The Women's Forced Labour Camps in Guangzhou City

The Chatou Women's Forced Labour Camp in Guangzhou City was selected by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2005 as the "National Women's Pacesetter for Ethics." But in reality, it is a place worse than hell. Staff at this labour camp persecute Falun Gong practitioners relentlessly and inhumanly.

Staff at the special section for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners at Chatou Forced Labour Camp utilise many types of torture methods in persecuting practitioners. During the past years, in an attempt to destroy practitioners' wills to cultivate, they spared no efforts.

Torture methods used against practitioners

Practitioners who remain firm in their belief are forced to sit on a stool, facing the wall in the evenings. They are not allowed to go to sleep until after midnight. Some were even deprived of sleep. They were also forced to stand still for a long time, and closely monitored by prison guards. Quite a number of practitioners suffered heart attacks, high blood pressure and other illnesses. Their legs swelled from the torture, making it difficult to move around.

In 2001, practitioner Ms. Li Yan was handcuffed to an iron bed and positioned spread-eagle for as long as 13 hours. She was not allowed to go to the toilet and was deprived of sleep.

In 2001, Ms. Xie Yan, Ms. Li Qiong and other practitioners were handcuffed and hung up outside the window in severe cold weather for dozens of hours in an attempt to "freeze" them.

In 2002, the prison guards handcuffed both hands and one leg of practitioner Ms. Lu Yirong to a window frame and made her stand on one leg for fourteen days. The guards did not let her close her eyes. Whenever she closed her eyes, the on-duty guards would prick her eyelids with needles. They also did not allow her to go to the toilet. More practitioners were handcuffed to the sides of two beds and forced to stand for long periods of time. They also suffered sleep deprivation.

During September and October 2002, staff at the forced labour camp cruelly and inhumanly tortured steadfast practitioners in an effort to meet the "transformation¹" quota assigned by the higher ups. They locked practitioners in a confinement cell, forced them to sit cross-legged and then tied up their legs in that position with bed sheets. The guards deprived practitioners of sleep and ordered prison inmates to beat them. The guards also put insects on practitioners so they would bite their hands and faces, force-fed them with chili and pressed the practitioners' heads toward the ground to cut off air. As a result, Ms. Jiao Jian and Ms. Tang Yiwen were crippled, and other practitioners suffered severe injuries.

From October 2002, Xu Shaoqi and Zhang Ruifang, along with their husbands Ren Renjie and Tian Ping, earned a living by trying to "transform" practitioners through torture at Tianhe Brainwashing Centre. They claimed to be assigned to this task as special representatives of the Central 610 Office². Those who tortured practitioners include the Head of the Forced Labour Camp Xu Xiangan, Deputy Head Liang Huiping, Head of the Management Section Lu Dongmei, the Political Instructor of the special section Hua Shaoxia, Team Leader Xiang Fan, Deputy Team Leader Zhang Weixin and Chen Yunlian.

In the beginning of 2003, practitioner Ms. Wang Haiyan was arrested and staff from the Guangzhou 610 Office took her to a forced labour camp. Because of beatings at the camp, one of her eyes were injured. The labour camp deprived her of sleep and forced her to stand still for a long period of time. They tried hard to have her renounce Falun Gong. The injured eye went blind.

In November 2004, over 60-year old practitioner Ms. Liu Huaiying was arrested at home and taken to a forced labour camp. Ms. Liu Huaiying remained steadfast in cultivating Falun Dafa for more than a year. Team Leader Lu Dongmei and other guards often forced Ms. Liu to sit on a small stool, and did not allow her to put on her clothes. She lost consciousness a few times due to sustaining severe beatings with electric batons. The depraved guards poured cold water on her so she would regain consciousness. Sometimes, Ms. Liu would be forced to stand for a long time without sleep. The guards also ordered drug addicts to beat Ms. Liu Huaiying or verbally abuse her. She was locked up in the "strict control" cell where all windows were covered with newspaper. She was not allowed to have any contact with other people, and was restricted in using the toilet or taking a shower. Normally, the guards would extend the time of torture. Ms. Liu was also forbidden to meet with her family members who came to visit. Even the purchase of daily necessities was limited. She was not allowed to talk to other people, not even just to say hello. She was constantly monitored by two inmates. She lost all personal freedom. She was forced to undergo brainwashing. The forced labour camp broadcasted programs slandering Falun Dafa most of the time, with the volume turned to ear deafening levels.

Brainwashing to force practitioners to renounce their beliefs

The prison guards forced practitioners to spend a lot of time watching television programmes containing fabricated news and doctrines that slander Falun Dafa. They also used affection among family members, threats to loss of jobs and access to schools. The guards also threatened practitioners' families and colleagues, saying that they would be penalised and made guilty by association. Also, various torture methods as well as sleep deprivation are used to torment practitioners until they are muddle-headed. The purpose of the torture is to force practitioners to sign "guarantee statements" [to no longer practise Falun Gong]. Every day practitioners are forced to write so-called "ideological reports" and slander Falun Gong. They want to "transform" practitioners into bad people who are fakes, vicious, and like to fight with other people. The "transformed" people are in turn used to attack and transform other practitioners.

In the beginning of 2003, when I was still in the forced labour camp, guard Xu Xiaohong often had several hundred inmates, those who enlightened along an evil path and those who were forced to renounce their belief in Falun Dafa, to shout slogans in front of my dormitory for a long time. It was as if public meetings to criticise and denounce others, as practised during the Cultural Revolution, were being used again.

At the time, university and post-graduate law students were assigned to the forced labour camp. I asked them during law discussions, "Is there anything legal in how the labour camp authorities deal with Falun Gong practitioners?" They admitted that it was illegal. The head of the labour camp, section leader, the secretary of the disciplinary commission, the political inspector, team leader and guards all tried to have a "heart-to-heart talk" with me and put a lot of pressure on me. I spoke to them about the facts of Falun Dafa. Some could accept it and showed their sympathy towards Falun Gong, while others became even more ferocious. They ridiculed, swore at and threatened me. I asked them, "Is this how you do ideological work? I have been teaching ideological and political issues to students for more than a dozen years. I have never seen anyone like you. Coercion can not change people's hearts." After tearing off their "civilised" mask they sneaked off.

Using psychiatric drugs to persecute practitioners

At the end of December 2002, the labour camp authorities tried to force Ms. Tang Yiwen and me to "renounce" Falun Gong. They deprived us of sleep for 5 days and 5 nights. We were forced to stand all the time, resulting in injury to our legs. The lower portion of our legs were swollen as thick as our thighs. I was running a high fever. The guards finally stopped this torture, but only because they were afraid it might cause our deaths. However, they did not give up. They took us to a hospital for treatment. They colluded with the head of the acupuncture and moxibustion [The burning of moxa or other substances on the skin to treat diseases or to produce analgesia] section of the hospital attached to Guangzhou Traditional Chinese Medical University outpatient section. He gave us drugs to damage our central nervous system. After taking the drugs I felt dizzy, had a headache, abnormal heartbeat, and symptoms of high blood pressure. After that the doctor of the forced labour camp ordered the inmates to press me down so that I was unable to move and then gave me injections. They also forced me to take nerve-damaging drugs but I threw them up.

The camp authorities force-fed the practitioners who refused to renounce Falun Gong. To do this they insert a thick tube down to the practitioners' stomachs through the nose. They then insert and pull out the tube several times to make the practitioner suffer. As a result they often injure the practitioners' oesophagus or hurt the windpipe, or even the lungs. The guards use practitioners' money to buy milk powder. When they force-feed the practitioners, they add drugs that damage the central nervous system and internal organs. This has done great harm to practitioners' brains and internal organs.

An inmate who was involved in the force-feeding of Ms. Deng Yi often told me that the forced labour camp authorities put drugs into the milk powder and sometimes would add more than one drug. Ms. Deng Yi was on hunger strike for more than a year and was skin and bones, weighing only dozens of kilos. She lost part of her memory. She looked as if dumb and had a hard time expressing herself. She could barely stand and had difficulty walking, requiring two people to support her on both sides when she walked.

During all these years of persecution, the majority of practitioners in forced labour camps suffered from illnesses because of the inhuman and cruel torture. This was due to physical and mental injury due to the torture. The so-called medical treatment failed to relieve symptoms, and made them suffer more. Some even suffered from complications. The prison guards controlled all the medicine, and even the time and location when the medicines were to be given. Whoever did not obey was punished. They would call in the drug order for force-feeding. They claimed that this was being responsible for the lives of the practitioners. There was a very strange phenomenon in the camp. Whoever cooperated with the guards and was willing to renounce Falun Gong or even be their accomplices recovered from their illnesses very quickly. The symptoms of those who refused to cooperate worsened, no matter how much so-called medicine they took. What's more, the practitioners had to pay extremely high medical bills.

In the forced labour camp, the medicine, especially those drugs that damaged the central nervous system and the internal organs, are exactly the murder weapons in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

Was this selling blood for money or were there ulterior motives?

The camp authorities would order several inmates to press a practitioner down and then draw a tube of blood from the practitioner, calling it a health checkup or checking for AIDS. Was this selling blood for money or did they have ulterior motives? The doctors only checked heart, lung, liver, kidney and woman's diseases. However, they still charged the practitioners 500 yuan³ for sending the blood to other locations for test work. Some practitioners were too poor to pay the money, so their time in the labour camp would be extended for several months, during which they had to work to pay the money.

The Chatou Women's Forced Labour Camp in Guangzhou has been listed as one of the first group of facilities targeted for investigation and evidence collection by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China. I hope those who know the inside stories will step forward to expose the crimes committed by the guards and authorities of the camp. We hope for an end to the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which has lasted seven years.

Chatou Women's Forced Labour Camp, Chatou Xiaodao, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City

Mr. Xu Xiangan, Head of the camp: 86-20-81730790, Ext.8888 (Office), 86-13802950304 (Mobile)
Liu Shuiqiao, Deputy Head
Liang Huiping, female, Head of the Special Division: 86-13925148561(Mobile)
86-20-81730790 (Home)
Hua Shaoxia, former political instructor of Special Division, female:
86-13600067600 (Mobile)
Lu Dongmei and Zheng Haiyan, Administrative Section: 86-20-81730813,
86-20-81730790 Ext. 8822 or 8854
No. 3 Division specialised in persecuting Falun Gong: 86-20-81730790 Ext.8856

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

2. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

3. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/13/130344.html