Guo Jimin

Date(s) of Arrest:
1953
Prison Terms:
13 years
Charges:
Counterrevolutionary
Crime:
Working for a Taiwan intelligence organization in Hong Kong

Guo was one of millions of prisoners forced to reclaim the farthest hinterlands of China into the arable land dreamed up by Mao. Guo recalls the 13 years he endured in the Laogai system: "I realized what it meant to be a walking corpse. With my legs leaden, my eyes glazed over, my heart palpitating, and my shoulders burdened by heavy loads suspended from poles, I no longer knew if I was moving. I had no strength even to speak, to say nothing of fleeing."