 During the Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress in Beijing on 15 November 2013 , Chinese officials announced that they planned to abolish the Re @-@ education Through Labour system . The announcement came after a series of stories about Masanjia Labor Camp garnered international as well as domestic attention . First was the highly publicised letter from an inmate at Masanjia that a Portland , Oregon woman found hidden in a box of Halloween decorations . The letter listed abuses at the camp and pleaded for help . Secondly a small magazine in China called Lens published a 14 @-@ page report detailing abuses of women at Masanjia . An online version of the report quickly became the most read news item in China . These two stories along with continued pressure from international NGO 's as well as reformers within China precipitated the announcement to end the system . 
