A Chinese court has sentenced a dissident writer to seven years in prison over a poem he wrote urging his countrymen to gather at a public square, a human rights group said Friday.

The hefty sentence comes ahead of next week’s visit to the U.S. by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping— widely expected to be China’s next leader — where he is likely to face questions on human rights.

A court in Hangzhou city sentenced dissident Zhu Yufu on Friday in a hearing attended by his ex-wife and son, said the Chinese Human Rights Defenders. Zhu’s ex-wife and lawyers could not immediately be reached.

Zhu is among a group of writers and intellectuals targeted by Chinese authorities in a crackdown aimed at preventing Arab Spring-style popular uprisings.

Three other dissidents have received nine- and 10-year prison terms for subversion or inciting subversion over the last few months.

The Guardian has quoted Zhu’s son, who describes the activities that landed Zhu in court:

Zhu Yufu was jailed for “inciting subversion of state power” by a court in Hangzhou, eastern China, after a trial hearing on 31 January when prosecutors cited a poem and messages he had sent on the internet, his son Zhu Ang told Reuters.

The poem said: “It’s time, Chinese people! It’s time. The Square belongs to all.” References to a “square” might evoke memories among many Chinese people of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, though the poem did not mention it or the 1989 pro-democracy protests.

Prosecutors also cited text messages that he sent using Skype. There was no suggestion that the online chat service helped police to collect evidence.

[...]He [Zhu Ang] said the verdict cited his father’s online calls for mobilisation in the name of democracy.

BBC further quotes Zhu’s son, and gives a brief outline of Zhu’s earlier clashes with the State:

“Basically, the only chance that my father had to say anything was when he was being taken out after the hearing, and he stopped and said, ‘I want to appeal’.”

Mr Zhu, a veteran activist who turns 59 this month, was involved in the 1979 Democracy Wall movement, which pressed for faster change in China.

He has been jailed twice before for his activism – in 1999 for seven years and in 2007 for two years.

An AFP report describes U.S. State Department appeals on Zhu’s behalf:

“We are deeply concerned about these reports that he has been found guilty of inciting subversion of state power and sentenced to seven years in prison for writing a poem,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

[...]“We call on the Chinese government to release Zhu Yufu and all others detained for exercising their rights and to respect the universal human rights of all their citizens,” she added.

Zhu’s incarceration comes just as Vice President Xi Jinping prepares to visit the U.S.

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Post tags: activism, dissidents, political prisoners, subversion, Zhu Yufu
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Interrogator: “What is it all about? You are the initiator, correct? Who are the members? How much money have you spent on it? Who gave you the money?”

Me: “I set it up to collect everything about Chen Guangcheng in Chinese or other languages. The purpose is to get more people to know about him, raise awareness of the plight of him and his family, and call for his freedom. It needs no money, nor did anyone give me money. It’s built on a free blogging platform. Members are netizens whom I don’t personally know …. We don’t originate content. I am not a leader, and there is no need for us to contact each other.”

Interrogator: “That’s not possible! How can a website belong to no organization, no leader, not spending money? Impossible!”

“Believe it or not, nobody leads,” I said, thinking, Where do these people come from? Do you have to have a leader to call for freedom?

Reading the whole account is strongly recommended: Part 1, Part 2

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Post tags: Americans in China, Chen Guangcheng, detention, interrogation, online activism, United States
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Among their most critical findings is that the relationship between prosecutors and judges tends to be so close that there is “little space for lawyers to work within.” More basically, a judge is quoted as saying, “the police, the judge and the prosecutor are in one family ….”

The interviews found that some participants in the system would prefer a higher level of legality. Ultimately, however, criminal justice is “a process within a system, a Party-centered system which demands certainty of outcome (conviction).”

The authors write that despite “traces of due process,” the value system allows exceptions that violate the law. Violations of the law have become “systematic and entrenched… they have also become internalized… the rules to be followed are quite different from the rules in the formal rules” of the Criminal Procedure Law and merely changing legal rules would not improve rights and increase the reliability of the system. It would be necessary for the Party-state to “discard existing prejudices and adopt new and liberal values… ‘system reform’ not ‘law reform.’”

See also two previous posts by Lubman, via CDT: Laws on Paper vs. Law in Practice and A Glimpse into Chinese Law-Making.

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Post tags: criminal law, criminal procedure law, judiciary, legal reform, legal system
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According to the study, conducted in 17 provinces and regions by Beijing’s Renmin University and published in the 21st Century Business Herald, nearly a quarter of farmers did not receive any compensation for their land.

Almost two thirds of those surveyed who did receive compensation got a lump sum, which averaged 18,739 yuan ($3,000) per mu, a Chinese unit of land equivalent to 0.16 acres or 0.07 hectares, according to the study.

This compares to an average land sale price of 778,000 yuan per mu for local governments — or more than 40 times the average compensation sum given to farmers. The others received their money in installments.

On a visit to the southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong over the weekend, Wen reiterated his concern over land grabs.

Read more about land rights in China via CDT.

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Post tags: farmers, forced evictions, land grab, land rights, rural development
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The Chinese premier, who retires later this year, said he understood why villagers were often angry about land losses, and vowed to give real bite to protections that in theory give farmers a collective say in land development.

What is the widespread problem now? It’s the arbitrary seizure of farmers’ fields, and the farmers have complaints about this, and it’s even sparking mass incidents,” Wen said in Guangdong on Saturday, according to the Xinhua report.

“The root of the problem is that the land is the property of the farmers, but this right has not been protected in the way it should be,” said Wen.

Wen, who has cast himself as a defender of the struggling farmer, also vowed to make village committee elections — seen by many residents as an empty formality under the thumb of officials — into an authentic channel for public opinion.

Wen’s comments did not change the policy regarding land rights, but his statements seemed to be in support of Wang Yang, Guangdong’s provincial party secretary. The Wall Street Journal adds:

The comments, reported on Sunday, appeared to be a signal of support for Guangdong’s provincial party secretary, Wang Yang. Mr. Wang, who is widely viewed as among the most liberal of China’s top leadership, has embarked on a risky campaign to reduce official rural corruption by making significant concessions to protesting villagers, and allowing former protest leaders in Wukan to take up key posts in the village government.

Mr. Wang is vying for a spot on China’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee in a leadership transition later this year. Some analysts say Mr. Wang’s political fate is tied in some degree to the success of grass-roots democracy in Wukan. The case has galvanized national attention, and has been widely debated on China’s popular social networking sites in recent weeks.

Analysts say Mr. Wang’s model in Wukan likely faces resistance elsewhere in China among local leaders who fear unhappy residents across China will be emboldened by the apparent victory of Wukan’s villagers.

Protests in Wukan began in September, and centered on alleged land grabs by local officials. They escalated dramatically in December after a protest leader, Xue Jinbo, died while in police custody. The protests only subsided after Mr. Wang sent one of his top lieutenants to the village to make concessions to protest leaders.

Read much more about Wukan via CDT.

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Post tags: Guangdong, land rights, Wen Jiabao, Wukan
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Against a backdrop of rapid socio-economic change and modernization, China continues to be an authoritarian one-party state that imposes sharp curbs on freedom of expression, association, and religion; openly rejects judicial independence and press freedom; and arbitrarily restricts and suppresses human rights defenders and organizations, often through extra-judicial measures.

The government also censors the internet; maintains highly repressive policies in ethnic minority areas such as Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia; systematically condones—with rare exceptions—abuses of power in the name of “social stability” ; and rejects domestic and international scrutiny of its human rights record as attempts to destabilize and impose “Western values” on the country. The security apparatus—hostile to liberalization and legal reform—seems to have steadily increased its power since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. China’s “social stability maintenance” expenses are now larger than its defense budget.

At the same time Chinese citizens are increasingly rights-conscious and challenging the authorities over livelihood issues, land seizures, forced evictions, abuses of power by corrupt cadres, discrimination, and economic inequalities. Official and scholarly statistics estimate that 250-500 protests occur per day; participants number from ten to tens of thousands. Internet users and reform-oriented media are aggressively pushing the boundaries of censorship, despite the risks of doing so, by advocating for the rule of law and transparency, exposing official wrong-doing, and calling for reforms.

China’s state media has responded to the report with a flurry of indignation, as HRW’s Nicholas Bequelin noted:

此地无银三百两： People’s Daily and China Daily have published a total of 10 (!) articles on Human Rights Watch (@hrw) in one week.

— Nicholas Bequelin 林伟 (@Bequelin) January 31, 2012

(“此地无银三百两”: “No 300 taels of silver here”; to draw attention to something by denying it.)

People’s Daily, for example, suggested that criticism of China’s rights record arose from Western insecurity:

It seems that some Western countries and NGOs have set out to attack China over its human rights issues. They first assume that human rights are being ignored, then seek evidence from rumors, and make speculations to blindly accuse China of violating human rights with the real purpose of distorting China’s international image ….

Why does the West still hold a prejudice against China’s human rights? The only reason is that the Cold War mentality and ideological hegemony still prevails. As long as China is a socialist country, the West will insist on distorting its image and see China as a threat to the Western system.

Since the end of the Cold War, the West has been too boastful of its political system, believing it is the only system that has universal value in the world.

China’s significant economic progress has stirred Western anxieties. Distorting China’s human rights becomes the only political choice.

Elsewhere, People’s Daily also criticised the report for failing to acknowledge China’s progress in legal reform. From Xinhua:

The World Report “gave no word on the great progress in terms of China’s judicial reforms that have been demonstrated in the Criminal Procedural Law draft amendment,” the article said.

Legal experts say the draft amendment will help improve the protection of criminal suspects’ human rights, by preventing judges from accepting confessions from tortured suspects and giving these suspects more defense options.

In fact, the report does acknowledge the amendment, but reiterates concern at the prospect of legalised enforced disappearances:

In August 2011, in an effort to … improve the administration of justice, the government published new rules to eliminate unlawfully obtained evidence and strengthened the procedural rights of the defense in its draft revisions to the Criminal Procedure Law. It is likely it will be adopted in March 2012.

However, the draft revisions also introduced an alarming provision that would effectively legalize enforced disappearances by allowing police to secretly detain suspects for up to six months at a location of their choice in “state security, terrorism and major corruption cases.” The measure would put suspects at great risk of torture while giving the government justification for the “disappearance” of dissidents and activists in the future. Adoption of this measure—which is hotly criticized in Chinese media by human rights lawyers, activists, and part of the legal community—would significantly deviate from China’s previous stance of gradual convergence with international norms on administering justice, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1997 but has yet to ratify.

See more on CDT.

People’s Daily also objected to the report’s claim that “the government continues to build a ‘new socialist countryside’ [in Tibet] by relocating and rehousing up to 80 percent of the TAR population, including all pastoralists and nomads.” From Xinhua:

The People’s Daily article, jointly published by two Tibet experts, said the HRW’s conclusion was groundless and contradictory to basic facts.

The two authors, Zhang Ming, or Lorong Dramadul, with the China Tibetology Research Center, and Professor Yang Minghong with Sichuan University, hoped that their experiences and observations from over 20 years of field research in Tibet could help clarify the misunderstandings.

They cited official statistics and said that in 2011, 1.85 million Tibetans, or 61 percent of the total population, had settled in permanent residences.

“No more than 150,000 people, or less than 5 percent of the Tibetan population, had left their original residence,” the experts wrote.

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher Pan Xizhe’s op-ed at China Daily accused Human Rights Watch of sloppy methodology and political motivations:

At first glance, Human Rights Watch appears to be keen on the protection of international human rights. But it actually carries out its work with double standards and bias. Its observations lack political neutrality and its research methods are questionable. The organization’s employment of unqualified workers has also hurt the credibility of its report. Human Rights Watch should reflect inward before passing on judgment to others.

The media and international observers have long criticized Human Rights Watch for passing judgment of human rights conditions of a country or region through tinted lens. It turns a blind eye to human rights issues in some countries while criticizing others vehemently. The Sunday Times quoted a human rights insider in the United States as saying that the organization caters its reports to the US government, which greatly affects its objectivity ….

In the China portion of its report, Human Rights Watch used expressions such as “estimate”, “possibly”, and “probably”. It criticized China’s judiciary system, religious institutions, regional autonomy by ethnic groups, family planning policy as well as foreign and economic policies.

The US section of the report, which criticises the Obama White House’s failure to pursue Bush administration officials for approving the use of torture and decries America’s “abusive” counterterrorism policies, growing poverty and world-leading prison population, can be read here.

While the World Report looked back at 2011, at The Diplomat, HRW’s Phelim Kine looks ahead to 2012:

These cases represent more than the Chinese government’s well-documented contempt for freedom of expression explicitly guaranteed in Article 35 of the Constitution. They are also clear efforts to breed fear and sow silence among China’s beleaguered community of human rights defenders and civil society activists. The aim: to ensure that the 12-month senior Communist Party leadership transition this year proceeds without public challenges to the Party’s 61-year monopoly on power. China’s President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are preparing to step aside for a new generation of leaders, widely touted to be Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, in a secretive political succession that won’t be complete until in March 2013 ….

The government’s overriding obsession with maintaining its monopoly on power make it likely that these abuses will continue under the leadership of Xi Jinping. Foreign governments could help reverse this trend and give support to Chinese who want a more accountable government by more vigorously engaging the government on such violations. Thirty years since the launch of China’s economic reform and opening, a decade after China entered the World Trade Organization, and five years since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the deterioration in respect for human rights and rule of law in China should be of serious concern for all countries seeking long-term, sustainable and mutually-beneficial bilateral relations with China.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, criminal procedure law, disabled, human rights watch, industrial pollution, leadership transition, legal reform, Li Keqiang, migrants, minorities, press freedom, religious freedom, Tibet, women, Xi Jinping
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Veteran activist Zhu Yufu faced trial in the prosperous eastern city of Hangzhou, where police arrested him in April and charged him with “inciting subversion of state power,” his lawyer, Li Dunyong, said.

The court did not deliver its verdict straight away. But Zhu, who turns 59 in February, appears likely to follow other Chinese dissidents who have received stiff prison terms from the party-run judiciary on subversion charges, which are often used to punish ardent advocates of democratic change.

In Zhu’s case, the prosecutors cited his poem, “It’s time,” as well as text messages that he sent using the Skype online chat service, said Li.

Read one of Zhu’s poems in this previous CDT post. Zhu previously served two years in prison on 2008. See also an explanation of the difference between “inciting subversion” and “subversion,” by the Siweiluozi blog.

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Hu Sheng-Cheng, an economist at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s most renowned research institute, cautioned that although the Chinese State Council announced that there will be a new regulation, it has yet to provide details.

“The actual effect is difficult to assess but likely not big. Although the central government puts in place the law, it will not necessarily make a real difference as the major obstacle taishang face has always been local governments’ many kinds of rules,” he argued.

…

But Hsu Yu-fang, a political commentator and associate professor at National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Sinophone Literatures, believes that Beijing’s move will pay off, nonetheless. He sees the new rule as bound to tie the Taiwanese economy closer to the mainland.

“It’s very clear that the creation of dependence is the purpose. Apart from rolling out the red carpet for petty entrepreneurs, the Chinese government also energetically demands that Taiwan opens more to Chinese investment,” Hsu said.

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Post tags: Cross-Strait relations, Ma Ying-jeou, reunification, taishang
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Many regard this declaration of adapting to local censorship laws as a pragmatic move as Twitter expands into an increasing number of countries. As the blog post said, “As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.”

It is important for it to respect the cultures and ideas of different countries so as to blend into local environments harmoniously. This is normal practice. To some extent, it is a necessary step in the evolution of Twitter. But many of its users, particularly some political activists and dissidents, have found it unacceptable.

…

It is impossible to have boundless freedom, even on the Internet and even in countries that make freedom their main selling point.

The announcement of Twitter might have shown that it has already realized the fact and made a choice between being an idealistic political tool as many hope and following pragmatic commercial rules as a company.

The Global Times’ Twitter endorsement didn’t stop at its editorial pages – It’s editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin, has started an account on Twitter. From The Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time Report:

While the editorial may have been expected, the appearance on Twitter of Mr. Hu, a staunch defender of China’s need to censor the Internet, was something of a surprise. A number of China-based Twitter users, including long-time Chinese media watcher Jeremy Goldkorn, immediately questioned what Internet proxy the Global Times editor had used to access the service.

…

Mr. Hu faced additional questions from Twitter users, including whether the account was real and what he thought of the use of guns in putting down recent protests by Tibetans.

The editor didn’t immediately answer those questions, but he did offer a job description: “I regard my work as reporting a complicated China and commenting on a complicated world,” he wrote in English.

Reached Monday afternoon, a man surnamed Yin and identifying himself as Global Times’s office director confirmed to China Real Time that the account was real but said Mr. Hu was in meetings and therefore not available to offer details about how or why he started using Twitter.

See also “Inside China’s Censorship Machine” via CDT.

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Liu Ping: This is based on a conversation with Shang Xueshan (online name “Unbearable Rabble-Rouser”). I don’t want to use any literary glossing, but only to directly record his original words. I only added titles. The content comes straight from the mouth of this simple, relatively uncultured, lower-class average Joe. I believe only the simplest people are the most vivid, as well as the most truthful. Shang Xueshan, an everyday person from China’s lower class, a Chinese citizen, has for Guangcheng made six trips to Linyi, worn the black hood, sat in an iron cage, been beaten up, and been detained. He said, “If [only] there should come a day when we are ready to die and can tell our children’s children that when we were young in 2011, we once did a little something for a fat, blind man, and we did it without the intention of changing much, but only because we wanted inner peace and to prove that in a land rife with injustice, the blossom of morality is ever opening in our hearts.” Yes, no matter how dark the skies, the flowering of justice is within us. To him, I wold like to express my deepest respect! Below is Shang Xueshan’s recounting of events.

 

1. On the Road

On December 2 at 10 p.m., @Haitao1975, @1.3BillionCitizensThe18th, @ZhaoMei1969 (original name ZhaoMeiABC) and I got together in Jinan. After finding a place to stay, we lost contact with Xue Zhen. The four of us discussed the matter and made a move on our own. In order to cover our tracks, we hadn’t disclosed the news with any of our online friends beforehand!

Early on December 3, Haitao went out and bought some breakfast. We went to make scrolls and leaflets (just to give an objective introduction to the blind man Guangcheng’s situation; the leaflets were in no way breaking national law). They were ready a little after noon. Without time to eat lunch, we checked out of our rooms and went to Jinan’s Spring City Square and the Baotu Spring. As we hung the scrolls, many people remarked, “Oh, so it was something about Chen Guangcheng.” It seems that there are quite a few people who know after all!

On the road it was all stop-and-go as we posted the leaflets about Guangcheng. Perhaps within a few hours or the next day, the leaflets would be swept away like trash. But it was still better than nothing. We bought some dumplings on the road and sped along toward Linyi. On the freeway, Brother Zhao drove at 60 km/h. We kept nagging him until he finally hit 80 km/h. Make no mistake, this was only because Brother Zhao drives safe and steady!

We kept changing our route while we drove. Brother Zhao suggested the Shandong Highway and everyone agreed. We sang and laughed all the way. We were in the best of moods! At the turnoff to Laiwu, we figured we didn’t have enough time [to get to Linyi] and might as well go into town. We stopped for a bit and took pictures in three spots, including the Laiwu City government square!

At dusk we arrived at Tai’an. Brother Zhao suggested we climb Mount Tai. Everyone agreed. It was nearly 5 p.m. when we got to the gate. I said, “We’ll climb to the top at night with our scrolls and welcome the sunrise for Guangcheng. We’ll prove to the sun and the moon, to the mountains and rivers, that there is an abomination on the earth on which we live. We’ll make the Eastern Mountain, emperor of the Five Sacred Mountains, pity the misfortune of the common people!” (An estimated five-hour climb.) 1.3 Billion was frustrated and firmly refused. I said I really couldn’t handle the climb and we should take the gondola. We asked and found out the gondola was being repaired. It wasn’t running! We would all be frustrated together! We thought about it. With only four people we couldn’t stand to lose one. We had no other choice and got some hot pot for dinner. It really heated us up! (I don’t like hot pot but I can’t influence the feelings of the three others. The three brothers still have no idea). After dinner we lodged in a guest house next door. 1.3 Billion and I in shared a room. Little Brother fluttered his fingers across the keyboard, then lay down. He snored so loud he could shake the heavens! Poor me.

On December 4, Brother Zhao woke everyone up early. We dashed toward the Tai’an city square, and then toward Qufu. When we arrived we started our performance art in Confucius’ Forest and Confucius’ Temple. There was a need to let our ancestors see the plight of the blind man Guangcheng. The Benevolent loves his people. The Benevolent has no enemies. I believe that if the spirits of our great ancestors were around, they would see how unworthy their descendants were, how they had completely buried all goodness! There were many tourists who took pictures and videos while we were there. Many people knew Chen Guangcheng.

 

2. Danger in the Square

On the road we all turned our phones off. We arrived in Linyi after twelve o’clock and took photos at the long-distance bus station and Library Square as souvenirs! On our way to People’s Square, we were informed that a group of more than twenty visitors from Beijing had been detained! The four of us discussed the matter and decided not to change our route. Now we could already foresee the outcome, but each of the four brothers would carry forward as before. We would not succumb! I was gratified!

We reached the square and I went first to see what the situation was like. Nothing strange caught my eye. Everyone began unrolling the scrolls. We took some photos. It was then I discovered something was amiss. I yelled “Run!” and grabbed the scrolls. Three plain-clothed officers were coming at us from behind. Facing these young Pandaren I was detained. They brought me directly to some out-of-the-way spot. It was then I knew the others hadn’t been caught because I was constantly surrounded by more than ten of the undercover police. I shouted furiously at them, “Who are all of you? Show my your badges!” The two holding me immediately pressed down on my chest saying, “Shit! Don’t lose your temper!” A bit later a police car arrived and took me to Yinqueshan Police Station!

The officer sitting behind the desk told me a few times in a loud, accusatory voice that I was not permitted to speak. And he happened to be watching a movie on a computer! I said, “So my talking is disrupting your movie-watching, right?” At the point of rage he said, “Which of your two eyes can see me watching a movie?” I returned, “You would dare claim you weren’t just watching movie. Are all of the People’s Police like you?” His face and ears burned red. “If you’ve got a problem, sue me!”

 

3. Meeting the “Blind Date Group” at the Police Station

It was about 2 p.m. on December 4 that I was taken to Linyi, Lanshan District’s Yinqueshan Police Station. It was there I met five Beijingers who were part of a “blind date group” (after talking with them, I learned that more than twenty of them had been detained and were split up). While talking, Sister Liu Ping was mentioned. I said, “She is really a good person. I’ve met her a few times.” Later, it was these people who got the news out about me being detained in the police station!

While there, the people at the station opened the scrolls and took photos. A few from the blind date group caught a glimpse of me and secretly gave me a thumbs up. I could only smile bitterly! During another simple interrogation, I argued with the police, asking, “Which national law have I broken that would allow you to bring me here?” They said, “What were you doing putting scrolls in the square?” I answered, “This was ‘performance art.’” They said, “Performance art my ass! You were just looking for trouble. Fuck, such simple business, just looking for trouble.” I was speechless. We quarreled several times! They looked over their shoulders and mentioned him [Chen Guangcheng] but wouldn’t talk about him directly with me! The five blind daters had all completed a written statement! I was also taken into the interrogation room to write one.

During one of these loud arguments at the Yinqueshan Police Station, a few officers emerged from an inner room. One came beside me as I was sitting cross-legged. He kicked the foot that was sticking up and screamed, “Sit up straight!” Vexed, I said, “Excuse me, what counts as sitting straight? perfect posture?” He said, “Someone like you! What a goddamn headache!”

 

4. The United Nations Gives Me a Call

When it was almost five o’clock, the five blind daters were taken to the train station, leaving me alone. My belt and coat were removed, and two hands thrust me into an iron cage! Protesting was useless!

About three hours later, my phone alarm went off. It started ringing incessantly! I felt it must be my Internet friends calling one after the other. I could only hear an officer ask, “Which paper are you a reporter for? I don’t know. I can’t hear you, hold on.” The police chief was there, too (surnamed Wang). The officer told the chief, “They’re speaking English.” Soon afterwards the chief told me jokingly, “The United Nations is calling you!” I couldn’t help but chuckle. Finally the chief reached the end of his patience and told the officer, “Turn the phone off!” Then it was quiet!

At dusk on December 5, I suddenly heard the voice of 1.3 Billion outside. I was right, it was him. My brother had come to the station to find me! I broke into a sweat! All I heard him say was, “I lost my ID card and want to report it.” At first I thought, this guy can sure talk nonsense! Later I found out that it was true. I just screamed from inside the station, “I need to go to the toilet. How long will you hold me here!” The goal was to let them know I was here!

Three hours later I was called out. They pulled out a penalization notice. I saw what was written on the front: Incitement, assembly, illegal gathering. Administrative detention for fifteen days. They wanted my signature but I wouldn’t give it, saying, “The crimes you’ve charged me with don’t match my actions. I won’t sign.” The police said, “Whether you sign or not, we’re still going to lock you up!” The chief went on, “This is a light sentence. Next time we’ll give you ‘labor-education.’ We’ll dig you a hole and ‘bury‘ you!” And it was like this that I was locked up in the Lanshan Detention Center!

On the night of December 6 I received a deposit notice. Haitao had deposited $500 for me! I was incredibly happy! A true brother who would never abandon me! On the night of December 7, the police called me but said nothing after I came out. I only heard one say, “No need.”

 

5. Another Meeting in Jail

They made me take a pillow and follow them. Lightheaded, I returned to the cell. At Cell 22 I suddenly saw Big Brother @Zhaowei1969 inside. I handed him the pillow and returned to Cell 21. At the gate he said, “The two others were detained as well.” Wow! Four brothers all in here together! @Haitao1975 was in Cell 17, @1.3BillionCitizensThe18th was in Cell 15!
And it was like this for the four brothers in Lanshan District Detention Center, eating two buns a day. We were miserable together all the way until December 15, when I was suddenly released early. We could only look at each other when we were eating. We could say no more than a few words! At first it ate with everyone in detention. Later we four were each made to eat alone!

 

6. Closing Words

This trip was a bit long, causing worry and concern among many Internet friends. In order to help out, every Internet friend donated some long-distance phone call money, driving the police station crazy! It turned the detention center into a postcard distribution center. It was a shame I didn’t see a single card! But I was very moved! Here I’d like to say thanks. And thanks to my brothers. It’s you who would never abandon me. You would follow even if it pained you. What good brothers!

This Shandong trip didn’t completely run its course. What a pity! Guangcheng still has no freedom. I hope “The journey in the Divine Land to see him” may be finished by our Internet friends!

© fionasmith for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, Liu Ping, Shang Xueshan
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