"To belittle what happened in Tiananmen Square is to ignore something everyone needs to know about. China." Mary Dejevsky
Modern China
For those living in the totalitarian state that is China, today is "May 35th," while for the rest of us it is June 4th. But much more important, for all of us, is, that it is the 25th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square. On that day, and with the world watching, the Chinese Communist government choose to use its mailed fist on its youngest, brightest and most idealistic citizens. Having come to power, and remained in power, through successive reigns of terror, terror was the means they chose to use, to make it clear, that they would brook no dissent. So today, the reality of what passes as representative of a modern progressive China, (apart from the Shanghai skyline), are political thugs in suits.
This concept of "May 35th" is taken from the title of a children's story by the German author Erich Kastner. It is a work of fantasy and satire, and tells the story of the boy Conrad and his journey to the South Seas. And absurd though it is, "May 35" bears witness to the Internet censorship with which the people of China have to contend on a daily basis. An abuse of power, that extends well beyond the scope of the Internet itself, and into the very fabric of Chinese society.
Harry Wu and the laogai: China's system of slave-labour
Harry Wu Captured in 1995 on his fifth return visit to China where he was secretly documenting conditions in the camps. Under severe public pressure he was released after sixty six days, and allowed to return to the U.S.
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Today the chief exponent of this all pervasive system of control and repression is Harry Wu. Born in Shanghai to wealthy parents in 1937, he has lived for many years in America, where, in 1992, he set up the Laogai Research Foundation, whose purpose was, and is, "to gather information on and raise public awareness of human rights violations in China's prison system." Then, in 2008, he opened the Laogai Museum, the only museum of its kind, whose purpose, through the use of exhibits and resource material, is to educate and encourage the public to confront "the Tragic Legacy of China's Laogai System of Forced Labour Prisons." And Harry Wu knew from bitter personal experience why his foundations were necessary.
Harry Wu showing an exhibit to the Dalai Lama during his visit to the Laogai Museum in Washington DC, October 2009: Source Wikipedia
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Graduating with a degree in geology from university in Beijing, Harry Wu, when a student, fell foul of Mao's "One Hundred Flowers Campaign" when students and intellectuals were encouraged to say what they thought of the Communist Party and society more generally. Cautious, he voiced some criticism of the Soviet Communist Party crackdown in Hungary, [Hungarian Revolution 1956] only to find himself stranded, when Mao reversed the policy and deemed those who had raised their heads above the parapet as the true enemies of the Party. For his pains, Harry Wu spent 19 years in China's forced labour prisons:
"I was twenty three, a college graduate raised in an affluent, urban family, and a political criminal. Xing Jingping, three years younger than I, was a peasant from a starving village, a thief with no education and no political viewpoint. The gulf between us was vast, yet I grew to admire him as the most capable and influential teacher of my life."
What brought this accolade from Harry Wu was, that Xing had taught him how to fight for survival in the camps: "how to dig for underground rat burrows in order to find clean cashes of grain and beans which then could later be boiled for food" so as not to die from starvation. (1)
Statistics on the scale of deaths, related to slave labour (Laugai) in China
The statistics associated with laogai (a three tiered system of oppression), are truly shocking. In 2008 the Laogai Research Foundation suggested that there were 6.8 million people still detained in a network of some 1,045 "facilities". While estimate vary, the total number of deaths since the laogai was established by Mao in the 1950s, range from 15 to 27 million.. Harry Wu suggests 15 million. Professor R.J. Rummel, the very precise figure of 15,720,000, that doesn't take account of "all those collectivized, ill-fed and clothed peasants who would be worked to death in the fields." Jan-Louis Margolin, one of the contributors to The Black Book of Communism, (1997), suggests 20 million. (2). But In, Mao: The Unknown Story Jung Chang and the historian Jon Halliday suggest that 27 million may have died in prisons and labour camps during Mao's rule.
"Mao intended most of the population - children and adults alike- to witness violence and killing. His aim was to scare and brutalize the entire population, in a way that went much further than either Stalin or Hitler, who largely kept their foulest crimes out of sight.
"More might well have been killed if it had not been for their value as slave labour. Mao said as much in one order: some people had "committed crimes that deserved to be punished by death," but they must not be killed, partly because "we would loose a large labour force . . ." * (3)
The three tiers of the laogai system are: convict labour; re-education through labour, and Juyao: a system of enforced residence, whereby as many as 70 percent of those released from the camps are required to live and work in designated areas. And the tentacles of all three aspects of laogai, are the means by which the civilian population are not just coerced, but deprived of some of the most basic of human rights.
Under this system, any citizen, can be detained (without trial), for up to three years; and on the flimsiest of charges, i.e., "not engaged in honest pursuits," or "being able but refusing to work." And such is the duplicity, that in the absence of a trial and conviction, those forcibly detained, are referred to as "personnel".And as these detentions are carried out by the local security forces, the Communist Party's central government feels empowered to deny that these detentions are politically motivated And meantime, those who have been detained (without trial) and assigned to the camps, are forced to undergo a program of re-education through labour: a program of two hours of indoctrination at the end of each days work.
Civil liberties and the Chinese Constitution
Now not only is laogai an affront to the most basic of civil liberties, but it also runs counter to China's own Constitution: to Article 35, that guarantees its citizens "freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly of association, of procession and demonstration." And yet, post Tiananmen, the Communist Party, through a series of legislative changes, has been assiduous in curtailing these liberties: by tightening the rules under which, all independent social groups, are required by law, to register with the government.
More repressive legislation, Post Tiananmen.
In 1998 China's State Council issued two sets of regulations: Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Groups, and Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Management of People - Organized Non-enterprise Units; and the thinking behind them is self evident.
(1) The number of legal requirements and time necessary in which to establish a social group were increased.
(2) The authorities were given more leeway so as to prevent the registration of selected groups, and
(3) The involvement of people in social groups who had lost their political rights, was forbidden.
(4) The controls that could be placed on social groups by their "official government sponsors", were increased, and,
(5) Funding for such groups was reduced.
A year earlier (1997) and so as to draw more people into the system of controls, the scope of what constitutes collusion "with foreign states to harm the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the People's Republic of China", was widened. Article 9 of the criminal code was amended, so as to include "foreign institutions, organizations, and individuals" as well as foreign states. So not only did the broadening of the code allow the state to regulate more public activities, but the ambiguity of the language used, also allows the courts greater latitude in interpreting a multitude of attitudes as criminal. And there was more.
In this same year, the definition of of what constitutes a counterrevolutionary crime, was changed, so as to allow the Communist Party leadership, to criminalize any activity that it chooses to see as a threat to "state security". Where previously, the crime of counterrevolutionary activity was defined as, "all acts endangering the People's Republic of China committed with the goal of overthrowing the political power of the dictatorship," it was now loosely defined as, "endangering state security." (4)
Desmond Tutu and Chen Guangcheng call on world leaders to help bring an end to repression in China and in particular, to the laogai system of oppression.
Now accepting that these legislative changes took place some 16/17 years ago, allow me to draw your attention to an article written jointly by Archbishop Desomnd Tutu and, the blind, and now exiled lawyer, Chen Guangcheng. It was published on 6 March 2013 and it was an appeal to world leaders to make the year leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre "A Year of Human Rights in China." Politely, they expressed the hope that the new incoming president Xi Jinping who had called for a ""renaissance" in China and the realization of the China dream; would be of a like mind with the "many in the Chinese leadership and media who have recognized that the dream for China can not become a reality without social and political reforms." After which they addressed the world's leaders in clear and unambiguous term:
"Since China's Cultural Revolution literally millions of Chinese citizens have been forced into slave labour camps for offences related to thought and expression. In recent times these include increasing percentages of innocents, including lawyers who tried to defend their own rights and rights of others, or ordinary public who tried to uphold their rights and were abducted and sent to jail to be persecuted; and those who have done no more than state their loyalty to their religious leader, His Holiness the Dali Lama, participate in Christian religions which have not been "authorized" by the Communist Party, or practice Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation system based on the ancient traditions of China itself.
"Reports from former inmates of the laogai camps detail prisoners living on the edge of starvation and exhaustion in infested and horrific environments, while being forced to produce commercial goods - commercial goods which we have unknowingly purchased in Western stores. Uncounted numbers of prisoners, credibly believed to be in the tens of thousands, have been executed and their organs harvested for sale, a practice so despicable it is surely beyond our comprehension.
"As we approach this historic anniversary, today's world's leaders have the opportunity to distinguish themselves from leaders of the past, who, for the sake of economic progress or in the name of "national security," have turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by Chinese leaders against their own citizenry. We ask our leaders to speak on our behalf to President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party.. Tell them what they already know - that the dream of China can be realized only when its citizens' universal human rights and dignity are upheld and respected. And that the laogai system and the brutal repression of freedom of thought, conscience and speech, the most basic of human rights, will remain a festering sore on the Chinese dream until it is addressed and removed." (5).
Human rights in China and the 2008 Olympic Games.
Now this appeal to world leaders, that they would be a beacon of light on behalf of the oppressed people of China, however well intentioned, left me feeling deeply skeptical, for I was instantly reminded of the 2008 Olympic Games. We were in Morocco when the games were awarded to China, and I recall being moved by the response when the news broke in China: of people crying openly. For me, these were tears of both joy and sadness, a cry of pain from a society that for so long had been locked out, and who, (even it they hadn't realized it, or dared to hope for it), now knew that they were accepted by the rest of the world. And I was reminded also of the fact that after the games there was disquiet at the failure of the Olympic Committee to deliver what the Chinese authorities had promised:: the free association of spectators at the games. So I went in pursuit of the Olympic Committee's report on the games and read this:
"Ultimately the games should be seen as a bridge - a bridge between countries, continents, cultures, religions and generations. The Beijing 2008 Games have surely contributed to China's opening up to the world and becoming more integrated within the international community. Through the Games, the world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world." (6)
These are the words of the President of the International Olympic Committee. Jacques Rogge, and they are taken from his introductory remarks to the Final Report of the International Olympic Coordinating Commission. And there is more, in a similar vein. But for the purpose of this blog, I want to focus on the concluding sentiment that is highlighted in the IOC report, that: "Through the Games, the world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world." And they are important words, for they appeared to find an echo in remarks made to journalists by Xi Jinping, after he was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party in November 2012:
"Friends from the press . . ."
"Friends from the press, China needs to learn more about the world, and the world needs to learn more about China. I hope you will continue to make more efforts and contributions to deepening the mutual understanding between China and the countries of the world."
These words of Xi Jinping's are quoted by Reporters Without Borders in the context of the publication of the World Freedom of Information Index, for 2014; and this is what they have to say about them:
"Woe to any journalist who thought he was saying "Describe China's stark realities" when what he really meant was "Follow the party's propaganda to the letter!" Since the speech, the authorities have arrested more journalists and bloggers, cracked-down harder on cyber dissidents, reinforced online content control and censorship and stepped up restrictions on the foreign media."
And in the context of China exporting its methods, (in that it is a model of censorship and repression in the area), they draw attention to Vietnam and Decree 72, introduced in 2013, that places severe restrictions on the use of the Internet:. What Amnesty describe as, taking censorship to a new level:
"Vietnam has stepped [up] information control to the point of being close to catching up with its Chinese big brother. Independent news providers are subject to enhanced internet clairvoyance, draconian directives, waves of arrests, and sham trials. Vietnam continues to be the world's second largest prison for bloggers. Of the 34 bloggers currently detained, 25 were arrested since Nquyen Phu Trong became the party's general secretary in January 2011.
And in respect of the World Freedom of Information Index, for 2014, China came 175th, in a list of 180 countries. (7)
Refusing to Forget
Now if it wasn't for the fact that it is the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, I would be sorely tempted to stop digging in the bottomless and depressing pit that is the history of human rights abuses in China; abuses that were, and are, both ideological and political.. But as the title I have chosen for this blog: "Refusing to Forget" speaks for me, as I am certain that it does for others, allow me to sketch out a few more current examples of abuse and suffering, that I have collected along the way. After which, and in a later blog, I will reflect, (again in the context of the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen), on the past, on the present, and on the future for China, (and for us), in the context of, A Heart for Freedom : an autobiography by Chai Ling
Liu Xiaobo and Charter 08
In 2010 Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for what the citation described as "....his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."; an award that he was unable to accept in person as he was serving an eleven year prison sentence in China. So during the award ceremony the citation and medallion commemorating the award were placed on the chair that he should have occupied. Born in 1955 Liu Xiabo studied literature and politics, and later established himself as a literary critic and university lecturer. He lectured in Europe and the USA; and was one of a number of young "intellectuals", who joined the hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, and spent two years in prison as a consequence. Later, and for daring to challenge the system of one party rule, he spent three years in a labour camp. And agaian in 2009, he was imprisoned for11 years, for endangering state security, (but in truth), for his organizing, and being a signatory to, Charter 08.Charter 08: signed by 250 Chinese intellectuals and human rights activists, was published to coincide with the 60th anniversary of The United Nations Universal Declaration On Human Rights, and among its 19 demands were calls for constitutional reform, the separation of powers, reform of the judiciary and the election of public officials. And such is the vengefulness of the Communist political system in China, that since 2010, his wife, Liu Xia, has been held under house arrest in Beijing, and with neither telephone or e-mill access to outsiders. Once a month, and with a police escort, she makes the long journey, (420 km) by train from Beijing to Jinzhou in Liaoning Province, to visit her husband. At most, they are allowed a half hour together. At first physical contact was allowed, (touching or an embrace). But as soon as Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, physical contact was forbidden and their conversations monitored. In this context, in 2012, when Liu Xia tried to tell her husband that Mo Yan (Guan Moye) had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature she was prevented from doing so. As soon as she uttered the word "Mo" the official monitoring their conversation, intervened.. Nor is she permitted to hand over her letters to him (8)
Gao Yu A no less redoubtable campaigner for human rights in China, is Gao Yu. Age 70, she was reported missing by her family on 24 April, and later, the authorities confirmed that she had been "criminally detained", and that she was "deeply remorseful" and "willing to accept legal punishment." Then, in early May, CCTV broadcast her confession. With her face blurred out and wearing an orange jumpsuit, and, as The South China Morning Post reported it, she was heard to say, (to a policeman): "I think my actions have touched on legal issues, have harmed the national interest. What I have done was very wrong. I sincerely and earnestly accept to learn a lesson and plead guilty."Her supporters were quick to dismiss this confession as made under duress, and one that would "negate any chance of a fair trial"; and in this contest they noted also, that her son, Zhao Meng, had gone missing at the same time. What she had done was leak Document No 9 that she is believe to have received, in June 2013, from a Communist Party official whom she had known from school. Dated April 2013, the document was circulated among senior Party officials. "The document is said to detail the government's vision of pushing economic reforms while maintaining ideological controls and preventing the spread of ideas such as democracy, civil society and freedom of the press." Or put another way, what the report was advocating, was a policy of active opposition the human rights agenda.
Now given this very public confession by Gao Yu, and the belief that she was coerced into making it, it is worth recalling that she has a long history of opposition to the abuse of power in China. And, as with Liu Xiaobo and many others, she continues to pay the price. When deputy editor-in-chief of the Economics Weekly, she gave her support to the Tiananmen student protests in 1989, for which, she spent 14 months in prison, and the paper for which she worked, was shut down. Then in 1993, she was sentenced to a further six years, for leaking state secrets. Since her release in 1999, she has worked as a freelance journalist. (9)
And not to be overlooked - The death penalty in China
In its, Annual Report on Human Right in China, 2013, Amnesty International drew attention to the fact that more people were executed in China than in the rest of the world put together; and for which, there are no statistics, as such information remains classified..And it drew attention also, to the fact that under current Chines law, there are no provisions that would allow prisoners sentenced to death, to seek either a pardon or commutation of their sentence. And while the report acknowledged that the death sentence on the businesswoman Wu Yung, for "fraudulently raising funds," had been rescinded, it makes it clear that the Chinese judicial system has a long way to go, if it is to comply with universally accepted standards of behaviour in respect of those condemned to death, or life imprisonment. And that section of the report that deals specifically with the death penalty ends thus:
"In November the authorities announced that a voluntary organ donation system would be launched nationwide in early 2013 to phase out reliance on organs removed from executed prisoners."
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Note: On this the 25th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square, and in support of those, known and unknown, who are still living with the consequences, as well as those who are daily suffering the injustices of the laogai system, please share the link to this blog with your friends.
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© Cormac McCloskey
Mary Dejvevsky : A profile
(1) Wikipedia
(2) Socialphy
(3) Mao: The Unknown Story .p.338
By Jung Chang & Jon Halliday
Jonathan Cape London 2005
ISBN 0-224-0726-2
(4) Laogai: "Reform Through Labor" in China
(5) Huffington Post
(6) Final Report of the IOC Coordination Commission
(7) Reporters Without Borders
Decree 72
(8) Sources: Reuters. The Guardian. Nobel Prize website, Wang Dan and Wikipedia.
Charter 08
Universal Declaration on Human Rights
(9) Sources. BBC. South China Morning Post. Amnesty International.
Links to related organizations
Lagai Research Foundation
Laogai Museum
Human Rights Watch
Reporters Without Borders
Links to interesting articles:
"This is how China treats the wife of a Nobel peace prize winner"
"History Matters Remembering Tiananmen (and Abu Ghraib) "
"Tiananmen Square Massacre: Chinese Activists Call on People To Wear Black."
Rubber Ducks
"Tiananmen Square Remembered: An Eye Witness Account"
By Mary Dejevsky for The Independent
"Re-education Through Labour Abolished Yet Arbitrary Detention Remains."
"China cracksdown on dissent ahead of Tiananmen anniversary"
By Jonathan Kaiman * * An especially good and concise report
Amnesty International Report 2013 : China
World Press Freedom Index 2014
Transparency International: Corruption Perception Index 2013
The Black Book of Communism
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