The purpose of this article is to examine the predicament of human rights and the rule of law in terms of the history of the re-education through labor (RETL) system and its controversy in Mainland China. The system is an administrative sanction thatpunishes perpetrators of minor crimes by enforcing re-education on them in labor camps. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) implemented the RETL in the anti-rightist campaign at first and then turned it into the leverage for maintaining social order. Themajor problems of the RETL, however, are its misuse andabuse, questionable legality, and violation of individual freedom. As the result, there has been more and more debateon the future of the RETL since 1990s, which challenges the Chinese government whenit is prepared to accept international human-rights standards and emphasize the rule of law in recent years.