working hours could not be extended beyond 11 pm (this is already unacceptable under labour reform laws), the captain of the fifth team would order Falun Gong practitioners and their monitors to change to a room without surveillance cameras, where they had to keep on working. There was no clock or watch in open view. The captain and a few monitors controlled the time. Sometimes when the captain would find the people still working he would ask everyone to go and sleep. The monitor would tell everyone to stop working. But, immediately after the captain left, the monitor would order them to go back to work. When practitioners protested, the monitor told them that the person in charge of production named Shao was in control of rules about sleeping times and not the captain.

The labour camp tried to increase the workload and prolong work hours to persecute the determined practitioners who refused to be brainwashed. The labour camp's intention was to destroy the practitioners' willpower. A practitioner, Ms. Qian, who was just about to be released, was forced to work daily until midnight. During that time the work was to connect light bulbs. A practitioner had to link eighteen small light bulbs together with metal clamps, which meant connecting two wires for each section. The goal was one and a half bags, or connecting many sets of a total number of 4,800 light bulbs daily. Many people's hands became deformed, finger-nails broken and some suffered from stiff finger joints or tendonitis. The practitioners were not allowed to sleep until the goal was reached. Meanwhile, the captain and monitors accused them of being lazy.

4. Deceiving the Practitioners and Covering up Crimes

Falun Gong practitioners asked the captains why they had to work these long hours and why they did not observe labour laws. The law stipulated that one should not work more than eight hours a day and the labour reform law stipulates a maximum of a 6-hour work day. The captains would come up with excuses and then deny everything. During official visits by higher-level government employees or other visitors, the captains ordered that the work tools and materials be hidden. Everyone had to sit down together and the captains would turn on the television and let the practitioners watch entertainment programmes. Even those practitioners who were being punished and had to stand still over a long period of time got to sit down temporarily so no one would question the labour camp.

The aforementioned tells of the persecution Falun Dafa practitioners suffer at the Shanghai Qingpu Female Labour Camp. We hope that such information can be published and such persecution exposed.

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[Editor's note: Incidents where Dafa practitioners are being tortured and used as slave labour show the labour camps' intent. As Dafa practitioners, we should not follow such orders and demands from the corrupt labour camp staff.]

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/3/18/70268.html