Eighteen Layers of Hell: Stories from the Chinese Gulag (Global Issues

Since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it is claimed that more than 30 million people have been starved, beaten or tortured to death, "suicided" or executed in Chinese labour camps. This study also claims that millions of people still suffer in the camps today, and that the West participates in the iniquitous system of slave labour, through trading goods produced in the laogai, and dealing in transplant organs from prisoners executed to order. The book tells the story of Harry Wu, a veteran of the laogai, and a vociferous campaigner against the Gulag, who was recently arrested on a research trip to China, and who wrote the foreword to this book. The author, Kate Saunders, is a founder of the Laogai Research Group in the UK, and led the recent campaign for Harry Wu's release from Chinese custody. The book has been published to coincide with her TV documentary on the Chinese labour camps.