Laogai Research Foundation
The Laogai Research Foundation (LRF) was established in 1992 by Laogai survivor Harry Wu in order to gather information on and raise public awareness of the Laogai—China’s extensive system of forced-labor prison camps.
LRF also works to document and publicize other systemic human rights violations in China, including executions and the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, the coercive enforcement of China's “one-child” population control policy, and Internet censorship and surveillance.
LRF serves as an authoritative source for journalists, researchers, politicians, and other human rights organizations on human rights in China generally and the Laogai and forced labor in China specifically.
The Museum
The Laogai Museum opened in November 2008 with the support of the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund, and is the first museum in the United States to directly address human rights in China. It is our hope that the museum will preserve the memory of the Laogai's many victims and serve to educate the public about the atrocities committed by China's Communist regime.
Address:
1734 20th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
Hours:
Monday - Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Laogai Archives
The Laogai Archives are located in the offices of the Laogai Research Foundation in Washington, DC and are scheduled to open to the public in late 2009.
Due to the suppression of free speech within China, much of the material housed within the Laogai Archives is not available to researchers in mainland China. Thus, the Laogai Archives are in a unique position to support academics, journalists, students, and activists in freely conducting research on human rights in China.
Founder Harry Wu
Harry Wu knows first-hand the atrocious conditions of the Laogai. In 1960, Wu was imprisoned at the age of 23 for criticizing the Communist Party, and subsequently spent 19 years toiling in the factories, mines, and fields of the Laogai.
He was released in 1979, and came to the US in 1985 with just $40 in his pocket. Since that time, he has traveled back to China multiple times to further investigate Laogai camps and continue his call for human rights in China.
Wu founded of the Laogai Research Foundation (LRF) in 1992 to gather information on and raise public awareness of the Chinese Laogai.