By Li Ying in Australia
(Clearwisdom.net) (Note: LiYing, the author of this article, was
imprisoned in the Shanghai Women's Forced Labor Camp from December 2001 to October
2003 because she practices Falun Gong. In late November 2003, she
was released from the labor camp and went to Australia. This was made possible
with help from Falun Gong practitioners in Australia, the Australian government
and other kind-hearted Australian people.)
When anyone looks at these pictures, it is unlikely that they would associate
the young girls pictured, dolls in their hands, with Chinese
forced labor camps. All of these pictures were downloaded from www.mydoll.it/
. Dolls exactly like this were made in Division Three of the Shanghai Women's
Forced Labor Camp between June 2002 and May 2003. Some were packaged and shipped
directly to Italy, and others were sent to other locations for further processing or assembly.
The dolls, in three sizes, arrived at the labor camp in large sacks. The
largest size, as seen in the first picture, came 100 dolls per sack. The smallest size
came 500 dolls per sack. The dolls were laid out on the ground after they arrived. Some were moldy
from the summer heat. Prisoners put clothes on them, so the buyers could not see how
filthy the dolls really were underneath.
There were time deadlines for the products that were about to be exported. Labor camp detainees, including illegally held Falun Gong practitioners, were
forced to work from at least 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Most people worked
until around 11:00 p.m. since the daily work quota was impossible for them to finish in 10 hours.
Dolls like the one in the hands of the girl on the right were packaged in Group One of
Division Three. The detainees were forced to work until past midnight in order to finish by the deadline.
The process of packaging was as follows: we put a T-shirt and pants on the
doll, put a belt on a coat, put the coat on the doll, put a headband on the doll
and put shoes on the doll's feet. We cut off thread ends from inside to outside,
combed the hair, put the fully clothed doll in a white cloth sack, put a drying
agent under the doll's buttocks, then wrapped it in a transparent plastic bag,
folded the paper box and put the fully packaged doll in the paper box. Each
person was assigned 120 dolls a day.
The doll on the left wears overalls. The flower pattern on the bottom end of
the right pant leg is completely handmade. First, we put the agglutinated lining
on the back of three pieces of cloth altogether, and used an electric iron to
iron the cloth onto a yellow base cloth, and then used a pencil to draw the two
antenna of the snail, and used three different color threads, sewing the three
pieces of cloth to the yellow base cloth according to the requirements. The
stitch was no longer than 0.5 centimeter, and the distance between two stitches
was around 0.5 centimeters; the stitches had to be symmetrical and the
stitch-lengths had to be the same. The antenna was embroidered with a
coffee-colored piece of thread clipped to a pin. The bottom end of the left pant
leg also followed the same requirements. It had to be in the shape of a curve
and could not look rigid. We also embroidered a line around the collar of the
overalls with 0.5 centimeters between stitches. The doll on the right had
its collar embroidered on the same way.
Who would imagine that not only are the dolls in the hands of these cute
young girls products of slave labor, but so are the hats and pants the girls are
wearing.
In Picture 1, the flower on the right pant-leg of the girl on the left was
embroidered by hand, stitch by stitch. The requirement was that the thread had
to be invisible; the edges could not be rough; the flower could not be oblique
and had to be smooth. The labor camp was only responsible for embroidering the
flower; the pants themselves were manufactured elsewhere.
The hats worn by both girls and the flowers on them were also made at the
labor camp. A circular line was embroidered onto the hat, and the line could
not get inside of the hat lining.
The little house with a chimney pictured on the carpeting was also partially
made in the labor camp and consisted of seven pieces of cloth. Every piece of
cloth was embroidered to the bottom cloth according to their sequence.
The flower and little house on the dresses worn by the girls were also
embroidered at the labor camp.
The packaging process of the dolls the girls are holding was as follows:
first we put the pants on the doll, making sure the tag was in back. We put a
dress, an apron and shoes on the doll. We cut off the thread and combed the
ponytails. We put the hat on the doll and put it in a white cloth sack, put a
drying agent under the doll's buttocks, then wrapped it in a transparent plastic
bag, folded the paper box and put the fully packaged doll in the paper box. Each
person was assigned to package 120 dolls a day.
The strawberry bag in front of the girl's feet was made at the labor camp.
Both sides of the bag were embroidered with lines. After completion, it was
diamond-shaped with a three-dimensional feel to it. The lines could not curve
and the stitches had to be even and smooth.
The pants and the flower pattern on the right pant-leg of the toy bear
sitting on the chair were also partially made in the labor camp.
Picture 6
The sunflower on the dress of the doll on the rear left was embroidered on. A
line was sewn onto the bottom of the apron and the collar. It was required that
the stitches be even and that no more than a 0.5-centimeter gap existed between
stitches. The connecting stitches and threads should be invisible. The head
flower was also made in the labor camp.
The packaging process was as follows: we put the pants on the doll. We
positioned the pants so the doll's legs were not exposed; we put shoes with
white socks on the doll's feet, we folded the socks twice down and put the dress
on the doll, affixed the head flower on the doll and wrapped it around its head
two times. We cut the threads and combed the hair. We put the hat on the doll
and put it in a white cloth sack, put drying agent under the doll's buttocks,
then wrapped it in a transparent plastic bag, folded the paper box and put the
fully packaged doll in the paper box. Each person was assigned to package 120
dolls a day.
The rubber band used to fix the head flower onto the doll's head was very
tight and we had to wrap it around twice. After one day's work, our thumbs and
index fingers were red and swollen. Nevertheless, we had to continue our work
the next day, until the skin on our fingers broke open and bled.
The flower patterns on the doll dresses in this picture were all embroidered
at the labor camp. One line was embroidered smoothly on the collar and the
bottom of the apron, with a space of 0.5 centimeters between stitches. The
packaging process and amount of work is the same as in picture 6.
The butterflies and their wake [the trail by which the butterfly flew]
on the dolls' clothes were done at the labor camp. It was required that the line
along which the butterflies were stapled be invisible and the butterflies'
traces must be even and smooth, with no rigid corner or lines.
The packaging process for this doll was the same as the doll in picture one.
The photos published on this website only show some of the products we were
forced to make at the labor camp. We were also assigned to work on the
single-packed clothing, backpacks, and other accessories that went along with
the dolls.
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 7
Picture 8
Picture 9
Picture 10
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/6/18/77245.html