The Gross Abuse I Suffered in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, Liaoning Province

I was detained in Masanjia Labour Camp in September 2007. I was subjected to various kinds of brutal mistreatments. As a result of the torture, my left hand is still numb, and there is still swelling at the base of my fingers.

1. Forced Labour

At the beginning of my incarceration, the guards assigned me to work daily with items involving the use of white glue (polyvinyl acetate, or PAVc). PAVc is a toxic substance and can lead to allergy, asthma, or other respiratory problems. Not long after, my blood pressure shot up to 160/100. I had blood in my sputum, had difficulty breathing, and developed other allergic reactions. In November 2007, the guards transferred me to Team One and ordered me to work in a different workshop.

I saw cotton-padded overcoats scattered everywhere in the new workshop; everyone was busy with their job. The foremen (detainees selected by team leads to supervise everyone) verbally abused or beat people at will. Team leads, on the other hand, sat aside and chatted with each other while enjoying fruit and other delicacies their foremen brought to please them. Only when someone refused to obey the foremen did the camp authorities walk up to punish the offender.

The foremen and team leads only gave everyone 2-3 days to adjust to and learn a new task. Afterwards they kept increasing the daily workload. Most people were simply unable to finish their quotas. Those who failed to get their jobs done on time were verbally abused and ordered to stand. Worse yet, they had their faces slapped and even shocked with electric batons, and then they still had to work until they finished their quotas.

Team One and Team Two made detainees work 15-16 hours every day in late December 2007. This lasted until the day when journalists unexpectedly descended into the workshop at 10:30 p.m. to take photographs and interview people. They randomly spoke with a few people who happened to be Falun Gong practitioners. The guards immediately announced it was time for everyone to leave the workshop. From that day on, they didn't make us work overtime, but resorted to other tricks. For instance, they pushed back the routine end time of work or had us work in our cells.

2. Handcuffed with Arms Stretched Out

As a persecution protest, all of the detained practitioners refused to sign the "evaluation" forms the guards filled out at the end of each month. When I explained Falun Gong and the persecution to Team Lead Zhang Chunguang, he not only refused to listen, but took me to Donggang, a confinement cell equipped with all kinds of torture instruments for further abuse and gross mistreatment.

This special cell held two metal bunk beds, one on either side of the room. It was deep winter, but Zhang Chunguang made me sit on the concrete floor with my arms stretched out and handcuffed to the two beds for three hours straight. Then seven guards, including Zhang Chunguang, Li Mingyu, Zhou Qian, Zhai Yanhui, and Chen Qiumei, arrived to inflict more harm on me. They handcuffed one of my hands to one of the bed's top bunk and my other hand to another bed's bottom bunk. When they kicked the beds hard, to separate them as far as possible, the handcuffs cut deeply into my flesh. I was in so much pain that I almost lost consciousness. My hands and wrists soon turned purple. They kept me handcuffed this way for 16 hours non-stop, during which they came back frequently to kick the beds again and shake my hands. When they finally released me from this torture, which they called "hands cuffed with arms stretched out," my hands were extremely swollen and the skin was broken in 16 places.

3. Inexplicable Blood Test

The guards gave orders that everyone would have their blood drawn on May 12th, 2008, but they didn't tell us at all what the blood test was for, nor did they later provide us with the results.

I firmly refused to have my blood drawn and held tightly to the door. Discipline section chief Wang Yanping and two guards couldn't move me, so six more people including Li Mingyu and Zhai Yanhui swarmed at me. Even so, the nine of them couldn't get me to the lab. Instead, they pushed me to a room across from my cell.

After they managed to get me in bed, Wang Yanping pushed my head down, and Li Mingyu held my arms tightly. The rest of them leaned against my torso and tucked my legs under the bed. I shouted, "Falun Gong is good! No one is allowed to persecute Falun Gong practitioners! Good and evil will receive their due retribution!" I struggled with all my might. Their first attempt to draw my blood failed. Wang Yanping picked up a pillow and put it over my head. I immediately had great difficulty breathing. At that moment my head hit the wall on my left so I used all my might to move my head toward the wall. The little space between my face and the wall saved me from being suffocated.

4. Misuse of Drugs on Practitioners

The guards had access to Suxiaojiuxin (a cardiovascular medicine in pill form used to help people with Angina pectoris and coronary heart disease), which they could use on practitioners at will. The recommended usage is 4-6 pills for non-emergencies, and 10-15 pills if there is a heart attack. I witnessed numerous occasions where the guards forced practitioners to take the pills. I was twice given this medicine even though I had no heart problems.

The first time was on November 15th, 2007, when I was in the middle of the torture, "Hands Cuffed with Arms Stretched Out," mentioned above. Seeing that I was having trouble breathing, Zhang Chunguang forced me to take 7 Suxiaojiuxin pills, I vomited soon afterwards. The pills were very effective. In just few minutes my blood pressure dropped by 40, my whole body twitched uncontrollably, and I had to squat on the floor.

The second time was on October 7th, 2008, when I was force-fed nine pills. On that day, all practitioners in Team One refused to sign the evaluation forms, so Li Mingyu and Zhang Chunguang ordered about six guards to drag us out of our cells. We shouted, "Falun Gong is good!" The guards kicked and beat us. Some slapped us on the face while others shocked us with electric batons. Every time the guards tried to get someone out of the cell we shouted, "Falun Gong is good." The guards went from one cell to another to beat us, but we kept shouting, "Falun Gong is good." The whole incident lasted three hours.

The guards eventually got me to the confinement cell, Donggang, where they fastened my hands with handcuffs and then stretched my whole body over the lower bunk of a bed. Next they tied my hands to the two ends of one side of the top bunk, with my legs secured to the opposite side of the bottom bunk.

As soon as the guards set me up in this torture, I felt excruciating pain and began to sweat profusely. I experienced shortness of breath, as if I was in a different world. I had no idea of what I looked like at that moment, but the guards immediately called in the camp clinic nurse, Xiang, to give me Suxiaojiuxin pills. I refused to take them by keeping my mouth shut. After several failed attempts, she ordered one guard to pinch my nose while she slapped me on the face. When I had to open my mouth to catch a breath, she quickly poured the pills in.

Wang Yanping grabbed my hair and slapped my face while saying cynically, "I'll see if you still dare to expose us on Minghui." Hearing the word "Minghui (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom)," Peng Tao joined in beating me and said, "Yeah, let's see if you still dare to expose us on Minghui." A big chunk of my hair fell to the ground. Then came another guard with more Suxiaojiuxin pills. I heard someone shout, "Stop it! We already gave her nine pills!" That guard replied, "Gee, that was close! I just fetched nine more pills here!"

The labour camp officials usually had practitioners send their bedding to Donggang (the special confinement cell mentioned above) every morning and pick it up every night. The bedding outsiders saw in the cells during the day were just for display. That night after 8 p.m., when practitioners came to Donggang to pick up their bedding, Lu Lin shouted, "Falun Gong is good," and I joined him. Li Mingyu and Zhang Chunguang immediately wrapped wide duct tape around my head, keeping my mouth and nose sealed. When they peeled off the tape 12 hours later, my hair stuck to it came off. The one-square-meet ground around my feet was covered with my hair.

During the whole process, the camp chief, Yang Jian, came to check on me three times. Every time he came, Zhang Chunguang tightened my handcuffs, only to cause more unbearable pain. When they finally let me down 23 hours later, I had lost the feeling in both hands that were now dark and purple, and they were covered with blisters and broken flesh. There were 23 wounds.

In the next few months I couldn't even hold a rice bowl. While they were torturing, Zhai Yanhui kicked me on the inner side of my left upper arm, leaving a dark footprint. That bruise didn't disappear until a long time later. My hands were visibly deformed and had muscle atrophy. Both of my upper arms turned thinner, and my hands couldn't function properly.

Even today, some 20 months after my October 2008 ordeal, my left hand still feels numb and there is still swelling on my hands.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/7/9/226701.html