{"id":157193,"date":"2013-06-06T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T20:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=157193"},"modified":"2013-06-06T13:31:35","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T20:31:35","slug":"xu-zhiyong-the-last-ten-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/06\/xu-zhiyong-the-last-ten-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Xu Zhiyong: The Last Ten Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new website China Change has translated a lengthy essay by rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong<\/strong><\/a>, in which he reflects on his work – and changes in Chinese society – over the past decade. Xu Zhiyong founded the Open Constitution Initiative in 2003, but it was closed down in 2009 following tax evasion charges. He has also been involved with several high-profile human rights cases. In recent years, he has launched a “New Citizens’ Movement,” and has been harassed and questioned about his activities as a result. From the China Change translation (read the original Chinese version<\/a>):<\/p>\n

We have been the opposition throughout the last ten years. We oppose authoritarianism, we oppose autocratic culture, and we oppose lies, false accusations, and unscrupulousness whether they are on the part of the power holders or anyone else. We have been pious builders promoting social progress and building rule of law and civil society rationally. In the Investigation on the Mechanism of Letters and Calls in China that we issued, we pointed out that the authoritarian system was the root of the petition problem, and recommended judiciary independence and initiation of political reform through direct election on the county level. In our Report on the Investigation over the Truth about the Death of Qian Yunhui, we published our findings that Qian\u2019s death was a traffic accident despite overwhelming public opinion that believed otherwise, and criticized the unfair land policies that were the underlying causes of the incident. In our Legal Opinions Concerning Compensation for Personal Injury in the High-Speed Train Accident on July 23rd, we criticized the government for offering too little compensation, of RMB 500,000, and recommended compensation over RMB 900,000. Public opinion forced the government to quickly accept our recommendation. In the equal education movement that fought against hukou segregation, our Plan for Children Living with Parents without Local Hukou to Take the National College Entrance Exam Locally has been accepted by most provinces and cities. Just before the ten citizens were arrested in Beijing, we had been preparing to draft a law concerning publishing officials\u2019 personal assets. We are a group of responsible citizens. We oppose for the sake of building.<\/p>\n

For ten years we have persevered to build the foundation, next to the decaying palace of the dictatorship, for a lasting democracy and constitutionalism. In our fight for freedom over the last ten years, it has become a commonplace for many of us to lose our own freedom fighting for freedom of strangers. We are proud to be living in this era. From the \u201ccitizens\u2019 rights movement\u201d to the \u201cnew citizens\u2019 movement,\u201d we have been walking on the same road, the road of conscience, the road toward liberty, justice and love. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more by and about Xu Zhiyong<\/a> via CDT, including a translation of a recent blog post and essay about the Citizens’ Rights Movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new website China Change has translated a lengthy essay by rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, in which he reflects on his work – and changes in Chinese society – over the past decade. Xu Zhiyong founded the Open Constitution Initiative in 2003, but it was closed down in 2009 following tax evasion charges. He has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,10,14744,14745,14746,100],"tags":[2255,689,3146,249,3604],"class_list":["post-157193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-law","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","tag-activists","tag-defending-rights","tag-lawyers","tag-sun-zhigang","tag-xu-zhiyong","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nXu Zhiyong: The Last Ten Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/06\/xu-zhiyong-the-last-ten-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Xu Zhiyong: The Last Ten Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new website China Change has translated a lengthy essay by rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, in which he reflects on his work – and changes in Chinese society – over the past decade. 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