What do disposable chopsticks, the persecution of religious minorities, and slave labor have in common? Bu Dongwei: a man whose life was trampled by the intersection of these three seemingly unconnected things. Bu tells the story of how slavery, persecution, and disposable chopsticks came to rule his life here. I'm here to tell you how Bu's life has possibly touched yours, if you've ever eaten Chinese takeout.

In his home country of China, Bu a was practitioner of Falun Gong, a religion that has been banned by the Chinese government. After a police raid on his home, he was arrested for possessing books related to his faith and sentenced to forced labor in a government labor camp. His punishment? Bu spent long hours every day packing disposable chopsticks in unsanitary conditions. Inmates were regularly deprived of basic needs, brain-washed by communist party propaganda, denied the freedom to go to the restroom, and forced to eat bad, unsanitary food. Every day, Bu and the other inmates, many of whom were fellow Falun Gong practitioners, were forced to pack 6,000-7,000 pairs of chopsticks. Some of those chopsticks remained in China, while others were exported all over the world.

Years later, once Bu had been freed from prison (due in part to an Amnesty International write-in campaign), he saw the exact same disposable chopsticks he was forced to pack day in and day out in a cafeteria on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. To this day, Bu doesn't know for sure whether the chopsticks America's leaders were eating lunch with were the same ones he made as a slave. But the branding and packaging were identical.

I've mentioned the issue of forced labor in North Korea before, but the problem is also significant in China. One huge difference, however, is that the U.S. imports goods from China -- goods which might have been made in forced labor camps like the one Bu was enslaved in. And while some of the people enslaved in these camps have committed crimes like theft, many are religious minorities, civil disobedients, journalists, and other people who have peacefully protested the Chinese government's policies.

It's incredible to me that a chopstick can go from being packed by a slave that has been the victim of religious persecution in China to transferring General Tso's Chicken to a U.S. Senator's mouth. It's almost impossible to believe that trade deals about China could be discussed over the products of government-sanctioned slavery in that country. But Bu's story proves such a scenario is not far-fetched at all. It could happen to any of use.

If you've ever eaten Chinese takeout, you might have used some of Bu's chopsticks. Especially if you're a member of Congress.

Photo credit: i_yudai