Truly Good People

On February 11, 2004, the Minghui.org web site published a report of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. It was a witness’ account from a Falun Gong practitioner, named Ms. Jiang Wei. She recounted, “There are unending workloads and no letting up. After that torture, they began to force us illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners to perform hard labour. We had to work without compensation for 16 to 17 hours daily. Most of the time we produced military uniforms, children’s apparel, vests, active wear, and so forth. Once we were forced to work on a rush order of “Lama uniforms” from a Taiwanese merchant, non-stop for 36 hours. Falun Gong practitioners were even denied sleep and lunch during that stretch of time. We couldn’t help being tired, sleepy, and hungry after being forced to work so long without any rest or food; therefore, we all were groggy and in a daze. The captain (a rank of disciplinary staff) cruelly scolded an ordinary criminal who was detained there because her work became substandard. The captain even threatened to extend her prison term if she did not improve her performance. Feeling tired and frightened, she kept crying and, in fact, she cried so hard that it damaged her vision. They treat people inhumanly. Falun Gong practitioners are treated even worse. Because we Falun Gong practitioners always have a strong work ethic, we pay attention to details, and never try to pull wool over the disciplinary staff’s eyes or compromise the quality of products. The staff at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp thus took advantage of our strong self-discipline. They increased our already unreasonable workload and made us Falun Gong practitioner’s work on more high-end products that require more attention to detail. At times, the factories contracting the work to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp specifically requested that Falun Gong practitioners work on their order. If the order couldn’t be finished on time, due to overload, they would rather wait.” Ms. Wei also said, “In fact, a captain, Ms. Chen Qiumei once remarked, ‘the products made by Falun Gong practitioners are always of good quality. They never try to pull a fast one. When factories learn that it was Falun Gong practitioners who made the products, they waive the quality check. This had never before happened at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.’” [Translated from a chinese article published on Minghui.org]

After reading this report, I felt that those people participating in the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners had turned unbelievably degenerate. In my opinion, Falun Gong practitioners are truly good people. They adhere to the Falun Dafa principles “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance,” the Great Law of the Universe. They are not slaves who should be held imprisoned with criminals in forced labour camps. Good people should not be equated with people who are easy to bully. Good people should neither be bullied nor humiliated. Good people should not be detained in forced labour camps or jails, and nor should they be enslaved. They should not be required to do hard labour. Even a prison inmate in the forced labour camps, by law, should not perform labour [for profit] and should not perform labour for more than 8 hours a day, not to mention law-abiding Falun Dafa practitioners who are not criminals and should not be sentenced to serve time in forced labour camps in the first place. They are good people who are unlawfully detained in the forced labour camps.

I think Falun Dafa practitioners illegally detained in forced labour camps should refuse enslavement and hard labour because it is a type of persecution against good Falun Gong practitioners and Falun Dafa.

Teacher said, “No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won’t be this way.” (From “Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful” in Essentials for Further Advancement II.)

Furthermore, the staff at forced labour camps enslave Dafa practitioners. They force them to perform hard labour to make money from them. Is this acceptable? I think not. The profit from enslaving Falun Gong practitioners will encourage them to continue their persecution even more inhumanely. They will be motivated ever more to earn more money through continued enslavement of their fellow man. Those factories that are demanding Dafa practitioners to work on their contracts are committing a great sin. If Dafa practitioners choose to cooperate with them, aren’t they assisting them in committing a sin? I believe that Dafa practitioners should not allow these ill-bred people to exploit Dafa practitioners’ heartfelt compassion.

I don’t think we should allow Chinese forced labour camps to take advantage of upright citizens and good people. Whether it is based on the definition of a good person, or the reasons of protecting Dafa and truly being compassionate towards the sentient beings, we should refuse enslavement.

The forced labour camp is a very vicious environment. Falun Dafa practitioners are being pressured immensely in this environment. We should rectify the situation there and should not allow ourselves to be subject to enslavement.