People often say China is a nation of contrasts: of wealth and poverty, of personal freedom and political limits. But that observation doesn't begin to capture the tensions and incongruities of modern life here.
For instance, in today's Shanghai, you can sip a $31 champagne cocktail in a sleek rooftop bar overlooking the city's spectacular skyline, while, just a few miles away, ordinary citizens languish in a secret detention center run by government-paid thugs.
Many foreigners are familiar with Shanghai's futuristic bar scene — less so its black detention sites. So, earlier this year, I asked a frequent inmate of the government's so-called "black jails" to show me the place where she's been detained a half-dozen times.
My guide was Li Yufang, a petite, feisty woman of 42.
"I was put in black sites many times," Li said matter-of-factly. "I didn't really count how many, but definitely more than 10 times."
Enlarge Frank Langfitt/NPR
It may appear cute and quaint and sit in the midst of a sprawling Shanghai park, but this cottage is used as a "black jail."