Beijing Xin'an Labor Camp Forces Falun Gong Practitioners to Manufacture Toy Rabbits for Export

(Clearwisdom.net) Between the end of March and April of 2001, the third division of Beijing Xin'an Forced Labor Camp received a batch of "work"-- processing toy rabbits labeled "Nestle Corporation" and finishing them into the final products. Xin'an labor camp had seven divisions total. Every division had over 110 people by then, and 90% of them were Falun Gong practitioners. Every division had their own "job" sources.

The Facts:

1. Deputy division leader Li was the person in the third division responsible for processing the work. She was responsible for taking all assembly-line work orders for the third division. The division leader Jiao also knew about the matter.
2. The products being processed were toy rabbit. The main supplies included variously shaped cloth rabbit "skins," synthetic fiberfill, and some rabbits' eyes, buttons, and little garments for the rabbits.
3. Processing work to be carried out:



A. Putting the rabbit into a plastic bag and sealing the plastic bag.
B. Stuffing the filler into the rabbit skin.
C. Sewing up the openings.
D. Sewing on rabbit eyes, decorative clothes and facial features; there were a dozen different styles to complete.


4. This work order took about one month to complete and yielded about ten thousand toy rabbits. The supplies did not arrive daily. The batches came in every few days; then they were distributed to different groups. One group of a dozen people would process over 500 toy rabbits in one morning.
5. Each rabbit had a label "Gift from the Nestle Corporation."
6. A male and a female were responsible for the delivery; each of them was about 30 years old. The male was responsible for delivering the supplies and taking back the finished toy rabbits. The female was responsible for quality control. They said they accepted this batch of work. Beijing "Nestle Corporation" had ordered this batch of toy rabbits for promotional use as gifts with other sales of Nestle products, similar to the way various fast-food restaurants give out toys with a purchase of their meals.
7. The third division also did some other work for these two people, which was hand knitting and crochet work. The crochet products were cotton string mats, about a half-yard long and a quarter yard wide (18 inches by 12 inches). This division also did other miscellaneous work, such as packing chopsticks and pasting up shoe-pads.
8. The labor camp requires every division to hand in tens of thousands of Yuan as income quota each year. For that reason, all divisions are trying to solicit work everywhere. If they don't meet the requirement, their bonuses will be reduced.
9. For this work order, the cost for processing a toy rabbit was about 40 fen [about US 5 cents].
10. I remember another situation I heard about at that time. Beijing's female jail has a long-term contract with the China Clothing Import and Export Corporation. This batch of work consisted of all the work from that female jail that they could not finish in time. When the workload was high, the first and second divisions also had to be mobilized to complete orders.
11. The sixth division mostly worked on packing chopsticks; the seventh division's main task was pasting up shoe-pads. Sometimes when the sixth division could not finish their work, they had the juvenile reform division help packing chopsticks. Other divisions all have their own work assignments. The packed chopsticks were the one-time-use chopsticks that have been banned from production and use in society. But the labor camps in Beijing are still producing hundreds of boxes every day. Small restaurants and individual food houses at Beijing are all using these kinds of chopsticks.
12. A typical work day was from early morning to night. There was no break time, except for eating. When somebody came to visit or to interview anyone, or higher authorities came to inspect, the camp orders every division to hide their work.

I personally experienced the above-mentioned situations; I can be an eyewitness when necessary.

Editor's Note: According to a December 28, 2001 report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Nestle Corporation confirmed that it did place an order for 110,000 toy rabbits with a Beijing toy manufacturer. However, a company spokesperson said, "In line with the Nestle's Corporate Business Principles, Nestle does not buy products or materials from companies or institutions that use forced labour or involuntary prison labour."

(for more details, see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/12/30/17253.html)