The Evil Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labour Camp in Guangdong Province

I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I was unlawfully arrested in 2003 and detained in Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labour Camp located in Chini Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou City for persecution. I am now writing my account of the persecution I suffered so that people can clearly see the brutal and wicked nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Part I.

I was detained in Division 2 at Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labour Camp throughout my detention. Division 2 was then used for the special purpose of persecuting Dafa practitioners. The division's political head was surnamed Li, and the division head was surnamed Zhou. At noon the day after my arrival, the division head compelled a few inmates on duty to take me to a small room. After the division head left, the inmates immediately closed the window and the door and started to physically abuse me. They initially forced me to squat for a long time; later they used various other methods to torture me. They covered my mouth to stop me from making any noise, then they forcibly pulled four of my fingers backwards; it was so painful that I tried to stand on tiptoe to reduce the pain. Some of them twisted one of my arms backwards, then violently upwards. They also twisted my wrists inwards while at the same time stepping on my feet. They kept torturing me this way for over an hour before they stopped.

They were afraid of their evil conduct being exposed, so they used some very wicked methods to torture us. Later they said that as soon as any practitioner arrived, they would always give the practitioner vicious treatment.

Part II.

Monitors are widely used at the labour camp to persecute Dafa practitioners. Since July 20th, 1999, camp officials have pro-actively followed the CCP in their persecution of Falun Dafa. They racked their brains to come up with different ways to monitor the practitioners.

They lock each practitioner up in a small room called a "monitoring room" for a long period of time. Sometimes they call the room "chat room." Once inside, the practitioner cannot contact anyone or see anyone. No one is allowed to go near him/her. The labour camp assigns three or four inmates to monitor the practitioner around the clock. These inmates are called "monitors." They are usually labour camp detainees. To ingratiate themselves with the guards, and to try to have their terms reduced, they are very good at observing the mood and intentions of the guards and are very cruel and evil when treating the practitioners.

The persecutors in the "monitoring room" forced me to sit on a very low plastic stool. Two monitors were assigned to sit next to me; one on the left and one on the right. They monitored every single move I made. I was forbidden to walk about or stand up, not even to stretch to pick up something, or stretch my legs. I had to sit like this all day long.

If I needed to go to the toilet, one of the monitors would first go to check if the toilet was in use by other practitioners so as to prevent me from encountering them on the way or in the toilet. Because of this, sometimes I had to wait for a long time to go to the toilet. When I was permitted to go, the two monitors would go with me. They never left me alone.

The two monitors also needed to keep a record of everything I did, including when I drank, when I went to the toilet, what I said and how I slept at night, and other observations and report their findings to the authorities. When they had nothing to do, the two monitors would boast about their history of criminal escapades. What they talked about was extremely disgusting.

As time went on, it became extremely uncomfortable sitting on the stool all day long. Since I was forbidden to do anything, in only a few days my legs became swollen and were getting worse and worse. My feet turned blue, and my buttocks festered.

However, they still felt my suffering was not enough. In order to increase the pain I suffered, they sometimes deliberately got me a broken stool. I would sink into it as soon as I sat on it, making the sitting even more uncomfortable. Sometimes when I needed to go to the toilet they would lie, saying someone was using the toilet, to make me wait even longer.

Practitioners who refused to be "reformed"¹ were put under such monitoring long-term.

As time went on, some monitors told me that the "monitoring room" is a cell within a cell, and a prison within a prison. They seldom used such methods to treat other inmates; and even if they used it, it would not be as long.

I once condemned the guards for torturing practitioners this way. They would say triumphantly, "This is to guarantee your safety. We did not beat you and have assigned special people to look after you. Isn't this good enough?"

Part III.

The persecution inflicted upon practitioners at the labour camp is not as simple as putting practitioners into the "monitoring rooms." Instead, the guards racked their brains to think of all kinds of methods to torture practitioners, as already mentioned above. Some guards become psychologically aberrant and turn into sadists.

As a practitioner, I know very clearly that I have not committed any offence and I should not be locked up in the dark labour camp. I refused to cooperate with any of their demands. They tried to force me initially to copy the so-called "camp regulations and team disciplines." I refused. They then attempted to force me to read some slandering materials against the founder of Falun Dafa and against Falun Dafa. I refused again. They tried to force me to write my impressions and my thoughts. I again refused.

One evening it was pretty late and the "monitors" still would not let me sleep and tried to make things hard for me with some excuses. They drew a circle on the floor with a piece of chalk and made me stand in the circle. I was forbidden to step out of the circle or sleep. They used this wicked tactic to try to force me to write my "impressions." Later, another monitor arrived. First he tried various ways to threaten me. When he saw I would not budge, he started to abuse me with heaps of dirty language. When he still failed to move my heart, he turned evil and threatened to sexually abuse me that night and started to make obscene gestures. I sternly stopped him.

The next day I started a hunger strike against their unlawful persecution. At noon on the third day they pulled me out for force-feeding. They used two sets of handcuffs to handcuff each of my hands on a long bench. They deliberately pulled the handcuffs very tight, making them cut into my flesh. I was in such excruciating pain that my whole body trembled.

At dusk that day, a few monitors deceived me by saying they would take me to a clinic for a check-up. Instead, they took me into a dark and damp confinement space where they immediately pushed me down; five or six of them sprang on me and tied me up.

Such tying up is a form of cruel torture. The labour camp has used this torture extensively since the persecution started on July 20th, 1999. They even celebrated this technique and introduced it at many other labour camps and brainwashing centres. Following is a description how this is done:

First, they used cotton strips to tie up my arms. Then they twisted my arms to the back. Two of the monitors used all their strength to pull my arms to make them come close together. Then they tied my arms together in the back. They also tied up my legs and forced my legs into the lotus position (both feet on top of the thighs). They pulled my legs very hard before tying a knot. Lastly, they tied up my neck with a cotton strip and pulled my neck close toward my legs. This way, my whole body was tied into a ball shape.

I could not move, and found it very hard to breathe. I had sharp pains in both arms. Still, they thought I was not suffering enough. Every ten minutes they would loosen the tie for fear that I might lose feeling. When I regained feeling, they would tie me up again in the same way, to inflict further pain. Later on, still feeling unsatisfied, they became even more vicious and hung me up in the air after tying me up, then pushed me down with force.

While I was being tortured and each time they loosened me, they would bring many photos of the founder of Falun Dafa and obscenely stuff them around my genital area, to mentally torment me as well.

I was repeatedly tortured this way. Not long after my mind became confused. I could not remember how many times they had tied me up and how many times they had hung me up. I had found that they were quite skillful when tying me up. I could tell that they had previously tortured many other practitioners this way. Their facial expressions were anything but numb -- they actually looked highly excited, totally demonic and utterly unscrupulous.

Part IV.

The repeated tying and hanging injured me severely. My arms had very deep wounds, as did my back. I could not move nor raise my hands -- they simply hung down. I could not take care of myself and needed others to help me get dressed, wash my face, brush my teeth, eat, loosen my belt when I needed to use the toilet, as well as other necessary daily activities. When I lay down I often felt burning pains, but I could not turn over in bed.

To prevent wound infections, the labour camp let the monitors bring me to a clinic for some intravenous injections. Sometimes when the doctor was unable to find a vein, they let the drug-addict monitors insert the needle.

It was not until more than a month later that I could use my arms a little, but I still could not bend my wrists. From outward appearances, my hands seemed to be problem-free. This condition had lasted for a very long time.

One day a deputy division head surnamed Bi took me to a hospital outside the labour camp to have a medical check up, saying that they wanted to get a decisive diagnosis for my problem. The doctors took X-rays of me and drew blood for tests. I felt puzzled then and wondered, "What is the purpose of running blood tests?" Not until later when the crimes of the CCP's harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners were exposed was I able figure out their purpose for those blood tests.

Back then I thought, "These inhumane villains tortured me, a previously perfectly healthy person, into such a state. They should not have dared to do the same to other practitioners." However, I had over-estimated their nature. I accidentally found out after I was tortured that another practitioner had experienced the same torture, making him unable to move. It appeared the practitioner's legs were injured. When my hands had not yet completely recovered, the guards attempted several times to find a motive to subject me to the same severe torture again. But they did not succeed.

Part V.

Besides the severe torture of tying and hanging, the guards also tried all other available methods to torture me.

They once put the photo of the founder of Falun Dafa on that small stool. They then attempted to make me sit down on the photo. I refused. Then four or five "monitors" started to physically attack me. They beat me with their hands, kicked me, and pummelled me with their knees and elbows and legs until I could no longer stand up.

Once, several "monitors" held a competition torturing me. They forced me to stand and then took turns to strike me from behind, seeing whose beating was fiercer and who could knock me down all at once. One of them hit my back with his knee. The pain was so severe that I rolled on the floor.

Another time the monitor brought a pair of pliers he got from the guards. He used the pliers to squeeze my fingers, one by one, doing so for over one hour.

Yet another time the monitor put a rectangular-shaped cigarette lighter between two of my fingers. They held my fingers tightly together and then rotated the cigarette lighter to separate my fingers.

Following that, they did not let me sleep. At night they made me stand until almost 3:00 a.m. Soon after I had been to bed, they found excuses to wake me, but then made me go to work very early in the morning.

Only after I had left the labour camp did I learn that none of the letters I had written to my family members had reached them. My family members had also written several letters to me.

Part VI.

Guangzhou camp personnel relentlessly tortured Dafa practitioners, but the guards rarely carried out the tortures with their own hands. They even rarely swore at practitioners while before them. Several times when the monitors did torture me certain guards pretended to care about me. They also said that they would investigate who had tortured me, and other such comments. However, these were just lies, as well as excuses they used to shirk responsibility for their crimes. This also revealed that they are not only ruthless but also cunning.

Many monitors are frequent camp detainees, so they know the ins and outs of the labour camps. They said that even the most vicious inmates in Chinese forced labour camps fear the guards. It stands to reason then that these monitors would not dare to casually do something bad to the practitioners unless the guards had incited and encouraged them.

The labour camp officials not only secretly incited the monitors to commit crimes against practitioners, but also rewarded those monitors who actively beat the practitioners with the benefit of sentence reductions. That is why many of the already inhumane monitors, utilised by the guards, cared about nothing and were extremely ruthless. It is a reality that the guards and the bandits form an alliance and aid and abet each other.

I remembered the physical exam the guards had arranged prior to the severe torture of tying and hanging. An associate division leader surnamed He was present. He appeared so happy and smiled fiercely for the severe torture I was about to be subjected to. But he did not show up during the torturing. He walked in later on, appearing very satisfied.

Before I left the labour camp, a division leader surnamed Zhou ordered me several times to write a statement saying that the guards had not beaten or sworn at me during my detention. He also wanted me to make a verbal guarantee that I would not reveal to others what had happened inside the labour camp; otherwise they would continue to keep me in the camp. It seems that the abusers and persecutors are both cunning and afraid.

Since July 20th, 1999, Guangzhou City No. 1 Labour Camp, like the many labour camps in China, has assisted the evildoers to commit crimes. It tightly follows the CCP. The labour camp leaders and guards have shown an absence of human nature. Personnel there relentlessly persecute practitioners and commit monstrous crimes. This, from a different angle, shows the evil nature of the CCP.

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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/4/17/152919.html