Practitioners Treated Like Slaves in Benxi Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province

Benxi City Forced Labour Camp (also is known as Weiningying Forced Labour Camp in Benxi City) is one of the main facilities the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Liaoning Province uses to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Guard Liu Shaoshi and other officials from the "Legal Centre" of the camp not only brainwash and torture practitioners but also force them to perform strenuous hard labour to produce products for the camp.

In recent years, Benxi City Forced Labour Camp and Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, have been the two main facilities to detain practitioners in Liaoning Province.

Soon after the CCP started the persecution of Falun Gong, Benxi City Forced Labour Camp received a lot of money from higher authorities to strengthen the guard, purchase equipment, and put up more buildings in order to set up a base in which to "reform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] practitioners.

The building was built in 1999, just after the CCP started the persecution. It was originally built to house a large number of practitioners, but so far only the basement of the building has been used to detain practitioners while the rest of the building is used for other purposes.

The CCP has poured a lot of money into new buildings, replacing old equipment, and improving the appearance of the camp to pretend that it has improved the living conditions of inmates with "campus-style management." In fact, it is to confuse and deceive people and cover up their crimes of persecuting practitioners.

The labour camp officials treat practitioners like slaves to produce products so that they earn more money and have enough funding to maintain the persecution. At the same time, the practitioners become exhausted both physically and mentally

1. The Ball Production Workshop

Hiding behind the clean and tidy facade is a poor working environment--a ball production workshop owned by a private company is located on-site. Personnel from the camp force inmates to work as slaves to earn money for them. The inmates first have to grind the minerals into a powder, then form the powder into a ball shape, and finally put the balls into a furnace to heat them up. The Benxi City Iron Factory finishes the rest of the processing.

The workshop is a dilapidated shed. The inmates are forced to work there in three, 8-hour shifts so that the workshop operates 24 hours a day. Dust constantly fills the air. Although the workers wear two layers of masks, the dust still gets into their mouths. After inmates finish their shift at the end of the day, their faces and clothes are full of black mineral dust and even their phlegm is black.

Camp officials have complete disregard for the workers' physical conditions and whether or not they have pulmonary complications. All they do is push the workers to earn more money for them. Some practitioners who firmly believe in Falun Gong and refuse to be "transformed" in the "Legal Centre" are forced to work there, too.

2. Producing Bricks

The old buildings in the labour camp have been refurbished and now produce bricks. The playground that was there is now filled with bricks. Practitioners have been forced to work there as well.

3. Producing Benzene Boards

Benzene is a very toxic chemical substance. The environment in which benzene boards are produced comes nowhere near any standards of health and safety. The labour camp only cares about economic efficiency and nothing else, not to mention the workers' physical health.

4. Straightening Diodes by Hand

Practitioners held at the "Legal Centre" in the basement are forced to straighten diodes by hand using leather boards. The diodes are provided by the Benxi City Universe Electronics Co., Ltd. The cells are delivered to the workshop during the day. A diode is about seven or eight centimetres in length. Although the diodes are washed after being removed from the plating tank, they still have sticky chemical substances on them which is harmful to the labourers' health.

Practitioners have a quota of 40 boxes of diodes per week, and each box weighs more than 10 kilograms. The practitioners have to straighten the diodes in the early morning and later are forced to take brainwashing classes. From noon to 9 p.m., the practitioners are again forced to straighten diodes. The practitioners have to earn 30,000 yuan¹ for the camp each year.

5. Making Silk Flowers by Hand

If the manufacturer doesn't have enough work to provide to the camp, guard Liu Shaoshi has the practitioners hand make silk flowers, which are said to be exported to Japan and South Korea.

Practitioners are detained in the basement where is very cold and humid and there is no sunlight at all. Practitioners and other inmates drink tap water, which is far below the standards of health and safety requirements. In the past, camp personnel used to drink the tap water. After a few years, when they went in for their physical exams, nearly half of them were diagnosed with gallbladder and kidney stones. So now they drink filtered water. However, practitioners and other inmates are forced to drink tap water.

Before the Chinese New Year, many groups of officials from the CCP judiciary start visiting and inspecting the work at the camp. Before officials from the Liaoning Province Prison Management Bureau and the Benxi City Prison Management Bureau arrived, camp officials temporarily shut down the ball producing workshop and forced the inmates to clean the whole camp. Liu Shaoqiang also forced practitioners to clean their cells and hide all the tools related to the production of diodes so that no one could tell the cells had been used as workshops. The high level officials know the camp's tricks but they don't care at all. Instead, they carry out their inspections only for show. Liu Shaoshi has boasted, "Our unit is exempt from Ministry-wide inspections. Leaders from the Ministry of Justice, the province, and the city trust us."

This is what Liu Shoushi and other officials from the camp boasted of as "campus-style management" and "humane management."

Note

1. "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.org/mh/articles/2009/11/3/211782.html