Do you ever find yourself trying to explain the Laogai to your friends and family, but don't know where to start? LRF has created a fact sheet just for you! 

"The Laogai: Exercising Dictatorship Over Dissent" fact sheet helps explain the basics of the Laogai, complete with lots of new and interesting facts -- for instance, do you know how many capital offenses exist in China today?  Feel free to download, print, and share this PDF and learn more about China's Laogai.  To download, click the image on the right.

If you still have questions about the Laogai after reading the fact sheet, please post your questions in the comments of this post  and we'll be sure to respond!

Mr. Huang was sentenced today to three years in prison, charged with possessing state secrets. According to the Washington Post, Mr. Huang's wife believes Chinese authorities intentionally waited until after President Obama's trip to sentence Mr. Huang in order to reduce the chance of international criticism. Mr Huang's wife also believes restrictions on human rights activists inside China have grown worse since Mr. Obama's departure, and the recent detention of several prominent human rights lawyers would support this claim.

From the Washington Post: "Human rights lawyers and campaigners said today's tough sentence for the 46-year-old Huang -- the maximum penalty allowable under Chinese law -- was a sign that Chinese leaders were in no mood to make concessions on human rights and might even be engaged in a new crackdown targeting lawyers and prominent dissidents."

Early last week, LRF founder and Laogai survivor Harry Wu joined France 24's discussion of China's modern Laogai: (Harry's interview begins @ 6:15)