First Hand Experience of Cruel Brainwashing at the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp (Part 7)

Part 1: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/38017.html
Part 2: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/38022.html
Part 3: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/38038.html
Part 4: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/38072.html
Part 5: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/38090.html
Part 6: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/38091.html

13. Stand Up

I do not know the details of the process of how those collaborators¹ came to the Third Brigade. But from what I experienced, what I saw, and the things I indirectly heard or felt, I could tell how brutal, moving and solemn their fight between righteousness and evil was.

One evening I was suddenly called to Class Two. This had never happened before. When I entered the room, everyone was sitting already. Everyone looked very serious. I didn't know what they called me for, and I sat down quietly. Everybody took turns and spoke. Their speeches astonished and touched me greatly. Their righteous thoughts were strong and they did not try to cover up their viewpoint. They talked about the truth of the Staged Tiananmen Self-Immolation incident². I suddenly understood that the long-planned awakening had begun.

The discussion was not over yet, but the jail manager's face was distorted and he angrily stopped the discussion. The practitioners were actually the ones who had announced, or planned to announce, that they wanted to retract the "Four Statements³" that they had signed. Besides three people who still insisted on being collaborators, all the others clearly declared that they would follow and defend Dafa and Teacher.

This major awakening of this group, which was not possible earlier, had finally begun. An incomparable feeling and an unexplainable solemnness arose in my heart. I quickly searched for several good and strong practitioners, as well as for practitioners that captain Jiao did not believe were "transformed⁴". But none of these practitioners was there. I was wondering whether they were put in other classes or were arrested individually. I was a bit worried. But everyone here was doing so well, and that made me so happy. I hoped that they would remain strong while facing the future ruthlessness and cultivate firmly to the end.

The meeting came to an end. The jail manager went to report it. In a little while, captain Jiao came in angrily and with him came dozens of people who had been selected from each class. These people sat in the four corners of the room. Jiao herself was walking around anxiously, like an ant walking on fire. I wasn't quite sure if she was this angry because the discussion in Class Two was totally different from what they had expected, or because the situation in the entire group was like this. She was very restless. She randomly said things that were hard to understand, and the things she said were insinuations. But altogether she was just trying to say: "There are people planning an upset [in which practitioners announce brainwashing gains to be void]. Following this path will not have a good result. Do not follow these people." She then angrily lay down on a bench in the room.

Everyone sat quietly with no one saying a word. I looked at them. I knew many of them. Among them there were also the collaborators. But those that I particularly knew, and the ones the guards thought were dangerous, were not there. Of all the people in the room, it was only about one-third of all the people in the brigade. Where did those people go? I thought to myself that there were a lot of people awakening this time, and that's why Jiao was so restless. It seemed as if the world was coming to an end. Obviously, how could they let the previous so-called "transformation" all be wasted? How could they let their despotic power disappear and lose the money and fame already earned for their so-called successes?

Everyone's face was very serious. They were doing a group "stew the eagle" [a torture method in which the practitioners are not allowed to sleep]. I was worried for all the practitioners, hoping at the same time that every practitioner could withstand the pressure and firmly walk forward. Everyone just sat quietly. I looked at every practitioner and made eye contact with each one. Some of them looked back at me to share their feelings, and some avoided eye contact. When they saw my eyes, they had different replies, depending on what kind of person they were.

It was past 1 a.m. Jiao told people to go back to their classes. Only several dozen people were left, but it took until daybreak. The room emptied out and in the end there were only one other practitioner and I. Jiao stared at me fiercely. She sat up, then lay down, again and again. She was just like a yoyo. It was evident how worried and restless she was. I knew that she wanted to make me the troublemaker again, but couldn't find evidence to blame anything on me. I was extremely calm.

Finally the night was over, and it was another bright day. Jiao suddenly yelled, "Zhang Yijie, go back to class!" I was the last one to go back to class.

One day, I was suddenly called again. I followed a big group of practitioners to the visitor's building, which was about 50 metres away. We sat down in the biggest conference room and started knitting gloves. I was sitting by the window. I was usually not allowed to leave my room. They even brought my meals to my cell. But that day they had me join the group. I felt quite strange.

After everybody sat down, Jiao commanded a criminal to start singing and told everyone to join in. The song was only half way through and it died out. The criminal didn't want to give up and started to lead again. Suddenly, during the singing, I heard some screams. In a few moments, the singing stopped again. We were quietly knitting, and no one was talking. Jiao walked back and forth in the room. Suddenly I again heard horrifying screams. My heart immediately tensed. I tried to figure out where the sound came from, and once again I heard the screams. I concluded that the sound was from the direction of Class Three. I gave Jiao a look. She also heard the screams and ran to the window. The screams became clearer. Everyone heard them and looked at each other worriedly.

Jiao hurriedly whispered something to another guard. That guard left the room, and we no longer heard the screams. I suddenly understood why they had allowed me to join the group. They wanted to empty the brigade and torture those awakened practitioners. Jiao wanted to use the singing to cover up the screams, but her evil intention was exposed.

I did not know until I was released that the awakening of Class Three had affected between 80 and 90 practitioners. The awakening had frightened the authorities and sent shock waves within and outside of the forced labour camp, as well as through the entire Beijing Forced Labor Bureau. Jiao and deputy captain Huai asked to resign.

But in this situation the evil supported them and encouraged them to intensify the persecution and to turn the awakened practitioners away from their cultivation path again. Higher officials demanded that the entire forced labour camp take action and switch practitioners who declared their Four Statements null and void to different brigades and try to transform them separately. At the same time, male guards arrived in the Third Brigade. They remained in the lobby to threaten practitioners. Jiao and Huai did not sleep for nine days as they madly tortured and brutally beat practitioners.

During this time, to try to make me feel grateful, they had a small birthday party for me. At the party, deputy captain Huai brought back a practitioner from our brigade who had awakened and had been taken to another brigade. Jiao ordered her to read her pledge of accepting "transformation" again. Jiao looked at me proudly, because she believed that I had participated in and organized that awakening and that I was the one responsible for what went on. She was showing me in her own way that she had won, and at the same time, she found a number of practitioners that had "transformed" again to talk to me. I did not know until this time that they had sent the practitioners that were awakened to other brigades for cruel torture. This practitioner was one that was "transformed" again and brought back. My heart was deeply hurt. I was sad and sorry for her. I thought about how many practitioners could make it through to the end. My heart was sad. I will never forget that painful, black birthday.

The awakened practitioners had to bear a great deal. The evil Jiao used every brutal method she used on me to torture these practitioners. She was attempting to force these practitioners to recant and announce that they had voided renouncing the Four Statements. Jiao and other guards called drug and prostitution criminal inmates from the drug brigade to monitor and torture these practitioners. Jiao set a cell in the visiting building aside to torture these practitioners and to force them to take back their announcement. At the same time, Jiao opened up a secret room in the brigade, which was called the "small black room." Practitioners were brutally beaten in there around the clock. They were given very little food and were not allowed to sleep or use the toilet. They used all the violent methods they could think of to torture practitioners. Practitioners that were taken there were tortured until they were injured everywhere and had suffered internal injuries. The "small black room" was dirty, smelly and dark. Any scream or sound from brutal beating could not be heard on the outside. This "small black room" was an inhuman torture room. Crimes were committed there without a break. Practitioners Lang Zhongyue, Zhang Liqian and others that entered the forced labour camp at a later date and who firmly refused to be transformed were tortured at Jiao's evil hands.

One day at 1 a.m., the guards locked all the metal gates in the hallway. Two guards and five or six drug addict inmates brutally beat practitioner Ms. Lang Dongyue. These inhuman people also assaulted Ms. Lang sexually and used high-heel shoes to step on her over and over again with as much force as possible.
One morning, despite it being very cold outside, Jiao ordered all practitioners to go outside and knit there. When we returned after four hours, everything in the Class Three room was scattered around. There was a great mess. We also saw five criminals surrounding practitioner Tao (surname) and brutally beating her. The heating pipe was broken, too. Ms. Tao's chest and stomach were injured and she had pain when breathing. Her private parts were also injured.

Practitioners Xu Mei and others arrived at the forced labour camp about the same time as I. Their bodies showed injuries from being shocked by Jiao with electric batons. At times, Jiao gave the electric baton to drug criminal Liu Fengqin and ordered her to torture practitioners. China has strict laws on the usage of electric batons, such as what is a valid use for them, as well as the amount of electricity allowed to be discharged and for how long. However, the electric baton became Jiao's personal property. She used it whenever she felt like it.

The awakened practitioners in the Third Brigade experienced harsh tests and tribulations. Jiao of the Third Brigade was well known for her evilness. The practitioners could not come back to Falun Dafa without letting go of life and death. In later days, whenever the guards beat practitioners, they would take everyone outside, including me. Despite it being quite cold in March and April in the suburbs of Beijing, we were taken outside in freezing weather for entire mornings or afternoons. This happened quite frequently. For the awakened practitioners, this was the test of life and death.

Nevertheless, more and more awakened practitioners overcame difficulties and remained firm in their decision. They continued to step forward and bravely faced evil and violence. They cultivated, corrected their wrongs, and refused to turn back from their decision. Whenever they fell, they would bravely get up and stand firm!

15. Goods for Export from the Forced Labour Camps

Sometimes between April and May 2002, just before I was sent to the "absorption" brigade, I was able to leave the cell for a little more than 20 days and allowed contact with practitioners in our brigade. Actually, Jiao had an ulterior motive for this short-lived favor. She wanted to find reasons for sending me to the absorption brigade. During those few days I was forced to do slave labour just like all the other practitioners. Now, I knew of the existence of goods made for export in forced labour camps. I understood that, although being sold for a high price, they were made cheaply with the blood and sweat of slave labourers. This made me realize mistakes of my past, which I regretted deeply.

All eight brigade sections occupied one area on the big field and formed a circle. Everyone was knitting woollen scarves as fast as possible, because it was rumoured that the person in charge would come early in the afternoon to collect the goods. But, if truth be told, many physically couldn't complete the task. Thus, those who knitted the fastest from all classes were selected and ordered to finish the knitting for the others.

Criminal inmates were sitting next to me, waiting for the last scarf I was knitting. I finished it as fast as I could. When I was finally done, I raised my head, took a deep breath, and stretched. I had been sitting in one position for several hours. I extended my stiff fingers with some effort, and it took a while to be able to relax them.

I was forced, because I couldn't be "transformed," to perform slave labour. I produced the following products: wrapped chopsticks; insoles; and knitted hats, gloves, scarves, and wool sweaters. Besides that I was forced to move garbage, clean toilets, wash dirty clothes, dig holes for trees, and clean rooms. I was involved in all work related activities at the camp. Besides that, I had to perform other kinds of labour that was not asked of criminal inmates and other practitioners. The work never stopped, and I earned lots of revenue for the forced labour camp. As I was under close supervision, I was involved in exhausting and grueling work.

After the knitting "marathon," I was not allowed to rest. A criminal inmate brought more work for me to do. We all had to knit scarves. Everyone was forced to work just like a machine.

There was no rest. Everything was a rush job. All practitioners had to get up at 6 a.m. to begin work as early as possible. From after breakfast we worked until noon. In the afternoon we worked from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. That was not the end of it. At night we worked from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. I noted that winter and summer schedules were not quite the same. No one was allowed to rest at noon during times of rush deadlines or when too much work needed to be done. They even had us work at night beyond 11 p.m. When knitting sweaters and gloves for export, because of deadlines, the work was even more exhausting.

The person responsible for export production required high quality work. We might work an entire day and turn in several dozens of knitted gloves, with none qualifying as export goods. They were all returned for repair or to be started over from scratch. When the export contracting person, "the boss," sat outside the door and waited, the guards had everyone work overtime, regardless of age. At such times, no one was allowed to rest and worked around the clock. One was not allowed to sleep until one had completed one's quota.

There was a day when suddenly my eyes gave up--I couldn't see people in front of me. Long term physical and spiritual torture, hunger and lack of nutrition, damage to my eyes from being beaten by guards, and the around-the-clock work had had a detrimental effect on my eyes. Everything was extremely blurry. At first I thought it was because of the dark room, or because we were knitting black gloves, so I changed to knitting white gloves, but everything was still blurry. Soon I wasn't able to recognize people in front of me. Since I couldn't see clearly, my knitting speed decreased and I was the slowest in the group. Now, I suffered another round of torture.

Deputy captain Huai called me to the lobby and forced me to work on the job during the night. I stood in the lobby with two blurry eyes, extremely tired. I had a difficult time to continue knitting. This kind of punishment actually had no effect on me. Because, even if I finished my quota during the night, I could only sleep a little bit between 2 or 3 a.m. or perhaps until 5 a.m. When it was time to go to bed, I didn't even take off my clothes or shoes, as within a short time I had to get up again and start working. Later, there were other people who couldn't see clearly. Yet we were still forced to knit woollen sweaters, and the amount of work never decreased.

This is how the staff at the forced labour camp treated inmates and practitioners alike. There is no justice, no morality, and the imprisoned just work and see no return for their efforts. Sometimes a flower needed to be embroidered on the backside of a glove. Embroidery is not easy. A pair of gloves is made in three parts. Some people knit the wrists, some the palms, and some the fingers. I always made the palm, and it's very complicated. My quota was four palms daily.

Quality was foremost on the list. Everything had to be export quality, for which the standard was very high. All ten fingers had to be knitted perfectly. Generally, quality control discarded 80 per cent of our work and we had to start from scratch. One pair of gloves needed so much effort to yield an export quality pair of gloves. Yet, the labour fee was barely one yuan⁵. I never found out if the staff at the camp kept the money, or if the boss was stingy. The factory workers who did quality-checks told us, "This pair of gloves, if you sell it in a big mall, the price would be four or five hundred yuan ($50-^60 US), but if exported, the price would be over $100 US." Maybe these are the characteristics of "forced labour products?" I wonder who pockets all that money. No wonder some Western people are angry with how such products are produced.

Talking about slave labour production helped me remember something from the past. It was actually quite ironic. When I used to work as a government official, for the "national benefit" (or rather, the benefit of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members), for the fame and dignity of our nation, I once fought verbally with US government officials. They had pointed out that China's exported goods were made by inmates at forced labour camps, and our government denied it. I wanted to uphold our country's dignity and gain benefits for our country, so I quickly produced some so-called "investigative materials" as counter evidence. I then quickly sent the material to the Chinese Department of State, other involved agencies and officials, as well as the relevant embassies. We came up with the same story, argued strongly, stopped the American people from complaining any further, and gained the so-called "dignity" for our "mother country."

However, reality finally gave me a chance to know the truth and to let me measure myself against things I did in the past. I was once the defender of the national benefits, and then I became a prisoner in a forced labour camp and produced these goods myself. I was so tired. I could no longer stand straight or extend my fingers, and my vision was so blurry that I could not recognize people in front of me.

I had a feeling of being used and slapped in the face. Feelings about the past were unbearable to recall.

(To be continued...)

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. The "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" [an incident on Tiananmen Square in January 2001 whereby four people set themselves alight and the Chinese Communist claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners, yet there was video evidence to strongly disprove this claim]

3. "Four Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write the "four statements" as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the 610 Office, they consist of "a letter of repentance," "a guarantee" to never again practise Falun Gong, a "Dissociation Statement" to declare a dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.

4. "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")

5. "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/2006/11/18/142461.html