(Minghui.org) Shuangkou Forced Labor Camp in the Beichen District of Tianjin detains and persecutes many male Falun Gong practitioners. There are five groups in the labor camp, and each produces different slave labor products. As a Falun Gong practitioner, I was detained in Group No. 3 for three years, and was tortured and forced to do slave labor.
Forced to Do Slave Labor with Unhealed Broken Ribs
Group No. 3 produced wooden flowers, balloons, and electronic coils. Most of these products were exported to South Korea. Many jobs were assigned to Group No. 3, and even during the monthly family visitation day, the delayed jobs had to be finished by working overtime. Every day we had to work overtime. The guards in Group No. 3 made hefty profits.
Each practitioner was monitored by two inmates. Because I refused to write statements denouncing Falun Gong, on the second night, chief captain Tong Xiuhe ordered captain Shi Guang and inmate Fan Shigang to take me to the library. They forced me to bend over at 90 degrees with my head touching the wall. Fan Shigang kneed my thighs until I could not stand. My back was then struck with wooden clubs until my ribs were broken. I received no medical treatment whatsoever. I was detained in a bedding storage room with an inmate watching over me. I was forced back to work before I had recovered.
Workshop for Pasting Flowers
The flower pasting workshops were always full of tables. Each table had an electric stove to melt glue sticks into liquid, which created toxic smoke. The workshop had poor ventilation and the prisoner “slaves” were surrounded by the thick toxic smoke. Every day we had to eat our meals in the workshops and start working right after eating. There were no breaks for weekends or holidays. After working hours, we had to take many materials to our cells and continue to work.
Captain Shi Guang also tortured practitioners in other ways. After working overtime we had to practice folding quilts. The quilts had to be folded in a perfect square, or we would not be allowed to rest. These quilts were not to be used by inmates, but for display when supervisors came to inspect. The quilts which were actually used by the inmates were placed in a storage room every day, which was dark and humid. There were so many germs that many people got sick. Since we practitioners could not study the Fa or do the exercises, many of us got psoriasis on our hands, feet, and legs. We itched terribly, and we were covered in smelly pus with blood. However, our quota never decreased. Every day, we had to get permission from the inmates who were monitoring us just to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. Sometimes we could not get permission until we asked multiple times.
Balloon Workshop
I was eventually taken to the balloon workshop. The labor camp had a contract with a company in the Wuqing District, and a South Korean Company. There were boxes of balloons in the workshop and an impossible amount of work to do. The balloons were full of talcum powder. When we fastened the balloons, the powder spread into the air. Many people were working in the room, so the air was filled with powder. Working there long-term caused people to have dry or bloody noses. Powder also came out of people's lungs when they coughed, and made their lungs hurt when they breathed. One can only imagine how much harm this did to the body.
Any unfinished work had to be taken back to the cells to complete. Since we had to fasten several thousand balloons per day, our fingers started to bleed and our fingernails fell off. The overtime and intensive labor, along with the fact that we had to squat to do the work, made our legs tired and numb.
Practitioner Mr. Li Wenqi had difficulty walking because of the slave labor. Guard Wang Zheng picked two inmates to hold him while he walked. After a while, when Mr. Li had more and more difficulty walking, two inmates were assigned to drag him around. They threatened to do “electric therapy” on him, which meant shocking him with fully-charged electric batons.
One morning when we went to work, I saw Mr. Li Wenqi laying on a board in front of a big conference room. There were dark purplish bumps covering his whole body. He said that Wang Zheng had shocked him with electric batons. He appeared to be in unbearable pain. I felt that this guard had completely lost his humanity. Mr. Li was subsequently hidden under a quilt and no one cared for him. After he fell out of bed, he had to sleep on a board on the floor, which was considered a bonus for him. The labor camp didn't notify his family to come get him until he was dying. The guards even threatened the family not to appeal or reveal the incident.
Electronic Coil Workshop
Electronic coils were made to fulfill a contract between a company in the Wuqing District and a South Korean company. The electronic coil workshop consisted of production lines where each laborer was equipped with a hand-cranked machine. This was very intensive labor, with shifts longer than ten hours per day.
Our hands always got bloody pulling the copper wires. It was extremely painful work, and the workshop was very cold in the winter. We tried to stay warm by turning the machine quickly. In summer, the ventilation in the workshops was very poor and it was extremely hot and humid. What practitioners had to endure was beyond what the words “cruel” or “extremely cruel” can express.
This is only what I suffered through and witnessed during those three years. These inhumane acts of persecution filled every corner of the labor camp. When Chinese, Koreans, or people from other countries appreciate the beautiful wooden flowers, balloons, or delicate slave-labor produced products, would they have any idea of the blood and tears shed by Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners in forced labor camps to produce them?
