List of Tables, Charts, and Maps, Terminology and Prison Structure, Foreword by Fan Sidong, Preface, Prologue: Visiting the Xining Laogai Area, 1. Introduction, 2. Gansu, 3. Xinjiang: One Region, Two Systems, 4. Qinghai, 5. Prisons and Human Rights, 6. The Aftermath: What Happens upon Release?, 7. Conclusion, Appendix 1: Author's Commentaries, Appendix 2: Others' Commentaries, Appendix 3: Laogai Regulations, Endnotes, Bibliography, Index
James D. Seymour, Michael R Anderson
This book's subtitle is misleading because only the prisons of China's northwest are considered here. The authors state that they have the most data on this region, which is reputed to be the land of China's gulag. The country's notorious prisons and labor reform camps have become favored targets for Westerners decrying the Communist regime's dismal human rights record as an argument against continued economic assistance. One might have expected anti-China rhetoric from Seymour, executive director of the Society for the Protection of East Asian Human Rights, but this lifeless book is mostly concerned with presenting raw data on Chinese prisons in an evenhanded manner. The authors (Anderson is the pseudonym of a journalist) have collected official information and checked it against their own interviews with former prisoners and others close to the system. They argue that prison enterprise is not a vital part of China's national economy and that conditions at many prisons are actually improving. This is mostly a numbers-heavy "white paper" that will be of interest mainly to scholars. (Oct.)
Chinese prison systems, ancient or contemporary, never fail to fascinate the West. In recent years, especially after the sensational media exposure of Harry Wu's return from an arrest in the People's Republic of China and the publication of his memoir (Troublemaker, LJ 11/1/96), the lao gai (labor reform system) is often portrayed as the Gulag. The authors, however, view the system more dispassionately. Rather than offering general impressions or personal experiences of China's prisons, they concentrate on prisons in three northwest provinces and rely on government documents and interviews with inmates (who, of course, may not have felt free to express their true thoughts) as well as officers. Their case studies attempt to provide a realistic viewpoint and an understanding of the functions and management of the Chinese prison system. Recommended for academic libraries.‘Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., New York
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