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90-716: The Ministry of Public Security Qincheng Prison ( Chinese : 公安部秦城监狱 ) is a maximum-security prison located in Qincheng Village, Xingshou , Changping District , Beijing in the People's Republic of China . The prison was built in 1958 with aid from the Soviet Union and is the only prison belonging to China's Ministry of Public Security . The Ministry of Justice operates other non-military prisons. Political prisoners have been incarcerated in Qincheng, among them participants in

180-472: A bowl of thin soup is also served with lunch and dinner. High-ranking prisoners need not to keep utensils themselves and meals are served by opening the doors. Two vegetarian dishes and a dish with meat or fish, and bowl of thick soup are standard. A limited amount of milk and fruits are provided once weekly, and with special permission, some high-ranking prisoners can have a better meal that is often given to prisoners that are about to be released. Depending on

270-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓   ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏   ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of

360-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst

450-467: A day, to once a week. Officially, these prisoners are allowed to walk and exercise in the courtyards for a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of an hour. The actual times vary depending on the weather, the number of prisoners, and other factors. Because of the special status of prisoners in Qincheng Prison, each prisoner is only allowed to exercise alone. Prisoners cannot see any other prisoners due to

540-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as

630-416: A large cup given to each prisoner for this purpose. Low-ranking prisoners keep utensils themselves, and meals are delivered through the rectangular opening on the door about one foot (thirty centimeters) above the ground. Breakfast consists of steamed corn flour bread and a piece of salted vegetable, while lunch and dinner consists of rice, noodle, and other grains. A vegetarian dish cooked with vegetables and

720-549: A mid-1990s remodeling the cells became more luxurious. In 1967, six more buildings were added, also named after celestial stem , continuing as Wu ( 戊 ), Ji ( 己 ), Geng ( 庚 ), Xin ( 辛 ), Ren ( 壬 ), Gui ( 癸 ). The new jail houses are concrete and contain many more cells because the new cells are much smaller in comparison to those in the blocks built in 1958: the area of each cell is only 5–10 square meters (54–108 sq ft). The toilet in these new cells could not be sit on, but instead, prisoners must squatting down when using

810-599: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as

900-568: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),

990-417: A warden before the interrogation, and the warden would let the prisoner out of his or her cell, and lead the prisoner to the interrogation room. After the prisoner is seated in the interrogation room, the warden would withdraw and wait outside. Based on the experience of former prisoners, there are two type of interrogation rooms. Most prisoners are interrogated in the interrogation room with a stool inside where

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1080-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌   'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊   'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,

1170-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with

1260-462: Is divided into two sections evenly by a wall in the middle, on top of which guard patrolled, and would watch both sections. Each floor of the building is divided into many halls, on one side of the hall, there is a wall, opposite to the wall is where the cells are located, each individually locked with a padlock . There are at least 10 cells in each hall. The area of each cell is around 20 square meters (220 sq ft). The wooden door of each cell

1350-542: Is from the prisoners' relatives and reading materials donated by released prisoners. All reading materials are screened and those deemed improper for the prisoners are rejected. However, the censorship varies according to the political situation in China. For example, after the death of Lin Biao , copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (Little Red Book) were confiscated and pages with Lin Biao 's words were removed. Even during

1440-503: Is located at the eastern foothill of Yanshan , facing the North China Plain in the east, north and south. The plain is where Qincheng Farm ( Chinese : 秦城农场 ; pinyin : Qínchéng Nóngchǎng ) is located, which is part of the prison. The prison was originally built to house Kuomintang (Nationalist) political prisoners, but due to secrecy, the name was not publicized. Instead, it was simply referred as project #156, since it

1530-411: Is located on the 2nd Floor of one of the hospital buildings and it is completely segregated from the rest of the facility. Every room is about 10 square meters, with one or two hospital beds, a wash sink, and a toilet. The window is equipped with sanded glass so that nothing outside can be seen and there is another layer of iron fence outside the window glass. Guards watch the prisoners behind the door that

1620-493: Is locked from outside. Prisoners treated at the hospital exercise by walking on the roof of the building. Like the doctors in the prison clinic, doctors at Fuxing Hospital also lacked the final decision-making authority on how to treat the important prisoners. For example, during the Cultural Revolution, former Minister of Public Security and the head of Mao Zedong's personal bodyguards, Senior General Luo Ruiqing ( 罗瑞卿 )

1710-809: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at

1800-564: Is often conducted in their own cells. Though physical and verbal abuse of prisoners are strictly forbidden, such regulations were completely ignored during Cultural Revolution, during which many prisoners died as result of abuse and torture. Abuses disguised as punishment commonly occurred during Cultural Revolution including forcing prisoners to stand for a prolonged period of time and not providing prisoners with enough water. Wei Jingsheng had published under his name in March 1979 an essay denouncing

1890-609: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c.  100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to

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1980-495: Is sandwiched between two iron plates, and there are two peepholes: one at the level of the toilet, while the other is above it. Around a foot from the ground, there is a rectangular window for delivering meals. The only furniture inside each cell is a bed that was around a foot from the ground and when a prisoner needs to write a confession or other materials, a desk similar to those in elementary schools would be provided. However, there would never be any chairs and prisoners must sit on

2070-415: Is the interrogation / investigation team, which is only responsible for investigate the prisoners' cases, and they are strictly forbidden to venture into prisoners' cells or any other premises other than the interrogation room. The other group is responsible for guarding the prisoners and overseeing their daily activities. Unlike those from the first group, those in the second group are not even allowed to know

2160-540: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,

2250-745: The Chinese democracy movement and Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 . Famous former inmates include Li Rui , Jiang Qing , Yuan Geng , Bao Tong , Dai Qing , as well as Tibetan figures such as the 10th Panchen Lama Choekyi Gyaltsen and Phuntsok Wangyal . Other inmates included many communist cadres who struggled during the Cultural Revolution , such as Bo Yibo , Peng Zhen , Liu Xiaobo , Israel Epstein , Sidney Rittenberg and David Crook . More recently, high-ranking officials accused of corruption such as Chen Xitong , Chen Liangyu , Bo Xilai , and Zhou Yongkang were also imprisoned here. The prison

2340-559: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of

2430-420: The Cultural Revolution often had permanent disabilities after their release. Following the strict former- Soviet Union practice, until the early 1980s prisoners also had strict rules for when they sleep: they must keep their hands above their sheets and they must face the peephole. The lights remain on during sleep hours so that the guards can see them easier. Prisoners are awoken by whistles at exactly 7:00 in

2520-513: The Ministry of Public Security is separated and the Ministry of Public Security only retained its executive role. In June, 1983, the administration of prisons was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, but due to the special need, the Ministry of Public Security still retained several prisons under its administration and Qincheng Prison was one of them, still under the administration of the 13th Bureau of

2610-464: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Celestial stem Some scholars believe the Heavenly Stems, and the associated ten-day week, are connected to a story from Chinese mythology where ten suns appeared in the sky, whose order comprised a ten-day cycle ( 旬 ; xún ); the Heavenly Stems are conjectured to be

2700-456: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across

2790-522: The 13th Bureau" administered the prison until April–June 1969 when the Bureau itself was abolished. The administration of Qincheng Prison now became the responsibility of a "Military Control Commission of Qincheng Prison" which reported to the Beijing municipal Bureau of Public Security Military Control Commission and not to the Ministry of Public Security. Thus formally "downgraded" in administrative terms, Qincheng

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2880-476: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3

2970-508: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of

3060-405: The Chinese elite take care of their own, even in disgrace." Didi Tang stated that the conditions are not as luxurious as U.S. Club Fed facilities. Once a prisoner enters the prison, his or her original name is no longer used. Instead, the prisoners are referred by number. The number consists of two parts, with the first two digits indicating the year the prisoner was sent to Qincheng prison, while

3150-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components

3240-625: The Ministry of Public Security. Originally designed to house Nationalist political prisoners classified by the Communists , this category of prisoners no longer existed when the last batch were released in 1975. The largest category of prisoners is in fact, coming from within Communist ranks, like former cadres. The largest increase of prisoners occurred during Cultural Revolution, with extra buildings had to be built. The prison employees are divided into two groups and are strictly separated. The first group

3330-442: The Qincheng Prison to help out outside the prison. Heavy manual labor was performed only by the nationalist political prisoners classified by the communists , but since the release of the last group of these prisoners in 1975, there are no longer any such duties. However, light manual labors continues such as making straw hats and making boxes for matches. Jiang Qing requested and was permitted to make dolls. This light manual labor

3420-419: The bed to write. For safety and security reasons, every sharp edge inside the cell has been changed to smooth/round shape. There are also special suicide watch cells with walls made of rubber so prisoners could not commit suicide by running into the walls. There is a window for each cell designed for lower-ranking prisoners. The area of the window is around one square meter, located more than two meters above

3510-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between

3600-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant

3690-498: The collapse of the Shang. Jonathan Smith has proposed that the heavenly stems predate the Shang and originally referred to ten asterisms along the ecliptic , of which their oracle bone script characters were drawings; he identifies similarities between these and asterisms in the later Four Images and Twenty-Eight Mansions systems. These would have been used to track the moon's progression along its monthly circuit, in conjunction with

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3780-494: The compound must have the permission slip from the 13th Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China. For prisoners, they would be first led to a small one-story building, where they would leave behind most of their belongings deemed to be unsuitable to be carried into cells, including shoelaces. The prisoners would then be given black prison uniforms and issued utensils, and personal hygiene materials. With

3870-465: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from

3960-472: The courtyard nor any other buildings, but some could see the mountain and sun from their cells. A 15-watt light bulb with sanded glass is on the 3.5-meter-high (11 ft) ceiling, and it is covered by iron mesh, and the dim light is controlled by guards via a switch outside. By the 2010s prison cells had at least one window, with two windows for VIP prisoners, and the cells had washing machines, desks, and in-suite bathrooms. The Straits Times stated that after

4050-463: The day designated by their name). The sinologist David Keightley , who specialized in ancient Chinese bronzes, believes that the Stems were chosen posthumously through divination. Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. Their association with the concepts of yin and yang and wuxing developed following

4140-472: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see

4230-475: The earthly branches referring to its phase. The literal meanings of the characters were, and are now, roughly as follows. Among the modern meanings, those deriving from the characters' position in the sequence of Heavenly Stems are in italics. The Heavenly Stems remain widely used as ordinals throughout the Sinosphere , similarly to the way the alphabet is used in languages like English. The Japanese names of

4320-416: The era without any political turmoil, it is worth noting that many publications legally publicized in China and available to the general public would not be permitted for prisoners. Visitation is conducted in a special visitation room, which is a room separated into two sections by a wall. A small window is on the wall for the communication between the prisoners and their relatives. Wardens can be either watch

4410-547: The exception of a large enamel mug for water, everything else is plastic. Qincheng Prison has been under the administration of the 13th Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security most of the time since its establishment. Beginning in late October 1967, it came under the control of the People's Liberation Army which at this point had been put in charge of the 13th Bureau by the Central Cultural Revolution Group and Zhou Enlai . The "Military Control Commission of

4500-616: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over

4590-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including

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4680-465: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility

4770-444: The former personal secretary and personal Russian translator of Mao Zedong was jailed in Qincheng prison. He was scheduled to have an operation to remove a so-called cancer. However, doctors determined that there was no cancer at all, but Kang Sheng insisted on giving Shi Zhe an operation, and the completely unnecessary operation was carried out to fulfill the political task. When prisoners are seriously ill and thus cannot be treated at

4860-406: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during

4950-400: The ground. The windowsill is sloped upward with window opens upward toward outside, but of course, prisoners are unable to open the window themselves. There are three layers for every window: screen, iron fence, and glass painted white. In the cells for high-ranking prisoners, there are two windows but the outermost layer is sanded glass instead of glass painted white. Prisoners could neither see

5040-529: The high walls, and they are not allowed to see any other prisoners while they are in the jail house. If two prisoners are released from their cells to exercise and they meet each other, one is ordered to back to his or her cell to wait until the other prisoner is gone. During prolonged solitary confinement during the Cultural Revolution, calcium deficiencies would result from the lack of exposure to sunlight. Many prisoners would lose their hair and teeth, and developed many other health problems. Prisoners jailed during

5130-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d.  782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what

5220-512: The inhumane conditions of the Chinese Qincheng Prison where he was imprisoned the 10th Panchen Lama and that drove the latter to a suicide attempt. It is clear that a major part of this essay was written by other anonymous authors with accurate information about Qincheng. There is a medical clinic at the Qincheng Prison with both doctors and nurses assigned. There is also a dental clinic, built of brick and stone, located further away from

5310-459: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d.  208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,

5400-404: The main prison buildings. In addition to treating prisoners for ordinary illness, semi-annual physical checks are also performed. High-ranking prisoners could receive more frequent checks depending on their health conditions. Both the high-ranking and low-ranking prisoners receive better health care than ordinary citizens outside, and this situation has not changed since the first day when the prison

5490-686: The morning, and they go to bed at 21:00 upon hearing the same whistles. Originally, high-ranking prisoners had military style bed sheets, while low-ranking prisoners had to sleep on a bed made of straw. The regular reading material in the jail is People's Daily . Other reading materials includes publications in China provided to prisoners by the visiting relatives of prisoners. There is a prison library that only high-ranking prisoners were allowed to use. Most reading materials were originally donated by former Nationalist political prisoners, and consist mostly of works by Mao Zedong , Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , and Joseph Stalin . The other source of donation

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5580-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,

5670-449: The names for each of these ten suns. They were found in the given names of the kings of the Shang in their temple names. These consisted of a relational term ('father', 'mother', 'grandfather', 'grandmother') which was added to one of the ten Stems—e.g. 'Grandfather Jia'. These names are often found on Shang bronzes designating whom the bronze was honoring (and on which day of the week their rites would have been performed, that day matching

5760-560: The names of prisoners and call prisoners by their prisoner numbers. Prison employees of both groups are strictly forbidden to make any personal connections to the prisoners and are not even allowed to reveal their names to the prisoners, ask prisoners questions without authorization, or answer prisoners' questions without authorization. Didi Tang of the Associated Press wrote that "nothing says "politically connected" like Qincheng" and that "The better conditions in Qincheng underscore how

5850-473: The past - each prison is actually a school, but also a factory or a farm." Mao had further enhanced this on April 24, 1964, in his reaction to a case by claiming that "People can be reformed, if the correct policy and methods are adopted." This characteristic also applies to most Chinese prisons, and Chinese have called this prison system as: "Special militarized organization, special enterprise, and special school." The jailhouse part has four buildings built upon

5940-483: The prison clinic, they are transferred to Fuxing (复兴, Revival) Hospital on the Fuxingmen Outer Street . Fuxing Hospital is one of the hospitals for Ministry of Public Security employees and their relatives. All Ministry of Public Security hospitals shoulder the additional responsibility of treating prisoners, but Fuxing Hospital is specially designated to treat prisoners from Qincheng Prison. The prison section

6030-404: The prison with him. In 1958, high-ranking former Nationalists were sent to Qincheng Farm as forced labor. The prison is built in accordance with the 1954 Reform Through Labor Regulations , so it is divided into three sections. The first section is for jail houses, and it includes both the jail houses for low-ranking prisoners and that of high-ranking prisoners, with the ranking often decided by

6120-495: The prison's establishment, with each having three stories. In 1967 an additional six buildings opened, with each not as large as each original building. The original prison include four three-story brick buildings with sloped roof, each is named after celestial stems instead of numbers or alphabets: Jia ( 甲 ), Yi ( 乙 ), Bing ( 丙 ), Ding ( 丁 ). The area in front of each building is fenced with brick wall for prisoners to exercise, forming its own independent yard. Each exercise yard

6210-568: The prison. The monthly food budget for each high-ranking prisoner had always been nearly twice of the monthly salary of most ordinary factory workers in China until the 1970s, which was 60 renminbi . This was increased to more than 120 yuan in the 1990s. However, the monthly food budget for each low-ranking prisoner was only above 30 yuan in the 1990s. Three meals were provided on each day, Monday through Saturday. On Sundays and holidays, only two meals are provided. Each prisoner would receive boiled water for three times daily, one full cup each time, and

6300-400: The prisoner sits, and facing the prisoner, there was a semicircle shaped platform. On top of the platform, there are several tables next to each other covered with white table cloth. Interrogators and recorders sit behind the tables at the opposite ends. Dai Qing , a famous Chinese human rights activist jailed at Qincheng Prison recalls that there is another type of interrogation room in which

6390-604: The prisoner's social status , job position, and level of crime before entering the prisons. The second is called the Management and Work Section, the largest one among all three, with Qincheng Farm for field labors. The last section is the residential section for employees such as wardens and their relatives. The prison is sandwiched between orchards, with farm land and fish pond in front, an exact reflection of Mao Zedong's claim in October, 1960: "our prisons are different than prisons in

6480-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted

6570-529: The ranking of the prisoner, every prisoner is allowed to take a half an hour long shower once either weekly or monthly, under the surveillance of the same gender warden outside the door. According to the 1954 Reform Through Labor Regulations of the People's Republic of China , female prisoners are supposed to be watched by female wardens but there were rarely any female wardens nor female prisoners at Qincheng prison. The first significant presence of female prisoners appeared during Cultural Revolution, but by that era,

6660-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on

6750-540: The relatives to leave the prison. Prisoners at Qincheng Prison are tasked with manual labor instead of being executed in accordance with Mao Zedong's order given in 1957 in one of his speeches, in which Mao explained why political prisoners must not be executed: Reactionaries are evil but once captured, they could be turned to something useful for the people. As result of this speech of Mao, prisoners at Qincheng Prison are put to work instead of being executed, and they are subjected to be assigned to tasks other than that of

6840-510: The remaining digits are the sequential number. For example, prisoner 6299 means that the prisoner was sent to the prison in 1962, while he or she was the 99th prisoner sent to Qincheng Prison that year. Prison employees are also prohibited from referring to each other by name, instead, they are called according to their job title, such as manager, warden, and director. However, their last names are sometimes allowed to be added before their job title when they are addressed. Prisoners are notified by

6930-426: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted

7020-461: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊

7110-427: The shower privilege granted to the prisoners were abolished like most other rights, and there were prisoners arrested at the beginning of Cultural Revolution who had not taken a shower for around a decade after they were jailed. Prisoners cannot earn the right to exercise immediately after entering the prison; they are only given the right later on. The frequency of exercise permitted for each prisoner may vary from once

7200-435: The stool is replaced by a chair and there is carpet on the floor. Additionally, there is air conditioning in the room. During the Cultural Revolution, before the interrogation had begun, everyone in the room had to read some quotes from Mao's Little Red Book loudly, and these quotes are also posted on the wall. Prisoners receive different meals based on their ages, crimes committed, social status and job positions prior entering

7290-460: The toilet and must carry water from wash sink to flush the toilet. There are two doors for each cells built in 1967: the outer one is an iron door and the inside one is a wooden door. Other features of the blocks built in 1967 are similar to those built in 1958. There are three gates at Qincheng Prison, the first gate has the heaviest guards presence. With the exception of prison staff and their relatives, all other people who are not prisoners entering

7380-427: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to

7470-817: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes

7560-516: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of

7650-421: The visitation from another room immediately adjacent to the visitation room, or can be directly behind the prisoner. Anything brought into the prison by the prisoners' relatives must be screened and registered on a check sheet and those deemed unsuitable must be brought back immediately after the visitation is over. After visitation, there must be the signature of prison warden on the visitation permission slip for

7740-461: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing  [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by

7830-414: Was established. For important high-ranking prisoners, the doctors at Qincheng Prison do not have the final decision-making authority on how to treat the prisoners for their illness. It is often a political decision determined by the top brass of the communist regime. For example, in the autumn of 1969 during Cultural Revolution, under Kang Sheng 's order, an important high-ranking prisoner, Shi Zhe ( 师哲 ),

7920-463: Was jailed at Qincheng Prison. When he suffered a fracture to his left leg, he was first denied medical treatment, then subjected to an amputation which was to be the eventual cause of his death. SARs: SARs: 40°14′29″N 116°23′00″E  /  40.2413°N 116.3834°E  / 40.2413; 116.3834 Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write

8010-442: Was number 156 out of 157 projects that China established with Soviet assistance. The head of Beijing Bureau of Public Security , Feng Jiping ( simplified Chinese : 冯基平 ; traditional Chinese : 馮基平 ; pinyin : Féng Jīpíng ) was in charge of construction of the prison. Ironically, during the Cultural Revolution he was among the first to be jailed there. He was also one of the last to get out among those who were sent to

8100-583: Was until the end of 1972 referred to in public documents as the Seventh Brigade of the Military Commission of the Beijing Bureau of Public Security. The Ministry of Public Security reasserted control over the prison in early 1973, after a decision to this effect had been taken by Premier Zhou Enlai on 8 January of that year. During the reform in the 1980s, the combined judicial and executive roles of

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