China's Gulags

ROME, OCT. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- There still are concentration camps like the Soviet gulags and the Nazi "lagers" -- they are the "laogais" of China.

So says Harry Wu, director of the Laogai Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has been documenting the crimes and violations of human rights committed in Chinese labor camps.

Wu spent 19 years in the "laogais" for criticizing the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary.

According to the foundation, the "laogai" is a system of concentration camps, introduced by Mao Zedong to use prisoners as slaves.

This Oct. 28, Wu will attend a congress in Milan, Italy, organized by the Committees for Freedom. On that occasion, he will present the Italian edition of his book "Laogais: The Chinese Gulags." Wu spoke about his work with ZENIT.

Q: What were the crimes for which you were sentenced to 19 years of prison in a "laogai"?

Wu: I was studying geology at the University of Shanghai. I wanted to further my formation and not take part in the indoctrination activities of the Communist Youth League.

I allowed myself to criticize -- speaking with student friends -- the invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Union. Being also a Catholic and of the upper middle class, I was regarded as a "counterrevolutionary of the right."

This was the official crime for which I was sentenced to 19 years of "laogai."

Q: How were you able to endure without giving in to despair?

Wu: In my book "Bitter Winds" I explained how I spent my life in the "laogais." In the text I wrote that thanks to my stubbornness, inner strength and prayer I did not give in to despair.

I saw how many friends committed suicide, how they died of hunger or were killed. I suffered torture and forced isolation; on many occasions they also deprived me of food. And all this for the crime of opinion, because I judged the Soviet invasion of Hungary as unjust.

Q: Did your being a Catholic help you or make your persecution harder?

Wu: It certainly made it harder. To be a believer was and is a crime in China, except if one takes part in the official "patriotic Church" controlled by the Party.

Q: Why have you written the book "Laogais: The Chinese Gulags"? What do you hope to achieve?

Wu: The book is a translation of my first book published in 1992 in the United States: "Laogai: The Chinese Gulag," which brought this tragic reality to the attention of the world -- a horror which still exists.

The objective is to let the world know what happened and is happening today in the "laogais."

I often repeat that the day that the word "laogai" appears in dictionaries, as is the case of the words "lager" and "gulag," I will be able to die in peace. I have succeeded to a degree. The Oxford Dictionary and the Duden Wörterbuch have added the word "laogai." I am trying to do the same with other dictionaries.

Q: What is the situation of human rights in China and what are the conditions and risks that Catholics face?

Wu: Simply tragic. An indefinite number of millions of men, women and children suffer in the "laogais," forced to work in inhuman conditions for the sole purpose of giving profits to the Chinese government and the numerous multinationals.

But it doesn't end there. There are mass executions with the consequent sale of human organs. The exploitation of children is widespread, obliged to forced labor. The different Churches and communities of believers suffer threats and reprisals. Abortions and forced sterilizations are widespread.

There is a widespread abuse of psychiatry as an instrument of political oppression. They are grave violations of human rights which constitute the reality of present-day China! Realities ignored by the media of the free world which does not want to disturb international trade.