(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Practitioners Forced to Make Candles in Toxic Working Conditions at
Longshan Labor Camp in Shenyang City (Photos)
(Clearwisdom.net) Since July 2001, Longshan Labor Camp officials have
forced Falun Gong practitioners to make candles in various colors (other inmates
are also forced to do the work). The candles are exported and the labor camp
makes big profits from the cheap labor.
Longshan Labor Camp received its first order for the wax-processing job in
mid July 2001. The elderly and weak Falun Gong practitioners were forced to make
plastic packing boxes for the candles in their monitored rooms. The majority of
Falun Gong practitioners were taken to a big hall near the entrance of the labor
camp to process and to pack the candles. Over a dozen colors were used, and each
of them gave off a strong smell of toxic chemicals. After a day's work,
practitioners are covered with wax crumbs and their clothes smell like the
chemicals. Many practitioners were pale, became dizzy and sick and lost their
appetite from inhaling the fumes.
About 100 people are forced to do this work on a daily basis. The common
inmates can finish 80 to 90 boxes per person per day if done at a fast speed. The transparent glue used for sealing the box is toxic. Since one has to use
the fingers to press and seal, practitioners' fingers often stick to the box.
Sometimes this makes the skin peel off and stick on the box.
Initially, the daily work hours were from 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. But
later on, the guards said that the containers were waiting to be filled for
delivery. So sometimes the work hours were extended to past midnight or even
around 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. Later, when there was not enough room in the big
hall, they moved the production line to the narrow hallways between the
monitored rooms. The monitored rooms were already poorly ventilated. Now, not
only were the monitored rooms full of chemical odors, but the hallways as well.
The long work hours and the toxic fumes made Falun Gong practitioners dizzy and
weak all over. For example, a practitioner named Ning in the 1st
brigade returned from the big hall and felt dizzy and weak. He lay on a bed and
could not get up. Once, an elderly Falun Gong practitioner turned pale and had
to be helped back from the wax-processing hall.
Apart from the slave labor products mentioned above, Longshan Labor Camp also
assembles/manufactures holiday decorations such as snowmen and snow flakes, etc.
In addition, they also make shoe soles and sew overcoats, etc. The work hours
for these products are even longer and the labor is more intense.
2004-2-17
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/18/67818.html
2. My Slave Labor Experience at Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Center and Xin'an
Forced Labor Camp in Beijing
By Chen Yin (a practitioner from Beijing, China)
(Clearwisdom.net) I was imprisoned between November 2000 and November
2001 for refusing to give up Falun Gong practice. During that period of time, I
was held in servitude at the Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Center and the Xin'an
Forced Labor Camp in Beijing.
Products Made
(1) Beijing Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Center
(2) Beijing Xin'an Labor Camp
The Sanitation and Living Conditions of the Forced Labor Camp
(1) Beijing Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Center
I was locked up with over a dozen Falun Gong practitioners in a cell that was
about twelve square meters (130 square feet) in size. There were only eight bunk
beds in the room; thus, some of us had to sleep on the floor. While we were
sleeping, we had to keep our heads visible to the guards. We did everything in
this cell including working, eating, drinking, and using the toilet; therefore,
there were many flys and mosquitoes. At the dispatch center, we were only
allowed to eat at certain times. Water was rationed; drinking water was limited.
The prison guards never allowed us to wash our hands before meals. After a meal,
we had to get back to work immediately. Twice a day, we were given five minutes
for personal hygiene. When the time was up, we were forced to stop and drain the
water. We were not allowed to take any water back to our cell. If we could not
finish the work assigned to us, we were not allowed to clean ourselves. When
there was a rush to get products out, we had to work late and go to sleep
without washing. There were fixed times for the whole group of practitioners to
go and use the toilet. Even then, we still had to ask for permission from the
guards. We were allowed two minutes to use the toilet each time; thus, many
people did not even have enough time to have a bowel movement. Those who had
constipation could only have bowel movements several times a month. We could go
to bed only at the specified time; otherwise, we would be scolded and not
allowed to sleep. At night, the guards locked up all the cells; a small bucket
in each cell was used for a toilet. We were watched even during sleep. Several
times, I was woken up because I propped up my legs while I was sleeping. They
thought I was doing Falun Gong exercises, so I had to keep my legs flat.
We were allowed very little sleep each day; we were forced to start working
the moment we opened our eyes. My hands had blisters and thick calluses from
working long hours to finish the assigned quota of packaging disposable
chopsticks. I often worked until midnight. We were not allowed to sleep unless
we finished the quota. We were forced to work over 16 hours every day, and
everything was done in our cells. The sanitation condition was extremely poor.
Even though we were packaging disposable chopsticks and the label said the
chopsticks were disinfected at a high temperature, the entire process was
unhygienic. We could not wash our hands, and we had to package those chopsticks
that had fallen on the floor. In order to seek a huge profit, Tuanhe Prisoner
Dispatch Center and Tuanhe Labor Camp disregarded the health of the general
public and knowingly committed such wrongdoings. Many restaurants in Beijing are
currently using these chopsticks. I heard they are even being exported.
Female practitioners are forced to perform excessive physical labor. We were
forced to unload trucks full of bagged materials that weigh over 100 pounds
each. We had to carry the bags on our shoulders from the truck to our cells.
Other physical labors included digging pits, planting trees, and transporting
fertilizers. The police exploited our labor to create illegal income for
themselves. The dispatch center did not compensate us for any of our work. In
fact, we were forced to do long and hard labor without any compensation.
(2) Beijing Xin'an Labor Camp
Both our bodies and minds were imprisoned and severely persecuted under the
excessive workload. The police often kept us from sleeping at regular hours.
When there were work orders, we had to work day and night to produce the best
product with the shortest amount of time. The police even said, "You are trying
to be good people, you should do the best under every circumstance."
All the work in the labor camp is labor intensive. Falun Gong practitioners
are forced to work until midnight under dim lights, and everyone has a quota to
meet. If a practitioner cannot finish the quota, he/she is not allowed to sleep.
One time we were making gift items for Nestle; these items included knitted
products and crocheted cushions. In order to meet the shipping deadline, we were
forced to work in the hallway or lavatories until one or two o'clock in the
morning; we sometimes worked through the whole night. The police used this
method to control our thoughts. They would not let us have a single moment of
idle time to think calmly, and we were not allowed to talk to each other. They
had drug addicts and ex-practitioners monitoring us. They only wanted us to
work.
In order to evade people's attention, the labor camp required us to sleep on
time every night. We got up very early in the morning to work. During summer
time, our cells were so hot that people sometimes collapsed from heat
exhaustion. Many practitioners developed symptoms of hypertension and heart
disease from overwork. Their entire bodies twitched.
(1) "Florance" is a manufacturer of cosmetic products in China.
(2) Yuan, Chinese currency, 500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an
urban worker in China.
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/3/2/68993.html
3. Practitioners Held in the Handan City First Detention Center in Hebei
Province Forced to Package Contaminated "Sterile Chopsticks"
(Clearwidsom.net) In early November 2002, many Falun Dafa
practitioners in Handan City were arrested and sent to Handan City's First
Detention Center. We were forced to work extremely hard, and we have suffered
both physically and mentally.
Our major task was to package pairs of sterile chopsticks into sealed bags
for use in a restaurant. However, the packing production was based in a
contaminated environment--the prison cells. These cells are small, dark and
humid, with the eating and lavatory facilities contained in the same place. A
large cell is about 200 square feet, but approximately 20 and sometimes 30
people are squeezed in. A small cell is 100 square feet, but a dozen people are
confined in this tight space. With a dozen gunnysacks of chopsticks (with 50-60
large bundles of chopsticks in one gunnysack and about 100 pairs per bundle)
crowded into the cell, people could hardly move. Due to the time constraint,
people had to continue working without washing their hands, even after they went
to the toilet or wiped their nose. There were so many types of chopsticks; some
would were small vendors and some were for big luxury restaurants. However, all
the chopsticks were labeled "sterile chopsticks."
The workload was one gunnysack per day for two people, which was about
500-600 pairs. We had to start early in the morning and worked until 6:00 or
7:00 p.m. in order to finish the task. Lunchtime was very short and the food was
poor, consisting of one steamed bun with a few unwashed vegetables cooked in
boiling water. After the whole day's work, one would feel sore, with an aching
back. The older people would feel even worse.
On January 16, 2003, the police guards brought us returned chopsticks that
needed to be repacked. Once we opened the gunnysack, a foul odor came out of it,
which made it hard for us to breathe. Those chopsticks had been packed, but due
to the dirty and humid environment, they had become mildewed before they were
shipped. Peeling off the moldy packaging made the conditions in the cell worse,
as there were no sanitary equipment or procedures. Many people were allergic to
it, with symptoms of rash on their face and body that was too itchy not to
scratch, but they could not stop working. Thus, there were people scratching
their skin while packaging the chopsticks. In addition, wrapping up those moldy,
foul smelling chopsticks for use in a restaurant or by a small vendor was really
harming others.
After the 2003 Chinese New Year, Handan City's First Detention Center added a
new production line, that of wrapping fake flowers, resulting in an increased
workload. To make a profit, police guards disregarded our physical abilities.
The workload became two gunnysacks per day per person instead of one gunnysack
for two people. As a result, we were so overloaded and tired after work that we
could not even think straight. As soon as we had finished the chopsticks
assignment, we started packing the fake flowers. Packing the flowers was more
difficult than packing chopsticks and involved more steps. We cannot explain how
difficult it is to pack those flowers. Perhaps using time as an example might
explain the difficulty: We started work at 6:00 a.m. daily and worked until
11:00 p.m. or 12:00 am. Mealtime was short and there was no break after the
meal. Additionally, every one of us had to be on guard duty for two hours after
midnight. As a result, we only had two to three hours of actual sleep.
The flowers were put together with toxic glue that gave off an irritating
smell, permeating the jail cell. The room was extremely stuffy. One person felt
respiratory problems coming on and could hardly breathe. The work was so intense
that we could not even take a one-day break. This kind of work continued until
SARS started to spread. Due to the burden of the work, many practitioners'
fingers were deformed and they had a hard time just bending them. Many
practitioners experienced significant weight loss.
What is mentioned above is only a part of the abuse and mistreatment
conducted under this persecution at the Handan City's First Detention Center. It
is hard to describe in words the suffering from the forced, long hours and
intense labor. Actually, many practitioners, one group after another, have been
more brutally persecuted here since 1999. Practitioner Chen Yuqing died from the
abuse, torment and mistreatment.
Handan City's First Detention Center phone number: 011-86-310-4042017
(reception desk).
March 3, 2004
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/3/3/69078.html
4. Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Stock Corporation, Ltd. Joins Labor Camps and
Prisons to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners -- Bloody Slave Labor Behind
Internationally Renowned Brand (Photos)
By a Dafa practitioner from Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China
(Clearwisdom.net)
Changji Labor Camp in Xinjiang Province (5 km away from
Wujiaqu City)
Beginning in 1999, the Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Stock Corporation, Ltd.
joined labor camps and prisons in Xinjiang Province to persecute Falun Gong
practitioners.
The Labor Camp Bureau and Prison Administration in Mainland China assign
financial goals to labor camps and prisons. In order to reach that goal and to
make money for themselves, the authorities of these institutions conspire with
corporations to exploit the detainees' labor.
After the persecution of Falun Gong in Mainland China began in July 1999,
many Falun Gong practitioners in Xinjiang Province were sent to various labor
camps and prisons. The authorities there collaborated with the Xinjiang Tianshan
Wooltex Stock Corporation, LTD. and with the Changji Special Transformer Factory
in Xinjiang to force Falun Gong practitioners do slave labor.
Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Stock Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianshan
Wooltex") is one of the first joint venture enterprises in China established
after the regulations concerning Sino-foreign joint venture enterprises were
published. Tianshan Wooltex is a joint venture woolen textile enterprise, with
joint venture capital from four companies, namely Urumqi Woolen Textile Co.,
Hong Kong Tianshan Woolen Textile Co., Ltd. (Which consists of Hong Kong
Peninsula Knitting Co., Ltd., Dongyang (Japan) Spinning Industry Co., Ltd.),
Hong Kong International Cotton Industry Co., Ltd. and the Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region Supply and Market Cooperative.
Since 1990, Tianshan Wooltex has done business with various labor camps and
prisons in Xinjiang Province in order to exploit the detainees' labor. They did
so in order to lower costs and improve its ability to gain more of an
international market share. Currently, the Wulabo Labor Camp, Xinjiang Women's
Labor Camp, Changji Labor Camp, No. 3 Prison of Xinjiang Province and No. 5
Prison of Xinjiang Province all have workshops owned by Tianshan Wooltex in
their backyards. The detainees at the above-mentioned locations are forced to
work for Tianshan Wooltex and mass produce several types of cashmere sweaters.
If one could observe how these sweaters are produced, one would recognize the
cruel abuse the detainees are subjected to.
Falun Gong Practitioners Are Major Targets For Slave Labor
Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Stock Co., Ltd.
In August 2000, male Falun Gong practitioners being held at different labor
camps in Xinjiang were sent to Division Six of the Changji Labor Camp. Division
Six became the designated place for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
It is also the main location where products for Tianshan Wooltex are made and
processed. Between the years 2000 and 2002, more than 50 Falun Gong
practitioners were forced to work for Tianshan Wooltex in labor camp workshops. When Tianshan Wooltex receives an order, it sends it over to the labor camps
and prisons, at the same time providing them with raw materials. It also gives a
deadline by which time Tianshan Wooltex will buy back the finished products at
an extremely low price. In order to meet the deadline, the guards at the labor
camps and prisons often coerce the detainees to work days on end with no sleep. Many detainees at Division One of Changji Labor Camp in Xinjiang Province are
routinely denied sleep several weeks out of the month. They work an average of
more than 20 hours a day. They can only take a short nap after dawn on the
platform where they make the sweaters. When they work on the machines, they
often have to work for one day and one night at a time. Most of them have
swollen legs from malnutrition and exhausting labor conditions. The workshop is
only 200 meters (about 850 feet) from the cafeteria, but most detainees do not
have time to eat breakfast. The guards often get a bucket of porridge -- lunch
for the detainees. The guards treat the detainees as robots, and when they are
too worn out to work, the guards would give them a whipping to force them to
continue.
When seeing workers fall asleep, the guards shock them with electric batons
and order the head of the workshop, also an inmate, to hit them with bricks and
wooden clubs. If the detainee fails to complete his assigned work, the guard
would cuff him to a heating pipe, strip him naked and shock his neck, armpits,
abdomen, private areas, mouth and ears with electric batons, in addition to
extending their detention term.
Jiang's annihilation policy against Falun Gong, "defame their reputations,
bankrupt them financially and destroy them physically" allowed Tianshan Wooltex
to provide space and financial support for labor camps and prisons that engage
in the exploitation of detainees. They are especially malicious in torturing
Falun Gong practitioners.
The guards from Division Six in the Changji Labor Camp force determined Dafa
practitioners to do heavy manual labor, to build vegetable cellars in the day
and knit sweaters all night long. Exhausted Dafa practitioners often fall asleep
at night while knitting the sweaters, and the guards would then poke them with
needles and scissors. Dafa practitioner Wang Jianping from Kelamayi has a
handicapped left hand and is slow in knitting the sweaters, so the guards threw
bricks on his chest and back. Sometimes when the practitioners make a mistake,
the inspector would verbally abuse them and extort money from them. Tianshan
Wooltex often forces detainees who have no source of income to pay for ruined
sweaters, and the result would be that the detainee receives an extension to his
term.
Tianshan Wooltex Sends Local Inspectors To Labor Camps And Prisons
Every time government inspectors come to the labor camp, the guards at
Division Six fear Dafa practitioners may expose the truth, so they lock the
practitioners in the basement or force them to work in the fields until the
inspectors have left.
Tianshan Wooltex sends its own inspectors to each workshop at the Changji
Labor Camp. These inspectors witness the atrocities of labor exploitation and
torture on a daily basis, but they pretend they don't know. Na Ren is one such
inspector who overlooks sweater production at Division Six.
People in charge at Tianshan Wooltex at various levels often visit the
Changji Labor Camp and prisons. Prior to their visit, the labor camp would put
up a banner that reads "Welcome xx to come and inspect." This is still ongoing.
Profits Made Off Slave Labor Are Used To Build More Facilities
When the labor camps and prisons receive large amounts of money from the sale
of the sweaters abroad, they would build more office buildings, workshops and
confinement rooms. They would also purchase electric batons, handcuffs, torture
tools, televisions, and VCDs to reward guards who torture Falun Gong
practitioners and recruit more guards to persecute determined Falun Gong
practitioners.
Each Sweater Is Cursed at by the Inmates
Other than Falun Gong practitioners, ordinary detainees are also forced to do
slave labor. Because of long-term overwork, lack of sleep, malnutrition, stress
and lack of medical care, many detainees contracted tuberculosis, hepatitis,
scabies, and asthma, among other ailments. However, sick detainees are still
forced to work.
Because the detainees are not allowed to take a shower for very long periods
of time, lice along with pus and blood from the detainees' body are sometimes
rubbed off on the sweaters. Because the inmates loathe being treated as slaves,
they intentionally wipe the filthiest things from their bodies and other places
on the sweaters as a form of revenge. Because the sweaters are processed several
times before they are sold, the dirty things and blood usually disappear after
the final step.
After suffering all kinds of torture at Division Six in the Changji Labor
Camp, a detainee said, "The first thing I'll do after I go home is to buy a
Tianshan sweater and burn it on the spot!"
Here we want to call on all international boards of accreditation, foreign
businesses and textile mills, weaving and knitting corporations to boycott the
sweaters sold by Tianshan Wooltex, stained with the detainees' blood.
Let's join efforts in ending the exploitation of Falun Gong practitioners by
Tianshan Wooltex.
Since similar incidents are commonplace in prisons and labor camps all across
Mainland China where Falun Gong practitioners are held, we call for Dafa
practitioners in China and abroad to expose this crime and tell the world's
people about Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong, and to help indirect persecutors
to see their role in this crime, and to cut off the evildoers' financial
resources.
Attached: reference material
Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Stock Corporation, Ltd. tries its best to cover up
this crime. The "Tianshan" trademark was identified as a "famous Chinese brand"
by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. "Tianshan" products were
awarded the State Quality Certificate of Exemption from Inspection in March
2002. Moreover, Tianshan Wooltex produces sweaters for brands of other
well-known enterprises in the world, such as Banana Republic, Neiman Marcus,
Holt Renfrew, Ports, Minimum, Bon Genie, Tutti Colori, Espina, Cream, Anivee F,
Son June Wan, French Connection, and others. Orders from Banana Republic number
between 200,000 and 280,000 pieces every year.
Dafa practitioners who are being illegally held at the Changji Labor Camp for
slave labor include Guo Shuyan, Han Jinzhong, Gong Hailiang, Liu Anhong, Ge
Lijun, among others.
Person in charge at Tianshan Wooltex:
Zhang Ziqiang, chairman and secretary of the Party Committee. He once held
positions of: deputy head of Urumqi City Organization Department, deputy manager
of Urumqi City Labor Service Company, head of Urumqi City Goods and Material
Bureau.
Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Stock Co, Ltd.
Address: No.1 Yinchuan Road, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China
Post Code: 830054
Tel: 86-991-4311866-6834
Fax: 86-991-4310472
E-Mail: Business@Chinatianshan.Com
Xinjiang Tianshan Wooltex Hong Kong Office Ltd
Address: Block B&C, 9/F, 702 Castle Peak Road, Hop Hingind Bldg, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Tel: 852-27418591
Fax: 852-27860197
Changji Labor Camp in Xinjiang
Office: 86-994-5816156
Division One: 86-994-5816100
Division Six: 86-994-5816092
Division Five: 86-994-5816303
Watchdog Division: 86-994-5816389
Statistics Division: 86-994-5816276
Perpetrators at the Changji Labor Camp:
Zhu Xuefei: former political secretary of Changji Labor Camp, currently
political secretary of the Wusu Labor Camp in Xinjiang
Li Jianjiang: currently political secretary of Changji Labor Camp
Wang Xiaofei: deputy head of the labor camp
Zhang Yan: deputy head of the Administration Section
Gu Jianhai: former instructor of Division Six, which specializes in the
persecution of Falun Gong
Chen Jiang: current instructor of Division Six
Tian Hu: deputy head of Division Six
Ma Longyue: deputy head of Division Six
Wang Feng: instructor of Division Six
Wang Qi: instructor of Division Six
Ning Tao: instructor of Division One
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/3/9/69369.html
Posting date: 8/28/2004
Original article date: 8/28/2004
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/12/81402.html