China's Concentration Camps

Part 1 - Laogai, the Chinese gulag

Set up 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 the social landscape. Unlike the Gulag, its aim was to «reform the thinking» of the deportees, using forced labor and physical and psychological torture. It was part of a system in which «enemies» were placed under surveillance in everyday life. Under Mao Zedong, campaigns of terror and repression followed one another for over 25 years, culminating in the Cultural Revolution.

Part 2 - Total surveillance

Many hoped that the system of terror would die with its creator. But even though the laogai has changed its name, the techniques of imprisonment and torture remain. Under Deng Xiaoping's rule, 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 of people have been sent to the laogai: ethnic or religious minorities, representatives of civil society. Black prisons, where undocumented workers and political dissidents are held, complete the system. The laogai is at the heart of Xi Jinping's power, and he uses it on a scale not seen since Mao's great purges.