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.

Feb, 1969

毛主席、林副主席、中共中央、中央文革、国务院、中央军委:

在清理阶级队伍中,我们破获了在内蒙古地区存在着的一个很大的有组织、有纲领的反革命民族分裂主义集团“内蒙古人民革命党”。...

Feb, 1969

(根据记录整理,未经首长审阅)

1969年2月26日下午5时36分至8时30分,中央文革碰头会议同志在人民大会堂东大厅,接见了参加冶金工业抓革命促生产会议和“八·一五”会议的山西代表。...

Feb, 1969

(一九六九年二月六日于北京; 根据记录整理,未经本人审阅)

这个会议开了十几天了,汇报了情况,交流了经验,部署了一九六九年的工作,统一了思想。这个会议是紧跟毛主席伟大战略部署的,...

Feb, 1969

韩先楚皮定均在福州军区、福建省革委会支左和参加三结合的军队干部会议上的讲话

一九六九年二月五日晚 (记录稿,未经本人审阅)

韩先楚讲话:

...

Feb, 1969

韩先楚在福建县以上革命委员会负责同志和部队支左干部会议上的讲话要点

一九六九年二月三日 (根据记录整理)

当前,国际、国内形势一片大好。(略)

...

Feb, 1969

1969年2月1日, 中央文革召开碰头会。讨论九大的准备工作。会后,起草《中央文革碰头会九大进行准备工作的议程》(草案)报毛泽东、林彪,其中包括:九大代表集中到京的日期和开会程序、九大代表的审查和批准草案、党章草案修改稿、...

Jan, 1969

固原专区、各市、县革命委员会:

现将区革命委员会保卫部“关于清理阶级队伍中有关政策问题的意见”转发你们。在执行中如发现新的问题,及时反映。

希望你们要贯彻执行毛主席“清理阶级队伍一是要抓紧,...

Jan, 1969

新华社二十八日讯在我们伟大领袖毛主席的亲切关怀下,在首都工人驻清华大学毛泽东思想宣传队的领导下,清华大学革命委员会胜利诞生了。这是毛主席无产阶级革命路线的胜利,是首都工人阶级贯彻执行毛主席“工人阶级必须领导一切”伟大指示,...

Jan, 1969

各省、市、自治区革命委员会:

全国各大、中小学校为完成党的八届扩大的十二中全会所提出的各项战斗任务,当前正在紧张地进行斗、批、改和清理阶级队伍,大、中学校又忙于安排毕业生上山下乡的工作,故决定今年大...

Jan, 1969

此等错误,一言以蔽之,诚有如1968十二月十九日上午本班诸位同志所共言者:“宓多年之思想、感情、态度,一贯是反党、反社会主义、反毛泽东思想,初不系于个别篇章字句之间。”宓则自认为,宓所犯之错误:(ⅰ)不是行动与言论,而是思想与感情...

Pages