By Chen Yin (a practitioner from Beijing, China)

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 Centre and the Xin'an Forced Labour Camp in Beijing.

Products Made

(1) Beijing Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Centre

a. Packaged large quantities of disposable chopsticks. Most of them are being used in restaurants and hotels while some are being exported.
b. Made "Florance Gift Package" (1)

(2) Beijing Xin'an Labour Camp

a. Packaged large quantities of disposable chopsticks. Most of them are being used in restaurants and hotels while some of them are being exported.
b. Knit sweaters.
c. Knit woollen gloves (60 Yuan per pair, exported to Europe.) (2)
d. Crocheted cushions for tea set.
e. Crocheted hats for a company at Qinghe Township, Beijing.
f. Knit seat cushions.
g. Re-processed sweaters; remove sundries from yarn.
h. Made large quantities of slippers. The job was mainly gluing the sole and the instep together, and the labour camp demanded a high quality product. When I was there, it was the hottest time of the summer. Many practitioners and I were working in our prison cells. Working in a humid prison cell full of irritating glue odours was suffocating. We worked until midnight or one o'clock in the morning every time there was a shipment.
i. Made stuffed animals such as rabbits, bears, dolphins, and penguins, etc. Major steps included putting the stuffing material inside, stitching the doll together, sewing the eyes, and stitching the mouth, etc.

The Sanitation and Living Conditions of the Forced Labour Camp

(1) Beijing Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Centre
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 centre, 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 Centre and Tuanhe Labour 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 labour. 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 labours included digging pits, planting trees, and transporting fertilizers. The police exploited our labour to create illegal income for themselves. The dispatch centre did not compensate us for any of our work. In fact, we were forced to do long and hard labour without any compensation.

(2) Beijing Xin'an Labour 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 labour camp is labour 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 labour 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.