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38 The Fushun War Criminals Management Centre (1967–73) I spent nearly six years at the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre, from the autumn of 1967 to the autumn of 1973. I’ll give you a simple description of the management centre. It had been built during the Japanese occupation of the north-east of our country, specifically for the imprisonment of Japanese military offenders. On the eve of the Japanese surrender, the Soviet Red Army had invaded the north-east and the camp had fallen into their hands. After the Liberation of the north-east the People’s Government had taken it over and used it for the incarceration of Pu Yi and his court. The reformed Japanese war criminals were sent back to Japan and then the government transferred a number of Chinese war criminals to Fushun (the top KMT war criminals were separated into ranks, with the senior ranks sent to Beijing and the lower ranks to Chongqing, Yucheng in Shandong and Fushun). The Fushun War Criminals Management Centre was located next to the provincial jail. It consisted entirely of single-storey buildings, set out thus: the dormitories were all large rooms; two rows of open beds each sleeping five people, with a very large space between each one. In the study room each person had a desk and a chair. There was a barbershop, decorated like a salon on the outside with mirrors on the walls and special chairs which were very comfortable. There was a large bathhouse, surrounded by shower equipment. We washed once a week, one group at a time. After undressing we could soak in the first bath, then climb out, lather ourselves with soap, rinse off with the showers and then jump into a second bath full of clean water. Each group could stay in the bathhouse for an hour. After washing our bodies we could go to the washroom to wash our clothes in hot water. The dining hall was huge and could seat all the prisoners at once, with four to a table. There was a clinic, with doctors and nurses. I remember a doctor called Zhang and one of the 248 The Memoirs of Jin Luxian nurses named Liu. The latter could do acupuncture and had a good attitude. Her husband was a guard named Xu Zhe, who also maintained a very high standard. One time I went to the clinic with high blood pressure, about 180 high and 110 low, and saw another doctor who was a friend of Dr. Zhang’s. I told him that I had piles and that it was occasionally painful to defecate. He said that he knew how to cure me. He could poke up and break a tendon in my back and that would solve it. He asked me if I would be willing to give it a try and I said yes. So he pushed up and my piles were astonishingly cured and have never given me a problem since that day. There was an assembly hall that was decorated like a cinema. It was used for assemblies and for watching films. On the dais were hung several characters for ‘loyalty’ which one could not fail to notice. There was a large playing field, surrounded by fruit trees. In sum, the facilities were very good. The original director was named Jin and was of Korean ethnicity. Early on in the ‘Cultural Revolution’ he was named a ‘capitalist roader’ by the revolutionaries at the centre and sent off to do hard labour. The head of the revolutionary faction was named Li. He had a glib tongue. After him came the military supervisors ; the revolutionaries were dismissed and the new head was a company commander. The guards were all promoted to supervisors, but had not the training for it. During the lectures they would say things like: “You have heavy blood debts to pay. I’ll make a report to the leaders and shoot a few of you!” According to the original instructions of the central government, war criminals could not be body searched, could not be struck or abused, but these men even searched through our luggage and so on. Not long after, the company commander asked the original director Jin to return. Later on Jin was transferred to Beijing to become principal of the Public Security University. As soon as we had arrived at Fushun, the acting director gave us a stern lecture. We were allocated our beds and separated into...

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