(Minghui.org) At various detention facilities in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, the guards not only subjected illegally detained practitioners to brutal torture, but also forced them to manufacture different kinds of products. As a matter of fact, Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to the practice of forced labor since the beginning of 2001. Slave labor serves two purposes. One, the products made from forced labor produce revenue for those detention facilities. Two, this strategy aims to tire practitioners’ bodies and weaken their willpower, thus making it easier to coerce them into renouncing their belief.
Below we share what some of our fellow practitioners have experienced at Dalian detention facilities.
Slave Labor at Dalian Forced Labor Camp
Practitioners detained at Dalian Labor Camp were forced to start work at 5 a.m. every day; often working past midnight and even until 2 or 3 o’clock the next morning. No matter how late they went to bed, the next day they still had to get up at the same time. They were lucky to get 6 hours of sleep. Many ended up with only 2-3 hours each night.
When practitioner Mr. Liu Feng, who used to study in Ireland, was detained at this labor camp, he passed out numerous times due to the heavy workload. He was eventually released on medical parole.
Dalian Labor Camp made millions of yuan from slave labor every year. Take sorting beans (i.e., picking out beans that met quality standards and then packaging them) as an example. Each practitioner had to sort and package 5 bags of beans every day, for 12 months each year. Every five bags of beans usually sell for at least 25 yuan. With three teams of 56 people each, the labor camp easily generated an annual revenue of 1,512,000 yuan (=25 yuan*56 people*3 teams*30 days*12 months) from sorting beans alone.
Slave Labor Products
Some of the products produced by slave labor included the below:
Products made in 2001:
1. Embroidered pillow cases, bedsheets, tablecloths, and flax fabric
2. Dried flowers with decorations exported to South Korea
3. Knitted cell phone cases exported to South Korea
4. Knit hats exported to South Korea
Products made in 2002 and 2003:
5. All kinds of beans (red beans, white beans, black beans, purple beans, soy beans and green beans) exported to South Korea, Japan, and the United States
6. Seaweed knots (long, wide pieces of seaweed were first cut into thin strips and then tied into knots)
7. Dried wakame exported to South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan
8. Plastic flowers (practitioners used thin silver or bronze wire to string dozens of types of plastic flowers, and then packaged and labeled them. These flowers were exported to Europe and were said to be put on tombstones at cemeteries. The glue used to make them was toxic, and many prisoners vomited and couldn’t keep any food down.)
9. “Sanitary” Q-tips (as a matter of fact, these were not sanitized at all)
10. Packaged chopsticks exported to Japan (even criminals who had sexually transmitted diseases did this job; they were often seen scratching themselves with the chopsticks)
11. Popsicle sticks exported to Africa (the practitioners’ job was to package the sticks after they were pressed by machines)
12. Wool coats exported to South Korea and Japan
13. Buttoned pajamas exported to Japan
14. Bricks heated in kilns
15. Clothespins (the practitioners’ job was to put springs into the pins)
Products made between 2003 and 2005:
16. Toothpicks (the practitioners’ job was to pick out qualified toothpicks)
17. Diodes (the practitioner’s job was to pick up a diode from the electroplating tank and rinse it clean. Even after the rinse, however, there was still chemical residue on them. Next, practitioners had to straighten the two ends of a diode by rubbing it against a leather plate.)
All newcomers, including practitioners and criminals, were sent straight to Team Five and spent their first month of incarceration there. They had to sort beans every day. No one was allowed to use the restroom or drink water during work sessions, even when it was extremely hot. They only had 20 minutes for a meal break. The guards would not let them bathe, brush their teeth, or change clothes. At night everyone had to squeeze onto a big bed, with three or four sharing one comforter. Many prisoners got lice, and there were bugs everywhere. In August 2003, a criminal detainee suspected of having contracted tuberculosis was still forced to sort beans just like everyone else.
Male practitioners were kept in Team Eight and forced to sort toothpicks and straighten diodes. Many developed scabies due to unhygienic conditions. A lot of them had blood and pus oozing out of their wounds, and some got so bad that even their bones were exposed.
Products Made at Dalian Detention Center
18. Practitioners there were forced to make boxes used to hold moon cakes.
Products Made at Dalian Drug Rehabilitation Center
According to a practitioner who was once detained there, they were forced to work from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day. They only got 30 minutes for each meal. Most of the products they made were exported to foreign countries. Some products were sold to the company FloraBase.
19. Cardboard boxes with the following label:
Item #HB4200
WHITE HOT DOG PAPER TRAY
800 PIECES 4/200
20. Small paper boxes
21. Other packaging cases used to hold hand crafts for export
Products Made at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp
Practitioners detained there were forced to peel garlic and make all kinds of crafts (including those made of glass). They also made toothpicks and disposable chopsticks. In addition, they sewed embroidery on jeans, sorted beans and pumpkin seeds, strung beads, and decorated pillow shams.
