(Minghui.org) Recently, a magazine published in China called the Lens published an exclusive article entitled “Out of Masanjia.” The piece, about 20,000 Chinese characters long, relates what has taken place in Masanjia Women's Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province, China. The prisoners are subjected to slave labor, being locked in small cells, electric batons shocks, the big “hang-up,” sitting on the tiger bench, the death bed, etc. The article relates personal accounts and uses the real names of the people involved. Since its publication, the article has been reprinted by many websites and the impact is growing.
Many Chinese who have read the article think the horrendous tortures inflicted on citizens are intolerable. Many have commented that the the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tyranny is so terrifying that it is difficult to read. Many find it hard to believe that this kind of brutality could be happening in the 21st century. Some have even said that Masanjia Labor Camp is a “hell on earth.”
The media outside of China has also reported on the impact of this article, including the Associated Press, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and the National Mail in Canada. An interesting fact is that the majority of the victims in the labor camps in China are practitioners of Falun Gong. The largest human rights issue in China today is the nearly 14-year-long persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong Practitioners Are the Main Target of Torture in Labor Camps in China
The methods of torture recounted by the Lens article were originally and primarily meant to be used on Falun Gong practitioners. This fact, however, was left out of the article. The Associated Press coverage on April 9, 2013, points out that information about the treatment and torture in Masanjia match the complaints and testimonies that Falun Gong practitioners made to the international community 10 years ago. Practitioners told the world long ago that Masanjia Labor Camp was the most brutal forced brainwashing center used in the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
In 1999, out of personal jealousy, then CCP chairman Jiang Zemin decided to persecute Falun Gong. He established the 610 Office and used government resources to crack down on practitioners of Falun Gong.
Labor camps, detention centers, and all types of brainwashing centers received persecution orders, and one by one these orders were carried out: “Eradicate Falun Gong in 3 months,” “Death from being beaten shall be counted as suicide,” “The body shall be cremated without investigating the person's identification,” “No need to comply with the law on Falun Gong issues,” and “Defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically.”
In order to achieve a high “transformation” rate, the governing agencies have exhausted all means to “transform” Falun Gong practitioners. The temptation of financial reward and promotions converted police officers in the labor camps into veritable demons.
Falun Gong practitioners constitute a large portion of the prisoners of conscience in China. Excluding prisons and detention centers, out of at least 250,000 people held in 340 labor camps throughout China, more than 50% are Falun Gong practitioners. Among torture cases recorded by the United Nations, 66% are Falun Gong practitioners.
Masanjia Labor Camp Flourished as a Result of the Persecution of Falun Gong
Masanjia Labor Camp flourished as a result of torturing Falun Gong practitioners. Masanjia is located in the Yuhong District of Shenyang City. Prior to 1999, the camp was in the red every year. It couldn't even afford to pay the electricity bill.
After the persecution started, the local government gave Masanjia 10,000 yuan for each Falun Gong practitioner sent to Masanjia. From 1999 to 2004, over 4,000 practitioners were held there, which amounted to over 40 million yuan in revenue.
In October 1999, Masanjia opened the No. 2 women's ward, which was governed directly by the Ministry of Justice. It specialized in detaining and “transforming” steadfast female Falun Gong practitioners. One of the tasks was to put together the most effective brainwashing techniques and then pass them on to facilities nationwide.
The Ministry of Justice once allocated a million yuan to Masanjia for “environment enhancement.” Heads of the 610 Office, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, and others have visited Masanjia many times. The former secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee has been to Masanjia many times to personally direct and intensify the persecution.
In 2002, right after Bo Xilai, another leader responsible for persecuting Falun Gong, took the post as governor of Liaoning Province, issued an order to expand Masanjia, Longshan, and Shenxin forced labor camps.
In 2003, Bo Xilai approved over 1 billion yuan in funds to the prison expansion project. The investment at Masanjia alone was over 500 million yuan. The first-ever prison town came into being. Masanjia Women's Labor Camp covered over 330 acres.
A high-ranking officer with the Department of Justice in Liaoning Province once said at a meeting held at Masanjia: “The financial investment in targeting practitioners of Falun Gong has surpassed that of a war.” Liaoning Province implements some of the most severe persecution.
While Su Jing was director of Masanjia, she was awarded a “second-level prize” by the 610 Office--a 50,000 yuan bonus from the Ministry of Justice. In September 2003, she was awarded the national “second-level prize” and was considered the perfect role model. Shao Li, then deputy director, was awarded a 30,000 yuan bonus.
From 2000 until April 7, 2013, which is the date the Lens reported on the torture in labor camps to the Chinese people, the Minghui website published 8,109 reports, commentaries, and weekly articles about the persecution Falun Gong practitioners have experienced in Masanjia.
The methods of torture used at Masanjia became notorious and were used as “models” for other labor camps in China. In addition to torture, sexual abuse was also commonplace. This led to prevalent rapes and gang rape in labor camps nationwide.
Female practitioners were sexually molested in Masanjia. The police shocked their private parts with electric batons. Female practitioners were even stripped naked and thrown into male cells.
According to reports from overseas human rights organizations, in October 2000, during Luo Gan's visit to Masanjia, the police stripped 18 steadfast female Falun Gong practitioners naked and threw them into male cells. The rapes that ensued led to five deaths. Seven out of the 18 practitioners that were violated developed mental disorders. The rest were disabled.
Also, a large number of Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death.
Liu Yuling, Wang Guilan, and Zhang Yahua, among others, have all been victims of such "Masanjia type" torture. Falun Gong practitioners have endured such torture every day for the past 13 years in many of the labor camps and brainwashing centers all over China.
Anyone Could Become a Victim of Labor Camp Torture
The torture techniques developed at Masanjia were first used on Falun Gong practitioners. Later, they were used on other detainees. After persecuting Falun Gong for over a decade, the labor camp system expanded its targets and victims from Falun Gong practitioners to petitioners, lawyers, dissidents, and other prisoners of conscience. For convenience, some local law enforcement agencies have even labeled people who are not Falun Gong practitioners as “Falun Gong” in order to do whatever they wanted to them.
For the average person, a labor camp is a very foreign and remote concept. However, reality has shown that the labor camps are not very far away from our everyday lives. Any Chinese citizen could become a victim of labor camp torture. Labor camps are like land mines--one never knows when he or she might become the next victim in Masanjia.
Abandon Illusions of the Communist Regime Changing Its Ways
When the Chinese media reports on crimes committed in the labor camps, it is simply responding to ever-increasing pressure from the international community or pent up resentment on the part of the Chinese people. When the “most recent” Communism regime talks about closing the labor camps, it is only attempting to delay its own demise.
If we have illusions about the CCP changing its ways, then we are terribly wrong. The persecution of Falun Gong has continued or even escalated. The regime is still arresting Falun Gong practitioners, violating the law, and incarcerating them in prisons.
No matter how the regime changes its facade, its brutal nature has never changed. The crimes that the regime has committed against the Chinese people are leading it to a dead end. Its demise is only a matter of time.
There's no doubt that the Lens article has uncovered the dark and dirty reality the Chinese labor camp system. However, it is important to know that Falun Gong practitioners comprise the majority of victims in the labor camps.
During the past decade, the gang of Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, and Zhou Yongkang has focused on persecuting Falun Gong with torture, detention, and brainwashing, all the while deceiving the international community. When the Chinese people see that the regime has been lying, the moment of its collapse will have arrived.
