Forced Labour Situation at the No. 2 Labour Camp in Shandong Province

The No. 2 Forced Labour Camp in Shandong Province, formally named the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp, was moved to Guanzhuang County, Zhangqiu City in Jinan, Shandong Province, on October 28th, 2007.

At no time has the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp treated those who were sentenced to forced labour as human beings. They have treated the inmates only as money-making machines or slaves. Some inmates were purchased like slaves from police stations in various places, just like purchasing animals. The labour camp wanted inmates to work hard without feeding them. It is ironic that, according to the theory of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture, people to be "re-educated through labour" should be those who only disobey minor laws and are not defined as criminals. However, the reality is that these people are treated much worse than real criminals. They have to work much harder and much longer than real criminals but are paid much less. There is a saying in the labour camps that one would rather be a real criminal for three years than to be sentenced to forced labour for one year. One can only imagine the cruelty that takes place.

The labour camps are used by the police to detain suspects and torture them without following any legal procedures, as there is no evidence against approximately two thirds of those who are detained in labour camps that they committed a crime or even disobeyed the law. When the CCP police torture them but cannot find any criminal evidence, they send these people to forced labour camps to avoid trials and to cover up for their misconduct in enforcing the law. They also do this to make a profit by "selling the labour" of these detainees. In addition, they can make deals with the suspects for personal gains. For example, a criminal suspect given a forced labour sentence of three years could have it reduced to one year after some deals are made. Although the forced labour documents indicate that one can appeal, this method simply does not work. Almost none of the victims have been able to appeal successfully. They have to compromise and accept the results. The forced labour system itself is a dark, despotic system that violates many basic laws and even violates the Chinese Constitution.

A "labour re-education" sentence is a direct ticket to misery. The labour camps are public "black brick kilns" operated by the CCP, and the victims endure all kinds of inhumane treatment. The second team in Wangcun Forced Labour Camp is called the "devil camp" due to the intensity and long hours of work, and the terrible working environment. According to arrangements in the camp, the guards have absolute control over the second team. Inmate production determines the guards' salary and bonuses. To earn more profit, the guards drive Falun Gong practitioners to work overtime and allow them little rest, pushing them to their physical limits. Most people work until 2 or 3 a.m. and sometimes overnight to ensure that a certain quota has been completed.

Most of the work done in labour camps is manual. Although everyone works at a different speed, the guards use the fastest person as the standard to define a fixed quantity of work. Of course, most people cannot finish their quotas in the time allotted, so working overtime becomes a daily routine. They work until 2 or 3 a.m., because if they do not meet their quotas, they are subjected to "strict treatment" and have to sit on small stools with only tap water and a small piece of cornbread for all three meals.

In 2006, in the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp Second Team, one inmate could no longer endure this harsh treatment and intense labour. Having to work overtime for a long term, only having cornbread, and coping with many diseases, the inmate could not walk or eat and was dying. Others carried the inmate to the dining hall for meals, but the guards just ignored him until he died. Even at that point nothing was done. Human rights are totally absent here.

Wangcun Forced Labour Camp never follows rule about holidays in China. Chinese law observes May 1st, October 1st, and seven public holidays for the Chinese New Year. The labour camp only allows four days off. During the seven public holidays for the New Year, they used to serve only two meals a day. As a result, the inmates had to work longer on the last three holidays because there were only two meals available and practitioners had to work on their own free time to purchase additional meals. Since 2007, the labour camp has offered three meals on the last three days of the holiday period to cover up their deeds. Additionally, the labour camp never allows both weekend days off. Most of the teams never take Sunday off. The guards tell practitioners that the labour laws do not apply to the labour camp.

To cover up the fact that they force people to work overtime, the second team uses comforters to cover the windows of the workshops, blocking the light from the outside so as to create the illusion that no one is working inside. The Eighth Team makes people work in their dorms, instead of the workshop, during the nights and on Sundays.

In the Eighth Team, to squeeze more profit from Falun Gong practitioners, guards led by leader Zheng Wanxin have tried every approach to force people to work more. Practitioners Wang Jianzhong and other practitioners wrote letters and collected signatures to protest the brutal treatment. As a result, they were placed in solitary confinement for more than a month. Later, the guards formed a "strict treatment" class and Wang became the first practitioner persecuted there. Afterwards, the labour camp adopted a series of malicious approaches to persecute practitioners with intense labour. First, they force practitioners to work overtime at any time without any restriction. The labour camp has an overflow of people, so people have to take turns getting their meals. For example, the eighth team has meals early and they have to work for an additional hour after dinner. In order to hide what they are doing from the camp administration, the guards sometimes force practitioners to continue working in their dorms under dim lights even after working overtime at the workshop. Those who get their meals late have to work an additional hour in the morning. Sometimes they need to work overtime again at night. Every day, people have to work for more than ten hours. Secondly, people rarely get time off on Sundays. Sometimes, practitioners are forced to work for three or four Sundays in a row without rest. There is not even time allowed for practitioners to do laundry. Thirdly, when non-practitioners reach their physical limits, the guards force practitioners to take over in order to complete a high quota. If practitioners cannot meet the quota, the guards use that as an excuse to force them to work overtime.

To persecute practitioners in a "strict treatment" class, the guards, lead by Zheng Wanxin, always force practitioners in class to work additional time when other inmates are resting or not working. However, the guards always pretend to be nice and caring. They let practitioners from the class temporarily get off work one hour early as a reward for their additional work. Inmates in "strict treatment" areas usually do not get off work until midnight. This kind of additional work in these areas continues during long public holidays such as May 1st, October 1st, or Chinese New Year. Many times people have to work until midnight, and then get permission to get up one hour later in the morning. In the "strict treatment" class, the regular time to get up is 4:30 a.m. To address this kind of additional labour during public holidays, the guards avoid using the phrase "work overtime." They always respond, "How could this be called working overtime?" (They mean that the work is easy and relaxing and much better than sitting on a small stool in the "strict treatment" class, where one is not allowed to do anything.)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/3/11/174103.html