Laojiao
/ˌlaʊ̯.tɕjɑʊ̯/noun
A former Chinese system of administrative detention combined with compulsory labor and political reeducation.
Did you know?Laojiao was an administrative punishment rather than a formal criminal sentence, allowing people to be detained without ordinary judicial proceedings; China officially abolished the system in 2013.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
勞
“Labor, toil, or hardship”
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
教
“To teach, instruct, or educate”
1950s
Mandarin Chinese
劳动教养
““Labor education”; the formal name for a system of administrative reeducation through labor”
20th Century
Mandarin Chinese
劳教 (láojiào)
“A shortened spoken and written form of 劳动教养”
Modern English
English
laojiao
“An English-language transliteration referring to China’s former reeducation-through-labor system”