• Goodbye M Street

    - Submitted by michael.lrf on 08/31/2010 - 15:56

    After two years at our 1109 M Street NW location in Washington, DC, our burgeoning operations are decidedly out of space.  Our Laogai Musuem has outgrown the first floor of our building, our summer interns were practically crawling over each other in the upstairs loft, and our Laogai Archives are literally spilling off the shelves.

    As such, the Laogai Museum and the Laogai Research Foundation will be moving to 2000 S Street NW in Washington, DC's Dupont Circle neighborhood (yes, this is the DC Real World house).  To prepare for some big changes, the Laogai Museum will close this October while we move our offices and construct the new museum.  Visit the Laogai Museum Blog: "Breaking Ground" to learn more about the plans for the museum, track our progress, and learn about ways you can contribute - we couldn't do any of this without all of generous supporters!

     


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    Laogai Museum | miscellaneous

  • Harry's Lunchbox: "Criticize Him"

    - Submitted by michael.lrf on 08/27/2010 - 15:42

    In this episode of "Harry's Lunchbox," a recurring feature in which Laogai survivor Harry Wu talks about life in the Laogai and under communism, Harry describes being forced to criticize a fellow prisoner - an experience he will never forget. 


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    Harry Wu | Harry's Lunchbox | Laogai

  • Spotlight on the Archive: Chinese Intrauterine Device (IUD)

    - Submitted by Jaime on 08/10/2010 - 16:56

    The Laogai Archive is a dense set of documents, full of aging papers and sepia-toned photos.  Imagine my surprise, then, in finding actual medical equipment among the records of China's family planning policies - an Intrauterine Device, or IUD. 

    The IUD is a hormone-free contraception with a complicated history - it was widely unused for the first 30 years following its invention in 1928 due to high rates of infection.  More recently they have become a relatively safe and effective long-term contraceptive method, and in China they are currently in use by 45% of married Chinese women, representing over two-thirds of all IUD users in the world.  IUDs have long been widely used in China, where the One Child Policy strictly penalizes women and families who have multiple children. 

    This particular IUD is a TCuC-S model, manufactured in the Wuxi Medical Instrument Factory of Jiangsu Province under the brand Tian Yi.  It promises to be "Sterile for 2 Years," although there is no manufacture date listed.  The documentation submitted with this particular artifact includes a birth permit issued in May of 1996.  It's a plastic model, T-shaped with 6 small copper bands wrapped around its skinny arms.  A blue filament hangs down from its base.  I am sure it is an unremarkable medical specimen, but as an American woman I find myself nevertheless struck by its presence.  (Read more after the jump)


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    IUD | LRF Archive | One Child Policy

  • Arbitrary detention: The CCP's prescription for complaining too much

    - Submitted by Katherine on 07/29/2010 - 14:32

    A recent NPR story highlights China's covert system of "black jails": facilities located inside hotels or storefronts where local or provincial government officials imprison residents who attempt to file complaints of corruption or incompetence on the part of the local government with the national government. Although the existence of these jails is an open secret in China, their extralegal nature makes it particularly difficult--even by Chinese standards--to determine what transpires inside.

    Jin Hanyan of Hubei Province traveled to Beijing to complain of corruption back home. According to NPR, "she accused her county's Communist Party secretary of corruption. For this, she says, she was sent to a 'study class' in an abandoned factory. Of course, she says, no studying actually went on in there.

    'In the mornings, they'd yell to wake us up,' Jin says. '...If you didn't obey, they'd beat you to within an inch of your life and withhold medical treatment if you got sick. They said the county party secretary told them it was not illegal to beat us to death.'"  (Read more after the jump!)


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    ankang | black jails | dissent | Jin Hanyan | Laogai

  • Foraging in the Laogai

    - Submitted by Jaime on 07/27/2010 - 11:49

    In this episode of "Harry's Lunchbox," a recurring feature in which Laogai survivor Harry Wu talks about life in the Laogai and under communism, Harry describes the many ways he foraged in the prison camp to survive starvation.


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    Harry Wu | Harry's Lunchbox | miscellaneous

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