June 2016

The Story of Harry Wu

Harry Wu was a political prisoner in China for nineteen years after being labeled as a counter-revolutionary by the government. Originally from Shanghai, he was part of the so-called bourgeoisie class and was a university student in Wuhan before he was unjustly imprisoned, without even a trial. He spent much of his time working in extremely treacherous conditions in a prison mine.

Dalai Lama Goes to Washington

The Dalai Lama visits Washington D.C. this week. His Holiness spoke at length in both English and Tibetan on Monday at American University’s Bender Arena on a Peaceful Mind in a Modern World.

Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi gave the opening speech praising His Holiness for his environmental awareness back in 1989 when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

Richard Gere quoted one of his favorite Japanese poems, “under the cherry blossom there are no strangers,” speaking on his friendship with his cherry blossom tree, the Dalai Lama.

Harry Wu, Chinese labour camp activist, 1937-2016

Campaigner and gulag survivor who exposed ‘re-education’ system

 

Harry Wu, a prominent Chinese human rights activist who has died in exile aged 79, spent years campaigning to expose and abolish China’s Soviet-style work camps.

He survived 19 years in a Chinese gulag after being labeled a counter-revolutionary during the Mao Zedong-era purges of outspoken intellectuals of the 1950s and was sentenced to life in prison. In a 2013 interview, Wu said that when he was handed his sentence he felt “like an iron gate had closed behind me”.

Milpitas Post Editorial:Remembering ex-Milpitas resident Harry Wu

Harry Wu, who was brutally treated in Chinese prison labor camps for 19 years and managed to come to live in Milpitas in 1985, died at 79 last week. He battled all the years until his death to call attention to the human rights violations perpetrated in his homeland. Born to a well-off Roman Catholic banking family, Hongda Harry Wu was arrested at age 23 for protesting the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Charged as a "counter-revolutionary rightist" he was sentenced to life and sent to a series of farms, mines and prison camps where his back, arms and legs were broken.