China’s Re-Education Camps
Many Chinese citizens have been placed in "re-education camps" and denied basic human rights.
Over 1 Million Detained Chinese Citizens
An estimated one million people are held against their will in China’s internment prisons. Most are Muslim Uighurs who are imprisoned and subjected to indoctrination simply for privately expressing their religious faith or cultural affiliation.
In September 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute reported 380 suspected detention facilities in the Xinjiang region where the Uighurs live. This is a 40 percent increase over previous estimates.
Amnesty International lists some of the transgressions against the country’s dictatorship that will get people arrested and held captive:
“Growing an ‘abnormal’ beard, wearing a veil or headscarf, regular prayer, fasting or avoidance of alcohol, or possessing books or articles about Islam or Uighur culture can be considered ‘extremist’ under the regulation.”
The Laogai System
Controlling the minds and thoughts of the Chinese people goes back to the start of communism in the late 1940s. The leader of China’s communist revolution, Mao Zedong, set up a huge network of prisons, called laogai, to isolate those deemed to be troublemakers.
The Laogai Research Foundation points out that the system “Is rooted in communist revolutionary ideology blended with traditional Chinese views on punishment, namely that anti-social behavior (whether criminal or political in nature) can be ‘reformed’ and eliminated through forced labor and re-education.”
In addition, there was a parallel arrangement called laojiao that was used to reform people convicted of minor crimes.
Each dot represents the location of a laogai facility.
Between 40 and 50 million people endured the harsh conditions of the laogai network. Some inmates were common criminals while others were political prisoners who were incarcerated without specific charges or a trial.
International condemnation of the laogai was persistent so the Chinese government announced in 1994 it was folding the system. But, it was an entirely cosmetic change similar to when DrivUrSelf changed its name to Hertz Rent-A-Car; same company, same product, just a different name.
Similarly, the laojiao underwent a superficial make-over in 2013.
Community Correction Centres
The laogai are now called Community Correction Centres or Vocational Training Centres, where the inmates are referred to as “Students.”
John Sudworth of the BBC was one of a group of reporters given a tour of a camp in Xinjiang, China’s western-most province. He wrote in June 2019 that it was clear the place had been recently spruced up and its security apparatus removed so that it no longer looked like a prison. In addition, carefully selected inmates had been coached in what to say.
A mild Uighur protest like this one in Berlin would land this man behind bars for a long time in China.
langkawi on Flickr
The place housed a large number of Muslim Uighurs who “said they’d been ‘infected by extremism’ and that they’d volunteered to have their ‘thoughts transformed.’ ” No doubt in the same way that habitual criminals in the United States clamour to get into Sing Sing so they can learn how to be model citizens.
Sudworth wrote about the narrative the tour was pushing:
“These people, we were urged to recognise, were reborn. Once dangerously radicalised and full of hatred for the Chinese government, they were now safely back on the road to reform thanks to the timely, benevolent intervention of that same government.”
The Reality of China’s Re-Education Camps
Until October 2018, the official Chinese government line was that re-education prisons did not exist. However, satellite images put the lie to that claim.
So, the totalitarian government of President Xi Jinping said it wished to be transparent about its internment camps, but Western reporters only get access to them in carefully staged tours.
If members of the news media approach the facilities without approval they are quickly hustled away by police. Is it possible the authorities are hiding something? Of course it is.
Mihrigul Tursun, 29, was arrested in 2017 on a charge of “inciting ethnic hatred and discrimination.” The Uighur woman was tortured while being interrogated. She got out of China and told journalists at the U.S. National Press Club, “I thought that I would rather die than go through this torture and begged them to kill me.”
Others speak of a near-starvation diet and overcrowded dormitories where people have to sleep in shifts. Then, there’s the forced labour.
My feeling toward you is an incredibly warm one.
— Ex-U.S. President Donald Trump on Chinese dictator Xi Jinping
Craig Clark on Pixabay
China’s Consumer Goods
Anybody buying goods made in China might want to consider that they are likely, at least in part, to have a connection to a system of prisons that grossly abuse human rights.
Some of the products made by re-education camp inmates that turn up in Western stores are tee shirts, sweaters, Christmas lights, and toys.
In the fall of 2011, Julie Keith in the town of Damascus, Oregon was getting ready for Halloween. As she unwrapped a new decoration a letter fell out of the package. It read “If you occasionally (sic) buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here ... will thank and remember you forever.”
The writer went on to detail how he and fellow inmates in the Masanjia Labour Camp were being mistreated. There were descriptions of verbal and physical abuse as well as torture.
CNN managed to track down the letter writer after he had been released. His “crime” was to be a follower of the spiritual movement called Falun Gong, which the Chinese government outlawed in 1999.
Tjebbe van Tijen on Flickr
World Reaction to Chinese Human Rights Abuses
China is a signatory to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights; a pledge to respect the dignity of people that, in the case of China, is utterly meaningless.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) ranks China 186th on a list of 210 government entities in its observation of human rights. Out of a possible 100 points for respecting rights China receives 14.
In its 2020 world report, HRW notes that “Under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, the one-party Chinese government tightened its grip over sectors of society it found threatening, such as the internet, activists, and nongovernmental organizations.”
International actors repeatedly call for China to honour its commitments to human rights; calls that Beijing routinely ignores.
Meanwhile, Canada, South Korea, Japan, and other countries, under the urging of corporations, are seeking free trade agreements with China.
Doing the right thing morally might cut into profits and that must never happen.
Bonus Factoids
- After 19 years of imprisonment, Harry Wu knows first-hand the atrocious conditions of the laogai. He was released in 1979 and travelled to the United States. He started the Laogai Research Foundation and lobbies for changes in China’s respect for human rights.
- Responding to a request from the United States, Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou when she arrived in Vancouver in December 2018. The U.S. alleged her company broke American sanctions by trading with Iran. In retaliation, the Chinese government jailed two Canadians who were living and working in China. Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were jailed for 1,019 days under difficult conditions. They were finally released in a swap for allowing Meng Wanzhou to return to China.
- In the spring of 1989, activists gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and called for greater human rights. On June 4, the Chinese Army opened fire on the protesters and crushed some under the treads of their tanks. The death toll was somewhere between hundreds and thousands. As many as 10,000 people were arrested and many executed.
Suggested Reading
- Top 10 Terrible Chinese Emperors
China has enjoyed many golden ages, but it has also repeatedly suffered under brutal tyrants. Here are the 10 worst Chinese emperors to have ruled the Middle Kingdom. - 10 Chinese Myths to Know Before Visiting China
Here are 10 Chinese myths and folktales to know before visiting China. Familiarity with the gods and heroes in these legends will make your visit more meaningful. - 13 Major Cultural Differences Between China and the United States
This article will help readers understand some of the most important cultural differences between the U.S. and China.
Sources
- “Up to One Million Detained in China’s Mass ‘Re-Education’ Drive.” Amnesty International, September 2018.
- “History & Purpose.” Laogai Research Network, undated.
- “Searching for Truth in China’s Uighur ‘Re-Education’ Camps.” John Sudworth, BBC News, June 21, 2019.
- “Muslim Woman Describes Torture and Beatings in China Detention Camp.” Harry Cockburn, The Independent, November 28, 2018.
- “China: Events of 2019.” Human Rights Watch, 2020.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2019 Rupert Taylor
Comments
Imran khan from Mumbai on August 14, 2019:
I respect your decision. Thanks for the heads-up. See, yet another reason why you are not a fool (as mentioned in the QAP feedback forum) :)
Rupert Taylor (author) from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on August 14, 2019:
Hi Imran
Yes, I know how some of the prisoners are tortured but I choose not to publicize them. They are the standard methods used by brutes that you can find out about by Googling the key words China and torture
Imran khan from Mumbai on August 14, 2019:
Reading the article feels utterly painful. I wonder how excruciating would the reality be for the innocent people who are suffering atrocities. My heart goes out to them. Rupert, do you have knowledge of what kind of torture the victims suffer?
