"Hunger and Rationing"

Submitted by michael.lrf on

Harry's Lunchbox, the recurring video segment in which Laogai survivor Harry Wu discusses life in the Laogai and under Communism, returns!  In this video Harry shares his experiences of hunger and rationing in the Laogai during China's years of famine and the resulting aftermath.

To put the video's figure of a prisoner's monthly food ration of around 32 pounds into perspective, most estimates put daily human food consumption at 3-5 pounds, or around 90-150 pounds per month. After 20 years of research, author Yang Jisheng suggests that 35-40 million people in China died of starvation between 1958 and 1961, including many political prisoners in China's forced labor camps.

For more videos about China's Laogai click here.