The Enslavement of Falun Dafa Practitioners in Wangcun Forced Labour Camp (Photos)

He Weicheng, a Falun Gong practitioner, was illegally sentenced to a forced labour camp in 2002 and detained at the No. 2 Men's Forced Labour Camp in Shandong Province (i.e. Wangcun Forced Labour Camp). In July 2002, he was forced to do slave labour, producing various glass products for Zibo Jiaye Company. It was said that these products would be exported to the U.S., South Korea, and other countries.

First, let's introduce the production process of this slave labour.

Product Sample Diagrams

First, tinted glass is cut into 1 cm square pieces then glued onto vessels with 1 to 2 mm between each piece of glass.

Then, the vessels are transferred to the cement workshop, and the gaps are filled with cement, leaving only the upper and bottom edges (about 2 mm) bare. The cement is mixed and smeared into the gaps. Then, a layer of dry cement powder is added and wiped with a dry cloth. Sometimes the cement is white and sometimes it is black. After that the vessel is cleaned with muriatic acid, which emits toxic fumes.

The cost is no more than one Chinese yuan (.12 USD) and the sales price is more than five U.S. dollars. The tag price is usually about $4.99 or $5.99. Some larger and detailed products will have a tag of $14.99, etc.

During the production process, the vessel is put on an emplacement (bracket). With one hand holding the glue, and the other hand holding a piece of glass, one must work continuously to paste the glass onto the vessel.

The glue contains large quantities of benzene and other harmful chemicals. Some of the glues emit very strong and unusual odors. Some people have gotten headaches from it. They have had symptoms like their eyes turning red, nausea, etc. It is very harmful to one's body. It is said that it does severe damage to a person's reproductive organs. Due to long term working under high pressure, one's eyesight deteriorates.

After the glue dries, cement will be added. The cement workshop is filled with dust. There is a large quantity of cement dust in the air. The cement dust is inhaled into the lungs with no labor safeguard measures in place to protect the workers.

In 2003, we had to work from 5 a.m. until midnight, even on the days before the Spring Festival. Most of the time, we had to work until 1 o'clock the next morning. Each day, we had to get up and start working while our eyes were not completely open yet. We would begin working without even washing up or brushing our teeth. We only had 15 to 20 minutes for meals. The meals we were given consisted of radish strips pickled in soy sauce and two pieces of steamed bread. In the wintertime, our hands were frozen to the point of becoming swollen and bleeding.

Our workload kept increasing. If one could not accomplish the task, one had to work overtime. Many people became mentally disoriented while working due to exhaustion. The labour camp would not allow one to take a break even if one felt unwell, unless one had a doctor's approval. Even some of the people who were in their sixties would not be excused.

Falun Dafa practitioners have to work over 18 hours a day. Each day is like a year for them. Their fingers have been worn from the labor. After repeating one action over and over for a very long time, some people became so weary that they developed heart trouble.

In October 2003, Dafa practitioner Zhao Youqiang had the symptoms of a heart attack because of his hard working conditions. Although he was in severe pain, they still forced him to work. He was tortured like that until his term (which was illegal to begin with) expired on July 15, 2004.

Some practitioners became ill, and thus could not work. The police decided that this was affecting the company's profits too much. As a result, most of the Dafa practitioners had to go through a new round of persecution. Some of them were beaten up and some were forced to stay awake until late into the night.

The labor camp persecuted Dafa practitioners from many aspects, including time, mental, physical, and economic restraints. For the sake of personal gain, they repeatedly persecuted practitioners. For those who worked slowly or did not work, the police forced them to stay up late at night under strict control, etc.

A Dafa practitioner from Sishui county, whose last name is Cao, was forced to stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. Zhao Youqiang, a Dafa practitioner from Tai'an, (detained from November 2001 to July 15, 2004) was forced to stay up until 1am. He would be awakened at 4 o'clock in the morning to work. They even asked practitioners to pay for it if anything was broken. They found all kinds of excuses to withhold the money sent by practitioners' family members.

Dafa practitioner Guan Fagang went to reason things out with police head Jing Jisheng and asked him why the police in the labour camp would not follow the rules, even though it is clearly stated that the labor time should not exceed 8 hours. Jing Jisheng said, "That does not count. It is ineffective." Even in their office, there are some slogans hanging on the wall saying "Seven things not allowed and nine things forbidden", among which there are no physical abuses, no cursing, do not instigate others to beat prisoners, abide the labour rules, etc. All these are for show only. They are used to cover up their behaviors of committing crimes even though they are disregarding and trampling the law.

Dafa practitioner Yang Shaofan said that the kind of glue the workers had to use is harmful. What he said was reported to policeman Jing Jisheng. In front of everyone, this policeman ferociously berated Yang Shaofan and said, "Jiaye Company has been using this kind of glue for several years. You are spreading rumours if you say it is harmful. I will report to the leaders and extend your term." He threatened other practitioners so that they would be afraid to speak out.

In order to increase productivity, they had non-practitioners and practitioners compete. They used different methods to increase the labour intensity.

What is even more ironic is that police Sun Fengjun, the assistant leader said in a meeting, "It will be hard for you to find such a job in society. You do not have to worry about the wind and rain. You should feel satisfied if you can have such a job here."

Recently Dafa practitioners have stood up against the persecution and resisted the slave labour. The output has constantly decreased because of the practitioners' resistance. Because of this, the labour camp authorities changed their methods in the persecution. They began to count the pieces during production. Each day, they forced the practitioners to glue 5000, 6000, even 7000 pieces, to try to make the practitioners work harder.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/6/2/103186.html