[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 74 (Wednesday, May 11, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2226-H2227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LEGACY OF HARRY WU

  (Mr. ROTHFUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, on April 26, the world lost an 
extraordinary man.
  As a political prisoner in China for 19 years, from 1960 to 1979, 
Harry Wu endured torture, forced labor, and severe hunger. It was not 
until 3 years after Mao Zedong's death that Harry Wu was released.
  His alleged crime?
  As a 23-year-old student, Wu had criticized the Soviet invasion of 
Hungary and was given, according to Wu, a life sentence of labor, 
torture, and the teachings of Mao. After being freed, he devoted his 
life to exposing the horrors

[[Page H2227]]

of the so-called reform through labor camps.
  After moving to the United States in 1985, Wu began returning to 
China to secretly document the labor camps, known as laogai. His work 
was showcased both on CBS and on the BBC in the early 1990s and 
continued through his Laogai Research Foundation and museum in 
Washington. He testified before Congress on China's unfulfilled 
promises of reform, forced abortions and sterilizations, Internet 
censorship, and religious repression.
  We can honor his tremendous work by ensuring the truths he revealed 
are not forgotten and by continuing to defend human rights in China and 
across the world.

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