Practitioners Brutally Persecuted in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp

1. Experiencing the Wonderful and Extraordinary Nature of Falun Gong

I began practising Falun Gong in 1996. Before that, I suffered from many diseases. I took a lot of medication but my health did not improve. My husband is the only male sibling in his family, and we were supposed to at least share my mother-in-law's house with my husband's sisters if we didn't take it over completely. But my husband's sister often found fault with us and started fights for no reason. We were forced to leave my mother-in-law's house. I was so angry I have never gone back there.

In 1996, I fortunately became a Falun Gong practitioner. Within five days, I exhibited symptoms related to all of my diseases, but soon afterward they all disappeared. It has been 15 years, and none of these diseases have returned. I have truly witnessed Falun Gong's supernatural powers.

I no longer compete to excel over others in the workplace. I work with no complaints and don't compete for personal benefit. In my family life, I no longer care much about personal gain or losses. I voluntarily visit my mother-in-law and I have developed a good relationship with my husband's sisters. One of my relatives held up his thumb and said to me, “Falun Gong is really great!”

2. A Hell on Earth – Practitioners Cruelly Persecuted in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp

I have been persecuted many times since Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. I was detained twice and sent to forced labour camps twice, and both my body and mind have been greatly injured.

Heilongjiang Museum put up pictures slandering Falun Gong in June 2000, which deceived people with lies. Other practitioners and I went to the museum to expose the persecution about Falun Gong. I was arrested there by Zhang Jingbin from the Public Security Bureau Nangang District Branch, and taken to Harbin City No. 2 Detention Centre. Guard Zhang Huan cursed at me angrily and threatened me. They called my boss to the detention centre and tried to force me to write a guarantee statement promising not to practise Falun Gong again. I refused. Zhang Huan shouted more curses at me. I was released after two weeks.

I went to Tiananmen Square in December 2000 and shouted, “Falun Gong is good!" Police officers took us first to Tiananmen Police Station and then to police stations in different counties near Beijing that same afternoon. I left the police station after three days. While moving from one place to another, I was taken to Harbin City No. 2 Detention Centre and was held there for three months.

I was arrested again in the autumn of 2001 while I was putting up posters with facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. Zhang Jingbin from the Public Security Bureau of the Nangang District Branch decided to send me to a forced labour camp to serve a two-year term.

In Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in Harbin, practitioners were forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong as soon as they got up in the morning. They were forced to wear uniforms and labels, and write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong. I was sent to solitary confinement as soon as I arrived. The Twelfth Team chief, Zhang Bo, directed a dozen collaborators (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners) led by Zhou Hezhen from Wuchang City to try to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] me. They surrounded me and tried to “transform” me from dawn to midnight every day. On the eighth day, Zhang Bo dragged me to his office. After shouting curses at me, he moved me out of solitary confinement. All practitioners held in the Twelfth Team were transferred to the Seventh Team in March 2002.

A new round of persecution was launched on August 27th, 2002, when Wanjia Forced Labour Camp deputy director Shi Yingbai came back from a conference.

Through the glass window on the second floor where practitioners in the Seventh Team were held, you could often see practitioners being dragged into solitary confinement, cursed at, cruelly beaten, suspended, and shocked with electric batons. Miserable cries were also heard once in a while. They threw me into solitary confinement, cuffed my hands behind my back, and hung me up with a rope from the ceiling. Guard Jin slapped my face and did not allow me to speak. He later taped my mouth shut. Female practitioner, Xiao Hong fainted when she was hung up, and soiled her trousers. She remained unconscious when she was finally let down. Ms. Luo Hongyan, in her fifties, was not married. Guard Jin, guard Chu, chief Zhang, and another chief Zhang bound her to an iron chair, covered her head with a hood, and shocked her with several electrical batons simultaneously. Failing to “transform” her, they threatened Ms. Luo that she would not remain a virgin if she continued to refuse to give up her faith. They locked Ms. Liu Shuqing, a professor who was almost 70 years old, to an iron chair, poured cold water on her, and then shocked her with electric batons. They hung Ms. Gao Fengqin from the ceiling, then quickly let her fall. She was then hung up again, and let fall again.

Once during a security examination, which was actually a search for Falun Gong articles, guard Zhang Aihui took practitioners into an empty room one by one and let inmates strip off their clothes and conduct body searches. I scolded them with stern words and did not obey their orders. Zhang Aihui got chief guard Liu Tao to lock me to an iron chair for four days straight. Li Tao and Zhang Aihui often punished everyone in our group by making us squat in an awkward position for extended periods. They locked us to iron chairs in an aisle and we were denied use of the restroom. Sun Qing and Jiang Tao also participated in the persecution. I was cruelly tortured numerous times in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, and I witnessed in person that many practitioners paid with their lives to resist the “transformation.”

Because I refused to be “transformed,” I was transferred to the “Concentrated Training Team” located on the third floor. There, practitioners were forced to sit still on small plastic stools from 4:00 a.m. to midnight every day. Moving even a little bit would result in a cruel beating. During the period of strict control, practitioners were forced to sit like that around the clock and were allowed to use the toilet only once, at 1:00 p.m. Whenever they were not pleased with someone, they would take that person out and hang him or her by cuffing both wrists behind their back, and hanging them high on metal bars. The guards would then suddenly kick away the stool under the victim's feet, causing their whole body weight to shift to their wrists, which bled instantly. The victims were in excruciating pain, were slapped, shocked with electric batons, suspended, and brutally beaten. The guards made them sit still on an iron chair or squat in a awkward position for extended periods of time. Wu Hongxun, the Concentrated Training Team chief, along with deputy chief Zhao Yuqing, and political instructor Yao Fuchang, were very active in persecuting practitioners. Zhao Yuqing collaborated with Xu Fengping to write “rules” and “oaths” defaming Falun Dafa. They ordered practitioners to read and recite them. Whoever refused were immediately dragged out and brutally tortured. One torture method is called “five horses splitting a body.” The person's limbs are pulled in four different directions. The person feels like his or her body is being split into four parts, and the handcuffs cut deep into the flesh. After being tortured like this, the victim's limbs are often numb for as long as several months. I, as well as many other practitioners, have experienced this torture.

Ms. Zhang Hong, 29, single, worked as a nurse in Harbin No. 4 Hospital. She was taken to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp on July 23rd. Nine days later, on July 31st, she was persecuted to death. She had been hung by handcuffs, electrically shocked, brutally force-fed, and restrained on a bare bed with all her clothes stripped off. The moment before she died, she shouted in the cell, “I don't want to die, I live in the Dongli District in Harbin...” She sounded miserable and her eyes remained open after death.

Ms. Zhao Fengyun was in her fifties. She worked in the Twelfth Team and had to make shoes with toxic glue. As a result, she had a heart attack. When it happened, practitioners found a guard immediately to get help. But the guards stopped them with a few words. No guard cared what was happening to Ms. Zhao. Ms. Zhao died.

Ms. Yao Fengjie was in her fifties. She was also cruelly persecuted in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. As a result, her abdomen swelled like a drum, and her whole body felt soft and weak. She passed away a few days after her release.

I was arrested while walking down the street in the summer of 2006. The Public Security Bureau Nangang District Branch decided I was to serve one and half years of forced labour. I was taken to Wangjia Forced Labour Camp again. The next day I found out that all the practitioners who did not write the three statements had all been cruelly tortured. Wu Hongxun stood on a bed, tied me up, and hung me up from the ceiling, then shocked my head, face, palms, hands, and mouth with a large-sized electric baton. Guards including Yu Li kept shouting, “Increase the voltage!” Some practitioners' faces and hands were covered with burns. Some could not raise their hands. Some kept vomiting and then spit up large amounts of blood. People who participated in the persecution included Wu Hongxun, Zhao Yuqing, Yao Fuchang, Guan Jie, Yu Fangli, Li Chunxia, Li Changjie, Jia Shiyuan, and others.

The practitioners held in the Concentrated Training Team wrote a joint letter to Wu Hongxun and other guards in the team to urge them to value virtue. Wu Hongxun exploded with anger. Guard Guan Jie offered ideas and Wu Hongxun took the lead to torture Ms. Xing Yanzhen, Ms. Sun Shuyun, Mr. Li Wenjun and Ms. Zhang Shuqin, by locking them to iron chairs around the clock. They were kept on the iron chairs for 18-42 days. Ms. Jiang Lihua was locked separately in another room for not wearing a uniform and not writing the three statements. She was subjected to cruel torture six times and was shocked with electric batons. Mr. Guan Hua was hung by his handcuffs, which resulted in a broken arm. He had to be taken to Wanjia Hospital right away. Ms. Mao Shuying was shocked with electric batons and passed out. Only when they saw that someone was about to die did they stop the torture this time.

Lu Zhenshan sat on the third floor and directed all of these criminal acts. Guards who participated in this round of torture included Lu Zhenshan, Wu Hongxun, Guan Jie, Li Chunxia, Zhao Yuqing, Yao Fuchang, Sun Qing, Yu Fangli, and Jia Shiyuan.

Practitioners held in the Concentrated Training Teams were transferred from Wanjia Forced Labour Camp to Qianjin Forced Labour Camp group by group. The last group was transferred on May 29th, 2007. That day, director Wang Yajun made a speech. The core idea of his speech was that the management in Qianjin Force Labour Camp was human-based. “Six Prohibitions” still hung on the wall and stood out. The persecution continued. A dozen guards including Zhang Bo were also transferred to Qianjin Forced Labour Camp.

As a result of persecution, Ms. Fan Shude kept vomiting and could not eat. When she did the Falun Gong exercises on January 1st, 2008, Zhang Bo ran up to the third floor where the Concentrated Training Team was located in the very early morning and shouted words defaming the founder of Falun Gong. Other practitioners wanted to see Zhang, but she ignored them. Some practitioners then started a hunger strike to protest. Director Sun Xiaojun came upstairs on the afternoon of the fifth day of the hunger strike. Practitioners reported to her how the guards, including Zhang Bo, Yu Fangli, and Zhou Muqi, persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners. As a result, Zhang Bo collaborated with Wang Min, Yang Guojiang, Zhou Muqi, Yu Fangli, and Zhang Yanli to drag Mr. Li Wenjun, Ms. Lu Huiwen, and Ms. Zhang Shuqin out, hang them up with their hands behind their backs, and force them to work in the workshop.

The workshop was very large and the heater did not work for most of the winter. Many practitioners got frostbite on their faces, palms, feet, and ears. They were not allowed to take breaks. They got up before dawn and finished the work at about 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.. If they were not able to finish their work in the workshop, they had to take the remaining work with them back to the dorm and continue working. They were not allowed to sleep until they had finished all the work. Their work included making road boards, doing farm work, making popsicle sticks, picking toothpicks, and loading and unloading cargo. The majority of female practitioners were in their forties and fifties, and some were in their sixties. Although they were so overworked, eight practitioners had to share a meal consisting of half a basin of radish soup with no visible oil. The expense details were listed on the cafeteria wall. It stated clearly how much was spent every month for rice, flour, pork, fish, bean oil, vegetables, and seasoning. Added together, the expenses for a month were over several thousand, or tens of thousands of yuan. But we got nothing but radish soup for every meal.

For shouting “Falun Gong is good” Ms. Gao Guofeng from Shuangcheng was dragged out and tortured by a dozen people, including second team chief Huo Shuping, Wu Baoyun, and Wu Jinhua. They hung her up by her arms, locked her in a cage, and deprived her of food. Huo Shuping directed inmates to curse her at will, hang her up with her hands behind her back, shock her with electric batons, and beat her. Ms. Gao suffered horribly and her weight dropped from 65 kilograms (143 lb.) to about 35 kilograms (77 lb.). People who participated in the persecution of Ms. Gao included Zhang Bo, Wang Min, Liu Chang, Yang Guohong, Chen Lihua, Sun Xiaohui, Zhang Aihui, Zhou Yingfan, Cong Zhili, Wang Xiaowei, Xie Chunxiang, Qiu Yang, Li Peihuan, and Sui Xuemin.

Farmer Lu Huiwen became a completely new person after she began practising Falun Dafa. She voluntarily handed in the best grains to the county. She was also kind to her neighbours and treated her senior family members well. She developed a good relationship with her relatives. She had a lot of stories of her practice that even touched police officers' hearts. But she wasn't able to avoid the persecution. When she had a heart attack and her blood pressure rose to 230, guard Yang Guohong pulled her out of bed, dragged her into the workshop, and forced her to work. She kept shivering in the cold workplace. Finally she had a chance to see director Sun and told her what happened. Sun said that she would investigate. Sun then left and disappeared. These accounts are the raw portrayal of Chinese Communist Party's violent nature. What happened there is too much to be described.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/4/15/239006.html