Torture and Slavery in the Gansu Province No.2 Women's Forced Labour Camp

The Gansu Province No.2 Women's Forced Labour Camp is located in Anning District, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, by the Yellow River. Below, the author summarizes what she experienced and witnessed there since 2001.

Crime One: Brutally torturing and killing practitioners

The camp guards normally appointed an inmate - typically a drug abuser, who had been sentenced to the forced labour camp more than twice - to be the "room chief." This person had to be cruel, merciless, and willing to follow the guards' orders. These "room chiefs" received special treatment. They were not required to perform labour, and they were permitted to beat prisoners at will. They also extorted money from their cell-mates and took their personal belongings.

In their attempts to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief in Truthfulness- Compassion-Forbearance, the labour camp officials used a variety of unscrupulous methods:

Practitioners were forbidden to talk to each other. Two to four inmates would watch each practitioner to keep them from doing so.

Practitioners were assigned heavier labour than other inmates, and they were deprived of sleep if they were unable to finish their assigned work. After an entire day of heavy labour, some practitioners were forced to stand until 4:00 a.m. Others were forced to stay up the entire night. Nonetheless, they were required to perform heavy labour again the following day.

Practitioners were exposed to extreme cold. During the winter, some practitioners were forced to stand outside until after midnight.

Practitioners were exposed to extreme heat and sun. On hot summer days, practitioners who refused to cooperate were forced to stand under the scorching sun for hours without water. Some lost consciousness during this torture.

Practitioners were brutally force-fed when they went on a hunger strike to protest their harsh treatment. Several inmates would hold a practitioner down on a bed and use a shoe brush to pry her mouth open. The camp doctor would then insert a tube down the practitioner's throat and pump a concentrated salt solution into her stomach. Sometimes the doctor would twist the tube to further torture the practitioner.

Practitioners were tortured with handcuffs. The metal bunk beds in the cells had three levels of rails. Practitioners were sometimes handcuffed behind their backs to the lowest rail. This put them in a very uncomfortable position, from which they could neither stand nor sit. This torture could last for over a week, and more than half the practitioners in the camp were subjected to it. Practitioners were also handcuffed behind their backs to the middle rail, which left their bodies suspended in midair. The handcuffs bore the practitioners' entire body weight and cut deeply into their flesh. To prevent practitioners from screaming, a dirty sock would be stuffed into their mouths. After this torture, the practitioners' arms would be numb for long time and the cuts on their wrists would take a long time to heal. Practitioners were also handcuffed to the highest rail, which forced them to stand with their arms straight up.

Practitioners were placed in solitary confinement. If a practitioner shouted "Falun Gong is good," the "room chief" would take her to the guards' office. There she would be handcuffed and brutally beaten with a rubber baton. Afterwards, she would be placed in solitary confinement and handcuffed to a heating pipe in a cell with no window.

Although camp policy stipulated that no punishment could last more than seven days, the camp guards would extend punishments at will with no authorization. Some practitioners were tortured with handcuffs for 28 consecutive days.

Beating was the most common torture for the inmates. Camp guards and "room chiefs" would beat other inmates, while camp guards, "room chiefs," and other inmates would beat practitioners. In their attempts to force practitioners to give up their beliefs, the "room chiefs" would repeatedly strike practitioners' faces with the soles of their shoes. Several camp guards routinely took practitioners to the guards' office and beat them on the thighs and buttocks with rubber batons. Afterwards, these practitioners were not able to walk normally and had lots of bruises on their thighs.

Ms. Li Guilan, 62, was a practitioner from Beidao District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province. She was a retired senior engineer. Camp guards Wang Yonghong and Duan Ling ordered He Li and some other inmates to beat her. Ms Li was beaten to death three days after she arrived at the camp. But none of the perpetrators was punished. On the contrary, Wang was promoted because of her "outstanding work" in Falun Gong persecution. She was even invited to give a report on her persecution activities at the Ping'antai Forced Labour Camp in Lianzhou City.

Crime Two: Making money by forcing inmates to work long hours and by evading taxes

The inmates at the labour camp were primarily drug abusers, prostitutes, thieves, and Falun Gong practitioners. The so-called "education programme" amounted to slavery. The forced labour included:

1. Contract construction projects like flattening land, paving roads, farming, and earthmoving.

2. Product processing like single-use chopsticks. The chopsticks were soaked in a chemical agent, each pair was inserted into a small plastic bag, and these were then packed into bundles of 100.

3. Processing fresh soybeans. This work normally started in June and ended in September. The inmates had to bite the shells to open them a bit. Then the fresh soybeans were soaked in water for a half hour. Finally, the inmates had to bite the shells again to peel them off and remove the soybeans. During soybean season, the inmates were given only four or five hours of rest each day.

Hundreds of inmates worked very hard throughout the year, yet each received only seven yuan per month as compensation. The tax department could not tax any of the products, and as a result, the judiciary and the camp officials made a lot of money. Even inmates suffering from AIDS had to work. The camp officials ignored the inmates' health and exploited them all.

Crime Three: Attempting to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners

Every Falun Gong practitioner focuses on Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and tries to be a good person. The practitioners at the labour camps, however, were subjected to physical torture in attempts to brainwash them. After a full day of hard labour, exhausted practitioners were forced to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong. They were also forced to study the defamatory materials and write reports on them.

Crime Four: Illegally selling and exporting products that did not receive the necessary inspection

None of the products from the labour camp received any kind of inspection. Some of them had been processed using toxic chemicals or had been exposed to contagious diseases, but they were still sold in China or exported. The toxic chemical used to process the chopsticks had caused many inmates to develop poor eyesight.

During soybean processing, many of the inmates developed cracked lips while biting the shells, which left blood on the soybeans. The soybean containers had been used as washbasins or chamber pots, exposing the soybeans to contagious diseases or viruses.

Reflecting on these crimes, I hope people will help eliminate not only the forced labour camps but also the entire forced labour system in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/3/198321.html