Harry Wu, Chinese Human Rights Activist

On February 22nd, Harry Wu, a famous Chinese human rights activist, came to Yale for a Branford Master's Tea sponsored by CASA. Mr. Wu told his moving story to an audience of 30 to 40 students.

His Life

His father was a banker and his mother was of the landlord class. In 1949, the Communist Party caused a purging of the entire landlord and bourgeoisie classes. At this time, Mr. Wu was still a young student and was not entirely aware of the situation. However, he became aware of the human rights violations committed during the Hundred Flowers/Anti-Rightist Movement, in which the government cracked down on over 1.2 million intellectuals.

In 1960 Mr. Wu was arrested and was labeled as a counter-revolutionary rightist. He spent 19 years in 12 different labor camps, called laogai, including a coal mine and a brick factory. During his time in these camps, he almost died from the work, abuse, and lack of food. After the revolutionary leader Mao Zedong died, the political atmosphere lightened and Mr. Wu was released in 1979. He came to the U.S. as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and tried to forget his past nightmare. “Close old chapter, open new chapter” was his slogan.

In 1990 he was called upon to testify in the U.S. Senate about his experiences. After this he again became political active, establishing the Laogai Research Foundation, which seeks information about how many prisoners are in laogai and spreads awareness of rights violations in China. This led to him being blacklisted again by the PRC and arrested, only to be deported to the U.S, where he currently resides.

His Views

Mr. Wu holds strong views about spreading the knowledge of laogai and human rights violations in general. According to him, more people died in laogai than in Soviet gulags, yet not many people know of laogai. He wishes for the U.S. government to condemn Chinese violations of rights, including population control, lack of religious freedom, and prison labor and organ transplants from executed prisoners.

It was extremely inspiring and moving to hear of Mr. Wu’s struggles and triumphs and we are honored that he came to speak to us. “I am not a hero,” he states humbly. However, I believe he is a hero to those who have died and who still labor in laogai by continuing their fight for recognition and rights. To learn more about his work and his foundation, visit http://laogai.org/

This image is courtesy of http://www.isu.edu/.