Laogai--the Chinese Gulag [Paperback]

Hongda Harry Wu (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 081331769X | ISBN-13: 978-0813317694 | Publication Date: November 16, 1992

"Avoiding sensationalism or self-pity, what Mr. Wu has given us is the unemotional and authoritative reference work long needed to complement the vivid but anecdotal accounts of individual prisoners. . . . a comprehensive . . . expose, laying out, in the greatest detail yet available, the history, policies, command structure and scale of the largest remaining communist gulag".--"Wall Street Journal". Lightning Print on Demand Title

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

When Harry Wu's home videos of the Chinese gulag were shown on 60 Minutes last September, the American public first learned the dirty secret of China's extensive network of forced labor (laogai) camps. (Earlier, the human rights group Asia Watch showed that Chinese convict labor products were being illegally exported to the United States.) Wu, himself a laogai prisoner for 19 years, is an authentic voice from the vast silence of China's hidden empire. His spare, sober account is a well-documented analysis of the several thousand forced labor camps, where an estimated 16 to 20 million Chinese, perhaps ten percent of them political offenders, labor on prison farms, and in factories and workshops, in a harsh atmosphere permeated by sadism, torture, and malnutrition. The Chinese Communists obviously learned many lessons from their Soviet comrades, whose gulag Solzhenitsyn so brilliantly chronicled. This is a unique and valuable contribution to our understanding of post-1949 China.
- Steven I. Levine, Boulder Run Research, Hillsborough, N.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Avoiding sensationalism or self-pity, what Mr. Wu has given us is the unemotional and authoritative reference work long needed to complement the vivid but anecdotal accounts of individual prisoners. . . . a comprehensive . . . expose, laying out, in the greatest detail yet available, the history, policies, command structure and scale of the largest remaining communist gulag. --Wall Street Journal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (November 16, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081331769X
• ISBN-13: 978-0813317694
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,618,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Important Story, Tediously Rendered, April 9, 2006

By 

Michael Trend "Dr. Michael Trend" (In my mountain hideout in Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Laogai--the Chinese Gulag (Paperback)

Harry Wu got caught up in the maw of Chinese politics and did hard time in the labor camps of the People's Republic. Now known as "Laogai", such camps are strewn about the more remote areas of the country, much like the Soviet "Gulags" made famous by the Russian writer, Solzhenitsyn.

The Laogai are sweat shops writ large and they produce consumer goods for consumption in the West. Ironically, one Laogai produces some perfectly charming crucifixes that are widely purchased in the United States.

Harry Wu served his time and got out. Through a twist of fate, he came as a scholar to the United States, which was happy to receive him. He has spent the ensuing years inveighing against the Chinese system and his stated goal is to make the term "Laogai" as widely known as the term "Gulag". Wu has a ways to go to accomplish his task, but "Laogai" is indeed in several dictionaries and in several langauges (e.g., German) as well.

This is an important story, but it is a piece of political/historical writing that is difficult to get through. The story is chopped up into little pieces and scattered among seemingly endless maps and tables. I know this is an academic pieces, but still, that is no excuse for bad organization and bad writing.

I want to get his biography, "Bitter Years". I hear that is a decently rendered story. The book I am reviewing here is worthy, but I think that few will want to plow though the pages to get the message.

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of the system our Liberals want for us, August 9, 2008

By 

B. West (Upstate, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Laogai--the Chinese Gulag (Paperback)

Harry does an excellent job of exposing what it's like to live inside a Socialist system. I say Socialist because there is almost no difference between Socialist and Communist, as evidenced in the writings of Marx, Stalin, and Mao (who all used these words interchangeably). Harry had a small taste of freedom through his father when he was young. As freedom evaporated all around him and his family, he began the long march into work camp incarceration and governmental abuse. Harry had the guts to fight back against a system that suppresses any idea of individual freedom. This is an excellent primer for those who wonder what life would be like should American Leftists get the 'Change' they are clamoring for.