Monthly Archives: February 2019

Laogai survivors worry about their museum and Voice of America

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BBG Watcher                                    December 11, 2018

 

 

On the day when the world commemorates 70 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, waste bins outside the only Laogai Museum in the world in Washington DC were filled with valuable Laogai Research Foundation (LRF) books documenting China’s vast Laogai system of forced prison labor. China’s government must feel relieved. And why shouldn’t they be?

 

The discarded publications, in both English and Chinese, included reports and books, both hard cover and soft cover. There in the waste bins was published research including “Laogai Reports” and “Better Ten Graves than One Extra Birth: China’s Brutal One-Child Policy.”

 

                                            

 

Jing Zhang discovered that waste bins outside the Laogai Museum in Washington DC were filled with valuable Laogai Research Foundation books Dec 11,2018. The Executive Director, Ms. Huang Ciping, also found that a large number of secretaries were thrown away from the door of the Laogai Museum same month.

 

 

The discarded books were in excellent condition, and were thankfully retrieved by Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Board Member Jing Zhang and two other Lagoai survivors who were in DC to participate in a Wei Jingsheng’s Symposium in Observance of 40th Anniversary of Beijing Democracy Wall, 4th “Human Rights Without Borders” Exhibition, and 4th “Human Rights and Freedom Defender” Prize Award Ceremony.

 

 

They saw the waste bins outside the Laogai Museum while visiting the premises. Thrown away as refuse were the survivors’ own personal stories and accounts of many other Laogai survivors. This former repository of their brave tales had become a scene out of “Fahrenheit 451”, but without the flames.

At a time when China has re-invigorated its Laogai system to oppress Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Province, Laogai survivors feel dishonored.

 

The refusal of those currently in charge of the Laogai Research Foundation to properly reopen the Laogai Museum in DC – the only Laogai Museum in the world – for scheduled tours, members of the public, and scholars, is nothing short of a disgrace. In the words of Harry Wu, who was an ardent supporter of US broadcasts to China and member of CUSIB’s Advisory Board until his sudden death in 2016: “But to forget is to betray.”

 

How can the present management, or those who served since Harry Wu’s death keep such a valuable resource about the Laogai system hidden from those who would learn from it? The documents and artifacts contained in that building were to be available for research and scholars – and for the general public – and can refute many of China’s defense claims about their human rights atrocities. Can there ever be a more important time to make this information known?

 

Or is this the time to throw them in the garbage?

 

Of course, Laogai survivors, some who have contributed artifacts and documents for display and research at the Laogai Museum are truly upset that the current management has shuttered the doors except for nominal visits, and employees are in the process of throwing out books that document the Laogai survivors’ suffering.

 

Adding further insult to injury, an employee told the visiting Laogai survivors of an unconfirmed rumor that the museum’s building might be sold.

 

Prior to Harry Wu’s death, he and the museum staff worked with the US Department of Homeland Security to identify products made through forced labor in China’s Laogai. They planned to host a photo exhibit to highlight Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo and a photo exhibit about the plight of Tibet. They planned to co-host a conference with the Cato Institute about the 50th Anniversary of the Cultural Revolution and its impact on human rights in China. They planned to continue to hold quarterly lectures series with the American University students and faculty, and the publication of a book to be authored by former Congressman Frank Wolf. All of these projects and plans required reliance on and the dedication of the Laogai Museum staff.

 

When the Laogai Museum closed in December, 2016, the entire staff was fired by the management. The Laogai Research Foundation staff then commenced a lawsuit.

 

The status of the Laogai Museum must now be addressed by the current management which is responsible for warehousing all the artifacts, the museum’s collected works, an entire third floor of documents intended for research in a building which remains closed and unavailable to the public.

 

The Laogai Museum’s relevance is clear, and we should not let this resource disappear.

 

We must also remain vigilant about Voice of America China services, the quality of VOA broadcasts, and the willingness of VOA management to permit the opinions of China’s communist leaders in VOA programs without properly countering their propaganda and disinformation with voices of critics and victims of communism such as those that were once presented in the Laogai Museum.

 

 

 

The Cry From A Victim of Forced Abortion

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Written by a victim,    Translated by WRIC

 

Plea for help in the aftermath of a forced induced labor in Guang Shui City, Hubei Province

 

 

The following is what I experienced recently in my hometown. I have run out of all options, so I am writing to seek help from kind people!

 

My name is Yu Bo and I am 30 years old this year. My wife’s name is Liu Yahuan and she is 31 years old this year. Our home address (under the rural household registration) is Yinchun Village, Group 17, in Li Dian County, Guang Shui City, Hubei Province. In 1998, my household registration was transferred to Yinshan County from rural to non-rural household, but in the name only, because during this period of time I did not receive any benefits which an urban resident is entitled to, nor did I have a steady job.

 

My wife and I were married in January of 2007 and our daughter was born at the end of September that year. My parents didn’t seem happy due to the traditional concept of favoring boys over girls. They expressed their feelings about our daughter in the presence of my wife. To stop my parents from urging us to have another child, I applied for the “One-Child Certificate”. In September of 2009, my wife told me that she was pregnant again. My first reaction at that time was to go to a hospital to have an abortion, but my wife did not want to go. I managed to take my wife to a hospital four times for an abortion. I wasn’t successful because my wife insisted on keeping this child.

 

Three months later, I gave up on having an abortion as by now the fetus has taken its life form and I understood my wife’s thinking. After all, she lives in a village; villagers all share the traditional thought of having a son to take care of old parents.

 

In January of 2010, I moved my household registration from Yinshan County back to my original home village as an agricultural household. At this time, my wife was five months into pregnancy. My father went to the local government office to obtain a birth permit (Li Dian County seat government under Guang Shui City). The county head named Wu told my father that it was fairly difficult to get one. My father failed to secure a birth permit.

 

On April 30, 2010, my wife was pregnant over nine months (her due date was May 26th) and because we did not successfully obtain a birth permit the local government took her to a hospital by force to have an induced labor. Around 8 o’clock on April 30th, more than ten people led by Wu came to my house and demanded my wife to go with them for an induced labor. While they were there, I called Wu and told him that we were willing to pay for the cost imposed to our society. Wu said it had nothing to do with a fine; this is an extra birth and you must have an induced labor. After this induced labor, we’ll arrange a birth permit for you to have a second child. There is no room for discussion. 

 

By 12 noon, my wife left the house with them. First, my wife was taken to the birth control bureau for an examination. There they were told an induced labor was out of the question since my wife was close to giving birth. The local government people then took her to a city hospital in Yinshan where doctors said they had no problem to perform an induced labor. By 6 o’clock in the afternoon, my wife was injected with drugs to induce labor which brought out a live infant by 9 o’clock on May 1st. The hospital did not clean the baby and disinfect its umbilical cord, nor did the hospital do anything to try to save the baby, unless, they said, they received permission from the government of Li Dian County. My family made strong requests to the hospital. After an hour, the doctors gave the baby some simple treatment. I returned to the hospital the second day after the baby was born, I saw my baby in great pain due to the drugs used in induced labor and fighting miserably for its life. I had never cried in my life up to this point. Seeing my baby like that, my tears were pouring down my face.

 

Perhaps out of sympathy for my suffering baby, I said to my mother: “the baby is suffering too much, let’s unplug the oxygen,” but I immediately regretted. The baby is alive. He is a life. He too wants to see his mother, to take a sip of his mother’s milk, and take a look at this beautiful world. That’s why he was struggling to live. I don’t have the right to take his life away. After making up my mind, I went to the hospital and demanded them to send the baby to a bigger hospital in the City of Wuhan for medical treatment. The local hospital did not object to having the baby transfer to another hospital but they did not have an ambulance to do so since the baby was in critical condition and he was placed on oxygen. I had no choice but to call Wu, the county head, for help around 11 o’clock. To my surprise, he said: “Not my business. If you want to go to a big hospital, you go on your own. I have no money to give you either.” Later, Secretary Ding from the city government came out to mediate. After three hours, by 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the hospital agreed to send an ambulance and the cost was to be paid by the local government to rescue my baby’s life. By now the infant was affected by the drugs for more than 50 hours. By the time the baby arrived in a hospital in Wuhan, his face was pale; breathing was very weak, and he was almost unconscious. The hospital examinations showed that the baby had infections in his lungs and the umbilical cord.

 

After almost one month of the medical treatment, the baby is presently suffering from a serious cerebral infarction; brain bleeding, regional cerebral atrophy, and cardiac hypoplasia; his life vital signs are basically stable. The doctors said the drugs used in the induced labor were likely to have side effects on the child, which will affect the quality of his life (the drugs used to induce labor were high concentration ethanol along with other toxic substances which were injected directly into the infant brain to stop its breathing and blood circulation).

 

As of today, the child is still in the hospital under treatment.

 

Right now, what I want to understand most is whether our society today is a society of legal system, a humanized society, a harmonious society. Such thing should not have happened. The fact that we had a child out of the family planning policy should have nothing to do with the child. There is no need to destroy a young life that was about to come to this world. You can impose a fine on us. If that’s not enough, you can send us to jail, give us a sentence, but why using such a brutal means by injecting drugs into an infant brain? Why using poison to harm an innocent life? When the baby was born, his entire body was in the color of purple and green and he was constantly shaking, crying, visibly in great pain. When we saw him in such a condition, my whole family was crushed spiritually. Our hope for life was crushed. I could not believe this was something happened in our so-called harmonious society, in our 21st century humanized society.

 

So far I have not met with our “parental authorities”. The local government chose to delay the matter, never took the initiative to solve the problem. I remember many tragic incidents occurred on school campuses not long ago. Then, Premier Wen Jiabao said the local governments should actively solve and mediate the problems and disputes to build a harmonious society. But now I felt helpless. I don’t know how to protect my own rights. When I went to the government, they delayed the matter; when I sought out a lawyer to file a lawsuit, the lawyer said this kind of cases were not likely to win; when I looked for a reporter to give an interview, the government threatened to arrest people, so the reporter felt useless. If I posted something on Internet, the words were deleted in a few days.

 

Alright, I had violated the family planning policy, but I’ve been actively supporting the governmental work. How shall I deal with all the problems later on? If the child has side effects, how shall I pay for the huge medical bills in the future? As for the local government for their method of carrying out the policy and the hospital that performed the induced labor, do they have any direct responsibility for what had happened? In other words, how shall I protect my own rights? Many thanks! My phone number is 13670255300.

 

Today Wuhan Children’s Hospital notified me to go and get the hospital release paper for my child. I am really confused. On May 26th the medical examinations revealed that my child had regional cerebral atrophy, brain bleeding, and cardiac problems. The doctors said then that most optimistically the child would leave the hospital in 7 to 10 days. So why suddenly today we were told the child was discharged from the hospital?

 

I solemnly declare the above-mentioned information was all true and I will hold all the legal responsibilities to the above-mentioned documents.

 

Comments：

In the above article, the couple has the quota to have a second child, except that the child came to the world ahead of the time. When the child was due to be born only in ten plus days, the government demanded the couple to go for an induced labor and then obtain the birth permit to have a second child. This demand was in fact to command the couple to kill the infant who was about to come to this world, then to obtain a birth permit. What a ridiculous and bloody cruel thing! Where on earth is there a government to do such a brutal thing? How horrible a government of tyranny and dictatorship could be! Such a government is like a horrible machine, humans cannot have a dialogue with this machine. Even gynecological doctors have become a part of this horrible machine of dictatorship.

 

All gynecological doctors in hospitals, during induced labor surgeries for multiple-month-old fetus, always target the head of the fetus as precisely as possible, then with one needle into the fetus’s head, the toxic substances for induced labor is injected into the head, to secure the death of the fetus. If the infant happens to survive the induced labor by chance, doctors will try every means to kill the infant in the delivery room, and then throw the dean infant into a trash can.

 

When a citizen of a country is dragged into an abortion like an animal, this country has absolutely no human rights to speak to; the citizens of this country can be regarded as the most pitiful citizens of this world. I found myself in despair again and again. What shall we think of the evil criminal act this country conducted for the past several decades? This is a country with no conscience. Basically the officials of this country are all evil spirit that force people for an abortion, especially force people to have an induced labor for a nine-month-old fetus (in fact, an infant). Such act cannot be seen in any other countries. Even Hitler, Bin Laden, Saddam, and Kim Jong Il, these terrorist groups did not commit such inhumane brutality.

 

To those animal-like governmental officials who forced people for abortion, if you are not punished in this evil and criminal country, you are surely going to hell after death. This is your retribution! Don’t think that there is no retribution. The time will come to you for your sins. God will punish you. God will give retribution for your sins! You will be condemned to hell without redemption. I wish you all go to hell soon so as to keep harms away from the people of this world!