[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 81 (Monday, May 23, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E769-E770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE PASSING OF HARRY WU

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 23, 2016

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I 
rise today to honor the passing of a deeply committed human rights 
activist and friend, Mr. Harry Wu. Harry is survived by his son, 
Harrison, and his former wife, Ching Lee. I offer my sincerest 
condolences to his family. Harry is also mourned today by the many 
friends and colleagues who will remember him as a tireless and 
determined advocate for freedom and justice.
   Harry was born into a comfortable life in Shanghai, but this life 
was turned upside down when the Communist Party came to power in 1949. 
His father lost his job and his family's possessions were taken away. 
In college, Harry made the mistake of criticizing the Soviet Union, and 
for this mistake he suffered for 19 years in the Laogai--the system of 
forced labor prison camps used by the Communist Party to control the 
Chinese people. Harry worked to expose the horrors of the Laogai. 
Unfortunately, a system of arbitrary detention remains in place in 
China today, under different names.
   During his 19 year detention, Harry endured unimaginable hardship 
and horror. Surviving such an ordeal is itself a testament to Harry's 
toughness and tenacity. Harry was driven by this hardship to spend the 
remainder of his life fighting for the victims of Chinese Communism, 
exposing its abuses to the world.
   After emigrating to the United States, Harry risked his freedom on 
multiple trips back to China to document forced labor in China's prison 
camps. In 1995, Harry was caught. I remember that time well, as Ching 
Lee worked with me and other Members of Congress to call publicly for 
Harry's release. The Chinese government gave Harry a show trial and 
then sentenced him to exile. He was never able to go home to China 
again.
   Harry remained undaunted by his exile. He poured his time and energy 
into his organization, the Laogai Research Foundation, continuing to 
raise awareness of forced prison labor in China. He published several 
books about his own ordeal. He published the Black Series, the riveting 
memoirs of other survivors of the Laogai labor camps. In 2008 he opened 
the Laogai Museum, documenting human rights abuses in China, both past 
and present.
   Harry was also a passionate voice against China's heinous population 
control policy--the ``One-Child Policy'' and helped this Congress 
expose the abuses of forced abortions and sterilizations. Harry saw 
clearly that the violence used to control the vital instinct of 
parenthood was a great crime, and a lasting black mark on Chinese 
history.
   Until his death, Harry continued to be the conscience of this 
Congress. He constantly reminded Members of Congress about the abuses 
heaped on the Chinese people by China's leaders and predicted that U.S. 
trade with China would not bring political reform--sadly history has 
proven him correct.
   As a Catholic, he was a staunch advocate for freedom of religion, 
and spoke out against the persecution of Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur 
Muslims in China.
   Harry's work lives on today even if he is no longer here with us. 
Because of his work, the brutal truth about the Laogai saw the light of 
day. Because of Harry's commitment to the truth, the stories of 
survivors were not silenced, but were published for the world to see.
   When China eventually becomes a free nation, Harry Wu will be lauded 
as a hero, because he worked so hard, and so long, for freedom and for 
justice.

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