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Harry Wu (born 1937; Chinese: 吳弘達, Wu Hongda) is an activist for human rights in the People's Republic of China. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the human rights issue of China has come to the forefront Now a resident and citizen of the United States, Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, for which he popularized the term laogai. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in Penal labor. Laogai ( the abbreviation for Láo dòng Gǎi zào (勞動改造 which means "reform through labor" is a slogan of the Chinese criminal

Contents

Biography

Wu was born in Shanghai. Shanghai ( 上[[wikt 海|海]] is the largest city in China in terms of population and one of the largest urban areas in the world with over 20 million He came from a wealthy family; his father was a banker, and his mother was descended from landlords. Landlord is the owner of a House, Apartment, Condominium, or Real estate which is rented or Leased to an individual or business He recalls his childhood as being one of "peace and pleasure" but that these fortunes changed after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949: "During my teen-age years, my father lost all his properties. We had money problems. The government took over all the property in the country. We even had to sell my piano[1]. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers "

Wu studied at the Geology Institute in Beijing, where he was first arrested in 1956 for criticizing the Communist Party during the brief period of liberalization in China known as the Hundred Flowers Campaign. The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the The Hundred Flowers Campaign, also termed the Hundred Flowers Movement, ( is the period referring to a brief interlude in the People's Republic of China from He has also claimed that he protested the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 ( Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom) was a spontaneous nationwide Revolt against the Stalinist government of In 1960 he was sent to the laogai ("re-education through labor"), the Chinese labor camp system, as "counterrevolutionary rightist. Laogai ( the abbreviation for Láo dòng Gǎi zào (勞動改造 which means "reform through labor" is a slogan of the Chinese criminal A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a Revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it in full or in part In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities " He was imprisoned for 19 years in 12 different camps mining coal, building roads, clearing land, and planting and harvesting crops. Coal mining is the extraction or removal of Coal from the Earth by Mining. According to his own accounts, he was beaten, tortured and nearly starved to death, and witnessed the deaths of many other prisoners from brutality, starvation, and suicide.

Released in 1979 in the liberalization which followed the death of Mao Zedong, Wu left China and went to the United States, where he became a visiting professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley. Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley There he began writing about his experiences in China. In 1992 he resigned his academic post and became a human rights activist. He established the Laogai Research Foundation, a non-profit research and public education organization which was financed by the AFL-CIO and in fact was based there in the early years. Harry Wu (born 1937; Chinese: 吳弘達 Wu Hongda) is an activist for Human rights in the People's Republic of China. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL-CIO, is a National trade union center, the largest federation of The work of the foundation is recognized as a leading source of information on China's labor camps, and was instrumental in proving that organs of executed criminals were used for organ transplants. [2].

In 1995 Wu, by then a U.S. citizen, was arrested as he tried to enter China with valid, legal documentation. Article I section 8 clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization He was held by the Chinese government for 66 days before he was convicted in a show trial for "stealing state secrets. The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly Public trial. " He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was instead immediately deported from China. Deportation, not to be confused with Extradition, generally means the expulsion of someone from a place or Country. He attributes his release to an international campaign launched on his behalf.

He was awarded the Courage of Conscience Award by the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA on September 14th, 1995 for his extraordinary sacrifices and commitment to exposing human rights violations in his motherland China. [3]

Status as an expert

Wu has testified before various United States congressional committees, as well as the Parliaments of the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, as well as the European Parliament, and the United Nations. A Congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories The Bundestag ("Federal Diet " or "Lower House of German Parliament" is the Parliament of Germany. The Parliament of Australia or Commonwealth Parliament is the legislative branch of government of Australia. The European Parliament ( Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

Recognition

Wu received the Freedom Award from the Hungarian Freedom Fighters' Federation in 1991. In 1994 he received the first Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders was created in 1983 to honour individuals around the world who demonstrate exceptional courage in defending and promoting In 1996, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom from the Dutch World War II Resistance Foundation. He also received honorary degrees from St. Louis University and the American University of Paris in 1996. An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa ( Latin: 'for the sake of the honour' is an Academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding Saint Louis University (also known as SLU) is a private co-educational Jesuit University in the United States of America located in The American University of Paris (commonly referred to as AUP) is a private, independent Accredited, Nonsectarian, liberal arts and sciences

Wu is currently the Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation and the China Information Center. Both organizations are located in the Washington, DC area and are funded principally by the bi-partisan National Endowment for Democracy. The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a US Non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote Democracy by providing cash He is also a member of the International Council of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. The Human Rights Foundation ( HRF) is a non-profit organization that works on “defending human rights and promoting liberal democracy in the Americas

Other

In 2007, Wu recently criticized the selection of a Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, as the lead sculptor for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial based on the fact that Mr. Lei Yixin born ca 1953 is a prominent Chinese sculptor He has been designated " Master Sculptor " at home This article is about a planned memorial It likely contains information of a speculative nature and information will likely change as the structure nears completion Lei had also carved statues celebrating Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led [4]

Books

References

  1. ^ "Harry Wu on the real China", World Net Daily, April 5, 2001
  2. ^ Glen McGregor, Inside China's Crematorium, The Ottawa Citizen, November 24, 2007
  3. ^ The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List
  4. ^ Lei Yixin - Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial - New York Times

External links

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