Rights Activists · Full chronicle and history

The human rights organization Safeguard Defenders has released a new edition of the book 'The People's Republic of the Disappeared.' It includes first-hand accounts of secret detention under the 'Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location' (RSDL) system from Chinese rights lawyers, journalists, NGO workers, as well as Michael Kovrig, Cheng Lei, and Lee Ming-che, and offers a free PDF download.

The trial of Shenyang petitioner Fu Youling, charged with the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, has opened; the prosecution recommended a fixed-term prison sentence of two years.

The Ministry of Justice, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the National Health Commission, and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration jointly issued standards defining the scope of serious illnesses and criteria for identifying inability to care for oneself for temporary execution of sentences outside prison.

According to Twitter user @LeiYang8964, netizen "Ayu" was previously detained for nearly a year after calling the police to have himself arrested, and has now been released. The post says Ayu was held over his own actions and has now completed his sentence and regained his freedom. The incident has drawn attention on social media, and the relevant details as well as the specific reason for calling the police remain to be further verified.

In the Zhejiang Financial Center incident, the grandmother of Zhu Yidan, a detained rights defender and doctoral student, spoke out in a group chat, issuing 'Ten Questions of Blood and Tears.' She stated that her granddaughter has been detained for 9 months and denied bail, accused of 'conspiracy' merely for forwarding rights-defense information, and questioned where the social danger lies.

According to a post by netizen @QuanLujun, Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong has been arrested and detained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for 2150 days for fighting for freedom, on charges of "collusion with foreign forces," and is still awaiting sentencing. The poster expects the CCP to continue to detain him and extend his sentence under various pretexts and charges. Joshua Wong is about to celebrate his 30th birthday in prison. This information is from a single source and has not yet been independently verified.

A Douyin user in Rizhao, Shandong posted a video showing himself driving a tractor bearing the slogan "Wei Guang Zheng" through the streets, and said he had been suppressed in the past for rights defense.

The Douyin, Weibo, and Bilibili accounts of anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi have published no new content since their last update on September 25. As of October 7, they have been inactive for nearly two weeks, and many netizens have asked in the comments about his safety.

Shandong petitioner Zhao Xigao was sentenced and imprisoned for demanding enforcement funds from a won lawsuit. His family accused that his legs and feet severely ulcerated and blackened in prison, and he eventually died behind bars.

On September 17, it was circulated online that the Justice Bureau of Puan County, Guizhou Province, issued a notice requiring local lawyers, when handling cases related to cracking down on organized crime, to report to the county justice bureau for study and obtain approval before they can present defense arguments that involve changing the characterization of a crime, and demanding that all law firms strictly enforce this.

On August 12, 2026, the international organization Chinese Human Rights Defenders issued a statement pointing out that it had been a full year since Hubei rights defender Yin Xu'an, who is seriously ill, was intercepted while being taken to Beijing for medical treatment and forcibly disappeared, and urged the Chinese authorities to immediately disclose his whereabouts and health condition and release him unconditionally.

In August 2026, prominent criminal defense lawyer Chen Youxi publicly pointed out that in multiple cases involving fallen officials, the case-handling authorities appointed legal aid lawyers to crowd out the lawyers retained by family members, effectively depriving the parties of their right to defense.

In late July 2026, Zhu Yidan, a victim of the Zhejin Center collapse, was designated a ringleader by Hangzhou police and detained for an extended period for reposting rights-defense information online; her family publicly issued an accusation letter questioning whether judicial organs were engaging in retaliation.

On July 8, 2026, the public interest organization Asia Lawyers Network released a report disclosing that the crackdown on lawyers in China has extended to the civil and commercial sectors, with lawyers frequently facing criminal prosecution by authorities using criminal charges to replace civil litigation when handling civil and commercial disputes.

On July 7, 2026, on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the 709 case, disbarred mainland human rights lawyer Liu Shuqing published a two-volume collection in New York, containing historical records of his handling of major public cases such as the New Citizens' Movement and the 709 case, as well as acts of civil disobedience.

After the case was accepted, it remained unhandled for a long time; Lin attempted suicide by slashing his or her wrist shortly afterward, and his or her lawyer says Lin was subsequently diagnosed with severe depression by a hospital.

In late June 2026, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress released the draft amendment to the Lawyers Law, with new clauses explicitly requiring practicing lawyers to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the socialist rule of law, and mandating that law firms establish grassroots Party organizations in accordance with the Party Constitution.

On June 10, 2026, Chinese independent feminist and human rights activist Li Qiaochu sent an inquiry letter, legally filing an administrative reconsideration against the Shandong Provincial Prison Administration for its inaction on the marriage application of Xu Zhiyong, who is incarcerated.

On May 25, 2026, Wu Qiang, a citizen of Lianyungang, Jiangsu, posted a video accusing the authorities of sentencing him to one year in prison for 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble' after he monitored water pollution. Following his release, the Lianyungang Intermediate Court placed him under residential surveillance for another six months. He also disclosed that he was subjected to torture and abuse while in custody.

China's Ministry of Justice announced the results of a crackdown on local law enforcement violations, saying it identified and corrected more than 66,000 problems and recovered economic losses of 30.7 billion yuan for businesses.

On December 22, 2024, the Nanchang police in Jiangxi and the subdistrict office issued a statement saying that, in response to an online dispute, they had lawfully sent Li Yixue, a party who had repeatedly pursued rights defense, to a hospital for psychiatric treatment, once again sparking controversy over being "diagnosed as mentally ill" against one's will.

Rights campaigner Xu Zhiyong has been on a hunger strike for 40 days in protest against Lunan Prison depriving him of his right to communicate with his fiancée Li Qiaochu. Currently, Xu Zhiyong cannot meet with his lawyers, making it difficult for the outside world to know his specific physical condition.

Jing Shuren, a migrant worker and self-media creator in Gansu, was criminally detained by Lanzhou police in 2024 for repeatedly reposting posts by his friend Zhou Lubao that exposed companies' unpaid wages.

From July 9, 2015, Chinese police (Public Security) carried out large-scale arrests, summons and detentions of over a hundred rights lawyers, rights defenders and their relatives across 23 provinces, an event known as the 709 crackdown.

In May 2011, the Xia Junfeng case entered the Supreme People's Court's death penalty review; afterward, academics and netizens launched a "stay the execution" solidarity campaign, though the exact launch date and the scale of hundreds of thousands of participants could not be verified.

On June 16, 2009, the court of Badong County, Hubei, found Deng Yujiao guilty of intentional injury in the first-instance ruling, but, taking into account such circumstances as excessive self-defense and voluntary surrender, exempted her from criminal penalty.

After Yang Jia was executed, his mother Wang Jingmei opened a blog on Sina. Her first post wrote of the grief of losing her son. The blog was soon forced to close. Ai Weiwei cited this case in a blog roundtable discussion in January 2009 to illustrate the power of individual voices, and how afraid the authorities are.

After the Yang Jia case occurred, artist Ai Weiwei published a series of posts on his blog, pressing questions about the details of Yang Jia's case, the circumstances of his mother being committed to a psychiatric hospital, and the violations of procedure during the trial; his blog at one point became a gathering point for online public opinion. After that, he spoke out for Yang Jia multiple times.

The night after the Yang Jia case occurred, his mother Wang Jingmei was first taken to the Datun Police Station in Chaoyang District, and was then sent by Shanghai and Beijing police to the Ankang Psychiatric Hospital of the Beijing Public Security Bureau in Shunyi District and forcibly detained. Her family only learned of her whereabouts four months later, and legal professionals pointed out that there was no regulatory basis whatsoever for sending her to a psychiatric hospital.

On June 1, 2004, Jiang Yanyong and his wife Hua Zhongwei were taken away by the authorities while on their way to the hospital; Hua Zhongwei was released two weeks later, Jiang Yanyong was released on July 19, and the authorities denied the incident.

In 2002, workers at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Plant launched weeks of protests over long-term unpaid wages and losing everything after being laid off; worker representatives were subsequently arrested and sentenced on charges of illegal assembly, inciting subversion of state power, and others, on Zhu Rongji's signal.