(Clearwisdom.net) Within two days at the end of October 2000, the No.1 Station of Jinan City Women's Forced Labor Camp received 400 to 500 Falun Gong practitioners. At that time the labor camp held more than 1,000 practitioners. Most were sentenced to three years of forced labor. Every day camp authorities forced these practitioners to study the official political propaganda and to slander Falun Gong. The camp officials also forced practitioners to work as slave laborers. The illegal profit they made from the practitioners' labor was used to build three new office buildings.

Many factories in Shandong Province have standing orders for items from the No.1 Women's Station. The biggest buyer is Changyi City's Weaving Factory. Over the years its many orders have contributed to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners are forced to work day and night. Some are not allowed to sleep until 3 a.m., and they have to get up at 5:30 a.m. to start working again. Everyone, regardless of their age, has to work under these severe conditions.

The following are my recollections of what has happened in the No.1 Station in Jinan City Women's Forced Labor Camp.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Yanyuan is from Jinan, Shandong Province. She has a bachelor's degree in Chinese language. In March 2001, she was detained in the No.1 Women's Station of the Women's Labor Camp. Over the past three years, she has spent most of her time on hunger strikes. Because she refused to give up Falun Gong, the guards tied her arms and legs to the bed for seven months. During that entire period, she would not eat anything. Camp personnel force fed her through a feeding tube threaded through one of her nostrils. The extended time she was confined to bed caused the skin on her back and legs to deteriorate badly. Even under this extremely painful torture, she kept her righteous thoughts and refused to cooperate with the torturers. Later the guards tied her up and left her hanging in the air for two days and nights. During her detention, her husband divorced her. Her six-year old daughter was left without proper care. The labor camp authorities did not allow her to see her family. During those three years, Zhang Yanyuan suffered all kinds of inhuman treatment. She was released in March 2004. However, she still could not return home safely because she would be harassed and further persecuted. Now she has to move from place to place.

Practitioner Ms. Liu Aizhen was from Dongzhuang Village in Dawenkou Town, Taian City. She firmly believes that Falun Dafa is great. One day, the police suddenly abducted her from her home and robbed her family of all their stored grain. Her already-poor family situation became even worse. After she was sent to the labor camp, her husband and child suffered tremendously.

Practitioner Shi Dongmin and her husband Li Fengjun are natives of Xinji Township in Guang County, Shandong Province. For their Falun Gong practice, Li Fengjun was sentenced to three years of forced labor and sent to Wangcun Labor Camp. Police ransacked Shi Dongmin's home and emptied their grain storage. They also forced her to pay 8000 yuan as a fine. Even after all that, they still sentenced her to one year in the labor camp. The police said that, if it were not for the 8000 yuan, she would have to serve three years. The family was already in debt. This disaster is like adding salt to a wound. Their 17-year old daughter had to quit school and go to work to make enough to pay her younger brother's school tuition. Children are having to suffer life's hardships at such a young age.

Practitioner Ms. Ji Yongzhen, 50, is from Mengyin County. She is being detained in the No.1 Women's Station in Jinan City Women's Forced Labor Camp. At the time of her arrest, several policemen came to her house and forcefully took her away. Several other policemen stayed behind and searched her home. They took her bank certificate of over 10,000 yuan, her life savings. They also confiscated all their clothes and grain. Without money, her 17-year old son had to quit school and go to work. Her 20-year old daughter had to shoulder family responsibilities and support her imprisoned mother. In the labor camp, Ji Yongzhen was very determined to cultivate Falun Dafa. She never cooperated with the jailers.

Ms. Liu Fenghou and Ms. Zhou Guihua are practitioners from Duozhuang Town in Shandong Province. In 2001, Zhou Guihua was sentenced to three years in the labor camp. In 2002, Liu Fenghou was also sentenced to three years in the labor camp. Their homes were searched. The police took whatever they saw, clothes, grain, household items, door and window frames, and even furniture. They made the practitioners' families suffer tremendous hardship. Because of his belief in Falun Gong, Liu Fenghou's husband was also detained and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Their 19-year old son and 80-year-old mother now live a miserable life.

Practitioner Ms. Gong Ruijuan was a schoolteacher. She was detained in October 2000 and sentenced to three years. Because she refused to give up Falun Gong, her sentence was arbitrarily extended every year. She is still being held in the labor camp. Her quarters now are a temporary shelter near the stairways. She is hardly allowed to sleep. In 2002 her husband was forced to divorce her and was given custody of their daughter. She was required to pay 60 yuan child support per month. Gong Ruijuan lost her job because of her detention and has no income, so her mother has to pay the child support. Her mother lives in the country and was already very poor. The 60-yuan per month child support only adds to her hardship. Her mother suffers from poor health. She could only visit Gong Ruijuan once a year. During the most recent visit, the heart-broken mother was so upset to see her daughter in such terrible shape that she passed out several times. She didn't know if she could ever see her daughter again. Gong Ruijuan is determined to keep her mind righteous at all times.

All of the above is what I know about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the No.1 Women's Station of Jinan City Women's Forced Labor Camp in Shandong Province. It is only the tip of the iceberg, and more cases will be exposed.

People responsible in the No. 1 Women's Station of Jinan City Women's Forced Labor Camp:

Director Jiang Lihang, in her 50's

Deputy Director Wang, in her 50's

Deputy Director Liu, about 55

Political Director Diao, male, in his 50s

Deputy Division Leader of the Second Division: Cao Dongyan, about 34, in charge of production. This individual abuses practitioners physically and mentally every day and forces them to do slave labor.

Administrative Section Chief Tian, about 35

Deputy Section Chief Yang, about 32