Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Laogai" in English language version.
The laogai was a sort of nonplace, a black hole where the light of Maoism blinded tens of millions of people. As a rough indication, Harry Wu calculates that up to the mid-1980s some 50 million people passed through the system.115 Many died there. According to estimates by Jean-Luc Domenach, there were roughly 10 million detainees each year, which equals 1—2 percent of the overall population. Given that the mortality rate was around 5 percent, some 20 million Chinese must have died during imprisonment, including approximately 4 million in 1959-1962 during the famine caused by the Great Leap Forward (although a return to normal rations took place only in 1964).116 Along with Jean Pasqualini's extraordinary revelations, two recent studies (those of Wu and Domenach) now yield a better general picture of the least-known of the century's three great concentration-camp systems. [....] 115. Wu, Laogai, p. 38. 116. Domenach, Chine, p. 242; Pasqualini, Prisoner of Mao, p. 318.
"There are, according to Wu, an estimated 1,100 of these institutions in which prisoners are compelled to work under conditions, essentially, of slave labor. He estimates that over five decades about 50 million Chinese have been through the Laogai. Today Wu estimates the Laogai population at 6-8 million. [.....] Many of them simply perished in the camps, part of a Laogai death toll that by Wu's calculations may have reached 15 million since 1949. Others survived, but remained in legal limbo for the rest of their lives.
Twenty-seven million deaths in prisons and labour camps Jung Chang's second large group of Mao's peacetime victims is those who died in Chinese government custody. The number is actually produced by magic formula. Mao's responsibility is not discussed, merely assumed. During Mao's 27 years of rule, 'the number who died in prisons and labour camps could well amount to 27 million' (p. 338). The proof: 'China's prison and labour camp population was roughly 10 million in any one year under Mao. Descriptions of camp life by inmates, which point to high mortality rates, indicate a probable annual death rate of at least 10 per cent' (p. 338 fn.). So 10m × 10% × 27 = 27 million. Jung Chang accuses Mao of killing x = a × b × c number of people, where a = 'China's prison and labour camp population', b = 'annual death rate', and c = the years of his rule. She does not explain why a = 10 million. Her justification of b = 10 per cent is based on 'descriptions of camp life by inmates'. If we applied this magic formula to Deng Xiao-ping's reign from 1978 to 1989, we get the figure of 12 million deaths, and 14 million for his successor Jiang Ze-min (1990–2003). Jung Chang does not show why Mao was responsible. Apparently she simply blames Mao for every Chinese death of whatever kind.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) ()."There are, according to Wu, an estimated 1,100 of these institutions in which prisoners are compelled to work under conditions, essentially, of slave labor. He estimates that over five decades about 50 million Chinese have been through the Laogai. Today Wu estimates the Laogai population at 6-8 million. [.....] Many of them simply perished in the camps, part of a Laogai death toll that by Wu's calculations may have reached 15 million since 1949. Others survived, but remained in legal limbo for the rest of their lives.