A PRIMER ON THE LAOGAI ECONOMY

 

"Laogai production serves as a means for reforming prisoners and bears the political obligation of punishing and reforming prisoners; [it also] serves as an economic unit producing goods for society and bears the economic obligation set by guidelines of the state. These dual obligations and dual accomplishments (the reforming of prisoners into new men and the production of material goods) must be advanced and practiced throughout the entire process of Laogai production."

 

Laogai Jingji Xue (Laogai Economics)

Gu Jianguo

China Railways Publishers, 1990, p. 31.

 

The communist government of the People’s Republic of China maintains that the human being is the "most fundamental productive force" in society. Through the near half-century rule of the Chinese Communist Party, various types of ‘enemies’ have been identified and targeted by the leadership. These ‘enemies’ were either eliminated, namely killed, or removed from society. Due to social, political or criminal behavior deemed threatening by the Party, millions of Chinese were sent to the communists’ forced labor camps - The Laogai.

 

The Laogai forces its prisoners to plant, harvest, engineer, manufacture and process all types of products for sale in the domestic and international markets. Earnings from the sale of Laogai products become income for the state. The theory behind the Laogai is clear:

"Except for those who must be exterminated physically due to political considerations, human beings must be utilized as a productive force with submissiveness as the prerequisite. Laogai units force prisoners to labor. The Laogai’s fundamental policy is ‘Forced labor is the means, while thought reform is the basic aim."’

Regardless of superficial attempts by the Chinese communists or their apologists to redefine the forced labor camps as Western-style ‘prisons,’ the Laogai still exists today in China.

 

The practices of the Laogai are directed by what the Chinese communist theorists call "reform-through-labor legal studies." The Chinese dictatorship’s central Laogai policy is clearly defined by one theorist:

 

"The fundamental task of our Laogai facilities is punishing and reforming criminals. To define their function concretely, they fulfill tasks in the following three ways: (1) Punishing criminals and putting them under surveillance; (2) Reforming criminals; (3) organizing criminals in labor and production, thus creating wealth for society. Our Laogai units are both facilities of the dictatorship and special enterprises."

 

Criminal Reform Handbook

P.R.C. Ministry of Justice Laogai Bureau

Shaanxi People's Publishers, 1988, p.3.

One subsection of this state-run slavery and ‘thought reform’ system is known as "Laogai economics." The Laogai remains an integral sector of the Chinese economy. It has adapted to the times of the "socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics." The Chinese government publishes entire books on Laogai economics to train officials at all levels of the system on the efficient use of forced labor and improvements in production and management. Laogai officials must manage the reform of criminals according to the reform-through-labor guidelines of the central government and manage the commercial activities of the Laogai.

 

The scope of the "Laogai economy" as a component of the overall Chinese economy is difficult to quantify using open sources. As the Laogai became a major issue in world condemnation of the Chinese dictatorship’s disregard for basic human rights, documentation of the Laogai became scarce. The Chinese government considers information relating to the camps "state secrets."

 

The Chinese government refuses access to the Laogai by the International Committee of the Red Cross to inspect conditions of political prisoners. The Chinese government refuses access to the Laogai by the United States Customs Service, despite a binding bilateral agreement to allow visits to the Laogai to assure that the Chinese government is not exporting forced labor products to the American market. The Chinese government rebuffs any attempts by foreign organizations or governments to independently inspect or study the dual political and economic role of the Laogai.

 

This Special Report of the Laogai Research Foundation presents new evidence of the Laogai and its economic scope. Yet, this new evidence still only presents a partial picture of the "Laogai economy". But it is the most thorough to date due to the of the source of information. The Foundation continues to gather evidence. This Special Report only contains some of the materials collected on the production of the Laogai.

 

 

Definition of the Laogai

The Laogai Research Foundation gathers new evidence on the main components of the Laogai as defined by Chinese communist law, policies and practices. The Chinese legal definition of the Laogai comprises six main components: prisons (jianyu), reform-through-labor detachments (laogai or laodong gaizao dui), reeducation-through-labor facilities (laojiao or laodong jiaoyang suo), detention centers (kanshou suo), juvenile offender facilities (shaoguan suo) and the practice of forced-job-placement personnel (liuchang jiuye renyuan). In general, prisons and laogai detachments house "convicts" or prisoners who have received formal sentencing by the courts in China (due process and judicial independence in China notwithstanding.) Reeducation-though-labor, or laojiao, facilities house prisoners who receive "administrative discipline" and sentencing for up to three years by the Chinese police with no formal hearing in a court. Detention centers are for "convicts" sentenced to short-term (usually less than two years) imprisonment by a court. Juvenile offender facilities are for adolescent "convicts" or reeducation-through-labor detainees. Forced-job-placement personnel are subject to indefinite assigned labor at forced labor facilities as directed by the courts or the Laogai Department following the completion of sentence.* They are not free. They are forced to remain in the Laogai, albeit with some more privileges than ordinary prisoners do. The Chinese often cover up their status by calling them "civilian workers." While no one knows the exact number of these prisoners, they are estimated to number in the millions.

 

In part, the true connotation of Laogai is lost in translation. Human Rights Watch Asia holds that the Laogai is the "Chinese Gulag." The Laogai Research Foundation uses this term for comparative practices as well. But the Laogai has as many similarities as differences with the Gulag. Laogai is the Chinese communists’ forced labor and thought reform camp system. In the everyday language of the Chinese person, the term "Laogai" denotes the larger forced labor camp system as a whole and the one component of reform-through-labor. To Chinese who saw someone disappear into the Laogai, there is little discussion of semantics.

 

In carrying out the dual political and economic functions as directed by Chinese communist forced labor theory, individual Laogai facilities operate under distinct names for each of its identities. Laogai facilities may operate under multiple enterprise names in order to publicize its production and interact in the commercial arena, as well as to avoid detection by international observers. Furthermore, Laogai facilities may operate under multiple internal names as designated by the Judiciary Department in the course of implementing "reform" of prisoners and central government edicts. For example, the Laogai that held Wei Jingsheng prior to his exile in 1997 is commercially known as the Nanpu New Life Salt Farm or Hebei Nanbao Salt Works (as found in the Directory of Key Manufacturing Companies in P.R China 1995/96). The same facility’s internal name is the Hebei Province No. 1 Laogai Detachment or Jile No. 1 Prison.

 

Chinese Government Policies Direct Laogai Economy

The millions in the Chinese Laogai constitute the world’s largest forced labor population. Those in the Laogai face political indoctrination and physical and mental depravation as part of the "reform" regiment. They are simultaneously forced to labor and face production quotas in their "labor" evaluation. The common slogan in the Laogai is: "Reform First, Production Second."

 

The Laogai enterprises historically garnered their operating funds from central and local government outlays. The move away from the rigid, central-planned economy has caused the Laogai enterprises to search for methods to adjust to the new environment. The Chinese government is constantly looking to improve the management of forced labor enterprises and increase production output, sales and profits to relieve the government burden.

 

The Chinese authorities carefully monitor labor production in the Laogai system to reward the most productive facilities and "correct" the poor performance of the less productive facilities. Laogai enterprises participate in national evaluations to confirm that forced labor production has reached certain standards. When the Laogai achieves production levels that are comparable to international standards, their products are pushed beyond the domestic market. As stated in a 1991 Asia Watch report titled In China, "the use of forced labor is a central government policy, not one developed on an ad-hoc basis by labor reform units in the coastal provinces where a large portion of the goods are produced."**

 

One major text which outlines the implementation of forced labor economic theory and provides clear evidence of the economic role of the Laogai in China is titled Laogai Jingjixue (Laogai Economics). Published in 1990, this book states in its introduction:

"This volume takes Marxist theory as its foundation and integrates the special characteristics of our country’s Laogai work; it adheres to the fundamental principle of our country’s Laogai work of ‘Reform First, Production Second’ and systematically addresses the objectives, features, content and obligations of Laogai economics, as well as the form and development of the Laogai economy.... This book is written for study by Laogai Department and related higher education specialists.***

This book contains numerous essays written by national or provincial level officials regarding Laogai economics. The opening essay, "On the Present Conditions of Laogai Economics," lays out the integration of the Laogai as one segment of the central government’s economic program:

"In our country, Laogai economy is a branch of the economy of specific nature. Laogai economics has the dual characteristics of management of economic administration and the study of reform through labor. In viewing the socialist ownership of means production under the control of whole people, it is a component of the socialist national economy….****

 

"….Among Laogai products, some are indispensable goods in the national plan and the peoples’ lives; some are used in national defense industries; some special products which are made with Laogai characteristics are welcomed by society; some have already been named as national or provincial superior products; Land] some have reached world-class, advanced levels. Some of the products are even exported to various parts of the world, not only earning large amounts of foreign currency, but also winning praise for the state."*****

The Laogai administrators must adhere to the traditional emphasis on reform of prisoners in order to mold them into "new socialist persons" while reaching certain productivity and profit levels. The reform policies are implicit in any component of the Laogai, but the production needs may be specific to individual Laogai enterprises. The Laogai created offices to handle the management of prisoners according to such production demands of the enterprise.

"The duties of prisoner assignment departments include the reasonable deployment of criminals from the province who require detention in prisons or Laogai facilities in accordance to the prisoner’s age, profession prior to arrest, skill, duration of term, type of crime committed, etc.; [and] the reasonable transfer of criminals between prisons and Laogai facilities in accordance to the requirements for production (prisons and Laogai facilities may at any time request the provincial prisoner assignment department for the deployment of various categories of prisoners).°

The removal of direct government support for the Laogai pushes the drive for increased production and income for the individual enterprise. This causes, however, a contradiction between the traditional role of the Laogai as centers of reform and the necessary role of the Laogai as producer in the "socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics."

"Due to our national condition and strength, the country cannot provide to the Laogai Departments all the financing it requires. Because of this, it is extremely necessary that Laogai Departments, while not simultaneously influencing the reform of criminals, strengthen production and management administration, and mobilize and expand the enthusiasm of prisoners to labor and produce, thus creating more wealth for the state through reform through labor....°°

 

"....Looking at the major sources of the state’s financial revenue, the various taxes paid to the state by the Laogai Departments are also contributions to the state and have become a major section of the state’s earnings. According to the teachings of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong thought, the prison is a component of the state mechanism and falls under the category of superstructure. The state in all circumstances guarantees the proper operations of prisons and is responsible for all administrative and business expenses of prisons; thus, the part of expense that the prisons derive from commercial income is in fact also a contribution to

the state."°°°

The end result of the emphasis on production is for the Laogai enterprise to look for the greatest source of income available in the marketplace. For those Laogai enterprises that have the highest quality production, the move is then on to the international market through exports. Despite denials by Chinese government officials, Laogai products have time and time again been found to be available in the international market. In reality, the Chinese government constantly encourages the export of Laogai goods.

"....To vigorously develop foreign-oriented economies whenever it is possible and permissible is an important path to further strengthening the Laogai economy, to accelerate technological progress, to arm the Laogai management detachments, to fully utilize the initiative and creativity of cadre guards, employees and technical personnel, and to improve qualifications of all categories of personnel to enhance the impact and role of the Laogai economy.

"Laogai units which develop foreign-oriented economies not only create large amounts of foreign currency for the state and increase state revenues, the Laogai units themselves develop.’°°°°

 

"….Laogai units which develop foreign-oriented economies push their products into the international market [where they] not only win praise for the state, but also increase the foreign currency revenue of the state and accelerate the economic construction of the state. Because of this, the development of Laogai units’ foreign-oriented economies, for either the development of the Laogai economy itself or the development of the national economy as a whole, is absolutely essential."°°°°°

The Laogai is a dynamic institution in China. The Chinese authorities see the Laogai as a source of endless cheap labor and are continuously studying the application of forced labor in increasing productivity and profits. The use of forced labor in China is simply seen as another input into the economic equation as calculated by the Chinese government The deliberate application of forced labor by the Chinese government has spawned an entirely new field: the economics of slavery.

______________

*Asia Watch refers to Chinese Laogai theoretical articles which "confirm that it is common practice in China for labor reform camp prisoners to be forcibly and indefinitely retained as workers after they have completed their sentences so that export-oriented productivity will not be diminished by their departure from the system. As one contributor to the confidential labor reform journal notes in the April 1989 issue (p. 11): "Time-served prisoners retained for in-camp employment.... cannot join labor unions, do not enjoy retirement benefits when they become old and their wages and living standards are low. But the policy of ‘forcible retention of time-served prisoners for in-camp employment’ (dui xingman shifang renyuan de qiangzhixing liuchang jiuye) is most commonly applied against those inmates who have allegedly ‘remained unrepentant’ during the period of their imprisonment and its main purpose is to remove such people from society at large." Prison Labor in China, News from Asia Watch report April 19, 1991, p2.

**Prison labor in China. News from Asia Watch report, April 19, 1991, p.1.

***Laogai Jingjixue (Laogai Economics); Gu Jianguo, China Railways Publishers, April 1990.

****Ibid., p.1.

*****Ibid., p.10.

° Ibid., p.22.

°°Ibid., p.14.

°°°Ibid., p. 29

°°°°Ibid., p. 377.

°°°°°Ibid., p. 378.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

LRF HOME PAGE