Letter from Masanjia

One of her daughter’s fifth birthday wishes was for the party to be Halloween themed. Julie Keith scavenged the attic, her memory giving way to a spooky tombstone kit she bought years back. After a bit, her eyes laid on a dusty cardboard box with Kmart’s logo written on it. 

As Julie unpackaged the tombstone, a crumpled sheet of lined paper rolled out with it. Neat blue handwriting was on it, though with grammar and spelling issues. 

“Sir, if you occassionally buy this product, please kindly send this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.” 

Julie read on. The note said that the graveyard kit had been produced in unit eight, department two of Masanjia labour camp in Shenyang, China. Inmates were subject to work 15 hours a day seven days a week; “Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan/1 month).” 10 yuan in Canadian dollars nowadays are $2.00.

Prisoners were detained on average for one to three years without a formal court sentence. Some identified as Falun Gong practitioners. “They often suffer more punishment than others,” 

Julie was shocked, what could she even do? Desperately, she started trying to contact peers on Facebook for advice and started making many phone calls and messages to human rights organizations, which were all unanswered. 

Months passed by, nothing. Julie’s husband told her maybe she should give this thing up, maybe it was some sort of prank. But just before December 2012, Julie’s phone started ringing. TV networks and newspapers were eager to hear her perspective. The letter was in the headlines.

Imprisoned and Enslaved

Like many others, Sun Yi enjoyed practicing Falun Gong; a spiritual movement that combines elements from Taoist and Buddhist beliefs. This practice became popular among Chinese citizens, and the Chinese Communist Party decided that it was becoming too popular. The more people there are, the likelihood of government pushback increases. 

As a result, the CCP deemed Falun Gong as an “evil cult,” implementing mass detention centers framed as prisons or refinement camps as well as wide-spreading media censorship and propaganda. 

Once Sun Yi was discovered to be a practitioner of Falun Gong, the authorities started to keep an eye on him. One day, police barged into his small apartment and forcefully took him, binding him blind and unable to move until he arrived at the “laogai” (reform through labor) camp in Masanjia. 

There, workers were obliged to work 15 to even 20 hours a day if demands called for it. Everything was filthy and cold, as if the whole place was abandoned. Torture would be the result of disobedient labourers. There were only 15 minute breaks to use the washroom and to eat food. Many committed suicide before discharge from these camps. 

For months, Sun Yi’s biggest hope was to see his wife’s face again, so he held on. At one point during the sentence, Sun Yi started to write SOS letters and sneak them into packages that he knew were going to be delivered to English-speaking countries. He had to do it with caution, the punishment would certainly be death. Four years and twenty letters, and eventually, it worked. 

Sources

*This information was mainly pulled from Amelia Pang’s Made in China

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