Digitized Archives

Welcome to our digitized archives! We hope the documents in this digitized collection offers you a productive research opportunity. For the convenience of researchers, each document in this collection is arranged next to its English translation. Although limited in size, this collection contains many documents that are still sensitive today. Accordingly, this collection is the result of more than twenty years of often dangerous efforts to procure information on historical human rights abuses in China. Although it is our hope to one day digitize our entire archives, at the moment we can only digitize a select number of documents. The documents in this collection were chosen by LRF staff for digitization because of their fundamental importance in understanding the Laogai System and its development over time. Below you will find a brief overview of the contents in this collection.

Most of our digitized collection speaks to exactly how the Chinese Communist Party established the Laogai System and what groups of people the Laogai System targeted. Given that the Laogai System matured and solidified during the 1950s, much of our collection originates from that decade. Take, for example, the Central Committee’s May 1951 directive titled  “Third National Public Security Conference’s Resolution to Issues of Organizing National Laogai Prisoners.” This directive details the structure and rationale of the reform through labor system and therefore informed subsequent directives. Yet another directive, the Standing Committee’s August 1957 “Laodong Jiaoyang (Laojiao) Reeducation Through Labor,” details the structure and rationale of the reeducation through labor system.

Our digitized collection also speaks to how the Laogai System transformed during different eras of Chinese history. Our documents from the Cultural Revolution, for example, demonstrate the erosion of a structured and hierarchical Laogai System as China devolved into quasi-anarchy. Conversely, our documents from the immediate post-Cultural Revolution era demonstrate a concerted effort on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party to reassert total control over the Laogai System.

In addition to the development and transformation of the Laogai System, our digitized collection also contains documents that speak to the persecution of specific activities or people. For example, “Exhibition of Incriminating Evidence against Counterrevolutionaries and Other Criminals,” which was compiled and printed for internal use by the Ministry of Public Security in October 1957, details the counterrevolutionary crimes of Catholic Bishop Kung Pin-Mei. Yet another document, written on March 22, 1973 by the Revolutionary Committee of Li County, details the punishment of Zhen Zechun. 


In addition to the digitized collection embedded above that is a translated and downloadable PDF document, below you will find another digitized collection of select Chinese language documents from the Cultural Revolution that can be searched and filtered to simplify the research process.

Mar, 1966

依据毛主席关于文艺工作两次批示的精神,文化部从一九六四年七月到一九六五年四月开展了整风运动。在整风运动基本上结束后,新的党委大抓贯彻党的文艺方向,开展学习毛主席著作运动,组织队伍下乡下厂,建立政治工作;召开了全国文化局长会议、...

Mar, 1966

《人民日报》编者按:上海《学术月刊》今年一月号,发表了《关于“清官”讨论笔谈》。下面选载的是笔谈的摘要。

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周谷城:“清官”贪官是一丘之貉,但又非全无区别。“清官”纵有好处,...

Mar, 1966

《人民日报》编者按:《新建设》编辑部于今年二月二日邀请北京部分学术界人士,就“清官”问题举行了座谈会。并于该刊今年一、二月号合刊,发表了与会者的发言。现将发言摘要转载如下。

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吴世昌:“清官...

Mar, 1966

工交系统强调政治挂帅,突出政治,这种做法很好,对于提高工人阶级的政治觉悟,加强我国社会主义建设,都是有很大益处的。这样做,会进一步提高工人阶级的积极性和创造性,使我们的社会主义事业更加兴旺。...

Mar, 1966

“活学活用毛主席著作,特别要在‘用’字上狠下功夫,要把毛主席的书当作我们全军各项工作的最高指示。”这是林彪同志提出的继续突出政治五项原则的第一条,也是突出政治的核心。

突出政治,就是突出毛泽东思想,...

Mar, 1966

林彪同志说:“马克思列宁主义、毛泽东思想,要下苦功学习研究才能获得,不是凭聪明才智或者单凭经验可以获得的。”

(《解放军报》一九六六年三月二日)

Feb, 1966

学习焦裕禄同志活学活用毛主席著作,一心为人民,一心为革命的伟大共产主义精神。

刊载于《高举毛泽东思想伟大红旗》(林彪文集),1967年4月编印,编印者不明。

Feb, 1966

为了工作需要,中央决定成立中共中央基本建设政治部,由谢有法同志任主任,李桂林、刘火、耿一凡同志任副主任,耿一凡同志并兼任秘书长。

免除耿一凡同志的中共中央工业交通政治部秘书长职务。

...

Feb, 1966

(当谈到军事工程学院先搞两、三年,然后搞两年半工半读,并结合预分配时。)

理、工科还要有自己的语言,六年中先搞三年试试看,不一定急于搞两年。尖端科学搞三年也许行,要有针对性。三年不够将来再补一点。有针对性才能少而精,...

Feb, 1966

提要“清官”是当时人民拥护的,替老百姓办事的。他们沉重地打击了封建王朝的当权派。说“清官”只能有利于地主阶级的统治,这是把政治理论与不变的数学公式等同起来。生搬硬套会犯教条主义错误。...

Feb, 1966

姚文元同志写了一篇文章:《评新编历史剧〈海瑞罢官〉》,给口碑传颂的清官们判了死刑。他认为《海瑞罢官》中的海瑞是个假海瑞。他引证了几页史籍,并加以分析.说海瑞根本没干过好事。无怪乎有的同志读了这篇评论大摇其头,...

Feb, 1966

各中央局、各省、市、自治区党委,中央各部委,国家机关和人民团体各党委、党组,人民解放军总政治部:

现将中南局、北京市委和上海市委关于加强学习毛主席著作的三个文件,发给你们,请参照执行。

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