Book: LAOGAI THE MACHINERY OF REPRESSION IN CHINA
Peter Terpstra
Introduction by Andrew Nathan
Foreword by Harry Wu
Edited by Nicole Kempton and Nan Richardson
An eloquent and vivid summary in shocking, never-before-seen photographs
smuggled out of the People Republic of China, LAOGAI exposes the human rights
record of the world’s most authoritarian state—a nation whose own remarkable
transformation has not extended to its people’s basic demands for freedom.
From the coal mines of Sichuan to the giant plantation farms of Zheijang, the
vast spiderweb of the Chinese prison system has its tentacles into every
corner of the country, with over 3 million slave laborers working to make the
economic miracle happen. With essays from leading Chinese scholar Andrew
Nathan and leading dissident Harry Wu, this book discusses the wide range of
challenges China faces: from freedom of expression to religious choice, from
police brutality to state execution, as well as controversial issues like
torture, organ trafficking, forced sterilization, and more.
This carefully researched book, with a comprehensive timeline, recent Chinese
history of human rights, reading list, and resource information including
lists of banned books, websites, contro-versial art, and more. Further, in
tales of eye-opening horror, heartbreak, and heroism, as dozens
of former prisoners of the Laogai share their individual stories and reveal
the pain and dirt that underlies China’s shiny modern surface.
Moving and disturbing, LAOGAI gives lie to the notion that China is headed to
democratization, and urges that on the occasion of the People’s Republic’s
60th anniversary, we take an honest look at human rights in China, with the
chilling knowledge that despite advances, the apparatus of control and
oppression in this last great communist power remains unchanged.
From:
http://www.umbragegallery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/laogai_pr2.pdf
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Amnesty International Report 2009 on China:
http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/china