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Citizens' Square

Citizens’ Square is a virtual Democracy Wall for individuals from China to share their stories online in personal narratives, open letters, statements, and case descriptions, and through photos, court documents, and videos. While most of the posted items are in Chinese, HRIC provides in English the title and a descriptive summary of each item. On occasion, HRIC also provides English translation of the contents of the item itself.

Launched in spring 2010, Citizens’ Square has served as an uncensored platform for petitioners, rights defenders, lawyers, and other citizens to expose corruption and official malfeasance, publicize cases of abuse ranging from illegal detention to kidnapping and torture, and issue public statements, including calls for official accountability and transparency and appeals for just compensation for forced evictions.

The expansion of this virtual Democracy Wall reflects the powerful desire among Chinese citizens to assert their rights and the growing citizen activism in China. Postings on Citizens’ Square have also helped individuals and groups bring international press attention to their cases.

In Citizens’ Square, journalists, researchers, and the general public can learn more about individual cases.

Items 501 - 550 of 629
Dozens of former police officers from many provinces who are victims of miscarriage of justices arrived in Beijing in recent days for a planned protest in the capital. By October 23, nearly 20 of them were detained and sent back to their home cities. Among them were He Zuhua, from Henan Province,...
In this message , Xu Yonghai, a member of the Divine Love Fellowship of the Beijing Christian House Church, recounts a visit by the police who told him not to leave home in advance of and during the 18th Party Congress beginning Nov. 8.
In this appeal ( Chinese only ), Cai Ying (蔡瑛) states that he is being held in a place that the Yuanjiang Municipal Commission for Discipline and Inspection of Hunan Province uses to detain and interrogate people in the name of “residential surveillance.” Cai, a lawyer with the Xiangjun Law Firm in...
In this account, the authors tell the story of Wu Muqin—a Guangdong peasant who was abandoned by her husband when she was seriously ill—became disabled after being beaten by her ex-husband’s cousin. The police did not respond when she reported the assault. Unable to walk, she resorted to...
[International Constitutional Court] The open letter supports Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki’s proposal—which he articulated in his address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2012—to establish an International Constitutional Court to examine whether constitutions of various governments...
The authors state that the campaign, which began in early September, has garnered 1,059 signatures, and that the campaign continues a 63-year battle waged by the people of China for freedom of expression. Chen is a laid-off teacher in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. He was tried for “inciting subversion...
On September 30, 2012, Shanghainese rights defender and petitioner Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤) was intercepted and returned to Shanghai. She was subsequently criminally detained on suspicion of "gathering a crowd to disturb public order." She is currently held at the Yangpu District Detention Center.
The open letter (in Chinese) says that on September 19, Liu Ping ( 刘萍) and Wei Zhongping ( 魏忠平) , rights defenders and independent candidates for the People’s Congress in Xinyu, Jiangxi, were detained, strip-searched, verbally abused, and beaten by the local police in an 11-hour-long ordeal. The...
In the afternoon of September 14, Lü Gengsong and other democracy activists in Hangzhou were warned by the police that they will not be allowed to leave their homes beginning on September 15. Earlier, 10 Hanzhou citizens, including Zou Wei, submitted an application to the Hangzhou Public Security...
This open call (Chinese only) protests the prosecution of Chen Pingfu (陈平福) and calls for people to add their names in support for his case. Chen is a former teacher who was tried for "inciting subversion of state power" on September 4, 2012. The prosecution's charges were based on articles that...
The Special Prize of AUD$3,000 ($3,068) was awarded to Mr. Dhondup Wangchen, cinematogpher and producer of the documentary film “Leaving Fear Behind,” on September 2 on the occasion of the Tibetan Democracy Day in Dharamsala. Nominated by the Tibetan writer Woeser, Mr. Dhondup is currently serving...
This article (Chinese only) describes how on August 20, 2012, more than 50 petitioners rushed the office building for the Tianjin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection of Communist Party. The petitioners had requested to meet with the commission heads so they could discuss how to resolve...
On August 17, 2012, domestic security police disrupted a gathering of the Beijing Christian house church Divine Love Group of the Beijing Christian House Church. Xu Yonghai (徐永海), the head of Divine Love Group, was taken into a police vehicle for questioning, and an elder sister was prevented from...
The Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) system allows authorities to order minor offenders to labor camp for up to four years without trial and has been increasingly criticized in recent years. On August 14, 2012, ten lawyers including prominent rights defense lawyer Li Fangping (李方平) sent a proposal (...
In his letter (Chinese only) to the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Justice, lawyer Chen Wuquan (陈武权) explains why he wanted to defend Chen Kegui, the nephew of blind legal advocate Chen Guangcheng who is facing charges of intentional homicide as a result of defending himself against intruders who...
Increasingly concerned that he will be arrested, the Wuhan activist releases a statement , dated July 5, 2012, saying that he will not commit suicide and that he and his wife Wang Xifeng have retained two lawyers. Since May 2012 when Qin and Wang performed their marriage ceremony, the authorities...
Wang Xifeng, wife of Qin Yongmin, refused to go with the police who came to the couple’s home to take her away for questioning. The couple had their marriage ceremony in May, but the authorities have refused to issue them a marriage certificate.
Wuhan dissident Qin Yongmin (秦永敏) and Wang Xifeng (王喜凤) were married in May 2012. However, authorities have persisted in refusing to issue a marriage certificate to the couple. In this article (Chinese only), Qin and Wang explain how they have had to terminate their pregnancy in order to avoid...
On August 3, 2012, Henan rural rights activist Hong Maoxian (洪茂先) was released from prison after serving a one-year sentence on conviction of “obstructing official business” and “destroying public property.” Hong’s prosecution arose following a clash between police and villagers in Fushan Township...
The 16 members of the Defenders of Lin Zhao’s Legacy have been announced as the recipients of the Fifth annual Promoting Progress in China Award from the Australia-based Qi’s Cultural Foundation. In their nomination for the Defenders of Lin Zhao’s Legacy, Hu Jie (胡杰), Ai Xiaoming (艾晓明), and Ai...
Authorities in Leiyang, Hunan Province, ordered Liang Konglian (梁孔莲), a woman from Guangxi who had given birth to a boy in May 2012, to undergo tubal ligation. On July 26, 2012, Liang had the procedure at the Leiyang Family Planning Service Center, where she died five days later. Police did not...
[Black Jails]Four Shanghainese petitioners were intercepted by authorities on July 20, 2012 as they attempted to go to Beidaihe District, Hebei Province for a weekend trip. The four were detained and forcibly returned to Shanghai. Li Yufang (李玉芳) writes of two of the petitioners' experiences upon...
This short article (Chinese only) describes Shanghai petitioner Wang Kouma’s determination to continue to fight his case despite being categorized as one of the five types of people accused by a Chinese expert of being used by the United States to interfere with China’s rise. The five types of...
Ye Jinghuan (野靖环), a representative from a group of independent candidates for the local people's congress, writes in this essay (Chinese only) of how she, the independent candidates, and a group of villagers went to the Guangqumen Bridge area of Beijing to mourn the victims of the July 21, 2012...
Following the release of an investigation report by Hunan provincial authorities which confirmed activist Li Wangyang’s (李旺阳) death as suicide, ten lawyers from mainland China and Hong Kong sent an open letter to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (Chinese only). The lawyers...
Beijing-based disabled rights defender Ni Yulan (倪玉兰) was twice imprisoned for fighting against forced eviction. In April 2012, both she and her husband, Dong Jiqin (董继勤), were convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” Ni was also convicted of “fraud” and was sentenced to two years...
Gansu activist and former policeman Li Dawei (李大伟) was sentenced in 2002 to 11-years in prison after being convicted for “inciting subversion of state power.” Li appealed the judgement but was unsuccessful. He was released in April 2012. HRIC has translated into English the second instance (appeal...
[Shang Zhaoshu] Shang, a paraplegic since childhood as a result of a reaction to a vaccine, is a petitioner in Hegang City of Heilongjiang Province. Because of his petitioning activities, he was made to spend a year in Reeducation-Through-Labor and another year in detention. In June 2012, while...
[Protest] More than 200 petitioners staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Supervision in Beijing. This account points out that the protest focused not on the individual cases of the petitioners, but on systemic issues including corruption and human rights abuses.
Liu Fanbi (刘凡必), a victim of financial fraud, was sentenced to five years on a trumped-up charge after he offended a procuratorate officer while trying to retrieve his losses that the authorities had confiscated from the criminals. Liu began petitioning to authorities at different government levels...
Xiao Guozhen, a Beijing lawyer, was summoned for a police interrogation, which she thought might be because of her lead role in forming a group of attorneys to investigate the purported suicide of activist Li Wangyang. She issued an emergency notice stating that she might be taken away and...
[Remember June Fourth] On the 23rd anniversary of the crackdown of the 1989 Democracy Movement, four Shanghai petitioners publicly commemorated the June Fourth Tiananmen Massacre by holding placards on People’s Square in the center of Shanghai.
In accepting the 2012 Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literature in Warsaw, Poland, Liao Yiwu spoke exclusively about Li Bifeng. Li isa poet, a character in one of Liao’s books, and Liao’s former prison mate who was imprisoned twice following the 1989 June Fourth crackdown on the Democracy Movement...
In his poem (Chinese only), Guo Yongfeng, a Shenzhen-based rights defender—who considers himself a “new fighter for democracy”—expresses his admiration for a veteran who devoted his entire life to the cause of democracy in China as well has his anger towards the authorities which had brutally...
The Statement, drafted by Zhou Zhirong, a veteran democracy activist from Hunan, raises the question whether the police designation of Li Wangyong’s death as suicide is a cover up. The statement calls upon both the international community and civil society groups to form a committee to investigate...
Liu Ping, one of the three independent candidates running for the local people’s congress of Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province, details the abuses and brutalities she and her two fellow candidates, Wei Zhongping and Li Sihua, have suffered since they began their campaigns. The brutalities include...
In this letter of complaint (Chinese only) to the government of Qingshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, Qin Yongmin (秦永敏), a Wuhan-based dissident, and his fiancé, Wang Xifeng (王喜凤), recount how the public security bureaus in both Qingshan District and Hunyuan County, Shanxi Province, where Wang...
On May 28, democracy activists in Guizhou Province held a rally to commemorate June Fourth in the bustling People’s Square, in Guiyang, the provincial capital. Lu reports in the write-up of the event (Chinese only) that it attracted several thousand spectators. Lu said that despite the difficult...
On May 15, 2012, Chongqing dissident and Chinese Pan-Blue Alliance leader Zhang Qi (张起) was released from Yuzhou Prison after having served a four-year sentence. Zhang was detained on May 16, 2008, formally arrested on June 20, 2009, and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” on July 7,...
On May 15, 2012, Chongqing dissident and Chinese Pan-Blue Alliance leader Zhang Qi (张起) was released from Yuzhou Prison after having served a four-year sentence. Zhang was detained on May 16, 2008, formally arrested on June 20, 2009, and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” on July 7,...
Sun Haixiang (孙海洋), a rights defender in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, writes of a recent ordeal of attempted abduction. Sun has been beaten many times by thugs for reporting illegal gambling. On May 3, 2012, Sun was then beaten harshly by bailiffs from the Shenhe District People's Court. On May 9,...
In this timeline, Guangdong-based legal activist Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄) (a.k.a. Yang Maodong [杨茂东]) chronicles the events that led up to the detention and release of several democracy activists who have become known as the "five gentlemen of Guangzhou who held placards." In late March 2012, a number of...
On April 17, 2012, police officer Zhang Jingbo, an armed policeman, was dismissed from his position in the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Armed Police Motor Vehicle Squadron due to “demolition problems related to his family.”
Qin Yongmin (秦永敏) is one of the co-founders of the China Democracy Party. He has been closely monitored by authorities since his November 2010 release from prison after serving 12 years for subversion of state power. In this notice, Qin writes that he was summoned to speak with Secretary Guan of...
April 10, 2012, Beijing based disabled rights defender Ni Yulan (倪玉兰) was ordered to serve two years and eight months in prison and pay a fine of 1,000 yuan ($159) for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and “fraud”. Her husband, Dong Jiqin (董继勤) was also sentenced to two years in prison for...
On April 10, 2012, Xicheng District People’s Court of Beijing sentenced Beijing-based disabled rights defender Ni Yulan (倪玉兰) to two years and six months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and six months in prison with a fine of 1,000 yuan ($159) for “fraud.” The court ordered...
Online activist and writer Lü Gengsong (吕耿松) filed this complaint against the Zhejiang Police College with the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Public Security. Lü, who had been employed by the college in 1983-1993, details the college’s refusal to let him purchase the apartment that the college...
Li Tiantian (李天天), a former lawyer from Shanghai, has suffered continuous harassment by the authorities since she began participating in rights defense activities and publishing articles in 2009. Li made an online appeal in support of the Jasmine Revolution in February 2011, and since then was...
On Qingming (Tomb Sweeping Day, April 4, 2012), police in Beijing detained many of the petitioners from Shanghai and other places in China who visited Beijing’s Babaoshan Cemetery to pay their respects at various graves. At another Beijing cemetery, five petitioners were detained when they tried to...
Veteran dissident Qin Yongmin (秦永敏) was administratively detained for 10 days during the 2012 NPC/CPPCC Sessions by the Qingshan District Public Security Bureau in Wuhan, Hubei; he was then illegally detained an additional five days. Qin was illegally deprived of his right to meet with his family...

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