Zhang Guoting

Zhang was one of 3,000 children between eight and fifteen years old who were rounded up in Shanghai to become "apprentices" during a labor shortage at Laojiao camps in Shanxi Province.

First toiling in the Laojiao, Zhang recalls making bricks in "intensely hot kilns,"digging canals, carrying manure, and building offices and dormitories for police cadres in lieu of an education or childhood. Upon reaching adulthood, Zhang was subjected to forced job placement, where the physical toil and psychological pressure only increased further.