Re-education through labour in historical perspective

China Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 184, 2005, Pages 811-830

  Hualing, Fu ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONTROL SYSTEM; EDUCATION; LAW ENFORCEMENT; LEGISLATION; POLITICAL HISTORY;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST;

EID: 30944441621     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: 14682648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0305741005000512     Document Type: Review

References (97)

1. There are two principal types of imprisonment in China: Laogai and laojiao. Laogai, or laodong gaizao (reform through labour), is a punishment rendered by a court after trial according to provisions of the Criminal Law. Laojiao on the contrary is an administrative punishment rendered by the police.
2. Yang Diansheng and Zhang Jinsang (eds.), Zhongguo tese jianyu zhidu yanjiu (Research on the Prison System with Chinese Characteristics) (Beijing: Law Press, 1999).
3. Harry Wu and Carolyn Wakeman, Bitter Winds: A Memoir of My Years in China's Gulag (New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc., 1994).
4. Michael R. Dutton, Policing and Punishment in China: From Patriarchy to "the People" (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
5. James D. Seymour and Richard Anderson, New Ghosts and Old Ghosts: Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China (New York & London: M.E. Sharpe, 1998).
6. and Fu Hualing "Punishing for profit: Profitability and rehabilitation in a laojiao institution," in Neil J. Diamond, Stanley B. Lubman and Kevin J. O'Brien (eds.), Engaging the Law in China: State, Society and Possibilities for Justice (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005).
7. Chu Huaizhi, Chen Xinliang and Zhang Shaoyan (eds.), Lixing yu zhixu: Zhongguo laodong jiaoyang zhidu yanjiu (Rationality and Order. Research on the Laojiao System in China) (Beijing: Law Press, 2002).
8. Xia Zongsu (ed.), Laodong jiaoyang zhidu gaige wenti yanjiu (Research on Reform of the Laojiao System) (Beijing: Law Press, 2001).
9. The article relies principally on Chinese published sources. Some are first-hand, particularly direct data from laojiao institutions; and others are secondary, including investigative reports by practitioners and academics. Of special interest is the official journal of the Crime Prevention Research Institute of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu (Studies on Crime and Reform). Most of its articles are by officers working in penal institutions in China, thus providing the most detailed (and often critical) comments of their institutions. I tried to verify the credibility of the sources: First, I cross-checked by comparing publications by practitioners and academics, and publications from different institutions; secondly, I interviewed police officers in charge of laojiao intake, procurators with a supervisory role during the process and laojiao officers who manage laojiao institutions; finally, I compared the secondary sources with data from my field studies in a laojiao institution in Southern China (see Fu Hualing, "Punishing for profit"). I don't take the reports and commentaries from China at their face value. But a more serious problem is the lack of systemic information on this unique aspect of China's criminal justice system.
10. Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, "Guanyu chedi suqing ancang de fangeming fenzi de zhishi" ("Directive on the thorough elimination of hidden counterrevolutionaries") (25 August 1955) (hereafter "the 1955 Directive") (on file with the author).
11. According to the speech of the Minister of Public Security, Luo Riqing, in September 1955, bad elements included "trouble makers" in government departments, schools and factories. Cited in Guo Jianan, et al., "Zhongguo laodong jiaoyang zhidu de lishi kaocha" ("Historical review of the laojiao system in China"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 168, No. 8 (2003), p. 1.
12. The 1955 Directive.
13. Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, "Guanyu ge sheng, shi ying liji chouban laodong jiaoyang jigou de zhishi" ("Directive on the immediate establishment of laojiao institutions in provinces and cities") (10 January 1956), cited in Xia Zongsu,
14. "Laodong jiaoyang xingzhi bianxi" ("An analysis on the nature of laojiao"), in Xia Zongsu, Research on Reform of the Laojiao System, ch. 3, p. 59.
15. Xia Zongsu, "The development and historical achievement of the laojiao system," Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, No. 1 (2001), p. 15.
16. Guo Jianan, et al., "Historical review," p. 6.
17. Wang Mingdi and Guo Jianan (eds.), Suiyue mingji: Xin Zhongguo jianyu gongzuo wushinian (History Remembers: 50 Years of Prison Work in New China) (Beijing: Law Press, 2000).
18. State Council, "Guowuyuan guanyu laodong jiaoyang wenti de jueding" ("Decision of the State Council concerning the question of laojiao") (3 August 1957) (hereafter "the 1957 Decision"), in Editorial Committee of the Collection of Laws on Public Security in the People's Republic of China (Editorial Committee), Zhonghua renmin gongheguo falü quanshu (Collection of Laws on Public Security) (Jilin: Jilin People's Press, 1995), pp. 1321-22.
19. Guo Jianan, et al., "Historical review," pp. 5-6.
20. The 1957 Decision, s. 1, as translated in Edward J. Epstein (ed.), "Legal documents and materials on administrative detention in the People's Republic of China," Chinese Law & Government, Vol. 27, No. 5 (September-October 1994), p. 61.
21. Si Jiao, "Zhongguo laodong jiaoyang gongzuo de licheng" ("History of laojiao work in China"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 110, No. 10 (1998), p. 6.
22. The 1957 Decision.
23. Xia Zongsu, "An analysis of the nature of laojiao".
24. Chen Ruihua, "Laodong jiaoyang de lishi kaocha yu fansi ("Historical exploration and reflection of laojiao"), in Chu, Chen and Zhang, Rationality and Order, p. 2.
25. Chu, Chen and Zhang, Rationality and Order, p. 2. Editorial, "Weishenme yao shixing laodong jiaoyang" ("Why is laojiao necessary"), Renmin ribao (People's Daily), 4 August 1957.
26. Chen Ruihua, "Historical exploration."
27. MoJ Project on the Nature of Laojiao, "Lun laodong jiaoyang de xingzhi wenti" ("On the nature of laojiao"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 23, No. 1 (1990), p. 9. This is said to be the only local laojiao data known to the MoJ researchers.
28. For a detailed description of a rural laojiao institution, see "How the Chuangtzup'ing (Kansu) Cooperative carries out experiments in labor custody [rehabilitation through labor]," Kansu Daily, 20 July 1958, in Jerome Cohen (ed.) The Criminal Process in the People's Republic of China 1949-1963: An Introduction (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968), pp. 251-54.
29. Xinjiang Laojiao Bureau, "Xinjiang laojiao gongzuo de lichang" ("History of laojiao work in Xinjiang"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 125, No. 1 (2000), pp. 21-24.
30. Prison Administration of XUAR, "The design and adjustment of prisons in XUAR," Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, No. 3 (2001), p. 40.
31. MoJ Project on the Nature of Laojiao, "On the nature of laojiao," p. 12.
32. The 1957 Decision, s. 3.
33. Anhui Laojiao Administration, "Reflections and perspectives on laojiao work in Anhui province," Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, No. 9 (1999), p. 17.
34. Guo Jianan, et al., "Historical review," p. 9.
35. MPS, "Guanyu dangqian gong'an gongzuo shi ge juti zhengce wenti de buchong guiding" ("Supplementary measures on the ten concrete policy questions in contemporary public security work") (20 April 1961), cited in Yun Shancheng, "Laodong jiaoyang lifa chuyi" ("Preliminary analysis of laojiao legislation"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 131, No. 7 (2000), p. 24.
36. See also Guo Jianan, et al., "Historical review."
37. MoJ Project on the Nature of Laojiao, "On the nature of laojiao," p. 12.
38. Si Jiao, "History of laojiao work in China," p. 7.
39. According to my interviews with laojiao offenders in Changsha in 2003, they were often not released in time.
40. Xinjiang Laojiao Bureau, "History of laojiao work in Xinjiang."
41. MoJ Project on the Nature of Laojiao, "On the nature of laojiao," p. 12.
42. For a similar attack on the imprisonment during the same period, see Wang Mingdi and Guo Jianan, History Remembers.
43. MoJ Project on the Nature of Laojiao, "On the nature of laojiao," p. 12.
44. Tianjin Laojiao Administration, "The history of laojiao work in Tianjin city," Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, No. 2 (1999), p. 9.
45. National People's Congress Standing Committee, "Pizhun 'Guowuyuan guanyu laodong jiaoyang de buchong guiding' de jueyi" ("Decision approving the State Council supplementary rules on laojiao") (29 November 1979).
46. This was created by the police in the early 1960s to deal with minor offenders. Instead of sending a minor offender to a laojiao institution, a police station might set up a separate forced labour brigade, in which suspects were gathered to work. China Laogai Research Committee, Zhongguo laogaixue da cidian (Dictionary of Laogai) (Beijing: Social Science Literature Press, 1993), p. 674.
47. This began as a police initiative for the control of urban transients. By the mid-1970s, the police declared that it would become a crime control mechanism involving compulsory examination of certain suspects. The police resorted to shelter and interrogation to circumvent regular criminal procedures. It was abolished in 1996 when the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) was amended. See K C Wong, "Police powers and control in the People's Republic of China: The history of shoushen," Columbia Journal of Asian Law, Vol. 10 (1996), p. 367-390.
48. State Council, "Guanyu jiang qiangzhi laodong he shourong shencha liangxiang cuoshi tongyi yu laodong jiaoyang de tongzhi" ("Notice on incorporation of two measures 'compulsory labour' and 'shelter and investigation' into laojiao") (29 February 1980) (on file with the author).
49. MoJ Project on the Nature of Laojiao, "On the nature of laojiao," p. 13.
50. In re-educating juvenile offenders, the police officers should treat them like parents treating their children, like doctors treating their patients, and like teachers treating their students. See Zhang Wenbang and Shen Jinchu, "Ba jianyu bancheng tishu xuexiao" ("Turning prisons into special schools"), in Yang and Zhang, Research on the Prison System, ch. 11.
51. Fu Hualing, "After dictatorship: The nature and function of the police in post-Mao China," in Menachem Amir and Stanley Einstein (eds.), Policing, Security and Democracy: Theory and Practice (Huntville, Texas: Office of International Criminal Justice, 2001), pp. 259-284.
52. This police power is delegated by the provincial laojiao administrations. MPS and MoJ, "Guanyu laodong jiaoyang he zhuxiao laojiao renyuan chengshi hukou wenti de tongzhi" ("Notice on laojiao and the cancellation of urban registration of laojiao offenders") (26 March 1984), in Editorial Committee, Collection of Laws on Public Security, p. 1331.
53. This power sharing arrangement was made in a 1984 Notice jointly issued by the MPS and MoJ. Cited in Hu Yuehong, "Laodong jiaoyang shenpi zhidu gaige shexiang" ("Reform proposal of laojiao approval"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 130, No. 6 (2000), pp. 25-26.
54. Xia Zongsu, "Laodong jiaoyang zhidu de lishi kaocha" ("A historical review of the laojiao system"), in Xia Zongsu, Research on Reform of the Laojiao System, pp. 22-23.
55. Liu Mei, "Laodong jiaoyang shiyong tiaojian" ("Conditions applying to laojiao"), in Xia Zongsu, Research on Reform of the Laojiao System, ch. 8.
56. For the text of a provincial laojiao rule, see Chen Xinliang, "Laodong jiaoyang zhidu: Yi ge wenben de yanjiu" ("The laojiao system: a textual analysis"),
57. in Chu, Chen and Zhang, Rationality and Order, ch. 12.
58. See Liu Zhongfa, "Laodong jiaoyang shiyong duixiang zhi lifa pingxi yu lifa wanshan" ("Legislative comments on and improvement to the eligible laojiao targets"), Fujian gong'an gaodeng zhuanke xuexiao xuebao: Shehui gonggong anquan yanjiu (Journal of the Fujian Public Security College: Social and Public Safety Research), Vol. 14, No. 4 (2000), pp. 37-41. Of course, police in each province have made their own internal rules to guide the application of laojiao.
59. Zhang Xiaochuan, "Qiantan laodong jiaoyang de xianzhuang ji wanshan" ("Current status and improvement of laojiao"), Hunan gong'an gaodeng zhuanke xuexiao xuebao (Journal of Hunan Public Security College), Vol. 14, No. 1 (2001), p. 87. Interviews with a police officer (Chengdu, 2003).
60. MPS, "Gong'an jiguan banli laodong jiaoyang anjian guiding" ("Measures regarding the handling of laojiao cases by public security organs") (12 April 2002) (hereafter "the 2002 Measures") (on file with the author).
61. But laojiao is not applicable to "foreigners, overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan." MPS, "Guanyu dui waiguoren he huaqiao, Gang Ao Tai tongbao bude shixing shourong shengcha he laodong jiaoyang tongzhi" ("Notice on prohibiting the use of shelter and interrogation and laojiao on foreigners, overseas Chinese, and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan") (27 May 1992), in Editorial Committee, Collection of Laws on Public Security, p. 1381. This prohibition is confirmed in the new 2002 Measures. The 2002 Measures, s. 12.
62. The new MPS rule does impose limitations on the use of laojiao on juveniles under 16 and first-time offenders. The 2002 Measures, ss. 9, 10 and 12.
63. For example, the MPS declined a request from Hainan police to impose laojiao on rural residents who repeatedly commit minor offences in rural areas. Legal Department of MPS, "Dui Hainansheng gonganting 'Guanyu jiaju, nongcun, duoci zuo'an, shangbugou zhuijiu xingshi zeren de weifa renyuan keyi shourong laodong jiaoyang de qingshi' de pufu" ("Reply to 'request by Hainan Police Department regarding the use of laojiao on persons of rural residents who have repeatedly committed offences which do not warrant criminal punishment'") (7 June 1990), in Editorial Committee, Collection of Laws on Public Security, p. 1351.
64. Ma Jianjun, "Laodong jiaoyang shengchan zhidu" ("Laojiao production system"), in Xia Zongsu, Research on Reform of the Laojiao System, ch. 14.
65. Yi Yongcai, Wang Yuzhong and Zhang Tong, "Dui laodong jiaoyang qixian de jidian sikao" ("Several considerations on the terms of laojiao"), Renmin gong'an (People's Public Security), No. 23 (1999), pp. 42-43.
66. Liu Xilin, Yang Haichen and Lu Erfeng, "'Duojingong' laojiao renyuan zengzhang taishi fenxi yu sikao" ("An analysis and reflection on increase of 'multiple entry' laojiao population"), Qingshaonian fanzui wenti (Issues of Juvenile Delinquency), No. 2 (2000), pp. 18-21.
67. Zhang Shiqi and Li Ping (eds.), Xingshi zhixing, laodong gaizao, laodong jiaoyang (Criminal Enforcement, Laogai and Laojiao) (Shenyang: Liaoning University Press, 1999).
68. Dong Guoqing, "Nü laojiao renyuan qingkuang de bianhua gei jiaoyu gaizao dailai de xinwenti" ("New problems caused by the female laojiao population to education and reform"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, No. 4 (1988), pp. 47-49.
69. Fu Yiaojian, "Shichang jingji yu maiyin weifa fanzui xianxiang" ("Market economy and the unlawful act of prostitution"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 135, No. 11 (2000), pp. 10-12.
70. Wang Lirong, "Shi lishi qingsuan, haishi fanshi zhuanhuan: Zaitan laodong jiaoyang de zhidu mingyun" ("Historical rectification or normative transformation?"), in Chu, Chen and Zhang, Rationality and Order, p. 253.
71. According to the police, officially there were 850,000 registered drug addicts in China by the end of 2000. "Zuixiao de yinjunzi nianjin shisui, dupin zhengzai zoujin qingshaonian" ("The youngest drug addict is only ten years old, drugs become closer to teenagers"), Xinhua News Agency, 25 June 2001, available on http://www.china.org.cn/chinese/kuaixun/41021.htm.
72. Guo Ranan and Li Rongwen (eds.), Xidu weifa xingwei de yufang yu jiaochi (Prevention and Treatment of Drug Abuse) (Beijing: Law Press, 2000), p. 331.
73. Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Narcotics Control in China (June 2000), http://www.china.org.cn/ e-white/1/index.htm.
74. State Council, Compulsory Drug Treatment Measures, Art. 15. The actual costs vary from one place to another. In Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, the cost is about 4,000 yuan for three months. In a county in Hunan province, the cost was 2,000 yuan for three months.
75. Cui Min (ed.), Dupin fanzui: Fazhan qushi yu ezhi duice (Narcotic Crimes: Trend of Development and Strategies of Prohibition) (Beijing: Police Education Press, 1999), p. 460.
76. Deng Li, "Xiduzhe zai zheli huode xinsheng" ("Drug addicts are reborn here"), Zhongguo sifa, No. 5 (2000), pp. 26-27.
77. Li Zhengkuan, "Jindu buru shiming" ("To fulfil the mission of drug prohibition"), Zhongguo sifa, No. 3 (2001), pp. 14-15.
78. State Council, Narcotics Control in China.
79. Guo and Li, Prevention and Treatment, p. 316.
80. Li Ling and Zhai Xiaomin, "Fuan laojiao renyuan chansheng de yuanyin tezheng ji duice" ("The cause and characteristics of persons under investigative detention in laojiao and counter-measures"), Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, Vol. 104, No. 4 (1998), p. 19.
81. Interviews with a police officer (Chengdu, 2003) and a procurator (Beijing, 2002).
82. Gong Xianzeng and Zhang Xianglu, "Dui 'fu'an laojiao' wend de tiaocha sikao" ("Reflection on the investigation of the problem of 'having committed other crimes prior to the laojiao'"), Zhongguo sifa, No. 6 (2000), p. 18.
83. Ma Jianjun, "Laojiao production system."
84. The 2002 Measures, s. 4.
85. This is expressly authorized by s. 9 of the 2002 Measures.
86. Fu Hualing, "Sedition and political dissidence in China," Hong Kong Law Journal, Vol. 26 (1996), pp. 210-233.
87. Xin Yan, "Dui dangqian Xinjiang fankongbu douzheng de jidian renshi he sikao" ("Several reflections and considerations on the anti-terrorism struggle"), Gong'an yanjiu (Policing Studies), No. 5 (2002), p. 47.
88. Patrick E. Tyler, "In China's far west, tensions with ethnic Muslims boil over in riots and bombings," The New York Times, 28 February 1997.
89. For China's official view on Xinjiang, see Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, History and Development of Xinjiang (May 2003), http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/20030526/ index.htm.
90. Amnesty International, "China's anti-terrorism legislation and repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region," 22 March 2002, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engasa170102002.
91. "Separatism and terrorism," Ecologist, No. 32(1) (February 2002), p. 13
92. Human Rights Watch, "In the name of counter-terrorism: Human rights abuses worldwide," http:/hrw.org/un/chr59/counter-terrorism-bck4.htm.
93. Fu Hualing, "Counter-revolutionaries, subversives and terrorists: China's evolving national security law," in Fu Hualing, Carole Petersen and Simon N.M. Young (eds.), National Security and Fundamental Freedoms: Hong Kong's Article 23 Under Scrutiny (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005), ch. 2.
94. According to one estimate, 8,000 people have been detained under laojiao. See "Separatism and terrorism," p. 13.
95. Ren Jieling and Li Shulin, "Preliminary discussion in characteristics of 'three types of persons' and their management strategies," Fanzui yu gaizao yanjiu, No. 4 (2001), pp. 18-21.
96. Human Rights Watch, Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falun Gong (January 2002), http://hrw.org/report/2002/china.
97. For a government report on the use of laojiao on falun gong, see Pu Tianshi, Xiao Jinzhi and Sun Wei, "Chunfeng buran yimu xiu: Jiutai laojiaosuo jiaoyu zhuanhua falun gong chimizhe gongzuo jishi" ("Breeze of the spring will not allow wood to rot: Report on the transformation of falun gong practitioners through education in Jiu Tai Laojiao Institution"), Zhongguo sifa, No. 10 (2001), p. 39.