The Story of a Survivor of the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp in China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Ms. Yuzhi Wang is a 46-year-old businesswoman from Harbin City, China. For practicing Falun Dafa she was detained in China's notorious Wanjia Forced Labor Camp and has witnessed and suffered unimaginable torture.

On May 8, 2002, while nearly blind and on the verge of death due to repeated daily abuse, she was temporarily released. The labor camp released her so as to avoid the responsibility of what they perceived to be her probable death.

On June 1, 2002 with the help of her family, she left China for the United Arab Emirates to stay with relatives.

On October 30, 2002 Chinese consulate agents in Dubai pressured the local policemen to arrest her. They accused her of being a dangerous criminal and a state terrorist on the most wanted list for having provided news about Falun Dafa to others. Her only intent was to help others see Falun Gong's simple goodness and expose the facts of the brutal persecution in China.

Canadian Falun Gong practitioners received a call for help and the immediately set forth to rescue Ms. Wang. In early November of 2002, after a very short time, she received a special visa from the Canadian government allowing her to go to Canada.

What follows is Ms. Wang's personal account of what she endured.

My Firsthand Experience of the Persecution in China

I want to sincerely thank the Canadian government and the Canadian Falun Dafa Association.

Without their immediate work to rescue me, I would be in jail again and suffering terribly in China. I am grateful for regaining my freedom, a privilege that millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China do not have.

I started to practice Falun Gong in 1998. I have been detained three times for my belief. The first time was in 2000 during the Chinese New Year when I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. In jail, the inmates were often ordered to beat and swear at me because I refused to sign a pledge stating that I would no longer go to Beijing to appeal. I had done nothing wrong.

The second time I was detained was on July 15, 2000 while I was photocopying some truth clarification flyers about Falun Gong. I was thrown into a detention center. The police handcuffed and beat me during the interrogation in order to try to force me to tell them who I gave flyers to. The beating was so severe that my face swelled up and I couldn't move my hands or arms. My body was covered with bruises. Throughout I refused to tell them anything.

The last time I was detained was in July of 2001. I was withdrawing some money at a bank when police arrested me. They falsely accused me of having connections to "foreign subversive forces" and charged me with numerous other crimes. They froze my bank accounts and even ransacked my relatives' homes. They stole money from my bank account using my name.

I was detained at the Yaziquan Second Detention Center of Harbin City, and then I was transferred to Wanjia Forced Labor Camp on November 6, 2001.

Daily Brainwashing

All practitioners detained in the detention center or the forced labor camp have to endure brainwashing. Every day, we have to sit in one position and watch anti-Falun Gong propaganda on TV or listen to the guards for over 8 hours. No one is allowed to move. Sometimes, a brainwashing session lasts for days and we're not allowed to sleep during the entire time. Often, we're not even allowed to use the toilet. We are beaten daily in an attempt to force us to give up the practice of Falun Gong.

Cruel Torture

Numerous means are used to torture practitioners in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. For example: practitioners are hung up and whipped; they are stripped naked and shackled to iron chairs for long periods of time, while being deprived of sleep and shocked with electric batons; they are hung up with their hands cuffed behind their backs for several days at a time; female practitioners are thrown into cells with violent male criminals, etc. After enduring such torture, many practitioners end up on the verge of death. They are sent to the hospital run by the forced labor camp. What they experience there is yet another kind of torture.

I myself was eventually sent to the forced labor camp hospital. While there, I did not receive any medical treatment and neither did other practitioners. I witnessed many practitioners who could only lie in bed, unable to take care of themselves. The doctors would violently remove their clothes, and use metal spoons to scrape their scabies. Their bodies would bleed, and the doctors would rinse the blood off with dirty tap water. I saw this with my own eyes and I heard their heart-breaking screams. I cannot use words to describe that sound. I would watch with tears pouring down my face.

Force-Feeding

Most Falun Gong practitioners refused to give up their belief. We went on hunger strikes to protest our unlawful arrest and the inhumane torture and persecution. The police would then further torture us with force-feeding.

When I went on a hunger strike at the Detention Center No.2, the doctors used a metal clamp to pry my teeth open and then pushed a thick rubber tube down to my stomach to force-feed me. My mouth was filled with blood and my body was covered in bruises after every force-feeding. Several people were present to beat and subdue me for these force-feedings. They would pour two big bowls of cold water mixed with corn flour into me and said that it was for "stretching the stomach." When I screamed, the police were afraid of others hearing me. They ordered inmates to gag and beat me.

The force-feeding in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp is violent and cruel beyond imagination. They first beat a practitioner to the point where they are almost unconscious. Then they force-feed him, repeating the procedure mentioned earlier. Male doctors routinely grab practitioners' hair and ruthlessly strike their heads against walls, causing severe injuries. The scene is too horrible to watch. One time when they force-fed a female practitioner named Guo Minxia, the nurses grabbed her hair and pinched her face and her body. She was black and blue everywhere. Her whole body was twitching. When I condemned the criminal acts of the guards and doctors, they beat me ruthlessly as well. Even crueler was when they force-fed Ding Yanhong in front of her husband to mentally torture him as well. Ding's husband was horrified . He covered his face and was crying out loud as he could not bear to watch. These are just some of the things that I witnessed while in detention.

When Practitioners Are Tortured to Death it is Counted as a Suicide

At least 8 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp since the beginning of this persecution. The guards told us that if we were beaten to death, it would be counted as a suicide and our bodies would be cremated immediately before informing our families, so they would have no evidence.

After nine months, my health had severely deteriorated. I could no longer stand up. Because a tube was inserted into my nose violently, my eyes and nasal cavity were festering with blood and pus. I almost lost my eyesight. Towards the end of my hunger strike, which lasted over 100 days, my nose was so swollen that they could no longer push a tube into it. They realized that it would be extremely difficult for me to recover and were afraid of being held responsible if I died there. They called my relatives and gave them the responsibility of nursing me back to health. Meanwhile they extended the persecution by constantly harassing and monitoring my families' every activity.

Canada Intervenes on My Behalf

Not long after my release my health recovered; hence, the police wanted to take me back to the forced labor camp. To avoid further persecution, I went to the United Arab Emirates, where I had some relatives. Local police arrested me after the Chinese Embassy in the United Arab Emirates spotted me and told officials there that I was a dangerous criminal and terrorist. The two parties negotiated to return me back to China. However, with the help of practitioners, the Canadian government was able to intervene on my behalf and I was able to come to Canada. For that, I am very grateful.

Among countless victims, I am one of the lucky ones. I appeal to the international community and all kind-hearted people: Let us continue to work together to end the persecution.

I sincerely hope that very soon, my fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China will be free as well.