Editing Laogai (section)

== History ==

=== Maoist era ===
During the 1950s and 1960s, Chinese prisons, which were similar to organized factories, contained large numbers of people who were considered too critical of the government or "[[counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]]". However, many people arrested for political or religious reasons were released in the late 1970s at the start of the [[Deng Xiaoping]] reforms (known as [[reform and opening]]).

In the 21st century, critics have said that Chinese prisons produce products for sale in foreign countries, with the profits going to the PRC government.<ref>"[http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/062305/index.php Forced Labor in China] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725093726/http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/062305/index.php |date=July 25, 2008 }}."  [http://www.cecc.gov/index.php?PHPSESSID=1ef899de3778f7f35c747b76f11d11fb Congressional-Executive Commission on China].  Retrieved on 2008-10-16.  [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:22613.pdf Full transcript] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111052436/http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:22613.pdf |date=November 11, 2008 }} of the roundtable session available.</ref>  Products include everything from [[green tea]] to industrial engines to [[Coal in China|coal]] dug from [[mining|mines]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4515197.stm |title=China's 'reforming' work programme |access-date=August 20, 2008 |work=BBC News |date=May 11, 2005 |author=Tim Luard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304081137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4515197.stm |archive-date=March 4, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>  According to James D. Seymour and [[Richard C. Anderson|Richard Anderson]], who both teach at Chinese schools,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~jds3/Lectures&lecturers/Seymour%20resume/CV%20basic.html |title=Curriculum Vitae |access-date=2023-06-19 |website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fabbs.org/our_scientists/richard-anderson-edd/|title=Richard Anderson, EdD – FABBS|date=August 30, 2016 }}</ref> the products made in laogai camps comprise an insignificant amount of [[mainland China]]'s export output and gross domestic product.<ref name="washington times">{{cite web | url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/14/china-labor-camps-on-trial/ | work=The Washington Times | date=November 14, 2008 | title=D.C. museum 1st in U.S. to look at Beijing's prison system | access-date=December 12, 2008 | last=Buffard | first=Anne-Laure | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609185437/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/14/china-labor-camps-on-trial/ | archive-date=June 9, 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref> They argue that the use of prison labor for manufacturing is not in itself a violation of human rights, and that most prisoners in Chinese prisons are serving time for what are generally regarded as crimes in [[Western world|the West]]. The West's criticism of the ''laogai'' is based not only on the export of products made by forced labor, but also on the claims of detainees [[Prisoner of conscience|being held for political or religious violations]], such as leadership of unregistered [[Chinese House Churches]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thegreatseparation.com/newsfront/2004/04/house_church_pa.html|title=The Great Separation: House Church Pastor Expects Death in Chinese Prison|access-date=August 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006111820/http://www.thegreatseparation.com/newsfront/2004/04/house_church_pa.html|archive-date=October 6, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Market reform era ===
Structural changes following the introduction of market reforms have reduced [[tax revenue]] to local governments, increasing pressure for local governments to supplement their income from elsewhere. At the same time, prisoners usually do not make a good [[workforce]]. The products manufactured by prison labor in China are of  low quality and have become unsalable on the open market in competition with products made by non-imprisoned paid labor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55/322.html|author=Philip P. Pan|title=China's Laborers Pay Price for Market Reforms|access-date=August 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706112844/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55/322.html|archive-date=July 6, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1994 the ''laogai'' camps were renamed "prisons".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guchusum.org/AboutUs/ChinesePrisonsinTibet/tabid/81/Default.aspx |title=Chinese Political Prisons |access-date=August 20, 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625024206/http://www.guchusum.org/AboutUs/ChinesePrisonsinTibet/tabid/81/Default.aspx |archive-date=June 25, 2007 }} ().</ref> However, Chinese criminal law still stipulates that prisoners able to work shall "accept education and reform through labor".<ref>{{cite act |title=Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China |date=1997 |article=46 |url=http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/13/content_1384075.htm |access-date=2016-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829035521/http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/13/content_1384075.htm |archive-date=August 29, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The existence of an extensive network of forced-labor camps producing consumer goods for export to Europe and the United States became classified.<ref name=AJE21Slave>{{cite news|title=Prison slaves: China is the world's factory, but does a dark secret lurk behind this apparent success story?|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/2011101091153782814.html|access-date=May 8, 2012|newspaper=Al Jazeera English|date=March 25, 2012|format=Part of the series: Slavery: A 21st Century Evil|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509120629/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/2011101091153782814.html|archive-date=May 9, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="chongqing">{{cite web|url=http://laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2796 |title=Chongqing: China allows counsel for reeducation-through-labor cases |date=April 4, 2007 |publisher=Laogai Research Foundation |access-date=October 22, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430025922/http://www.laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2796 |archive-date=April 30, 2009 }} Translated from Chinese, original source was {{cite web | url=http://www.voanews.com/chinese/archive/2007-04/w2007-04-04-voa29.cfm?CFID=55232049&CFTOKEN=80981409 | title=中国重庆允许律师代理劳动教养案 | date=April 4, 2008 | access-date=April 4, 2007 | author=海涛 | publisher=Voice of America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-03-02|title=Uighurs in 'forced labour for Western brands'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800|access-date=2020-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617181615/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800|archive-date=June 17, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Publication of information about China's prison system by [[Al Jazeera English]] resulted in its expulsion from China on May 7, 2012.<ref name=NYTAJE>{{cite news|title=China Expels Al Jazeera Channel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/world/asia/china-expels-al-jazeera-english-language-channel.html|access-date=May 8, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 7, 2012|author=Michael Wines|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508011052/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/world/asia/china-expels-al-jazeera-english-language-channel.html|archive-date=May 8, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201257195136608563.html "Al Jazeera English to close China bureau"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508103635/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201257195136608563.html |date=May 8, 2012 }} Al Jazeera English May 8, 2012</ref>

=== Modern era ===
In 2003, the word "laogai" entered the [[Oxford English Dictionary]].  It entered the German ''[[Duden]]'' in 2005,<ref name="LRF25">{{cite web | url=http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf | title=Laogai Handbook | publisher=The Laogai Research Foundation | year=2006 | access-date=October 18, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080527202338/http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf |archive-date = May 27, 2008}} p. 25–6.</ref> and French and Italian dictionaries in 2006.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cicus.org/info/ArtShow.asp?ID=42171 | title=祝贺LAOGAI（劳改）进入意大利语词典 | author=吴弘达 ([[Harry Wu]]) | date=January 19, 2007 | access-date=December 12, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213173117/http://www.cicus.org/info/ArtShow.asp?ID=42171 | archive-date=February 13, 2012 | url-status=dead }} English summary: "[http://www.cicus.org/info_Eng/artshow.asp?ID=7138 Congratulations! Laogai entered Italian dictionary!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213173126/http://www.cicus.org/info_Eng/artshow.asp?ID=7138 |date=February 13, 2012 }}"</ref>

[[Harry Wu]] has written books, including ''Troublemaker'' and ''Laogai,'' that describe the system from the 19(?)0s to the 1990s. Wu spent 19 years, from 1960 to 1979, as a prisoner in these camps, for having criticized the government while he was a young college student.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2003/cr_harry_wu.html|title=Exposing Laogai: Harry Wu Speaks At AIM Luncheon|access-date=August 20, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070610072617/http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2003/cr_harry_wu.html |archive-date = June 10, 2007}}</ref> After almost starving to death in the camps, he eventually moved to the United States as a visiting scholar in 1985. In 1992, Wu created the [[Laogai Research Foundation]], a human rights [[NGO]] located in Washington, DC. In 2008, Wu opened the [[Laogai Museum]] in Washington, D.C., calling it the first ever United States museum to directly address human rights in China.<ref name="washington times"/><ref name="taipei times">{{cite news | url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2008/11/10/2003428244 | work=The Taipei Times | access-date=December 12, 2008 | date=November 10, 2008 | author=Agence France-Presse | author-link=Agence France-Presse | title=US museum displays China's 'laogai' | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117112908/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2008/11/10/2003428244 | archive-date=November 17, 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="press release">{{cite web|url=http://www.laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=3216 |publisher=Laogai Research Foundation |title=Press Release: Laogai Museum Now Open to the Public |date=November 13, 2008 |access-date=December 12, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122061900/http://laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=3216 |archive-date=January 22, 2009 }}</ref> In 2008, the Laogai Research Foundation estimated that approximately 1,045 ''laogai'' facilities were operating in China, and contained an estimated 500,000 to 2 million detainees.<ref name="LRF6">{{cite web | url=http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf | title=Laogai Handbook | publisher=The Laogai Research Foundation | year=2006 | access-date=October 18, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080527202338/http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf |archive-date = May 27, 2008}} p. 6.</ref>