China 's third city Guangzhou announces first steps in the ' Re - education Through Labor ' system . System was set up in the 1970s under Mao Zedong and modeled on the Soviet ' gulags ' It provides for detention without trial for petty thieves and prostitutes to child abusers . `` It did play an important role in maintaining social order in specific periods , however , with the development of society and the legal system , its defects have become more and more evident . '' Human Rights Watch says the changes to the system , however , are only cosmetic .
China 's third city Guangzhou announces first steps in the ' Re - education Through Labor ' system . System was set up in the 1970s under Mao Zedong and modeled on the Soviet ' gulags ' It provides for detention without trial for petty thieves and prostitutes to child abusers . Human Rights Watch says the changes to the system , however , are only cosmetic .