On “Little RTL Inmates in Dabao,” a Documentary by Xie Yihui

Xie’s documentary follows Zeng Boyan, a a former Sichuan Daily reporter, to a Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) camp located in Dabao Township, Ebian County, Sichuan Province, where they interviewed survivors and witnesses. Beginning in 1957, modeling the Soviet Union’s efforts to reform street children, China expanded its RTL program to include 10-17 year-old minors. Four to five thousand young people were subsequently sent to the camp. By the time the practice was discontinued in 1961, thousands had died in Dabao from hunger and disease. Ai Xiaoming describes the documentary as being "replete with knowledge about the evil of RTL," which not only has historical significance because it provides us with living evidence of this little-known totalitarian wrong, "but also real practical significance for today, as the authorities continue to vacillate on policy decisions about ending the RTL system.“ The film will be added to the documentary collection project of the Research Service Center at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.