A Former Detainee Exposes the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in the Qingdao City Forced Labour Camp

Although three or four months have gone by since I came here, the moment of my arrival still dwells in my memory. At the beginning, I thought that forced brainwashing was a trial that I could deal with easily, but after spending some time in the Qingdao City Labour Camp I realised that things were not as I expected them to be. "Forced labour" and "brainwashing" are totally different things. I would rather be sentenced to three years in prison than be sentenced to one year in a labour camp. The cruelty in the labour camp is beyond my imagination.

After I came to the Qingdao City Labour Camp I was assigned to a "special" position because of my old age. I became a tough superintendent. My duty was to watch over Falun Gong practitioners. At that time I did not think that Falun Gong practitioners were anything special so I was really surprised when I heard the supervisor and other Falun Gong practitioners' accounts of the practitioner I was assigned to watch. He had been on a hunger strike for more than one and a half years, and had suffered numerous hardships, yet remained steadfast in his belief. He was regarded by the camp authorities as "stubborn to the extreme." The leaders of the labour camp were concerned with his case the most. They sent seven people to watch over him at one point. My first thought was that this person must be strongly built with an unpleasant appearance. But when I saw him, way beyond my expectation, I found that he was a gentle and polite person who spoke softly. He was completely different from the others in this regard. But at that time I was still very cautious of him in my heart. I rarely spoke to him. I was told by the officials in the labour camp not to talk to him.

As time went on, and I had more contact with him, I came to understand him more. What he had gone through was not something an ordinary person would be able to endure. This precisely demonstrates the cruelty of every political campaign the Communist Party has staged. He was deprived of any sleep for half a month, but he managed to endure it. If I were he, I would not have been able to endure it. Every day, several times a day, he was beaten with high-voltage electric batons, but he was able to manage it. If I were placed in his shoes there is no way I could have bore what he bore. Every day, several times a day, a group of people took turns bashing his face, but he simply bore it. If I were he, I would not. In the cold winter he was stripped and forced to lie on the wet cement floor. He was able to bear it. If I were he, I could not. He was able to go on hunger strike for his belief for one and a half years, but if I were in the same situation as his, I would not be able to. His child was not yet one year old, and he had never seen him because of the illegal detention.

The hardships this Falun Gong practitioner has gone through are far greater than what I have just described. While I am writing this story, my heart is bleeding and I can barely muster the courage to continue writing his story. I am so ashamed of our country. Is this the way that our society treats those people who do not give up their beliefs? His belief is in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance! In the future if I have time, I will give a detailed account of how he and another Falun Gong practitioners were tortured, and let the world know what the so-called "help and education" in the labour camp really is under the Chinese Communist regime, and what the so-called "Democracy and the Rule of Law" they claim to have really is. I would like the world to have the opportunity to respond to these facts. The Chinese Communist regime deceives its own people who pay taxes to them and feed them. Is their behaviour worthy of the people's trust?

The following is my account of a small portion of the torture Falun Gong practitioners endured. This is only the tip of the iceberg. But from this tiny account you can imagine how the whole picture of the persecution is.

This Falun Gong practitioner's name is Wang Bingwen. Wang is a university graduate. Three years ago he was the Director of the Fire Department of the Laoshan Branch of the Qingdao City Public Security Bureau. He had a happy family as well. He came across Falun Dafa by chance. His friend introduced him to the book Zhuan Falun. He bought one and read it through. He found that this book was very good and could not put it down. After he took up practising Falun Gong, he quit smoking and drinking alcohol. He no longer took bribes or committed embezzlement, but in a society in which the right and wrong are inverted and the white can be turned into the black, how could he possibly survive by living an honest life, let alone the fact that he practised Falun Gong? Thus, he became the first target to be fired from his position once the persecution of Falun Gong started. Later on he changed to several different workplaces. Each time, he was harassed and had to change jobs. In the end he lost his job and was taken to a labour camp for brainwashing.

The policemen and the officials in the labour camp took turns bashing him in the face, several hundreds of times every day. But he did not give in. Then they turned to the electric shock batons and wooden clubs to beat him with twice a day. These did not affect him either. Then they used the method of depriving him of sleep for half a month until he was so sleepy that he would fall asleep when he was standing or talked nonsense. But even so, they still did not succeed in making him slander his Master (referring to the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi). Then they tied him to a bed all day long. He couldn't eat or go to the toilet by himself. They beat him using electric batons. At any one time there were several electric batons on charge. They prepared 20 packs of cigarettes, lit the cigarettes and inserted them into both of his nostrils until all 20 packs were consumed. The perpetrators still did not get want they wanted from him. So they resorted to all kinds of other torture methods including the tiger bench and hot pepper water. But this seemingly fragile practitioner had a will of steel and iron. He never gave in.

Up to the point when I was transferred to another place, the Qingdao City Labour Camp had no other ways to deal with him. They had used all sorts of hoodlum-like torture methods, but there was no effect on him. In the end they had to give up. Mr. Wang's high morals and perseverance were incredibly admirable, but who knows whether he will be able to survive this persecution in the end?

There was another practitioner whose name I cannot remember. He was a postgraduate. He firmly believed that Falun Gong teaches the truth of the universe and that it is very scientific. No matter how he was intimidated or tempted with personal interest he was not moved at all. After he was detained in Qingdao City for several months, he was sent to Wangcun, the labour camp that is notorious for its persecution of Falun Gong. There were all sorts of torture instruments there, including the so-called seventy-two torture instruments of Wangcun. The perpetrators under the Chinese Communist regime severely tortured him and damaged his brain. He became senseless. One day he fell from upstairs directly down to the ground floor and died. His wife was severely traumatised by his death. She became mentally unstable and was sent to the mental hospital.

Through this window of the Qingdao City Labour Camp we can see the true reality of the whole country. I hope that people with a conscience can seriously think, "How long can such a gangster-like and corrupt society as this last? Does it need to exist? We must realise that the winter has come. Could the spring be far away?" Everyone, please have a little patience and wait for the dawn to come.