Exposing the Brainwashing Methods Used by Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

I just came out of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. The camp had tried all means to persecute me and make me give up Falun Dafa. But in the end, I walked out of the gate of this concentration camp without accepting their brainwashing. Here I have summarised my experiences, to share with fellow practitioners.

My cultivation in Dafa did not start very early and I am young. When I was initially sent to the labour camp, the guards and the collaborators¹ were very "nice" to me. They showed their particular "care" in their attitude of talking and how they treated me in daily life. These were all hypocritical, but they gave you a feeling that they were truly being good to you. Never be deceived by them. After a while, their true intentions were revealed.

I remembered that when I was just sent there, I exposed the persecution facts about Masanjia, which were denied by the guards. They said that there were no solitary confinement cells and no tortures, and that everything said on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website was false. They also had people who had been brainwashed to testify along these lines. In fact, those brainwashed people were also under the manipulation of the guards. What they said may have sounded reasonable and factually grounded. In fact, such practitioners were not clear on what they were talking about. There are many types of brainwashing means that were used in the labour camp. They include, for example: sleep deprivation or only allowing very short duration of sleep (the goal was to make the practitioner have no energy to think of the Falun Dafa teachings). In this way, they can coerce the practitioners into accepting their teachings or agree with the brainwashing against their own wills), forcing one to sit on a tiny stool and not allowing the person to stand up even after his or her buttocks started to bleed during the sitting, being only allowed to use the toilet twice each day, and constantly playing audio and video materials that slander Dafa. They also had some personnel who specialised in brainwashing people to talk to you. These people took the teachings that Teacher Li [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa] has lectured on and distorted it by means of quoting out of context, saying that the teachings contradicted themselves. They also raised a lot of questions, as if they stood behind the facts.

I did not know how to answer their questions, nor did I spend time thinking about these questions. I silently kept one thought in my mind: "What Teacher Li has said is right. I just listen to Teacher Li. I do not listen to you." My personal understanding was that if one has a solid understanding of the Falun Dafa teachings, one could talk to them and try to reverse their wrong understanding. One veteran practitioner had been very determined in her cultivation for two years and she had endured numerous sufferings. Later she began to think along with their thoughts and reasoned that what they had said also made some sense. She was completely brainwashed. She also went to try to brainwash the others and has made big mistakes against Dafa. If you do not give in no matter what tactics, soft or hard, they try to use, they still have other ways to manipulate you. For example, they will send you to other teams, or let the labour camp division find a person who is from your local area or who is familiar with you, or who was a so-called "elite" in the past in your local area to accompany you and talk to you. Additionally, they often threaten you: If you do not accept the brainwashing, they will extend your term so you cannot leave even when your term is over. Even if you are let go, after you get out of this door, you will be sent to a brainwashing class. If you still do not accept the brainwashing, you will be sent to Dabei Prison... They give practitioners the feeling that they had entered a hell in the human world, and without accepting the brainwashing, they have no chance of getting out.

In that environment, one often felt very lonely. Because I was in isolation for a long time, each day those who were in contact with me were either the guards or the collaborators. On top of this, they forced me to go through the brainwashing sessions. IHowever, I just kept a determined heart, firmly believing that I could pass any tribulations! However, I just held onto the thought: Never miss this rare opportunity that comes once in millions of years, never leave stains on my sacred path of cultivation, and never betray Master and Dafa. I must be determined, be determined, and be more determined! Every day I repeated this sentence. They acted like flies without heads, while I always kept one expression: "silence is a piece of gold." Later, a collaborator exasperatedly said to me, "Let's see how long you can resist. By the end of the year, no one can resist the compulsory brainwashing. You, a little child, know nothing." (Note: Before 2004, by the end of each year, Masanjia gathered all those practitioners who did not accept the brainwashing, and then called in many male guards to force the practitioners to accept the brainwashing by use of compulsory means, such as confinement in solitary cells, shocking with electric batons, hanging practitioners up by their handcuffs, forcing them to stand for long periods of time and deprivation of sleep, not allowing the use of toilets, taking off the practitioners' clothes and then exposing them to the cold weather outside, putting practitioners on the tiger bench², forcing one to sit in the double-crossed position for very long times, beatings, putting practitioners on the death bed³, and other tortures. Many of the practitioners succumbed to the brainwashing against their own wills for being unable to withstand the tortures.) By the end of 2004, the situation changed dramatically. A large number of the practitioners who had accepted the brainwashing against their wills declared that the things they said and wrote against Dafa were void and no longer valid, so the compulsory brainwashing completely disintegrated! Later, I started refusing to do forced labour, and to wear the prisoner's clothes, and as a result, I was sent to the solitary cell, hung up while handcuffed, and beaten. Later, the guards gave up their efforts in brainwashing me, and this status lasted until I was released.

In fact, the means that Masanjia has used for brainwashing practitioners are far from these few. These were just what I personally experienced and what I knew. There were many practitioners who have suffered from more severe persecution, which are unknown to others. Each air particle in Masanjia is soaked with evil, and it makes people feel suffocated.

Note

1. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

2. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

3. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/9/11/137590.html