I Was Tortured in Shibalihe Women's Forced Labour Camp

In October 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and was held in a local detention centre. In December I was taken to Shibalihe Women's Forced Labour Camp. Over the course of nearly three years inside the camp, I suffered brutal mental and physical torture. Below, I wish to expose the details of the persecution that I and other practitioners experienced.

1. The Use of "Baojia"

Two drug addict inmates or collaborators¹ monitored practitioners who refused to renounce Falun Gong. These people were called "Baojia." The Baojia's task is to restrict the freedom of speech of firm practitioners. They did not allow practitioners to get in touch with each other or memorize or read Falun Gong articles. They also restricted practitioners' activities. The Baojia followed practitioners like shadows. They even followed and monitored practitioners when they used the bathroom or slept.

2. Brainwashing and Hard Labour

After practitioners arrived at the labour camp, they first had to undergo brainwashing. Groups of drug addicts and/or "collaborators" bombarded the practitioners all day long with false theories, trying to confuse them.

Practitioners who continued to remain firm in their cultivation after many days had to do forced labour in workshops in the morning. In the afternoon, they had to "study" the brainwashing materials and listen to lies about the practice of Falun Gong. Sometimes they were forced to read articles that slandered Falun Gong or watch such videos.

The forced labour included making wigs, trimming clothes, fixing buttons, making beaded embroidery, gluing paper boxes, folding moon cake boxes, knitting scarves, and similar activities. I heard that many of the products made in forced labour camps were exported. Sometimes, to make additional profit for the labour camp, practitioners had to work overtime after dinner and could not rest until very late at night. For this hard labour, practitioners only received six yuan²--a "labour re-education fee"--each month. The guards shamelessly claimed that the labour camp cared for the inmates so much that they paid salaries.

3. Torture Techniques

In order to resist the detention, in December 2001, many practitioners refused to report their numbers, wear inmate outfits, perform forced labour, or in any other way cooperate with labour camp authorities. They also held hunger strikes.

Brutal Force-feeding

The guards ordered the Baojia to "force-feed" practitioners. Some forced open practitioners' mouths with spoons and some of them pinched practitioners' noses so that they had to open their mouths. A Baojia assigned by Jia Meili, the commander of the guards, dragged me into an office. Several people pushed me down on the ground, some of them pinched my nose, and others pinched my cheeks, held down my arms and legs, and used spoons to force open my mouth to force feed me. They did not care if I swallowed the food, they just kept going through the motions, dumping one spoon after another into my mouth. Sometimes I was not able to breathe.

After several days, I was dragged into an office in the workshop by an older guard with the last name of Wang in group No. 3. Several people held me down and a dental clamp was placed into my mouth to force my mouth open. They force-fed me. I refused to swallow, so she used the spoon to press down my tongue to force me to swallow. When they force-fed me very fast, I was not able to breathe. I struggled hard and the clamp hurt my mouth. I swallowed blood with the food. Every time after the brutal force feeding, my entire body was cold and stiff. After several days of force feeding, my teeth became loose and my nose and cheeks were swollen from being pinched. Bloody blisters appeared in my mouth. I coughed frequently and spat out phlegm. I could not breathe properly and my heart beat irregularly. My entire body was numb and in pain and it was just like being stabbed by needles. At night it was so painful that I was unable to fall asleep. I lost lots of weight and my hair was falling out. My weight dropped from more than 146 pounds to about 106 pounds. I was also injected with an unknown solution. Every night they infused five to six bottles of this solution into me. After the infusion, my brain reacted slowly, my tongue became stiff, and my face felt numb.

Tying the Ropes

In December 2001, after I went on a hunger strike for about twenty days, guard Guo Hongyan took me to a location where practitioners were tortured. They claimed that this was because I did not join the morning exercises. A male guard pulled off my thick cotton jacket and sweater and demanded that I write statements to renounce Falun Gong. When I refused, he hit my face. I was injured above the mouth and blood ran down my chin. Then they tied my arms with ropes. They pushed my arms behind my back and then pulled them up. I half squatted and felt excruciating pain. After the "Tying the Ropes" torture, my physical health deteriorated further. Oftentimes I breathed very fast, and I was extremely weak. I began to lose my eyesight. My entire body was ice cold, numb and painful, especially my left side. Since I had difficulty walking, I had to move very slowly.

"Military Training"

The so-called "Military Training" in labour camps is to "improve physical health." Actually, it was another torture method. Even people in their 50s and 60s were forced to participate. When practitioners could not participate for physical reasons, or when they could not meet the goals set by the guards, the guards would take them aside and force them to practice longer. While I was detained in Group No. 4, I was forced to take "Military Training" for extended periods by a guard with the last name of Zhao. If practitioners didn't comply with the orders, they would be tortured by drug addicts, including using "Tying the Ropes."

Brutal Beatings

When I was detained in Group No. 3, I refused to wear the inmate outfit once. I was dragged into a cell by drug addict Sha Weixia and some guards. They dragged me by my hair, cursed and beat me, and forcefully put an inmate outfit on me. At that time, commander Hu Zhaoxia happened to walk by, and saw what happened. I shouted "They are beating me!" She continued to walk as if she did not see anything. Actually, she encouraged the evil deeds.

In 2003, the labour camp persecuted practitioners terribly, causing the deaths of many. The murderers were not punished. On the contrary, they were released ahead of time, which encouraged more criminal activities against practitioners.

Criminal Shao Weixia wanted very much to go home early. To reach that end, she always treated practitioners badly to please the guards. Once after I entered a cell, Shao Weixia claimed that my voice was too low when I reported in. She dragged me into the toilet behind the cell, cursed at me, stomped on my toes, and kicked my legs. Both of my legs were bruised, and I did not recover for a long time.

4. Killing

During the first six months in 2003, Luo Gan, one of the main perpetrators of the persecution of Falun Gong, came to Henan Province. In order to get promotions, Shibalihe Women's Forced Labour Camp accelerated the torture of practitioners to try to force them to renounce Falun Gong. The labor camp brought in male guards from Xuchang Men's Forced Labour Camp. They used strait jackets to torture firm practitioners. During that time, practitioners Guan Ge, Sun Shimei, Zhang Baoju, Zhang Yali, and others died as a result of persecution.

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. "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/2009/7/3/203862.html