Exposing the Brainwashing Methods Used by Masanjia Forced Labor Camp

By Zhen Xiaonan, a practitioner from Fushun City, Liaoning Province

(Clearwisdom.net) I just came out of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. The evil had tried all means to persecute me and make me enlighten along an evil path. But in the end, I walked out of the gate of this evil concentration camp without accepting their brainwashing. Here I have summarized my experiences, to share with fellow practitioners.

My cultivation in Dafa did not start very early and I am young. When I was initially sent to the labor camp, the guards and the collaborators were very "nice" to me. They showed their particular "care" in their attitude of talking and how they treated me in daily life. These were all hypocritical, but they gave you a feeling that they were truly being good to you. Never be deceived by them. After a while, their true intentions were revealed.

I remembered that when I was just sent there, I exposed the persecution facts about Masanjia, which were denied by the guards. They said that there were no solitary confinement cells and no tortures, and that everything said on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website was false. They also had people who had been brainwashed to testify along these lines. In fact, those brainwashed people were also under the manipulation of the guards. What they said may have sounded reasonable and factually grounded. In fact, such practitioners were not clear on what they were talking about. There are many types of brainwashing means that were used in the labor camp. They include, for example: sleep deprivation or only allowing very short duration of sleep (the goal was to make the practitioner have no energy to recite the Fa and thus get further and further away from the Fa. In this way, they can find the practitioner's loopholes when his or her righteous thoughts were not strong, so as to coerce the practitioners into accepting their teachings or agree with the brainwashing against their own wills), forcing one to sit on a tiny stool and not allowing the person to stand up even after his or her buttocks started to bleed during the sitting, being only allowed to use the toilet twice each day, and constantly playing audio and video materials that slander Dafa. They also had some personnel who specialized in brainwashing people to talk to you. These people took the Fa that Master has lectured on and distorted it by means of quoting out of context, saying that the Fa contradicted itself. They also raised a lot of questions, as if they stood behind the facts.

I did not know how to answer their questions, nor did I spend time thinking about these questions. I silently kept one thought in my mind: "What Master has said is right. I just listen to Master. I do not listen to you." My personal understanding was that if one has a solid understanding of the Fa, one could talk to them and try to reverse their wrong understanding. Otherwise, it would be better to minimize this talking with them. Nor should one think about what they said. One should instead send forth righteous thoughts more frequently, and never be moved by them. Otherwise, it would be very easy for one to stray along the evil path. Based on my observations, most of the practitioners who had been brainwashed stumbled in this way. One veteran practitioner had been very determined in her cultivation for two years and she had endured numerous sufferings. Later she began to think along with their thoughts and reasoned that what they had said also made some sense. She did not maintain her righteous thought well, and in the end she accepted the brainwashing in the third year. She was completely brainwashed. She also went to try to brainwash the others and has made big mistakes against Dafa. If you do not give in no matter what tactics, soft or hard, they try to use, they still have other ways to manipulate you. For example, they will send you to other teams, or let the labor camp division find a person who is from your local area or who is familiar with you, or who was a so-called "elite" in the past in your local area to accompany you and talk to you. (Note: I believe that the evil is testing whether you have the attachment of following others, and at the same time, examining if you have let go of your sentimentality. Many practitioners are weak in this regard. They can endure the mistreatments from others, while they often cannot withstand the "kindness" of others, even though they know this is done out of hypocrisy. Because their attachment to sentimentality was so strong, the hypocrisy was sometimes believed.) Additionally, they often threaten you: If you do not accept the brainwashing, they will extend your term so you cannot leave even when your term is over. Even if you are let go, after you get out of this door, you will be sent to a brainwashing class. If you still do not accept the brainwashing, you will be sent to Dabei Prison... They give practitioners the feeling that they had entered a hell in the human world, and without accepting the brainwashing, they have no chance of getting out. At this time, one should truly "Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, the will unflinching." ("True Nature Revealed" from Essentials for Further Advancement II) Practitioners should not be moved, not generate other unrighteous thoughts, not have the idea of listening to the guards, and should always use righteous thoughts to see things.

In that environment, one often felt very lonely. Because I was in isolation for a long time, each day those who were in contact with me were either the guards or the collaborators. On top of this, they forced me to go through the brainwashing sessions. I could not calm down even with my studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. I was in a state of being severely interfered with. However, I just kept a determined heart, firmly believing that I could pass any tribulations! My cultivation has not been for a long time, neither have I studied the Fa a lot. However, I just held onto the thought: Never miss this rare opportunity that comes once in millions of years, never leave stains on my sacred path of cultivation, and never betray Master and Dafa. I must be determined, be determined, and be more determined! Every day I repeated this sentence. When the evil asked me if I could recite Hong Yin or Lunyu, I just kept shaking my head. I thought in my mind that I would not tell them. They thought that I could recite nothing. Since I rarely talked to them, they did not know what I was thinking about, where my attachments were, and where my loopholes were. They acted like flies without heads, while I always kept one expression: "silence is a piece of gold." Later, a collaborator exasperatedly said to me, "Let's see how long you can resist. By the end of the year, no one can resist the compulsory brainwashing. You, a little child, know nothing." (Note: Before 2004, by the end of each year, Masanjia gathered all those practitioners who did not accept the brainwashing, and then called in many male guards to force the practitioners to accept the brainwashing by use of compulsory means, such as confinement in solitary cells, shocking with electric batons, hanging practitioners up by their handcuffs, forcing them to stand for long periods of time and deprivation of sleep, not allowing the use of toilets, taking off the practitioners' clothes and then exposing them to the cold weather outside, putting practitioners on the tiger bench, forcing one to sit in the double-crossed position for very long times, beatings, putting practitioners on the death bed, and other tortures. Many of the practitioners succumbed to the brainwashing against their own wills for being unable to withstand the tortures.) By the end of 2004, the situation changed dramatically. A large number of the practitioners who had accepted the brainwashing against their wills declared that the things they said and wrote against Dafa were void and no longer valid, so the compulsory brainwashing completely disintegrated! Later, I started refusing to do forced labor, and to wear the prisoner's clothes, and as a result, I was sent to the solitary cell, hung up while handcuffed, and beaten. Later, the evil guards gave up their efforts in brainwashing me, and this status lasted until I was released.

In fact, the means that Masanjia has used for brainwashing practitioners are far from these few. These were just what I personally experienced and what I knew. There were many practitioners who have suffered from more severe persecution, which are unknown to others. Each air particle in Mansanjia is soaked with the evil, and it makes people feel suffocated. Let's strengthen our righteous thoughts and accelerate the disintegration of this hell in the human world, which has committed monstrous crimes! Because of my limited understanding, please point out anything that is incorrect.

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