Cruel Torture in Wangcun Forced Labour Camp: Brainwashing with "Stew the Eagle" and Electric Shocking in Water Dungeon

The Wangcun Forced Labour Camp, also called the Shandong Province Second Forced Labour Camp, is located in Wangcun Town, Zhoucun District in Zibo City, Shandong Province. It is the biggest forced labour camp in Shandong Province, and there are around 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners detained there.

Since July 2000, a large number of practitioners have been sentenced to forced labour in Shandong Province, and they have been served the most severe terms in the nation. Normally, forced labour terms are 1-3 years long, but 90 per cent of detained Falun Gong practitioners in Shandong Province have been sentenced to three years of forced labour.

The Shandong Province's party officials have conducted a brainwashing "research" project, beginning in July 2000, in Wangcun Labour Camp. First, they used physical torture and forced brainwashing by showing slanderous videos. The "strict control cell" chief guard Xu Shouyi revealed that many practitioners would be dragged out of the "strict control cell," then dragged back, causing much of their skin to tear, and their body would be covered with electric baton shock marks or wounds from beating. The "strict control cell" was very crowded, and practitioners slept with their handcuffs on and could not turn.

Mr. Hua Yuliang from Weifang City spoke with the guards rationally, and the guards could not say anything, but they still applied an electric baton into his mouth and burnt his mouth until it was covered in blisters and he could not drink or eat. Finally, the guards used a very cruel method and had ten collaborators¹ take turns talking to him with their deviated understandings 24 hours per day; they did not let Mr. Hua sleep at all.

All firm Falun Gong practitioners detained in Shandong Province have been transferred to the Wangcun Labour Camp to be brainwashed. In September 2000, more than thirty practitioners were transferred from the Licun Labour Camp in Qingdao City to the Wangcun Labour Camp. Among them, Mr. Zou Songtao, an educated man with a Master's degree from the Oceanography University in Qingdao City, was tortured to death through shocking him with a dozen high voltage electric batons (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/7/26/24522.html). Mr. Jiang Mingzhai is still being tortured in the Wangcun Labour Camp. There were also 18 practitioners transferred to the Wangcun Labour Camp from the Jinan City Labour Camp. In order to force them to give up their faith, guards locked them in a water dungeon² around the clock and ran a low electricity current in the water to shock them.

In the beginning of 2001, the guards changed their torture means and deprived practitioners their right to sleep unless they accepted the brainwashing. Guards in Shandong Province labour camps were widely using such methods. They had collaborators take turns brainwashing steadfast practitioners with their deviated understandings at all times. They call the method "Stew the Eagles"³.Under such cruel brainwashing, some practitioners could not bear the sleepiness, turned away from Falun Gong, became collaborators, and in turn, started brainwashing other firm practitioners.

Those practitioners that still did not accept the brainwashing after enduring the torture would be beaten by guards. Those forced to accept the brainwashing would go through "Legal Education," followed by overtime heavy labour. From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every night, they still had to watch CCTV news and "Focus Forum," writing their "understandings" every day. There is also a weekly "Criticizing (Falun Gong) meeting." Guards believe that "Stew the eagles" plus slave labour, repeatedly viewing brainwashing materials, and brutal beatings will lead to successful brainwashing. But coercion cannot change people's hearts, and most practitioners who accepted the brainwashing once became clear-minded later, and declared the brainwashing null. The guards extended those collaborators' terms and threatened them to prevent them from becoming clear-headed.

The Shandong Province 610 Office⁴ holds a brainwashing session working together with the Wangcun Labour Camp. There are two Shandong Province Level brainwashing sessions, one is in Zibo City (Wangcun Town, close to the camp), the other is in Jinan City. Each practitioner taken to the Wangcun location, from all over the province, has to pay 5,000 yuan⁵. There were 19 practitioners arrested together in 2001 in Longkou City, fined 100,000 yuan, and sent to be brainwashed in the (Wangcun) Zibo City brainwashing centre. They were all bused to Wangcun Labour Camp and forced to go through collaborators' brainwashing. One female practitioner among them was deprived her right to sleep for a week while collaborators were brainwashing her. She was forced to sit on a small stool, and her lower body became swollen. Practitioners on hunger strikes were force-fed. The guards would pull the tube back and forth, causing stomach bleeding. Some practitioners' stomachs were severely damaged. The guards also took very solid practitioners to a mental hospital. According to incomplete statistics, there were nearly 1,000 practitioners arrested from the province and forced to go through brainwashing in the Wangcun Labour Camp right after they arrived at the province's Zibo City brainwashing centre.

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. Wearing a cotton coat and trousers, some practitioners are forced to sit down beside the cell vent in a very uncomfortable contorted position, unable to stretch or lie down. The water dungeon area is very small and one can't lean against the wall for support. The practitioner is forced to sit on the cold cement floor. The police would then pour water onto the floor, soaking the coat and trousers with freezing water. After they repeatedly pour water into the dungeon, one's body will be completely soaked and partially immersed in water. Oftentimes the water can get to be chest deep. Ice-cold water and wind would chill one to the bones. If one does not yield to them, this torture continues indefinitely. See illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/5/49890p.html.

3. Practitioners were forced to stand 24 hours a day continuously for over a month and not allowed to sit down or sleep. The persecutors took turns yelling and screaming at them, fighting and beating them during this time. See case on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/1/30/44560p.html

4. "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.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/8/6/55207.html