Laogai: Prison Nation - Inside China's Ruling System

Premise

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Tsetung established a system of labor camps for systematic repression, known as Laogai, an abbreviation for "Reform Through Labor". In such camps, forced labor and physical and mental torture were used to bring about a so-called mental reform, re-education in the spirit of the Chinese Communist Party. Millions of Chinese were affected. Many were executed. In hundreds of camps, the Party took advantage of the prisoners' free labor to build the economy. Self-criticism and denunciation were often the only way to escape martyrdom. Successive waves of purges culminated in the Cultural Revolution, which saw massive human rights abuses, political assassinations, massacres, and exiles in remote parts of the country. Using unreleased archive footage, the documentary tells the story of the invention, development and improvement of China's totalitarian system of surveillance and repression up to the present day, never told before.

Cast and characters

Leading cast

• Camille Sannes as Self - Narrator (voice)
• Ai Weiwei as Self - Interviewee
• Ren Wanding as Self - Interviewee
• Wang Juntao as Self - Interviewee
• Li Shuying as Self - Interviewee
• Wei Zidan as Self - Interviewee
• Ping Hu as Self - Interviewee
• Wei Jingsheng as Self - Interviewee

Supporting cast

• Gulbahar Haitwaji as Self - Interviewee
• Xiao Qiang as Self - Interviewee
• Tong Yi as Self - Interviewee
• Teng Biao as Self - Interviewee
• Liao Yiwu as Self - Interviewee
• Cai Changguo as Self - Interviewee
• Song Yongyi as Self - Interviewee
• Xu Youyu as Self - Interviewee
• Mai Gang as Self - Interviewee
• Feng Guojiang as Self - Interviewee
• Chen Pokong as Self - Interviewee
• David Li as Self - Interviewee

Episodes

This series spans 1 season with 2 episodes.

Production

Release

References

1. The Movie Database (TMDB)
2. IMDb
3. Official Website
4. EpisodeTime Show Page