Editing Laogai (section)

=== Clothing ===
Unlike [[Re-education through labor|Laojiao]] (re-education through labor) inmates, Laogai inmates are issued clothing. Depending on the locale and its economic situation, the quality of clothing can vary significantly. Some prisoners may receive black or grey while others wear dark red or blue. Also depending on location, the clothing is available in different thicknesses. Commonly stamped on the uniforms are the Chinese characters for ''fan'' and ''lao gai'' meaning "criminal" and "reform through labor," respectively.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Philip F.|title=The Great Wall of Confinement: The Chinese Prison Camp through Contemporary Fiction and Reportage|last2=Wu|first2=Yenna|publisher=University of California Press|year=2004|isbn=0-520-22779-4|location=Berkeley|oclc=53369503}}</ref><ref name="williams">Williams, Philip F., and Yenna Wu. ''The Great Wall of Confinement: The Chinese Prison Camp Through Contemporary Fiction and Reportage''. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2004. Print.</ref> Also issued to the prisoners are a pair of shoes made of rubber or plastic.<ref name="wu">Wu, Hongda Harry. ''Laogai – The Chinese Gulag''. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, Inc., 1992. Print.</ref> These minimums do not meet the needs of the prisoners, who must purchase underclothes, socks, hats, and jackets with their monthly earnings of 2.5–3 [[Chinese yuan|yuan]] (US$0.37–US$0.44 as of April 11, 2009).<ref name="williams" /><ref name="wu" /> Jackets were rare in the Mao era and were commonly made from patches of old blankets rather than from original cloth. Washing clothes was also rare, but clothing supplies in prisons have improved since the mid-Deng-Jiang Era.<ref name="williams" />