Letter from Masanjia

Letter from Masanjia is a staggering look at what happens after a desperate SOS note written by a former prisoner of conscience changes history – and then prompts him to begin secretly filming human rights violations in China for the world to see (Source: Anon nda, np link).

[It brings together t]wo specific points of the planet. [One is] Sun Yi, in China … [the other is] Julie Keith, in Oregon … [The film] leads, from their respective positions, to essential issues in the world we inhabit. From Oregon; what kind of consumption we carry out, what are the consequences of our actions, how we occupy our world and how our particular economy spreads in the global fabric, what to do with that note; that horrible experience. From China; why they act like this, to consider their own beliefs, the actions of the government, to question the will of the people around you, to endure the stigma, to endure physical and psychological torture, to write your current situation to improve it. … [I]t tells us about the connection between them; a coincidence that led to a social denunciation capable of transforming the coming reality. Stories told by the two people … a gesture; the dangerous sending of a letter – and … complexity that it ends up having – the systematic mistreatment by the [Chinese] government for the production of goods that are sold globally (Source: Oya 2020, np link).

Julie, the Oregon housewife, and Sun Yi had nothing in common except the will to ‘expose the atrocities that occur in China,’ Leon Lee recalls. The two … came to know each other and somehow ‘have changed the course of history’ (Source: Anon 2020a, np).

Together, these unlikely heroes expose China’s ongoing persecution against millions whose ideology differs from the Chinese government (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

Letter from Masanjia offers a rare look inside China’s terrifying police state through the lens of a prisoner of conscience as he revisits his torturous past, and is hotly pursued by authorities. Following a true modern hero who won’t stop until he brings the truth to light, this nail-biting documentary reveals what happens when a few good citizens go up against a totalitarian regime (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

It sounds like a fairy tale … (Source: Boslaugh 2018, np link).

… [and] plays like an international thriller… (Source: Alfonso 2018, np link).

… [a] hybrid of nonfiction and animation … [It’s a]n example of documentary at its most aspirational – here, human rights watchdogging (Source: Gronvall 2019, np link).

It starts out with Julie Keith … who discovered [Sun Yi’s] SOS note (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

[She is] a small-town mother in a small town near Portland, Oregon, [who] was about to prepare for her daughter Katie’s fifth birthday party, a Halloween-inspired party with all that comes with pumpkins, bones and toy skulls. The surprise came when, when opening one of the boxes containing a highly accomplished polystyrene tombstone (with a black jaspered finish to distort the appearance of the aged stone) … (Source: Anon 2020a, np).

… with a skeleton clutching a blackened cross. You know: for kids … (Source: Eisner 2018, np link)!

… from Kmart … (Source: Anon nda, np link).

… ‘Made in China’ … (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

… through forced labor … (Source: Crust 2018, np link).

… [that was explained in a] note [she found in the box written] in Chinese and English … (Source: Anon 2020a, np).

… [which] urged the finder to contact human rights organizations and alert the world to the abuses and torture occuring at Masanjia (Source: Crust 2018, np link).

[T]he crumpled page [had] travelled over 5000 miles (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

Julie googled [Masanjia] and found one of China’s most infamous forced labour camps (Source: Anon 2020a, np).

It happens to one in a million people to receive a message in the bottle (Source: Keith in Beretta 2019, np link).

[This] is seemingly a dark riff on the old ‘Help, I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese fortune-cookie factory’ joke, [but] multiple layers of irony wipe any sweetness away (Source: Eisner 2018, np link).

Julie Keith … grapples with her decision to go public with the letter, and makes a choice that changes her and her family’s lives forever (Source: Anon nda, np link).

[She] realizes she has to do something and after exploring a few avenues, she takes the letter to the press … (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

… and finally got worldwide attention when a story in the Oregonian newspaper (Source: Crust 2018, np link).

… [was] picked up by every Western major news outlet … (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

… [after which a] Chinese magazine published a quickly squashed exposé, but the government closed Masanjia and other camps in 2013 (Source: Crust 2018, np link).

She has to push to get the letter to covered in the press and is wracked with guilt and worry over the fate of its author. Interestingly, despite the letter clearly asking the recipient to circulate the contents, Julie receives a huge backlash for possibly endangering the author’s life upon the letter having worldwide press coverage (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

The perspective of a smalltown US housewife is a great leaping off point for this eye-opening and powerful documentary (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

[She] provide[s] a worthy point of emphatic resonance for the happily ignorant. Keith’s story is a tribute to her open-hearted response and her willingness to accept a more honest and brutal view of the world, as well as the extension of her compassion. She is a stand-in for all of us to try harder, do better, and advocate further, for the sake of all people (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

[In the film, we’re w]hisked quickly away to China [where] … marvellous and opressive scenery introduces our real protagonist and guide, Sun Yi … (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

… who was released about the time Keith purchased the decorations (Source: Crust 2018, np link).

Chinese-born … director Leon Lee tracked [him] down … living in Beijing (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

[Sun Yi is a] man with the appearance of a bookish intellectual, fragile and shy, possessed an overwhelming inner strength [and e]nviable principles (Source: Acosta 2020, np link).

Working with … Lee, who lives in Canada, Sun chronicles his story of persecution by the Chinese government for his involvement with the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong. In interviews, Sun details an excruciating 2 1/2 years he says he spent at Masanjia, the aftermath and the emotional and physical tolls it took on him and his wife of 20 years, Fu Ning (Source: Crust 2018, np link).

Falun Gong [is] a Chinese spiritual practice … (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

… a mixture of Buddhist and Taoist teachings that is banned in China … (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

… [because it] is threatening to their ideology. It is extremely common in China for Christians, Muslims, and anyone who does not follow the Communist ideology, to be thrown in horrific labor camps and experience torture (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

Striking and painful, the narrative reviews Yi Sun’s life since his first arrest, while reviewing the repressive reality of the government in every episode that is narrated. With the support of archive images and animations that recreate Sun’s memories in the field of work, the voice of the protagonist acts as the common thread of the story. We empathize with their pain and also with their struggle. Direct language, of course, without extending in superfluous conversations or that make you lose pace (Source: Captures 2020, np link).

Yi recounts his experience in drably shot interviews, which contain urgent subject matter but aren’t visually compelling enough to carry a theatrical feature. The tension looks to be fizzling once he starts to explain the backstory of the letter from the Masanjia jail (Source: Mullen 2018, np link).

Yi’s story and abuses are retold through his propulsively scored underground Falun Gong activities, as he helps run print shops to spread awareness of the governments own misinformation campaigns. He is an immediately captivating presence, calm, considerate, stoic, contemplative, but driven, and earnest and dedicated. And his actions, though not the high-octane violence of freedom fighting militants, are just as breathlessly worrying (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

Letter from Masanjia [also] shows [Yi as] an artist – brush and pen in hand – bringing the past to life on the page … (Source: Chung & Diffrient 2021, p.173).

… [of] the brutal conditions faced by prisoners inside [Masanjia] one of China’s most notorious labor camps … [via] black-and-white animated sequences that depict in excruciating detail the various forms of torture that [this] soft-spoken engineer … suffered during his nearly three-year-long incarceration (Source: Chung & Fiffrient 2021, p.1).

Yi … happens to be an architect, cartoon enthusiast, and terrific artist. Lee invites the former prisoner to transport audiences to the hell of the Chinese labour prison through animated impressions. These greyscale graphic novel-style nightmares compensate for the inevitable (and understandable) lack of footage from within the prison. The subjective approach conveys the horror of the experience and Yi’s strength in enduring the torture used to coerce dissidents to renounce Falun Gong. Crafty sound effects conjure every crack of the guard’s blows and every bead of sweat that drops from Yi’s brow as he withstands torture (Source: Mullen 2018, np link).

These segments of animation are among some of the most intense and moving of the whole film. Not only is the animation beautiful in itself but the recounts of confusion and brutality are hard-hitting but never overwrought. As well as the torture sessions, the animation of the mundane details of daily life really brings home the humanity (or lack of) Sun’s time in the camp (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

[This animation] gets the job done thanks to Sun Yi’s powerful narration (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

In Masanjia, Sun shared a cramped cell with thirty others. After a few months, he joined the ‘eighth team,’ which allegedly engaged in ‘spirit work’ (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.79).

Sun Yi [had] looked out of a window into the darkness as he ate his meagre dinner at Masanjia prison camp, and saw a group of people moving through the gloom outside. He couldn’t see well, but they appeared to be carrying human skulls and thigh bones. Sun Yi was horrified. He’d only recently been sentenced but already he’d heard rumours that some of his fellow inmates were tortured to death. This appeared to be confirmation. Another inmate told him the group he’d seen were known as the Eighth Team, and they worked on what was called the ‘ghost job’. Not long afterwards, in June 2008, a guard called out Sun Yi’s name. He was taken to a building and sent to a room on the fourth floor. He realised he’d been assigned to the Eighth Team – the very last thing he had wanted to happen. When he entered the room, Sun Yi saw what looked like a tombstone in front of him. He picked it up and realised it was made of white polystyrene. It would soon be covered in black dye, and it would be Sun Yi’s job to make it look old by rubbing it with a wet sponge until the white underneath began to show through. Sun Yi had no idea what Halloween was, though it came as a great relief that no actual dead bodies were involved – it was baffling to him that anyone would want these morbid decorations (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

Sun Yi’s unawareness of and bafflement at American Halloween customs … [is] a source of comic relief (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

‘He was wondering why people would buy this kind of scary stuff,’ says … Leon Lee, … ‘Until one day a guard told him Western people have this kind of a culture, a so-called festival, and that’s why they are making it.’ Soon black dye covered Sun Yi’s face and body. He worked from 04:00 until 23:00 or midnight, breaking only to eat. At night, he later recalled, his hands would move as he slept, as if he was polishing tombstones in his dreams (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

In late 2008, with more than a year left on his 2½-year sentence, he noticed that some of the shipping boxes had English-language labels and wondered if they were headed to America or the UK. Sun had studied English in school, and though his grammar wasn’t perfect, he remembered a lot of vocabulary … (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

… [and] decided to take his chance. ‘I knew the risk of discovery was high,’ he recounts … , ‘but I had to at least try to tell the world about the injustice that was being done to us’ (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.79).

Perhaps if he dropped a message into a box, someone overseas would receive it … (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

… and tell the world what was happening in Masanjia (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

He tore pages out of the ‘political re-education’ workbook he had received from the prison and … (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

… [o]ne night, as he lay in his cell surrounded by 30 or 40 sleeping fellow inmates, [he] turned on his side so that he faced the wall. All he could hear were the crickets chirping outside. Quietly, he opened a sheet of paper and pulled out a pen. He knew that guards were on patrol. He picked up his pen and began to write (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

… his letter very slowly and quietly. It took him two nights to finish the first letter, but after two weeks he had 20, which he hid between the bars of his bed. One evening, when he was packaging gravestones alone, he inserted his letters among the goods. … The next day, as he watched the boxes being whisked away, he felt a wave of relief. He wanted to do it again (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

He had to be careful about slipping them into the tombstone kits because he never knew which ones would be inspected. He usually did it during breaks, when other prisoners were outside. But once, as he put a letter into a box, another inmate saw what he was doing. Sun Yi had to take a risk and tell him what he was up to. ‘Good,’ said the other prisoner. ‘Do you have any more that I could help you hide?’ Sun Yi began sharing his letters with other Falun Gong devotees inside the camp, and one night one of the notes was discovered by guards during a search. The guards tortured the prisoner on whom the letter was found – they knew he must have an accomplice, because he didn’t speak English. But he didn’t reveal Sun Yi’s involvement. Although Sun Yi escaped further punishment on that occasion, he didn’t manage to evade the next crackdown against Falun Gong prisoners …(Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

… to get [them] to disavow Falun Gong. The first person tortured disavows in ten minutes; Sun is tortured for over a year and never gives in (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

‘They realised that I was not going to deny it and decided to hang me [by my arms and feet]. They had me hanging 24 hours a day. I was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. When I fell asleep, my legs bent and my handcuffs nailed in my wrists’, explains Yi in the film (Source: Anon 2020d, np link).

Initially, they tied his limbs to the bunk beds, stretching his muscles to their limits, like being torn apart by five horses. Later, they found this didn’t work on him, so they ‘hung’ him, forcing him to stand with his hands handcuffed upwards, preventing him from sitting down, let alone lying down to rest. When he got tired, his knees would bend downwards, and the handcuffs felt like being cut by knives. Recalling this period, Sun Yi said: ‘I actually had thoughts of giving up, but when I thought, ‘Would I die now?’ I felt I was still far from death. That’s why I was able to persevere’ (Source: suzie19 2019, np link).

Sun Yi had an almost supernatural ability to withstand torture, and to sacrifice in service of truth (Source: Ford 2023b, np link).

Sun Yi was released from Masanjia in September 2010. He carried on practising Falun Gong and printing samizdat literature, but he kept a low profile (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

[So, b]y the time [Julie Keith] found his message [in 2012], Sun had already been released for two years. He was living with [his wife Fu Ning] … in Beijing … and trying to stay under the radar (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.79).

[There] seems to be a happy ending 45 minutes into the movie (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

Yi’s retelling of his story is complete … He reconnects with his wife and plans on leaving China as soon as he can (Source: Shapley 2019, p.1).

[But this] is actually a segue into a less overtly violent, but equally painful section … [It] is haunting to watch Sun Yi struggle to rebuild his life after all he has lost … (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

… [as] the Chinese government continues to harass him (Source: Shapley 2019, p.1).

… [and he] attempts to reunite with his wife … (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

… Fu Ning, [who] acts as the emotional heart of the film. Unable to let go of an apparently immutable bond, Ning and Sun continue to return to each other in spite of Sun’s arrests and stints on the run. While Sun possesses a peaceful optimism, the full weight of the couple’s fear and sadness clearly weighs heavy of Ning’s shoulders as she is all too aware of a life as lovers, lost (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

The scrutiny that Sun’s beliefs bring upon her ultimately leads her to file for divorce while he is in Masanjia, which he surprisingly understands completely. All he wants is for her suffering to end. She sends him a letter explaining her intent to separate, and he cherishes the letter like a soldier would a photograph of a loved one, reading it every day, going so far as to tape it so it wouldn’t fall apart. During her interview, Fu breaks down and mentions that she would often look at the moon for comfort, saying, ‘Maybe the moon is the only thing both of us could see. Even though we’re not together, we could both see the moon.’ It’s incredibly moving and adds another humanistic layer to the film (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

[T]hen in 2012, while browsing Western news sites on the internet – he’d found a way to bypass China’s censorship of the web – [Sun Yi] came across a story about a letter that had been found among a box of Halloween decorations in Oregon. His letter (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

[Sitting at his laptop, h]e sees a headline and sees an image of the letter he wrote. He realizes that his letter made it across the world and has been read and is now worldwide news (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

The letter was anonymous, but he felt that the nightmare of records, arrests and harassment of his relatives hovered over him again (Source: Anon 2020a, np).

The news frightened him, but also pleased [him], because his letter would ultimately contribute to the abolition of the ‘reform through labor’ system. In the film, Sun calls it ‘the first domino to fall’ (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.79).

Masanjia provides the rare example of a minor victory in the quest for human rights in China. After news agencies around the world picked up the story Julia Keith’s mysterious letter, international and domestic pressure mounted. A ground-breaking story about Masanjia appeared in a China’s Lens magazine just a few months later, detailing horrendous scenes of torture. New York Times photojournalist Du Bin then released a series of video interviews with former inmates, and then a book, about Masanjia. Though all were promptly censored, the exposés galvanized the Chinese public in opposition to the RTL system. Shockwaves from the exposure went to the top levels of Beijing government, and in 2013, Masanjia was ordered to be closed. The entire re-education-through-labor system was dissolved, and hundreds of thousands of detainees were set free. The closure of the RTL system is a testament to impact of public exposure and international pressure. But it’s no cause for complicity (Source: Ford 2019, np link).

‘[Closing the labour camps] obviously didn’t mean the end of the illegal detention of dissidents, activists, human rights lawyers, or Falun Gong practitioners,’ Sun said. ‘There are simply other ways now: secret, black prisons or regular imprisonment’ (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.79).

Determined to continue exposing the injustice occurring in China, he decides to make a film to tell his story (Source: Cat&Docs 2018, np link).

[He] wants to keep the story going, … so [filmmaker] Lee directs him from afar as the former political prisoner uses hidden cameras and covert ops to document the Chinese government’s war on human rights (Source: Mullen 2018, np link).

This is where the movie’s filming process becomes part of the documentary itself. If it’s discovered that he’s essentially writing an exposé, he’d be endangering both himself and his family. … ‘Letter to Masanjia’ becomes something truly special in its second half. It’s tense, and there’s no way of knowing where the story is going to go, because it is being written as it is being filmed. The continuing torment from the Chinese government is even more alarming than the film’s earlier depiction of Yi’s forced labor. It shows that although he is not imprisoned, Yi will never be free under Chinese scrutiny. The government’s actions are horrifying and truly have to be heard to be believed (Source: Shapley 2019, p.1).

The bespectacled subject here is such a benign presence, it’s hard to imagine anyone finding him a threat. So it’s even more disturbing to watch him keep swimming against the tides that carried his bottle in the first place (Source: Eisner 2018, np link).

[This is] an important story, made more intense by its tight focus. … There are no reams of statistics, nor appeals to boycott Chinese-made goods. Instead we’re given a well-told account of one peaceful man’s terrible treatment … (Source: Jaworowski 2018, p.10).

… a fascinating collage of recounts illustrating both the experience of an individual and a countrywide human rights crisis. Sun begins to revisit important sites in his journey of oppression such as the Masanjia forced labour camp itself as well as underground Falun Gong printing presses (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

[There are few] … few additional interviews outside of Ms. Keith and two former guards from the Masanjia labor camp (Source: Jaworowski 2018, p.10).

… [who provide] testimonies that give meaning to all the effort of the film … [including how they] feel guilty for having had to torture people like Sun Yi (Source: Acosta 2020, np link).

A particularly affecting moment … comes in the form of an interview with a former guard. He talks about his admiration for Sun, and tearfully says despite his meek appearance, Sun is the strongest man he has ever met (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

It is heartbreaking to see the prisoner embrace his captors, forgiving them without a doubt, while they pose beside him, still remorseful. ‘That was unbearable. Chinese people torturing other Chinese people. Unfortunately, it happens in present-day China,’ says one of them. … We are talking about the early 2000s. ‘The persecution continues with more secrecy. Only the methods have changed,’ denounces Sun Yi, looking at his camera (Source: Acosta 2020, np link).

In November 2016, Sun learned of the arrest of Jiang Tianyong, the man who had also defended his case, and of the raids on his family members’ homes. He decided to go into hiding and eventually flee abroad (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

The last part [of the film] details Sun’s retreat to Indonesia … There he seeks asylum and continues to stay in contact with Lee. Lee arranges for Julie [Keith] to visit (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

Her need to meet the author of the letter that changed her life is clearly pressing (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

In March 2017, she flew to the Jakarta airport, where a car brought her and a cameraman … to a decrepit building in the northern part of the city. Outside stood a small, frail man with wire-rim glasses and a kind expression: Sun. ‘You come here so long distance,’ he said in English as he embraced her. He took her inside to his tiny apartment and showed her around (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

When she arrived … she didn’t know what to expect. ‘It was like we had this instant connection,’ says Julie. ‘He called me his sister. It was like we’d known each other forever’. They exchanged gifts. He bought her flowers, while she bought him a book about life in Oregon. She also brought him the note he had written in Masanjia, and the polystyrene tombstone. ‘He seemed really thankful to bring all this back full circle,’ Julie says. He asked her about the festival of Halloween. What happened to the pumpkins after they were carved, Sun Yi wondered. Did you eat them? Julie explained this wasn’t the custom. He also wanted to know what ‘RIP’ stood for. Rest in Peace, Julie told him. She explained that it was a message of goodwill for the dead (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

In the next few days, the pair wandered the city, sharing stories and photos of family members (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

[T]he two bond over their shared history. You really get a sense for how astonishing the whole sequence of events is when Sun reads the letter he wrote years ago. His affection for her is thoroughly apparent, as he says he has come to view her like family (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

‘I had some people tell me the people in Masanjia would be punished because I published the letter,’ she told him. ‘They told me that I should not have done that. I was always concerned that I had put you in danger.’ ‘I thank you forever’, Sun told her (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

For me, that’s the most important scene in the film, a true ode to human solidarity. It also demonstrates the value of international action. If Julie hadn’t reacted, the camps might still exist (Source: Lee in Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

After she’d flown home, Sun Yi wept when he recalled Julie’s visit. He had never imagined she would travel all that way to see him. ‘I really appreciate that she did that,’ he tells Leon Lee, in an interview on camera. ‘I don’t know how to thank her. She feels like family’ (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

Lee masterfully demonstrates how Julie and Sun have deeply affected each other’s lives despite never having met, a relationship which clearly intended as allegorical of how we, as individuals, can affect the lives of people around the world (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

Keith’s visit was one of Yi’s last experiences (Source: Anon 2020e, np link).

Shortly after his meeting with Keith, he was approached by a Chinese intelligence agent in Jakarta. [Lee wondered:] ‘Had they tracked him down because he’d given an interview to a Chinese-American dissident channel? I didn’t want him speaking to the media anymore and tried to arrange a visa for Canada. Before that was finalized, Sun died under suspicious circumstances in October 2017’ … (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

… of sudden kidney failure. His family said Sun never had kidney problems, and the hospital didn’t give concrete details of his death and rushed to have his body cremated. No autopsy was performed. These circumstances have caused Sun’s supporters to suspect foul play (Source: Geller 2021, np).

Strange, isn’t it (Source: Lee in Vuylsteke 2019, p.76)?

Unfortunately, there is no hard conclusion to the film (Source: Shapley 2019, p.1).

The facts have little hope of leading to a happy end (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

[H]appy endings are usually just gateways to more suffering (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

Reality is such that the most heartbreaking of conclusions arrives, but not before Sun Yi provides a lasting impression of resilience and justified defiance for us all to stand beside (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

‘Justice will prevail over evil,’ Mr. Sun says in the film’s closing scene. It’s a hopeful moment, but not an uplifting one. He knows, and so do we, that some movements succeed at the expense of their heroes, whose endings often aren’t happy (Source: Jaworowski 2018, p.10).

It’s a frightening world … (Source: ParrotChild 2023, np link).

… but [the film] … finds hope in the fact that some Chinese are willing to defy their government despite the severe consequences they risk by doing so, and also that international pressure can sometimes make a government change its behavior (Source: Boslaugh 2018, np link).

Sun concealed a total of nineteen letters in various shipments, yet only one has ever come to light. In a recent appearance at the Cambridge Film Festival, Leon Lee described the film as another letter, and the audience may choose whether they want to follow in Julie’s footsteps or that of the other eighteen recipients. Despite the harrowing reality of the forced labour and paranoia in which Chinese dissidents continue to live, Sun and Lee imbue the documentary with a sense of faith and optimism. Recently qualified for the 2019 Oscars, Lee’s documentary … package[s] huge human rights issues into an intensely personal and important film. Julie and Sun perfectly illustrate that being ‘ordinary’ does not stop a person from doing something extraordinary (Source: Frangleton 2018, np link).

It was a grey Sunday afternoon in 2011, at my home in Oregon. My daughter was four years old, turning five the following week. For the first time, she was old enough to plan the details of her own birthday party and I couldn’t wait to see her excitement on the day. She was born in late October, and so she decided she wanted a Halloween-themed party. I had actually found most of the decorations we needed to pull off the party on sale at Kmart the year before, and so they were waiting in storage. So discounted were these accessories that I had enough left over to give her three extra presents to unwrap next week – cheapie things, but still, it was exciting. I walked up the stairs to the attic – my daughter bouncing up alongside me – to unpack what would be the party’s centrepieces: a 17-piece ‘Totally Ghoul’ branded set of foam tombstones. I opened the big box and started passing her pieces of the convincing-looking ‘stone.’ Then, from between two tombstones, a folded-up piece of paper fell on the floor. My daughter picked up the note and handed it to me, thinking it was part of the instructions. Neat handwriting in English and Chinese filled the lined, white note paper; one of the edges was ripped. I didn’t know it then, but it would wake me up from my sheltered life and make me realize how much my actions affect people all around the world. ‘…If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization,’ it read, detailing punishments and abuses of people in a place called Masanjia. ‘Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.’ The fall air suddenly turned icy. My daughter couldn’t read yet but she could read my face, riven in concern and bewilderment. The letter’s steady tone of voice belied the shocking horrors it described. Tortures? Punishment? Innocent believers, put in prison? Thousands will thank and remember me? Who wrote this note? How did it get into this box of Halloween decorations? In an age of misinformation and wild publicity stunts, I needed to verify this before I believed any of it. A Google search turned up what I hoped it wouldn’t. Masanjia Labour Camp is known as ‘a place of nightmares’ among Chinese dissidents, and it appeared the note was going easy in its description. I learned that human rights defenders and spiritual believers such as Buddhists and Christians who won’t fall in line with the Chinese Communist Party’s way of thought are sent to these places for ‘re-education,’ a euphemism for brutal torture, sexual abuse and brainwashing until they sign a contract promising they would change their beliefs. I realized I couldn’t stand by and do nothing (Source: Keith 2018, np link).

Julie had quite an effort to get the letter publicized. Government agencies were not interested. Finally, her local paper printed the story and the letter and it caused a news firestorm around the world (Source: Lee in Anon 2018a, np).

[When] she read the comments below the online news reports … [m]any strongly criticised her. By releasing the note in full – with its reference to the exact unit and department of the labour camp in which the author was held – she’d made a serious error, these commenters said. Surely now the whistleblower would be identified by the authorities and singled out for extra punishment? ‘It crushed me,’ Julie says. ‘I felt like, at that point, I maybe had done the wrong thing. I felt terrible but I just kept referring back to the letter – this is what the writer wanted. He wanted me to publicise this’ The self-doubt kept nagging at Julie, however. But then, in mid-2013, she was contacted by the New York Times. The author of the note slipped in among the Halloween tombstones and skulls had been tracked down. And he had a message for her. … ‘The New York Times contacted me and told me that they had been in contact with him and that they were doing a story, external,’ she says. He’d written another letter – this time, it was just for her. In it, he wrote ‘that he was very glad that I publicised the letter – that’s exactly what he wanted’, Julie remembers. ‘I was so thrilled – to know that he was alive, for one, and that he was proud of me and just knowing that I did the right thing’ (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

[But w]hen different people, in particular the media, were asking Kmart for a statement, they never questioned that this was actually hidden in their own product. … If anyone tried to put this [letter] in their packaging in any way, you’d think Kmart would do an investigation. They would at least try to acknowledge that, because that would look far better than sourcing potentially labor-camp-made products. [Kmart] never questioned whether this letter was legit (Source: Lee in Yan 2018, np link).

It’s often impossible for US companies to know whether slave labor is being used in making their products. Because they hire manufacturers that then subcontract to labor camps to meet demand, ‘it’s really hard to document,’ said [Amelia] Pang author of [Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods]. Companies either don’t ask the manufacturers if they subcontract to labor camps, or accept whatever the manufacturer tells them without investigating. ‘When I went to China to follow trucks from these labor camps to see what manufacturers they went to, one went to an Apple factory,’ Pang said. Still, she added, ‘you need a lot of hard evidence at one particular camp. Because there are no witnesses who made it to the US who can safely talk about it,’ US authorities ‘can’t do anything.’ After the [Sun Yi’s] Totally Ghoul SOS made headlines in 2012, Sears Holding – which owns Kmart – said it found ‘no evidence that production was subcontracted to a labor camp during a recent audit of the factory that produced the Halloween decoration’. Yet, Pang said, ‘no evidence’ often just means that the production records no longer exist. ‘Their Global Compliance Program only requires suppliers to maintain time card and payroll records for ‘at least one year,’ ’ she explained. ‘Julie’s Halloween decorations sat in her shed for two years before she opened them. When I asked Sears Holdings if its auditors were able to access records from the relevant years during its investigation into the note Julie found, the spokesperson told me the company had ‘no further comment’ ’ (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

[But] Sun Yi had not only been contacted by the New York Times, but also by Leon Lee, a Canadian director with a record of covering human rights abuses in China. Sun Yi agreed to be the subject of a film and began sending Lee footage of himself. He understood this was an enormous risk (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

Like many people, … I had read the story about the woman who found this note, because it had quite a bit of international media coverage. I contacted her, and the more difficult part was to find the author of the letter in China (Source: Lee in Anon 2018b, np).

[Interviewer Sophia Yan:] Why do you think Sun Yi decided not to reveal his identity to the New York Times when they found him in 2013, but to do so many years later? [Director Leon Lee:] He was still very concerned about his own safety, and he wasn’t ready to appear on camera, or reveal his full identity, or to tell his full story. But he certainly wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to tell people what happened. He was still struggling, because he was trying to lay low, not to cause any potential problems for his family. In the end, he decided it was a good compromise to use ‘Mr. Zhang,’ and hopefully that would guarantee safety. And nobody ever did find him after that New York Times article (Source: Yan 2018, np link)

Leon Lee is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker who explores stories about modern China that can’t be told within Chinese borders. His documentary Human Harvest, about illegal organ harvesting, has been viewed by millions, broadcast in more than 25 countries, and received the 74th Annual Peabody Award for Documentary (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

How did director Leon Lee come to know the story and find Sun Yi? During production on his previous [Human Harvest] documentary about human rights in China, [he] … became interested in the story of a Chinese political prisoner who made international headlines when his SOS note was found in Oregon. First, he contacted Julie Keith, the American woman who found the note, then put the word out through his personal network of activists and dissidents in China that he was looking for the letter-writer (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

Because of my research for Human Harvest, I knew that Masanjia was one of the most notorious labour camps in all of China. I simply had to find out who this remarkable person was who was able to bring the world’s attention to the horrors practised there (Source: Lee in Anon 2018a, np).

Lee says he was able to track Yi down because, while researching and getting footage for his Human Harvest documentary, he developed a network of reliable sources in China. ‘Those people put me in contact with Yi but it took three years (Source: Anon 2018a, np).

Finding Sun Yi wasn’t easy. He was interviewed by CNN and the New York Times in 2013, but he’d concealed his identity. By the time I approached Leon about this project, he had already been looking for Sun Yi for a couple years without success. There were probably no more than a half dozen people in the world who knew his real identity or where to find him. But we did, and the rest was history (Source: Ford 2019, np link).

Fortunately, Yi knew who I was,’ Lee says. ‘He had seen [Human Harvest] clandestinely’ … [and] was eager to testify (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

[He] was already working on an autobiographical book … and was eager to reach a wider audience with his story, so [Sun and Lee] decided to team up and make a documentary (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

[Interviewer Katarzyna Wierbol: I think that [this film] shows the courage Sun Yi had to have to put himself so exposed to what he believed in. What do you think motivated him? [Director Leon Lee:] I have no doubt that his beliefs and his belief in the principles of Falung Gong, or truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, had a huge impact on his perseverance and determination to expose crimes and act to stop persecution. Especially the truth. During my conversations with him, I felt that he really believed in the truth. He believed in the power of truth. He believed that people deserved to know what was really going on. I think that was the motivation for him. He also believed that if truth, compassion and tolerance are not endorsed or even permitted in society, what will his future be? His goal was to tell people the truth and that’s what he did. When you watch and listen to his story, you can really see it. His courage and values are very clearly presented (Source: Wierbol 2020, np link).

The problem was that I couldn’t return to China myself – since Human Harvest, I’d been labeled a traitor on official websites (Source: Lee in Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

I’d be in prison in China if I weren’t here in Canada making films … so I wasn’t able to be there with him. So the first problem was that he was not allowed to make a film like this there, and number two, he’s not a filmmaker (Source: Lee in Anon 2018b, np).

The key was to let Sun film himself and direct from a distance (Source: Lee in Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

[So] Leon Lee … helped him buy camera equipment … (Source: Jaworowski 2018, p.10).

… [and] teaches Sun Yi to use [it] via Skype (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

[Interviewer:] Please tell us what camera(s) you shot with primarily – and any other special equipment that you used and why you used it. [Director Leon Lee:] Filming was mostly done covertly by Sun Yi on a DSLR and iPhone. This equipment was used because filming of this nature is banned in China and very dangerous, so it had to be kept secret for the safety of all involved. A DSLR and iPhone do not draw suspicion from the police who patrol the streets, it helped the cinematographers blend in and look like tourists. … In addition, hidden cameras were employed in order to capture uncensored interactions between Chinese authorities and dissidents inside China (Source: Sima Studios 2019, np link).

Filming was mostly done covertly by Sun Yi and his friends … [who] requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

For over a year, Sun Yi secretly captures harrowing footage of his daily life as a human rights defender, leading up to his tense run from the Chinese authorities (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

[S]o there is authenticity and immediacy with that, that came from all this hand-held footage (Source: Lee in Anon 2018b, np).

I gave him a brief course on how to record the shots and sound, and [also] how to compress the encrypted recordings to send them to me (Source: Lee in Anon 2020d, np).

Every few months, Sun Yi would send the footage to Canada on an encrypted drive through delivery methods that can’t be disclosed (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

Obviously, he couldn’t use FedEx or China Post, so he had to copy the recorded footage onto a hard drive, which he sent to a friend, who sent it to another friend, and finally to Lee in Canada. Sometimes it took four months to receive the hard drive, which was encrypted in such a way that he only had one chance to enter the correct password, and only when the director had the drive in his hands did Sun Yi tell him the password (Source: Anon 2020d, np).

When the drive would arrive, Lee would send an encrypted text to Sun Yi confirming delivery, then Sun Yi would send the password. This protected against the footage being intercepted by Chinese authorities. The decryption method was such that the entire contents of the drive would be wiped if all the decryption information was not entered correctly. This made retrieval very stressful. Luckily, all went well and no footage was lost during this process (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

In total, he received four hard drives, but [Lee says] ‘unfortunately, we weren’t able to unlock all of them’ (Source: Anon 2020d, np).

What inspired the animation? Sun Yi was an avid reader of traditional Chinese graphic novels from a young age, and often practiced drawing in the book margins to hone his skills. He kept a sketchbook detailing some of the darkest moments he experienced in the Masanjia Labor Camp … (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

… [and had] started working on a graphic novel about his time in Masanjia (Source: Lee in Anon 2018a, np).

Sun Yi … turned out to be a talented graphic artist, and was able to capture key experiences in deft line drawings (Source: Eisner 2018, np link).

I was always thinking about the reenactment knowing that, if not done well, it could look very wrong and counterproductive and one day over a second meeting with Yi he mentioned he had kept a sketchbook. Well, I had no high expectations, okay, a sketchbook, until he showed me the artwork. I was completely blown away … He said every part of him wanted to forget, but he knew he had to remember. So he started doing all the sketches about his experiences in Masanjia, right, then we decided to use animation based on his own sketches to show his experience … [Because] the animated part [is] based on his own drawings … hopefully the viewers get a very authentic look into his life (Source: Molly Stillman // Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder? 2019, np link).

[These scenes] provide a visual and emotional account of Sun Yi’s memories of Masanjia, something that could never be captured on film but is so important to share (Source: Anon ndd, np link).

This is something to which the comics medium – as much as the cinematic medium – is particularly disposed, according to Hillary Chute. In her book Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form, Chute alludes to the functional usefulness of hand-drawn images in bringing human rights violations in secluded or shadowy corners of the world to light; an act of aestheticized witnessing that even photojournalism cannot achieve when access to such places is limited or prohibited (Source: Diffrient 2020, p.92).

It’s rare … that the subjects of [human rights] documentaries are actually the ones filming them (Source: Shapley 2019, p.1).

[That’s because a] lot of footage of interviews with subject matter experts ended up on the cutting room floor. I and my team realized during the editing process that Sun Yi, our main character, was so strong and compelling that the story needed to be told by him, and about him, rather than by authorities. So the film naturally changed directions once we realized the strength and singularity of Sun Yi’s character (Source: Lee in Sima Studios 2019, np link).

[Interviewer Sophia Yan:] To go from choosing not to reveal his identity [to the New York Times] to doing something so personal, this documentary … what do you think changed for him? [Lee:] Good question. Obviously, I can’t speak for him, but my impression was he felt (comfortable), No. 1, working with me, given my track record of Chinese human rights issues, and No. 2, because this was going to be a feature film, it allowed him (the ability) to tell his full story in a way that might create impact, and that was worth the risk. I think that’s how he felt, from my conversation with him (Source: Yan 2018, np link)

Before his arrest, Sun Yi had been an engineer for an oil and gas company. His troubles began after a chance meeting with a group of people exercising outdoors near his home in Beijing – they were practising Falun Gong, a spiritual movement loosely based on Taoism and Buddhism, and Sun Yi soon joined up. Falun Gong was initially tolerated by China’s communist authorities after its emergence in the early 1990s, but after a few years they began to see the movement as potential threat, because of its growing size. Criticisms began to appear in the state media, prompting some 10,000 practitioners to take part in a silent protest outside the ruling Communist Party’s Beijing headquarters in 1999. The movement was banned soon after that (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

In the summer of 1999, everything changed for China’s seventy million or so Falun Gong practitioners. Introduced in 1992, the spiritual movement had grown rapidly by emphasizing common sense ideals: truthfulness, compassion, and morality. However, due to its size and independence from the state, … (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

… [it] began to worry Jiang Zemin’s government when its number of believers, some 100 million, surpassed that of the Communist Party (Source: Anon 2020a, np).

1999 marked the beginning of a long propaganda-based smear campaign … (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

… a relentless publicity campaign against Falun Gong, branding it an ‘evil cult’ (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

[Its] practitioners persecuted … (Source: Taormina 2018, np link).

… [and] soon had to practise in secret, risking prosecution and arrest (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

Tens of thousands of Chinese citizens disappeared into prison camps for one or two years without trial. … Rewards of up to 5,000 yuan (500 euros) were offered for reporting suspected Falun Gong members (Source: Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

The regime has also been that hostile with other religious denominations in the country. This is the case of the Uighur Muslim population, whose children are separated from their families to be placed in re-education centers. The Christian population in China is also exhaustively controled, with constant arrests, church closings and prohibitions. Through the Three Autonomies movement, the government is trying to increase the control over the functioning of the churches, forcing them to install video cameras and symbols of the Chinese Communist Party (Source: Anon 2020e, np link).

Sun Yi began working to restore his countrymen’s freedom of belief by running underground print shops distributing information about the regime’s officially sanctioned propaganda. Sun Yi was jailed over a dozen times for his activism, including … (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

… [i]n February 2008, during a crackdown in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics … Arrested during a raid at an underground press, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. That is when he was taken to Masanjia, a ‘re-education through labour’ camp in the north-east of the country that housed criminals as well as dissidents and political prisoners. While he was there, his wife wrote to him telling him she wanted a divorce. She and other relatives had been harassed and detained following his arrest, and she knew that members of her family would fail background checks – and therefore be unable to get jobs – as long as she was married to him (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

It’s a successful form of psychological terror … Most Chinese activists are willing to sacrifice a lot for their ideals, but as soon as their loved ones are taken from them or their commitment suffers, doubt sets in (Source: Lee in Vuylsteke 2019, p.76).

Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong defended Sun Yi and secured his release after two and a half years (Source: Anon ndb, np link).

He and his ex-wife were [also] planning to remarry and leave China together, but then a fresh crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners began. Police raided Sun Yi’s ex-wife’s home and told her to contact them if she saw Sun Yi. Before long, Sun Yi was arrested. While he was in custody, though, his health began to deteriorate, so he was released on health grounds – and he took the opportunity to flee to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, with help from Leon Lee. Life was tough there. Sun Yi applied for refugee status, but as an asylum seeker he was unable to work. He couldn’t contact his wife for fear of getting her into trouble with the Chinese authorities. Living off his savings, he spent his days learning Indonesian and English. It was at this point that Julie flew out to meet Sun Yi. Lee, who’d put them in touch, would be there to film the encounter (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

[Interviewer Molly Stillman:] Can you tell us at all anything you know about his death and the events surrounding it? [Director Leon Lee:] Yes here are the things we knew: one, that the official cause of death was acute kidney failure but he had no kidney problems before. Prior to his death there was a Chinese man who we highly suspect was a Chinese agent that contacted him basically demanded him to stop the work on the film … Yeah, and one day I was editing the film I received this message that’s when he had been hospitalized and he was in critical condition and when I tried to contact him he no longer remembered who I was. … There are many probable causes but personally the most one was that he was poisoned. … I was doing, you know, … screenings all over the world, in the Canadian Parliament, in the European Parliament. Imagine after the screening of the film it was Sun Yi standing there telling people his his story. It would be much much more powerful … So I think there is certainly reason to silence see him, yeah, yeah, absolutely (Source: Molly Stillman // Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder? 2019, np link).

[Interviewer Molly Stillman:] I mean you only met him in person once but you obviously Skyped regularly and he became a friend to you. How did his death affect you? [Director Leon Lee:] It was it was devastating, oh, because I was, not not only I was in contact him for so long, I was staring at him in the editing suite every day. And whenever I needed more some details to be clarified, I would simply shoot him a message. For example, I wanted to know what the spool looked like when he was making these decorations in Masanjia camp or what what they were eating, you know, in all this detail and he would send me a reference picture or describe it to me. So even after he passed, on one day I was trying to find out a particular detail and automatically I took out my phone. I was going to send him a message and very soon I realized ‘no!’, you know, and I probably shouldn’t send the message anymore. So it was it was very hard for me. I also kept asking myself – was this the right thing to do? What if we didn’t do the film, you know? It is all worth it? Um, and all that. At the time actually we were working very hard to secure him a visa to Canada and the US but these things took time, you know, see it was too late. So for long it was, it was very hard to even process all this information because this was not how I planned to end the film. Yeah, if you remember it, there was a shot of Sun Yi and Julie walking in this business park, yeah, with a statue in the end … in a park in Jakarta and that statue, I was told by the locals, … represented victory. Well, so in my mind the two of them walking towards that statue, and becoming smaller and smaller, that’s how I intended to end the film, yeah. So it’s certainly not something we planned and I just I just feel this huge obligation now to make sure we do everything we can so people know his story, people are inspired by his story and take action (Source: Molly Stillman // Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder? 2019, np link).

The expansive narrative I initially set out to tell about Masanjia couldn’t compare to the story and the character of this one, remarkable man. … Sun Yi’s is a hero’s legacy: his risked his life repeatedly to tell the world about human rights abuses. The film he helped make lays bare not only the horrors of the labour camps, but of China’s Orwellian surveillance state. He was a living example of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s rejoinder to ‘live not by lies.’ But Sun Yi’s greatest triumph was in never losing his humanity in an inhumane system. Despite being hated and vilified in his own country, Sun Yi never gave in to hating. He befriended his torturers, and maintained through it all a deep gentleness and an almost unreal faith in the goodness of his fellow man. His story reminds us that resistance to totalitarianism does not always require dramatic feats of courage. In a system pervaded by lies and violence, small acts of decency and grace are the ultimate form of rebellion (Source: Ford 2019, np link).

[Interviewer:] What do you want audiences to take away from your film? [Director Leon Lee:] People that have previewed the film have told me that they believe it has the power to turn the tide for China’s human rights. On the road to achieving that, one goal is to get as many people to see the film as possible, so they are touched by this story and feel compelled to help in some way, including by sharing it and getting others to watch it. I want people to understand that real change comes about for China’s human rights situation when the international community makes it extremely clear to that regime that we know exactly what they’re doing and will not stand for it. This has been demonstrated time and time again and should motivate viewers to take action, no matter how small. You never know when your small action will have a huge effect like Julie’s did. [Interviewer:] Please list key points that should be covered in a post-screening discussion. [Director Leon Lee:] Sun Yi’s wish was to expose the ongoing persecution of millions of people in China. His story is one story, so I often bring up the bigger picture which is that hundreds of millions have likely already been killed in this political and religious persecution since 1999, and still it continues. Second is what to do about it. Awareness is the first step toward change. Everyday people, ordinary members of the public have enormous power, more than they realize, and can exercise that power via media, social media, their elected officials, and by communicating to the companies they buy from that they will not stand for the Chinese regime’s behaviour and that they expect justice freedom and fairness (Source: Sima Studios 2019, np link).

[Letter from Masanjia’s director Leon] Lee will be in attendance at the festival screenings Sept. 22 at 5:15 p.m. at Eau Claire 4 cinema [in Wisconsin, USA] and again on Sept. 23 at 2 p.m. at Eau Clair 3 cinema and he will lead a question and answer forum after each screening (Source: Anon 2018a, np).

A FILM of ‘significant importance’ [Letter from Masanjia] with a following live streamed question and answer session with the director is due to be screened by Settle Stories on Sunday. … The screening will be the second film as part of Settle Stories ‘Lazy Sunday Afternoon Film Club’, where people can enjoy a film and a cup of tea in the charity’s new venue the Joinery, behind Ye Olde Naked Man cafe. The film will be followed by a live question and answer session with film Director Leon Lee that will be live streamed into the Joinery. Settle Stories director, Sita Brand, says it will be an opportunity for people to find out more about how the film was made which is in itself a fascinating story. … ‘Here at Settle Stories we love celebrating and telling Craven and Yorkshire stories but we also enjoy bringing international stories from across the globe to Settle for our audiences as well’ (Source: Tate 2019, np).

Barcelona, 8 may … ‘Letter from Masanjia’, by Leon Lee, will open the 23rd edition of DocsBarcelona on the 19th, a documentary film festival that will run until May 31, this year with online distribution through the Filmin platform. … [Its] diffusion … will have a special character since it will be broadcast during prime time on TV3’s ‘Sense Ficció’ program and will reach viewers’ homes via the small screen, coinciding with the population’s confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic (Source: Anon 2020c, np).

Prime Video has released its TV and movie lineup for August 2022 – and there are some big projects that subscribers will still be able to watch. … All the movies and TV shows coming to Prime Video in August 2022: August 1 – … Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero (2016) King Arthur (2004) King Kong (1976) King Of Knives (2020) Kingpin (1996) Leaving Las Vegas (1996) Letter from Masanjia (2018) Line of Descent (2019) … (Source: Spencer 2022, np).

A very quiet, dignified, little film that will haunt you with the horrific cruelty and disregard for human life and dignity shown (Source: McMullan 2023, np link).

I will say, there are parts that are extremely difficult to watch. They are animated, but these scenes depict the unthinkable torture that Sun Yi experienced while imprisoned in Masanjia. So, this is not a documentary to watch with young, young children. I do think it would be okay to watch with teenagers or older kids who you can have an age-appropriate conversation with about these difficult, but important topics (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

The animated scenes, which before viewing might seem out of place, work perfectly (Source: Green 2018, np link).

It’s remarkable how the film exists – directed by a Canadian without setting foot in China (because he can’t), shot covertly by confidential camera operators on iPhones, and with the active involvement of a subject who was under constant threat of government persecution. It’s radical, daring stuff (Source: Bertram 2018, np link).

You can’t make up a story like Letter from Masanjia … It’s both unbelievable and inconceivable. It has to be a documentary because the story would otherwise seem too far-fetched and contrived (Source: Mullen 2018, np link).

[It’s] an absolutely incredible documentary. It was gripping, powerful, emotional, and convicting. I felt anxious… nervous every minute (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

It’s an hour and 14 minutes long and every minute is gripping (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

[R]iveting (Source: @reelasian 2018, np link).

Very raw (Source: @rojanillo 2020, np link).

Soul stirring (Source: danalfjorden 2019, np link).

Shocking and painful. Very necessary (Source: @moreno_silvia 2020, np link).

I was completely wrecked by the end (Source: Treviño 2022, np link).

This ripped me apart (Source: BirdsBleak 2022, np link).

I’m not someone who is easily moved to tears when watching movies or documentaries but this really broke me (Source: dina20 2019, np link).

[I]t affected me in ways I can’t even begin to explain (Source: Stillman nd, np link).

Tears mix with anger, anger is joined by sorrow, but then a voice is heard telling us to fight through and turn sorrow into joy (Source: @功野伸-d2b 2020, np link).

So moving, so cruel, so sad. You can’t help but feel the helplessness and terror, but also the inspirational courage, conviction, and determination. It’s a wild ride, with some very touching moments. A well made film, but there is little happiness here (Source: gfnpnc 2024, np link).

It’s sh*tty world (Source: @oscarguallar 2020, np link).

On April 12, 2019, the ACT Human Rights Film Festival, an annual celebration of international social justice films held in Fort Collins, Colorado, hosted … Leon Lee, whose most recent documentary, Letter from Masanjia (2018), was part of that year’s programming. … As members of the festival’s programming committee, we had already witnessed this moving testament to Yi’s indominable spirit, which is conveyed not only through animation but also through talking-head interviews conducted after his release. However, we were unprepared for the affective spell that this film would cast over its audience at the Lyric (Fort Collins’s only arthouse theater and cohost of the festival since its launch in 2016). Throughout the first half of that screening, our fellow festival attendees gasped, sobbed, and shook their heads in disbelief, particularly during animated sequences that illustrated otherwise unrepresentable moments when Yi was mentally and physical punished for his earlier practice of Falung Gong (Source: Chung & Diffrient 2021, p.1).

I went into the documentary for the politics. I was blindsided by the love and courage of Sun Yi had for his family, the guards who tortured him, his fellow countrymen who were also being persecuted by the government, and also with the courage and persistence of Julie Keith who didn’t give up. I don’t think I ever cried so hard in a film (Source: hongcte 2020, np link).

Mind blowing & heart wrenching, who can not be touched by such a courageous gentle soul, I’m totally moved by you Sun Yi and devastated at the personal price you’ve paid in exposing such horrendous treatment of a fellow human being 😓 (Source: McGregor 2019, np link).

Because the film focuses on Sun Yi, I naturally saw him as an individual, making it easier to think, ‘This kind of thing could happen to me or my friends and family,’ giving me a stronger sense of empathy (Source: suzie19 2019, np link).

I was immediately drawn in by Sun Yi’s story and his willingness to risk everything… literally EVERYTHING, in order to do what he felt was right and bring these human rights violations to light (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

The price for denouncing the repression of the Chinese government and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has been very high: torture, exile, and death. And it seems that the filming of #LetterFromMasanjia put Sun Yi’s life in danger (Source: @altaWeu 2020a, np link)?

Was his sacrifice worth it? Is the documentary more valuable than the work and resistance he would have continued if he hadn’t died (Source: @altaWeu 2020b, np link)?

A person like Sun Yi … can end up being a reference and a driving force for change. A good person, full of love and freedom, who helps make the world a better place (Source: @aensrub 2020, np link).

What a tough story, my goodness. Freedom above life (Source: @ele_crz 2020, np link)!

So sad that Sun Yi passed away! : ( (Source: Wu 2019, np link).

World should never forget #SunYi. Thank You #JulieKleith (Source: @asbarri 2020, np link).

[I]t left me with a heavy heart and made me keenly aware of the horrors of communism (Source: @hkj751 2020, np link).

This movie is a huge slap in the face to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

This is exactly why two million Hong Kongers are willing to spend their time to protest against China suppression on their freedom of democracy. … [It] is [s]o gut-wrenching in that it makes you wanna join the Hong Kongers to protest against China’s oppression although you are not a Hong Konger (Source: teddy-kkk 2019, np link).

F*ck communism (Source: ariel 2018, np link).

No one should have to suffer like Sun Yi and his family did. Stalin was reported to say that the death of one person was a tragedy and the death of a million was only statistics. This amazing documentary reminded me that there is a story behind those statistics, and the story of Sun Yi is one of unbelievable courage, persistence, and suffering. It made me realize how important freedom is, and why we must always stand up to brutal regimes that want to take them away. I cannot recommend this documentary enough (Source: hongcte 2020, np link).

[By s]trange coincidence … just as I was about to watch this doc my tele’s BBC World News was announcing that President Trump & President Xi were getting together at the G20 Summit. Our leadership’s foreign policy for countries using imprisonments and killings of citizens who want basic freedoms is guided by monetary bottom line interests. Presidential polices (accompanied by letters of friendship) popular with despotic, autocratic regimes in Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Russia, Turkey & of course China. Ironic that a letter from one of these countries should show up in the U.S., and Oregon of all places (Source: westsideschl 2019, np link).

Sun Yi was a godly human being. Karl Marx was a self-proclaimed satanist and communism is bona fide satanism, anti-human. anti-love. Socialisms goal is communism. This is the communistic technocratic future we all need to fight against that will force us reject all things natural, spiritual and forget the true meaning of love. Behind China’s CCP Party are the same global paedo elites who run everything. If we don’t fight it now we will all end up in a global China. Stop buying chinese products (Source: Jairath 2019, np link).

Here [in Spain] we also have political prisoners. Chinese autocracy is not unique (Source: @terragroga 2020, np link).

#LetterFromMasanjia, puts an entirely different spin on why we need #MadeInAmerica (Source: @2mjxoxo 2022, np link).

Penal labor isn’t unique to China; the US, controversially, allows it under the 13th Amendment, which forbids slavery or involuntary servitude, ‘except as punishment for crime whereof party shall have been duly convicted’ (Source: Laneri 2021, np link).

[Letter from Masanjia] really puts thought into that ‘Made in China’ label (Source: abel nd, np link).

This true story is just so well made and really make you think twice about supporting products ‘Made in China’ (Source: teddy-kkk 2019, np link).

This really made me think about how many everyday items have their roots in so much pain and suffering (Source: troychan55 2025, np link).

After watching this movie one becomes more aware of the choices one makes when buying cheap Chinese goods (Source: boleslawwolowik 2023, np link)!

It’s important for people to consider who made the products they are buying. If you can buy local, buy fair trade. Consider the people who are working to make our things. As unfortunate as it is child labour, forced labour, underpaid work, etc. is still very common in our world (Source: Alina 2018, np link).

The issues of human rights and slave labor are not a bunch of ‘stories’ that are portrayed in dramatic movies or sensationalized on the news. This is really happening. People are really being abused, tortured, taken away from their families, and more… JUST TO MAKE THE THINGS WE BUY. I don’t want to over dramatize this, but it really is something I am so passionate about (Source: Stillman 2018, np link).

When one thinks of China these days, images of endless factories producing cheap knockoff merchandise may leap to mind. But this doc’s fleshing out of the actual circumstances surrounding the wealth of foreign products we enjoy illuminates the reality of the conditions and the overarching heinous ongoing political situation which has since evolved to renditions, black sites, home invasions, and clandestine foreign assassinations (Source: RigelDC 2019, np link).

This documentary also made me think even more about the conditions that people may be working in China and around the world just so we here in America and other western countries are able to buy ‘cheap goods.’ Is that cheap Halloween decoration really worth someone’s life? Is that cheap t-shirt really worth someone else being separated from their family? Is that cheap home decor really worth the abuse of a human being? Is it (Source: Stillman 2018, np link)?

It’s sad that, starting with such an interesting, raw, and human true story, the documentary is completely incapable of conveying any emotion or feeling. The only redeeming parts are those that recount the protagonist’s experience in the labor camps, because the animated sequences at least manage to evoke some emotion. But the rest of the documentary is cold, distant, and meandering without a clear idea of ​​what it wants to say. And well, the last five minutes feel like they were lifted from a tearjerker on a Spanish TV show (Source: Dani 2020, np link).

[I w]as completely on the docs side until they brought up that the guy is a part of Falun Gong :/ Do I think China is guilty of workers right abuses? Yes. Is it wrong to persecute people and put them in camps even though they’re in a cult? Yes. However, the doc didn’t do enough in my opinion to fully explain the Falun Gong cult and their beliefs to be truthful and felt like propaganda (Source: Lennon nd, np link).

[This is b]ald Faced propaganda trying to convince a Western Audience that Falun Gong is a legitimate organization (Source: Lennon 2025, np link).

This is a complete fluff piece for the reactionary far right cult, Falun Gong. These types of movies are made to manufacture consent for Western citizens solely. Westerners in general are so propagandized against China, and the CPC, that these types of ‘documentaries’ simply confirm those orientalist biases. Even though Falun Gong is one of the most illiberal groups around (racist, apocalyptic, colonial romanticization), anything to own the communists is worth it though I guess lol. This movie is highly manipulative, instead of factual, documentary footage that would at least require someone like me to actually consider the judgements of the film, we are given highly anecdotal information in the form of animated hand drawn slides? Any filmmaker worth their salt who has a strong political agenda to cement would not waste this much time without showing the hard evidence. I guess China is just SO powerful that it is impossible to even get a good, identifiable shot of the prison facility. Not only that, this movie makes the common lazy man approach to ‘corroborating footage’ in a doc by trying to use loosely thematic B-roll footage in juxtaposition of their statements, i.e. shooting shots of police and other non-sequiturs giving the emotional impression that there’s a looming threat. Also this man has really bad English? How did he write that letter in prison so well when he was likely less fluent and under such stressful conditions?? I do appreciate the hand drawn slides for what it’s worth. But the politics are so blatantly anti-communist it is cartoonish, treating the audience like feeble minded drones who only consume politics like the soccer mom in the beginning. The film has all the hallmarks you’re looking for in an irrational, anti-communist story from the ‘they are so evil they hurt THEIR OWN PEOPLE!!!’ to the ‘not prisons, they’re labor camps!’ and last but not least ‘Commies don’t just have power in China, but they have SECRET police all over the WORLD waiting for dissidents’ … They also try to play up the notion that this man’s letter put pressure on China to make labor reforms??? Lol give me a break, as if one letter is enough to influence the politics of any state, I know for a fact that intentional misreadings of Communist policies is one of many ways western news spins stories (Source: Hegel’s Film Curator 2023, np link).

I am disappointed in the lack of information about Falun Gong and somewhat misrepresentation of the (hyper-conservative, homophobic, racist tendencies) religious group (Source: lenacrist 2025, np link).

[T]he falun gong were linked to the promotion of far right conspiracy theories, but no one deserves to be tortured and forced into inhumane labor sun yi faced (Source: Maria Isabella 2024, np link)!

I wish the film had delved more into what makes Falun Gong seem so threatening to the Chinese Communist Party. The historical background section, though effective in setting up the film’s more personal story, is only about 5 minutes long. The only information the film provides is that at one point, Falun Gong had more official members than the Communist Party, which prompted laws against the religion and a propaganda campaign accusing it of promoting violence. The full context might be absent because director Leon Lee has made another documentary about the persecution of Falun Gong devotees, Human Harvest, and he didn’t want to retread ground from his previous work. Or maybe he wanted to leave the audience with questions so that they will research the situation themselves. The Falun Gong Wikipedia deep dive is there for those who want it (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings – which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance – and learned the five exercises have experienced uplifted health and well-being. Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice. Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith. There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry. Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa (Source: A Falun Dafa practitioner in South Australia 2021, np link).

i know many critical reviews are more based on falun gong and that the doc didn’t address it[,] but i don’t think that’s the focus of the doc (Source: Melissa 2023, np link)!

[Julie Keith’s] realisation of the horrors and exploitation of the global marketplace is … a sentence that touches on probably the biggest underlying terror of the whole film – not the secretive brutality of the Chinese state, but the complicity of global brands and retailers in freely exploiting this cheap source of labour (and of course that happens as much in American prisons as anywhere else) (Source: Munro 2021, np link)!

The movie sometimes unnecessarily cut to the story of Julie … Her story added very little factually and felt more like filler scenes until we cut back to Sun Yi. Leon Lee in the Q&A mentioned that he cut most of other interviews he filmed with other practitioners because he found from his test screenings that people liked Sun Yi’s story and felt that adding other interviews made the documentary seem all over the place. Therefore, I don’t understand why Leon Lee thought it was a good idea to keep so many scenes with Julie in the final cut and also starting the film with a shot of her sort of confused the audience about what the message of the film was (Source: Maria B 2018, np link).

[But i]t’s not just Sun Li’s story – or, for that matter, all of those unfairly targeted by China’s oppressive regime – it’s a global story, because it’s one that implicates all of us. Western consumerism is represented in the figure of Julie Keith, an Oregonian woman who happened across a note from Sun Li in a box of Halloween decorations – on a gravestone, in almost too-poetic symbolism. The scenes late in the film where Julie and Sun Li meet are intimate, moving moments of human connection in a film that is otherwise fraught with whistleblowing intensity. Julie is a crucial part of this story, as a reminder both of how western habits prop up the engine of Chinese economic injustice and of how individuals can make a difference (Source: Bertram 2018, np link).

One criticism I have … is that the B-roll scenes of Julie Keith’s family appeared a bit stagey. The scenes with Sun Yi and his wife Fu Ning appeared less so, but that might be due to the language barrier. When a minor early scene in a movie like this feels like it’s ‘for the camera,’ it makes you question the authenticity of the rest of what you’re seeing (Source: Keller 2018, np link).

The documentary periodically intersperses [her] family, eventually converging their stories and bringing the housewife and the prisoner together in a conclusion that feels much more contrived than it surely should have been (Source: Acosta 2020, np link).

Th[s] meeting … is one of the most emotional moments of #LetterFromMasanjia but it raises a dilemma: was it essential to hold the meeting, considering the risk it entailed? Could it have been filmed without jeopardizing Yi’s safety (Source: @altaWeu 2020c, np link)?

BIG DILEMMA 🙏 (Source: @josep_dedalt 2020, np link).

[What] irritated me was the woman’s idea to show Sun Yi the letter that had so much painful history. After escaping that life and sacrificing so much, the man was given back the painful memory (Source: hannahdiver 2018, np link).

Sun Yi wrote 20 letters. Only one was publicized – by Julie Keith. What happened to the other 19 letters that he risked his life to write? And what if Julie Keith simply ignored the letter, or didn’t go through the trouble to publicize it? Then what would happen to the hundreds of thousands of people kept in the tiny labor camps? So even a little thing, like what Julie Keith did, sometimes can mean a lot (Source: Yan 2018, np link).

[Letter from Masanjia is u]tterly heartbreaking, devastating, surprisingly heartwarm[ing] due to Sun Yi’s boundary pushing strength (Source: abel nd, np link).

I was completely shocked at the end when it’s revealed that Sun Yi died in Indonesia. I remember, you know, watching this whole film and I just kept thinking ‘Wow, oh my goodness, what a powerful story.’ How brave he was and like looking forward to seeing his redemption story. And, then when it pops up at the end that he died in Indonesia, I remember it just took, it literally took my breath away. I mean, I immediately started crying and couldn’t believe it (Source: Stillman in Molly Stillman // Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder? 2019, np link).

[This film] has the most depressing epilogue text you will ever read. Utterly heartbreaking, devastating, a former prisoner of Chinese labour camp, sets out to make a film that will expose his country’s inhumane practices (Sourfce: Sofiarobbins 2022, np link).

[A] smart and gentle man withstanding the unscrupulous horror of the Chinese government’s relentless crackdown on free thinkers (Source: omnisteve 2018, np link).

A man with such endurance and compassion really touched me. He was peaceful and strong even when facing brutal torture (Source: lilianzmusic 2022, np link).

When he was long time tortured, he kept encouraging himself: I am still breathing, so why I give in? He defend his belief to traditional values with his life. Salute to hero Sun Yi, his family and all anonymous contributors (Source: freeofspirit 2018, np link).

I am saddened by his story, but also deeply moved to know that through his actions he was able to set hundreds and thousands of others free through exposing the horror of what happened in these labour camps. It truly is an inspiring story that shows the true power and will of the human spirit, and the amount of subjugation and turmoil that comes from standing up for what you believe in (Source: mogulumi 2024, np link).

Sun Yi was an embodiment of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of fascist evil. I truly pray that your pain and suffering will not be in vain Sun Yi and that this documentary gets the recognition it deserves (Source: dina20 2019, np link).

[But] Lee’s decision to have the dissident[Sun Yi] tell the bulk of his story through talking-head segments – and the occasional black-and-white animation – doesn’t prove the most compelling (Source: Lau 2018, np link).

Yi’s uncinematic subtitled delivery might present an obstacle to the film’s accessibility (Source: RigelDC 2019, np link).

[T]he film’s format is not particularly appealing, [but] it must be taken into account that it was made possible because Sun Yi himself risked his life by filming his daily life with a hidden camera (Source: Acosta 2020, np link).

[T]he perseverance on show should leave viewers inspired to learn more … (Source: Lau 2018, np link).

… but [its] lack of options for activism leave a viewer that much more hopeless (Source: RigelDC 2019, np link).

[On the film’s website, there’s a tab called] Take action. A cricial cause. Citizens of China are currently being denied the basic freedoms of belief, speech, assembly and press, and can be imprisoned, and even killed for trying to exercise these rights. Tibetans, Christians, human rights defenders and above all Falun Gong practitioners, like Sun Yi, are targeted for such abuse. The voices of these populations are so rarely heard due to censorship in China, where the risk of speaking out is extremely high. Letter from Masanjia is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands who have been persecuted and are wrongfully imprisoned to this day. It was Sun Yi’s wish that this film open people’s eyes to how the Chinese government truly treats its citizens. The persecution of Falun Gong in China is one of the largest and most severe cases of human rights violations in the world. China honed brutal methods of brainwashing on the Falun Gong population such as forced labor, physical torture and organ harvesting and now appear to be using these tactics on the Uyghur Muslim population by the millions. The UN, human rights organizations, US Congress and many around the world are in an uproar and the situation continues to deteriorate. This means there has never been a more crucial time to act on this injustice. As we learned with Sun Yi’s SOS note, the Chinese Communist Party’s attitude towards dissidents can be affected through public pressure from outside of China. Please join our mailing list to be a part of the action. You may also contact us by email at info@flyingcloud.ca (Source: Anon nde, np link).

Apart from going on a journey with Sun Yi, and learning how remarkable this man is, the other message in this film is to take action. Whatever injustice you experience, if you’re passionate about, do something about it, instead of only talking about it. [If you only talk about it], you never know. You never know what’s going to happen (Source: Yan 2018, np link).

Important lessons can be learnt from Yi Sun, Fu Ning and Julie Keith: stick by your beliefs, never give up hope and act on things that you believe to be wrong (Source: Green 2018, np link)!

I went to the premiere in New York and was totally amazed by every element of this documentary (Source: zhanglin-75282 2018, np link).

You need to see [it] – see what so many are going through in China – especially as we consume so many products built in labor camps – DO IT, WATCH IT (Source: @MikeMercer 2022, np link).

I had no idea this film would break my heart and make me cry, said the late-50s father of two accountant friend who came to see it with me. If you don’t like documentaries, go see this. If you have to grind your life to a hault to make it happen, see this. It’s such an amazing story and will paint a different picture for you of the things you buy, the way things work in not-free countries, and how things really can work if we pay attention and try a little harder to make the world a better place. A quiet mom in Oregon changed China’s labor camp system policy. Think about that (Source: ZumbaConnoisseur 2018, np link).

Letter from Masanjia … was screened on April 27, 2018, at the 25th Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the largest of its kind in North America. The audience gave the film a lot of positive feedback. … Many … said they were touched by the film, not only because of what Sun suffered for his belief but also because of his courage to film it and present it to the public. They said his sense of calm and ability to forgive really moved them. Several expressed their hope that Sun and the others would remain safe and that the suppression in China would end soon. Des Maynard, a construction contractor, commented on the importance of the film. ‘More people need to see this. I also expect more media coverage on it,’ he remarked. He said he had done business with China but that he was not aware of how serious the issues there were. He learned that the real situation is much worse than what he thought. ‘I am thinking about what we can do to help,’ he said. ‘Falun Gong brings health and peace. The persecution is totally wrong.’ Filmmaker Erin Kökdil saw the introduction to the documentary and then watched the film. ‘From the introduction, I thought the film would have a happy ending, that is, that Sun would rejoin his family. Apparently, the communist party changed everything,’ she said. Brian, a cancer researcher in Toronto, said the film gave him some new perspectives on China. ‘I feel like our understandings of China are like a blind person’s impression of an elephant – hard to see the entire picture.’ He said the documentary was unprecedented and powerful. He was impressed that the letter had such a huge impact and, like a catalyst, helped end the labor camp system in China. His girlfriend Ha-Doan, a manager in a firm, had read about the letter in the Halloween decoration several years ago. In the film she learned about the torture Sun endured in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp and yet saw how he was able to maintain a positive attitude. She said the words in the letter touched her. ‘He [Sun] is honest and kind and seems to harbor no negative thoughts’ (Source: Yun 2018, np link).

After the film [screening at the University of South Australia], local practitioners further introduced Falun Dafa and the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and showed some of the products sold in stores that are produced by forced labor in China. Through an interpreter a Falun Dafa practitioner told her story – how she was illegally sentenced for her belief in a forced labor camp and in prison. … University professor Frank Grutzner said that the reality shown in the film was shocking. He said, ‘The persecution has not stopped. On the surface, although the reeducation through labor system had been abolished, the CCP is still using other methods to detain and persecute people. The international community still has a lot to do. We must continue to speak out and act.’ After watching the film, Lorraine, a retired nurse, found the organizer and asked to show the film in the community where she lives. She said she knew that Falun Dafa practitioners are persecuted. Her daughter and son-in-law worked and lived in China many years ago and witnessed the beginning of the persecution. Lorraine has been telling people about the persecution carried out by the CCP over the years, including live organ harvesting. At first, some of her relatives and friends did not believe her. She said that she couldn’t help crying. ‘People should watch this precious film. We should tell more people to pay attention to and stop the persecution.’ Audience member Simon said that the film truly recorded the ongoing persecution, which shocked him. He said, ‘I saw a persistent force in the author (Sun Yi) of the letter. He was very strong in his heart. He had to bear the persecution that others could not bear for his faith, and even made those who participated in the persecution of him cry in admiration and tears. It’s very touching.’ Margo from Poland said that her grandfather was tortured and murdered in a concentration camp in Poland run by the Nazis. She said, ‘At that time, we complained loudly and called for help but few people believed us or offered help. Now the evil labor camp is used by the Chinese Communist Party to persecute the Chinese, we must not be silent!’ Margo invited her friend Mr. Hu to watch the film. He is studying discrimination and persecution of religious beliefs in the world. After viewing the film Mr. Hu said, ‘People should enjoy freedom of religious belief. All countries in the world must safeguard the free development of religious belief groups and preserve religious traditions and culture. Governments of all countries are also responsible for protecting freedom of religious belief by law, and cannot suppress and persecute any religion or belief at will’ (Source: A Falun Dafa practitioner in South Australia 2021, np link).

After the film screening [to the Falan Dafa Club at Boston University, USA], Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao shared her personal experience. She said she was illegally persecuted twice, in 2002 and 2006, at the Masanjia Labor Camp. Ms. Zhao said that she refused to renounce her belief in Falun Dafa, and the police repeatedly tortured her, including tying her arms behind her back and hanging her up by her toes; forcing her to sit cross-legged for more than 10 hours; and in the dead of winter, wearing only two layers of thin clothing, being locked in solitary confinement and handcuffed to an iron chair for nine days, causing her entire body to freeze and her legs to swell. Later, she was forced to go on a hunger strike in protest, and eventually her life was in danger. She said that at that time, every second felt like a year. ‘Every time I was tortured, I thought of others, and I couldn’t let other Falun Dafa practitioners suffer the same pain as me. I wanted to use my actions to tell the police that this kind of persecution is useless against Falun Dafa practitioners,’ Ms. Zhao said (Source: Anon 2019c, np link).

Sun and the victims’ heart-wrenching accounts in the film have left Taiwanese audience in shock and tears. Su Hsun-Pi told media after watching that she admires the persistence and courage of Sun to inform the world of the human rights violations in China. National United University Professor Chang An-shen said that Taiwanese people take these freedoms for granted, but it’s not the case in China. ‘Letter from Masanjia’ is now in theaters in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung (Source: Anon 2019b, np).

It reached even me, a Japanese person in Japan. The Chinese Communist Party, truly, is outrageous. Unforgivable (Source: @randomyoko 2020, np link).

I was surprised to see that Tokyo and its surrounding cities were not included in the release schedule. Is there pressure to avoid releasing the film in large cities (Source: @freeeasytips7365 2020, np link)?

Please, please [screen] it nationwide. I live in Hokkaido and don’t have many opportunities to see it. More people should see it (Source: @ottersmall5358 2020, np link).

I want to see it too, so please broadcast it nationwide. I want as many people as possible to see it so that everyone can learn about the evil of the Chinese Communist Party (Source: @ramuu5coco 2020, np link).

Screenings in Kanto have ended, but you can still watch it in Kansai and other areas (Source: @AngelEternal_Q 2020, np link)!

I want to see it with my whole family, so I hope it’s shown in more places. Japan has also been bought over by the Chinese Communist Party, and I’m worried about the future of our children. I want my children to experience the horror firsthand, and I want them to share it with their friends from a child’s perspective. I want to save those who are being persecuted, even if only indirectly (Source: @toki_kana 2020, np link).

#LetterfromMasanjia arrives at a moment when the world is once again questioning the Chinese system and demanding accountability for the spread of #Covid_19. To this demand for transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights, China always responds with threats (Source: @ori_uri 2020, np link).

On February 18, 2025, a screening of the documentary film *Letter from Masanjia* … was held at the Haeundae Cultural Center in Busan [South Korea]. This was the eleventh event in a nationwide series of free screenings … (Source: @Q6n3zmzUAMOONLj 2025, np link).

… and the audience was moved to tears (Source: @Jefflee8084Lee 2025, np link).

After the audience … in Daegu, South Korea … watched the 75-minute documentary many said they were indignant about the CCP’s atrocities. Mr. Sun’s sincere wish for people to live a peaceful life and his words, ‘justice will eventually prevail over evil,’ resonated strongly with them, and some wept. When the news of Mr. Sun’s death from sudden acute renal failure came at the end of the movie, many people sighed. Some viewers wiped away tears as they walked out of the theater. Some asked for the film to be screened in the their areas. Many people actively participated in the hashtag campaign, uploading photos and leaving messages about the film on social media. The audience expressed their respect for Falun Dafa practitioners in their messages: ‘Although Sun Yi has passed away, his message has remained in the hearts of people all over the world. Freedom, human rights, and liberation need everyone’s attention.’ ‘I hope the spring of freedom will come to China soon.’ ‘Once precious things are lost, it is difficult to find them again. We must do our best to protect them.’ ‘I hope such cruel human rights persecution will not happen again, and I pay tribute to Sun Yi’s tenacious spirit.’ ‘Thank you for making such a sad and warm movie. I hope more people can gain freedom through this movie.’ Swi Leon-ing choked up and said, ‘I usually pay more attention to human rights issues. I just came here to watch casually, but when I heard the news that Sun Yi died two months later, I couldn’t help crying. Freedom is like air, everyone should have it, but how precious is the value of freedom? It can connect people and help us resonate with each other. This movie made me deeply realize this. I hope more people can see this movie, let those who are suffering get attention, let more truths be revealed, and more people can be free. I will recommend this movie to everyone I know.’ … Kang Seok-jung, deputy representative of CUCI (Confucius Institute Disclosure Campaign), said, ‘If communism and socialism cannot be eliminated as soon as possible, China will not be able to truly become a partner on the world peace stage. Everyone who has seen this movie should become a disseminator of the message and promote it with a strong sense of responsibility.’ He also said, ‘This is the fifth time I’ve watched this movie, and I am deeply moved every time. I will continue to recommend it to my friends.’ …Writer Ko Ye-na said she was very interested in modern Chinese history, ‘I know that the CCP persecutes Falun Dafa practitioners. When the number of practitioners increased, they were put into re-education camps and suffer torture, forced labor and exploitation, but I didn’t expect it to be so cruel. As a novelist, I hope to incorporate these issues into a novel so that more people can learn about the issue. I plan to recommend this movie to people around me and share it on social media.’ When student Lee Seung-jun read the post about the film on Instagram and realized the theater was close to his home, he decided to see it. He said, ‘I like documentaries, and I know many brave people in China are making these films. Every time I watch these films, I feel amazed. I think people should see them and pay attention to human rights issues. This film is excellent, and it’s not just for a specific audience, but for everyone. I hope those who are suffering can feel that people are supporting them.’ Shin Jin-sook was deeply moved. She hopes these human rights abuses stop, and said with emotion, ‘Sun Yi is really amazing for writing letters despite the persecution.’ … Jo Ji-young said, ‘Seeing those people suffering in the labor camps, but still yearning for freedom, and living strong to spread the truth, this unyielding will is very touching. The whole world should unite to help them regain their freedom’ (Source: A Falun Dafa practitioner in South Korea 2025, np link).

The Q&A [after a screening in Taipei, Taiwan] covered a wide range of topics, including the filming process, how long Sun Yi stayed in Indonesia, the Xinjiang re-education camps, and the Chinese public’s views on Falun Gong. The last two questions were also quite interesting. One person asked: ‘I’ve heard there are many fifth columns in Taiwan. Is the director worried about being disappeared during promotional activities?’ Another person followed up: ‘If there were spies present, would the director have anything to say to them?’ (Source: suzie19 2019, np link).

[Director] Lee told [us] how the [Chinese Community Party] … interfered with a 2019 showing of ‘Letter From Masanjia’ in Seattle. ‘A student organization organized a screening of ‘Letter From Masanjia’ at the University of Washington and the Chinese student association there sent an email to their members encouraging a protest,’ said Lee. ‘We all know the Chinese student associations have close ties to the Chinese embassies or consulates and often take directions from them.’ Lee said the Chinese students from the association that attended ‘made a scene’ (Source: Lenczycki 2022, np link).

But going back to the film’s ideas and aims, it definitely succeeded in clearing up stigma around the art of Falun Gong. Lee himself said that after a screening in Vancouver Chinese exchange students came up to him to thank him for making them see the truth (Source: Maria B 2018, np link)?

[The Director] said that comparing the two periods since he started making documentaries in 2006, the mentality of the Chinese people has changed dramatically, with a widespread awakening among the public. … However, the domestic environment in China is harsh, and encouragement from people outside of China is even more necessary. Even if we cannot provide them with direct assistance, we can still offer them encouragement. There are still many capable and patriotic people in China … who are doing everything they can to fight for their rights, so giving them some help might be a way to solve many problems. Recently, when I’ve heard Chinese people (or people who have had close contact with Chinese people) say similar things, I feel that since they can still hold onto hope, why should I despair (Source: suzie19 2019, np link)?

[Letter from Masanjia] is what they should show in schools. Not Black Adder the fourth as I was shown in history class. This film is so valuable and I can’t wait to watch his other films (Source: Webb 2019, np link).

I would gladly show, and have shown similar movies in the past and then parents complain that you have shown their child something violent or horrific and how dare you do that. Then you end up in big trouble (Source: Margot 2019, np link).

I’m not saying this shouldn’t happen, but if you air this documentary, I hope you also air another documentary about the repressive atrocities of the USA against a specific American individual (Source: @Jd49311218 2020, np link).

The movie is hard to find and heavily suppressed (Source: boleslawwolowik 2023, np link).

[P]lease make it into a DVD and sell it (Source: @takakoarima9420 2020, np link)!

Letter from Masanjia. DVD-R. … £49. … Region 1 encoding. (This DVD will not play on most DVD players sold in the UK [Region 2]. This item requires a region specific or multi-region DVD player and compatible TV. … Note: you may purchase only one copy of this product. New Region 1 DVDs are dispatched from the USA or Canada and you may be required to pay import duties and taxes on them (Source: amazon.co.uk 2025, np link)!

This is the kind of film that should be shown on terrestrial TV (Source: @小林利成-l9s 2020, np link)!

Please support the brave people behind this important documentary and rent it out on Vimeo for just $3 (Source: dina20 2019, np link).

Hi… I am able to view only 2 minutes of this, and then I get ‘Unfortunately, this title is unavailable in your region’ (Source: Steve & Leslie 2019, np link).

How can I watch this movie online in Brazil (Source: @anapaulaamaral1514 2022, np link)?

Get a VPN (Source: @FreddyKrueger-u9q 2023, np link).

[It] keep buffering. I have followed all instructions. display quality, update flashed player internet speed test, tried to contact. Keeps buffering. I quit. going to buy elsewhere. Can I have a refund please (Source: Margot 2019, np link).

I’m surprised it has so little reviews (Source: gfnpnc 2024, np link).

By watching this documentary you become a better person. The story of the main character is almost indescribable – incredibly strong person, a true hero with a golden heart and truly unbreakable spirit (Source: boleslawwolowik 2023, np link).

[Sun Yi] I will do my personal best by SHARING your story your fight and your most beloved memory – this even in death your fine works continue 🌈 (Source: McGregor 2019, np link).

For human rights campaigners, the relevance of Sun Yi’s story hasn’t diminished. When the re-education through labour system formally ended, Amnesty International said many camps were simply renamed prisons or rehabilitation centres, and that dissidents and Falun Gong followers continued to be held in them, often without trial. Torture remained ‘widespread’ in cases considered politically sensitive, including those of Falun Gong practitioners, the organisation reported in 2015 (Source: Kelly 2018, np link).

Today, a new sign hangs over the gates at Masanjia, just as they do at scores of other camps all across China. Now renamed the Masanjia Ward of Liaoning Women’s Prison network, the camp is slowly filling again (Source: Ford 2019, np link).