Here is a letter included with some Hallowe’en decorations made in China and bought at K Mart a year ago:
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Sir,
If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resent this letter to the World Human Right Watch organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.
This product produced by Unit 8, Department 2, Mashanjia Labour Camp, Shenyang, Liaoning China.
People who work here, have to work 15 hours a day with out Saturday Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise they will suffer torturement beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan /1 month).
People who work here, suffer punishment 1~3 years averagingly, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falung Gong practitioner, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe than CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others.
[this transcription by the blog author. Actual document: ]
It has been suggested that the letter is a fake and a plant, but the spelling, tense case errors and strikeovers are consistent with an honest and desperate letter. The letter’s description of a labor camp is also consistent with the compartmentalized Chinese internal borders in which an international port city like Hong Kong has an armed internal border with an internal abutting city like Shenzhen, which also has an armed internal border with the Chinese countryside.
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Sir,
If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resent this letter to the World Human Right Watch organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.
This product produced by Unit 8, Department 2, Mashanjia Labour Camp, Shenyang, Liaoning China.
People who work here, have to work 15 hours a day with out Saturday Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise they will suffer torturement beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan /1 month).
People who work here, suffer punishment 1~3 years averagingly, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falung Gong practitioner, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe than CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others.
[this transcription by the blog author. Actual document: ]
It looks fake to me, as an old China hand. the paper it's written on seems authentic and is very common, but I've never seen anyone write Chinese characters like that, and the grammar and usage errors are not ones I would expect to hear from Chinese. the mere mention of Falun Gong makes it suspect since this group has its own political agenda. The writer's English level is far far above average for China, even for well-educated Chinese, but I suppose you could make the argument that that is precisely the kind of person more likely to end up a dissident. Taken as a whole, it appears fake, though it is within the realm of possibility and may reflect true realities in China.
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