While civil rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong is being held for tax evasion, he is featured in the August issue of the Beijing publication Mr. Fashion 《时尚先生》(the Chinese version of Esquire).* The theme of this issue is “Chinese Dream”
The magazine includes the following quote from Xu Zhiyong:
Xu Zhiyong’s Chinese Dream:
“我希望我们是个自由幸福的国家。每个人不需要违背良心，只要靠自己的才能和品德就可以找到合适的位置；一个简单而幸福的社会，人性的善得到最大的张扬，恶得到最大的抑制；诚实、信用、友爱、互助将成为我们生活的常态，没有那么多烦恼和愤怒，每一个人脸上是纯真的笑容。”
“I wish our country could be a free and happy one. Every citizen need not go against their conscience and can find their own place by their virtue and talents; a simple and happy society, where the goodness of humanity is expanded to the maximum, and the evilness of humanity is constrained to the maximum; honesty, trust, kindness, and helping each other are everyday occurences in life; there is not so much anger and anxiety, a pure smile on everyone’s face.”
Also from AP:
A leading Chinese legal activist detained by authorities last week has been accused of tax evasion, his brother said Tuesday.
Xu Zhiyong, a prominent legal scholar who co-founded the Gongmeng legal aid organization, was taken from his Beijing home around 5 a.m. last Wednesday by police. At the time, it was unclear why he was being held.
On Tuesday, his brother Xu Zhihong told The Associated Press that officials from the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, where Xu Zhiyong taught, said they were notified that the scholar was being detained for tax evasion.
Below see a solicitation from Xu’s Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative) asking the public for donations to cover their fine. Bank information is included at the end:
Recipient: Beijing Gongmeng Consultants, LLC
Bank: China Everbright Bank, Main Branch
Account number: 35080188000016762
Contact telephone: 010-62111675
Donors should mark their deposits as “donation.”
* Note: CDT edited this post due to a previous error which stated that Xu Zhiyong was on the cover of Mr. Fashion. His photo was in fact featured inside the issue.
