Episode
Orville Schell’s 30-Year Secret: Exposing China’s Secret Prisons
- Podcast
- KQED's Forum
- Published
- Sep 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3286
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Summary
In 1991, China scholar and journalist Orville Schell teamed up with CBS News’ 60 Minutes for a perilous undercover investigation into China’s laogai—a vast network of forced labor camps secretly exporting goods into American markets. Fearing severe retaliation against his family and friends in China, Schell shelved his written account for three decades. In his new book, “Inside China’s Secret Prisons: An Undercover Exposé and Its Lasting Legacy,” Schell reveals how that clandestine operation played out and shares why forced labor persists in China today. Guest: Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society and author of the new book “Inside China’s Secret Prisons: An Undercover Exposé and Its Lasting Legacy” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices