Xifeng concentration camp

The Xifeng concentration camp (Chinese: 息烽集中營; pinyin: Xīfēng jízhōngyíng) was a concentration camp in Xifeng County, Guizhou, China. Established by the Kuomintang (KMT) following the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937, the camp – the largest of the KMT's internment sites – was constructed primarily to discipline staff of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Juntong) and hold members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Initially modelled after Nazi concentration camps, it was led from 1938 through 1941 by He Zizhen, who strictly controlled prisoners and guards. When Zhou Yanghao [zh] assumed leadership of the camp in March 1941, he reformed the camp along the Soviet philosophy of "corrective labour" while simultaneously reorganizing camp administration. The camp was dissolved in 1946, and in 1988 the former site was designated a National Key Cultural Relic. Since 1997, it has been a destination for red tourism.

Under both directors, the Xifeng concentration camp had a reputation for violence, and rape and torture were commonplace. Prisoners were divided by camp administrators into a hierarchy based on their organizational affiliations, with members of the Juntong holding higher status than communists. Inmates, meanwhile, established their own hierarchy, with a group of CCP members banding together to challenge KMT rule and improve the treatment of prisoners. According to the Ministry of Culture of China, approximately 3,200 people were detained at Xifeng; of these, 600 died during their internment.