Xinhua Labour Camp in Sichuan Province: Bloody Crimes behind a Modern Facade

Walking into Xinhua Labor Camp in Sichuan Province, viewing the green, grassy landscape, the beautiful clean architecture, and the modern monitoring equipment, one might think that it is a very civilized place. But behind the scenes of this modern building are bloody crimes, hidden from the public eye.

Inside Xinhua Labour Camp, there is a camera inside each cell monitoring practitioners, to see if they are doing the Falun Gong exercises. However, when the camp authorities see how the practitioners are abused by guards and criminal inmates, they pretend that they did not see what happened. Common prisoners incarcerated in the labour camp are brainwashed, forced to watch videos that slander Falun Gong and that spark a hatred towards Falun Gong. These inmates are told that if they can "transform" a practitioner, they can have their sentence reduced by twenty days. Life in the labour camp is very difficult. Therefore, reducing their sentence for twenty days is a very attractive reward for many labour camp inmates.

The police persecute the practitioners in the Xinhua Labour Camp using various means. For first-time illegally imprisoned practitioners, the police separate them from the rest of the practitioners, not allowing them to talk to anyone or to read any books or newspapers. They then monitor the practitioners for a long time. If they discover any fears on the part of a practitioner, they will intimidate, harass, and then try to defeat them using that fear as a starting point for their wicked tactics. If a practitioner is very determined, then they will pretend to be very kind, taking care of the practitioner and puzzling them as to why the behaviour of the labour camp personnel is so different from what has been reported on the Minghui/Clearwisdom websites. With this confusing behaviour, they attempt to take practitioners down a wrong path. If both the intimidation tactics and their insincere kindness do not work, then they will put a practitioner into intensive persecution groups and subject them to sleep deprivation and other punishments called "training." They intentionally create hardships for practitioners and force them to "oppose" the authorities. If a practitioner "opposes" them, then they would say that the practitioner had violated the labour camp's rules and use that as an excuse for further persecution.

A guard named Zhao Yu is about thirty-six years old. Labour camp staff call him Hitler, not only because he looks like Hitler, but he uses cruel methods to persecute practitioners.

In 2002, Zhao Yu organised a special group to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners in the Fourth Division are all very determined in their belief. The camp guards and Zhao Yu would not allow practitioners to sleep for more than one or two hours each night. This situation lasted for a couple of months. During the day, the practitioners were subjected to intensive physical training. There were six people for every practitioner and every "training exercise" was mechanically repeated over and over. Otherwise, practitioners were forced to run laps for long periods of time. When it was raining, practitioners were forced to sit upright like soldiers to watch brainwashing videos. On days of good weather, Zhao Yu sat on his chair and enjoyed tea while watching the practitioners' suffering.

Some labour camp inmates did not want to participate in the persecution against Dafa practitioners. Therefore, Zhao Yu forced them to carry bricks, exhausting them, and then he forced them to physically torture the practitioners. When practitioners protested Zhao Yu's evil acts, wicked labour camp inmates would gang up to beat and throw practitioners to the ground. Then Zhao Yu would use ropes to tie them up and send them to the so-called "protection division" where they were shocked with a hundred thousand volts from electron batons. Usually, there would be several electric batons applied to practitioners at the same time. On one occasion, practitioner Mr. Wei Lang was shocked with six electric batons at the same time, on the side of his head, face, neck, and chest. When experiencing the shocks, the muscles throughout his entire body painfully contracted. After seeing how he was suffering, some inmates left with tears in their eyes.

Zhao Yu abusively used torture to persecute practitioners beyond the body's capacity for endurance. Practitioner Zheng Fangjun was injured after having had his head rammed into a wall by several criminal inmates. Yet Zhao Yu still forced Mr. Zheng to run and walk with military-style steps in the snow all day. When Zheng Fangjun refused to walk, Zhao Yu ordered six labour camp inmates to drag him at a run, kicking him all the while. If Zheng Fangjun still refused to run, then Zhao Yu would punish the inmates who were "helping" him. If the labour camp's inmates did not actively participate in persecuting practitioners, Zhao Yu would give them a very hard time. But if they did participate in the persecution, Zhao Yu might reward them with a twenty day sentence reduction. If practitioners were on a hunger strike, Zhao Yu would order labour camp inmates to first beat the practitioners. Then they would force-feed them.

Later, due to some underhanded financial dealings, Zhao Yu was investigated. A lot of people were angry at him, and the labour camp wanted to transfer him. However, he asked one of his relatives who worked in the city government to refuse to authorise the transfer. Even though Zhao Yu has gone mad in his brutal persecution of practitioners, practitioners are becoming more and more determined. Therefore, the special group for persecuting practitioners in the Fourth Division was later dismantled.

The persecution in Xinhua Labour Camp was very severe. Long-term sleep deprivation, for as long as a couple of months, was used widely. Every day, practitioners could only sleep for one or two hours and sometimes they were forced to stay up all night and be subjected to intense brainwashing. In the afternoon, practitioners had to sit upright in military fashion and could not talk or close their eyes while the person sitting next to them read a book slandering Dafa. If the practitioner blinked his eyes, fell asleep or relaxed, he or she would be slapped on the face, beaten, or kicked. Then he'd be forced into a squatting position to listen to the slanderous books. If practitioners refused to submit to these demands, then all the inmates would gang up to beat them. If practitioners still refused to give in, then they would be reported to labour camp authorities and they would be subjected to various tortures, including being tied up with ropes and shocked with electron batons. If the practitioners still refused to submit, then their sentences would be extended.

There is a stark contrast between the beautiful building of Xinhua Labour Camp and the dark, evil activities that take place inside. People say that the place is run like a state-sanctioned organised crime ring, where terrorism prevails.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/12/13/91328.html