Part 1 - Laogai: the Chinese Gulag

Established by Mao Zedong in the late 1940s, the laogai is China's concentration camp system. Like its Soviet model, it is a political space integrated into the economy and part of the social landscape. Unlike the Gulag, its aim is a "thought reform" of the deportees by using forced labour and physical and psychological torture. It was part of a system in which "enemies" were placed under surveillance in everyday life. Under the reign of Mao Zedong, campaigns of terror and repression followed one another for more than 25 years, culminating in the Cultural Revolution.

Part 2 - Total Surveillance

Many hoped that the system of terror would die with its creator. But the laogai may have changed its name, the techniques of imprisonment and torture are still there. Under the reign of Deng Xiaoping, each camp was transformed into a business and the laogai became a key instrument of the Chinese economy. Since Xi Jinping came to power, new categories have been sent to the laogai: ethnic or religious minorities, representatives of civil society. Black jails for illegal workers and political dissidents complete the system. The laogai is at the heart of Xi Jinping's power and he is using it on a scale not seen since Mao's great purges.