Resources for Teachers and Students on Harry Wu

Prepare: "Laogai" is the term for a Chinese prison camp. Harry Wu, having spent nineteen years in various laogai, has established the Laogai Research Foundation, the home page of which can be found here. The purpose of the foundation is to gather information and increase public awareness of the laogai system. Spend some time surfing the foundation's website to familiarize yourself with Harry Wu's ongoing project.

Read: "The Other Gulag: China's Forgotten Prison Empire," by Harry Wu, excerpted from the National Review.

Explore: Using the internet and library resources, and mostly concentrating on current news articles (avoid BLOGS!), attempt to find data regarding the following questions:

  • "What international conventions and treaties exist today to regulate torture and abuse within a country's internal prison system?
  • "What organizations, other than the Laogai Research Foundation, exist to monitor human rights abuses within prison systems internationally? Do their reports substantiate the claims made by the Laogai Research Foundation?
  • "Other than for torture, what other ethical issues are of concern in terms of the Laogai system of prison camps?


Write: Compose a three-to-five page paper either supporting or refuting the following statement from "The Other Gulag: China's Forgotten Prison Empire": "Incredibly, Western scholars make casual comparisons of their own prisons to the Chinese. But if they bothered to learn the least thing about the Laogai, they would never utter such comparisons, which are not only ignorant but insulting."


Extend: There is an ongoing debate as to whether China, because of it's continued practice of incarcerating dissidents and other political prisoners, should be extended the privilege of full participation in international events. For example, should China be allowed to host the Olympic games? Some argue that such inclusion moves China forward in terms of a gradual acceptance of international standards, while others argue that such inclusion fails to force China to improve its human rights record. Hold a formal debate on this issue in class, making certain that all possible perspectives on the question are included.

Biography of Harry Wu