Contents:
REMEMBERING JUNE 4, 1989 AND THE STRUGGLE FOR WORKERS RIGHTS IN CHINA
A LIST OF IMPRISONED LABOUR RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IN CHINA
AN INTERVIEW WITH LABOUR RIGHTS LAWYER XU JIAN
REMEMBERING JUNE 4, 1989 AND THE STRUGGLE FOR WORKERS RIGHTS IN CHINA
It is sixteen years now since China experienced the darkness of the June 4 massacre, in which the People's Liberation Army crushed thousands of unarmed protestors in the streets of Beijing. Following the events of that dark day, the Chinese government began a nationwide crackdown to punish those who'd had the temerity to speak out against corruption, injustice, and governmental negligence. To this day, we still don't know how many people were killed that night, or how many are still languishing in prisons and labour camps for their participation in what the Chinese government calls merely the "Tiananmen Incident."
For sixteen years the Chinese authorities have done everything in their power to whitewash the events of that day, but the world still remembers. And more importantly, China itself remembers. There are those who point to the economic gains that China has made over the past decade, as if to say: "Perhaps the government was too harsh then, but don't the ends justify the means?" I ask such people to take a closer look at China’s economic miracle, at a country rife with corrupt officials getting fantastically wealthy through the abuse of power and authority, while the people for whom they ostensibly work languish in increasing poverty. While actively working to suppress democratic reform in China ("because the Chinese people are not ready for democracy," they claim) these same officials are throwing the door wide open to business – any business, regardless of its nature. And so the morally corrupt and ethically bankrupt are rewarded, while many of those who strived in 1989 to bring China into a new era of social justice and accountability are still behind bars or under police surveillance.
Beijing's recent expression of outrage over Japan's whitewashing of its history during the Second World War is instructive in more ways than one. Certainly, for the new generation of Japanese citizens to be allowed to remain unaware of the grave crimes committed against the Chinese people by their parents and grandparents can only poison harmonious relations between the two nations. Yet is it any less pernicious that the Chinese government insists that the next generation of Chinese citizens be kept ignorant of the crimes that it committed against its own people? The continuing refusal of the Chinese government to take responsibility for the massacre of June 4, 1989 is nothing less than a continuation of the shame and injustice of that day.
Many assume that the Beijing Massacre is fast becoming distant history to most ordinary Chinese people. But is it really? Don't the ghosts and shadows of Tiananmen still hang in the air, seen but not acknowledged, and heard but not discussed? Consider the state of Chinese society in the days immediately before June 4, 1989 – a society mired in official corruption and exploitation, headed by a government that failed to protect the rights of its own people. Now consider more recent events.
Today's Slaughter of the Innocents
In November last year, 166 coal miners were killed in a horrific gas explosion in Shaanxi Province, at the Chenjiashan coalmine in Tungchuan City. Earlier this year, on February 14 in the Fuxin coalmine in Liaoning Province, no fewer than 214 miners died in a similarly appalling explosion. These events are not anomalies: they are happening with increasing frequency across the country today. But who accepts responsibility for the deaths of these workers? Sadly, in today’s China the answer is nobody. From the owners of the mines, who place personal profit ahead of basic consideration of human life, to the corrupt government officials who accept bribes from the owners in exchange for looking the other way, the real culprit in the deaths of these workers are the same evils that so many gathered in Tiananmen in 1989 to fight against: official corruption, cynicism and the blind pursuit of profit.
And in many ways, things have become worse. Public health policy in China is failing dismally. How many retired and unemployed workers die daily, unable to afford increasingly expensive medical treatments that might save their lives? And how many more workers have died, and are dying, of occupational diseases that could be minimized or avoided entirely by improving basic workplace health and safety? Worse still, how many of these victims of occupational diseases wind up intentionally misdiagnosed by corrupt, bribe taking government-run occupational health agencies so that the companies whose criminal negligence caused their illnesses can avoid paying compensation that might save their lives? Such things are daily realities, nowadays, for countless Chinese people.
Though told in different accents and dialects, the stories coming from all over China these days are remarkably similar in nature: Workers losing their health because factory owners are able to bribe their way out of providing adequate health and safety protections. Children from rural villages forced by rising school fees and skyrocketing living costs to work in factories to help feed their families. Their parents being mangled and even killed, all because of the bosses' criminal negligence over basic workplace health and safety issues. So don't let the fact that the bloodstained bricks of Tiananmen Square have long ago been cleaned up fool you into believing that the social evils present in 1989 have now been corrected. If anything, they have increased and intensified, over the past decade and a half in China, to the point where greater death and suffering is being caused with nary a bullet fired.
Workers' Resistance – Workers' Rights
But despite continuing suppression, the victims of injustice and corruption are once again refusing to keep silent. The past few years have seen migrant workers across the country struggling for their rights and slowly advancing their causes. And there have been real victories. In October 2004, tens of thousands of farmers in Hanyuan City, Sichuan Province were dislocated from their land by a government sponsored hydroelectric project, and their compensation money was confiscated by corrupt local officials. The farmers' mass protests actually succeeded in stopping construction of the dam, despite an attempt by the local government to quell the protests by sending in the military police.
In Zhejiang Province, farmers blocked the entrance of a factory destroying the surroundings with industrial waste. The factory owner called on cronies in the local government to quell the disturbance, and the government again responded by sending in military police. But the farmers were fighting for their very lives, and in their struggle for survival they didn't merely hold their own but actually blocked the military police from entering their village. Similar scenes occurred in towns in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and elsewhere when villagers refused to roll over and accept being cheated out of their lands by corrupt local officials hoping to sell the land out from under them for a quick buck.
In cities, the peaceful struggles by ordinary Chinese citizens against oppression and corruption are also multiplying. Joining the list of workers fighting against poor working conditions, wage arrears and unreasonable dismissal in recent years are workers at the Daqing Petroleum Factory in Heilongjiang province, workers at the Ferro-Alloy factory of Liaoyang city, textile workers in factories in Suizhou and Xianyang, electronics and shoe factory workers in Shenzhen, and teachers in Shandong, Hubei and Guangxi, to name but a few. The government responds by handing out longer prison sentences to organizers (as in the case of the Ferro-Alloy factory workers, two of whose leaders are now serving prison sentences of four and seven years).
But in the cities, too, there have been victories. After 50,000 retrenched Daqing workers staged a three-month protest, the local government finally promised increase payouts for workers made redundant and promised to hire the children of retrenched workers. And at the Japanese-owned Uniden Electronic Factory in Shenzhen, workers demanded to be allowed to set up a trade union to fight for legal working hours and reasonable wages; after a large and well-publicized protest, the factory owner caved in.
So sixteen years on, despite the fact that the Chinese government has succeeded in quelling any open discussion of the events of June 4, 1989, the real social struggle that took such a bloody turn on that day has only deepened and intensified. And while ordinary people throughout China still have no choice but to remain silent about the events of that day – there will be no openly-held candle-lit vigil tonight anywhere on the mainland tonight – they are anything but silent when it comes to battling the underlying injustices and inequities that caused so many to gather hopefully in Tiananmen Square all those years ago.
So we will keep on commemorating this day, year after year, until justice prevails.
Han Dongfang
June 4, 2005
A LIST OF IMPRISONED LABOUR RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IN CHINA
The following is an updated list of imprisoned labour rights activists in China jointly compiled by China Labour Bulletin and the Hong Kong Liaison Office of the international trade union movement (IHLO)
1) Du Hongqi
Du Hongqi and his wife, Li Tingying, both workers at an artillery factory run by the South China Industries Group, were detained for independent trade-union organizing activities on 24 November 2003. The arms factory was going bankrupt and had been over by another enterprise, which was planning to convert it to civilian production. Due to a reduced need for labour, 700 out of the 1500 factory workers were then laid off. Du and Li had already founded an unofficial trade union in September 2003 to fight for better working conditions and had organized their fellow workers to carry out several petition and protest actions. After the mass lay-offs, their union helped to voice the workers' demands for 10,000 yuan per person in unemployment compensation and local government aid to find new jobs. Du Hongqi and Li Tingying were subsequently detained by the police, and Du was formally arrested on 8 December 2003 on the charge of "gathering a crowd to disturb social order." On 18 October 2004, he was tried and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He will be due for release in Oct 2006. The fate of Li Tingying remains unknown.
..........................................................................................................[3 years] [? years]
2) Gao Hongming
In January 1998, Gao Hongming, a veteran of China's 1978-79 Democracy Wall dissident movement, and his fellow activist Zha Jianguo, wrote to the head of the state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), Wei Jianxing, and applied for permission to form an autonomous labour group called the China Free Workers Union. In a statement faxed to the National People's Congress at that time, Gao said: "China's trade unions at all levels have become bureaucracies, and their officials bureaucrats. This has resulted in the workers becoming alienated [from the official union]."In early 1999, after also playing a leading role in the formation of the now-banned China Democratic Party (CDP), both Gao Hongming and Zha Jianguo were arrested and charged with "incitement to subvert state power." On August 2, Gao was sentenced to eight years¡¯ imprisonment and Zha to nine years. On September 17, 1999 the Beijing High People's Court rejected the appeals of both men.
..........................................................................................................[8 years]
3) He Chaohui
He Chaohui, 44, a former railway worker at the Chenzhou Railway Bureau, and vice-chairperson of the Hunan Workers Autonomous Federation during the May 1989 pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment in 1990 for organizing a strike by railway workers in May 1989. In 1997 and 1998, He reportedly took part in several more strikes and demonstrations and gave information on the protests to overseas human rights groups. He was also said to have been active at that time in forming a group to support the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In April 1998, the police detained He after finding a US$300 cheque sent to him by an American university professor. This was seen as confirmation that he had provided overseas groups with information about the recent workers' protests in Hunan. He was later released due to a lack of evidence, but was then rearrested May 1999 on the charge of "endangering state security (illegally providing information to foreign organizations." After a three-hour trial the following month, He was sentenced on 24 August 1999 to 10 years' imprisonment.
..........................................................................................................[4+10 years]
4) Hu Mingjun
Hu Mingjun and Wang Sen, both leaders of the Sichuan provincial branch of the banned China Democratic Party (CDP), were detained by police in 2001 after they communicated with striking workers at the Dazhou Steel Mill. On 18 December 2000, about 1000 workers at the factory had organised a public demonstration demanding payment of overdue wages, and Hu and Wang subsequently made contact with the demonstrating workers. Wang, a resident of Dazhou, was arrested on 30 April 2001 and Hu, a resident of Chengdu, was arrested on 30 May. The two men were initially charged with "incitement to subvert state power" but the charges were subsequently increased to actual "subversion". On May 2002, at the Dazhou Intermediate People's Court, Hu was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment and Wang received a 10-year sentence.
..........................................................................................................[11 years] [10 years]
5) Hu Shigen
A former academic at the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, Hu Shigen (also known as Hu Shenglun) was a founder in 1991 and 1992 of both the Free Labour Union of China (FLUC) and the China Liberal Democratic Party (CLDP). Arrested in May 1992 along with fifteen other unofficial trade union and party activists from the two groups, he was charged on twin counts of "organizing and leading a counterrevolutionary group" and "engaging in counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement." After two years of detention, Hu Shigen and the other members of the "Beijing Sixteen" were brought to trial in Beijing. Hu received the heaviest sentence of all - 20 years' imprisonment - and he is not due to be released until May 2012. He is serving his sentence in Beijing No.2 Prison.
..........................................................................................................[20 years]
6) Kong Jun
Kong Jun, female, aged 42, and Li Xintao male, aged 52, two labour rights activists from Shandong Province, were tried on May 11 2005 by the Mouping District Court in Yantai City, Shandong. They were found guilty of "disrupting government institutions" and "disturbing social order" and Kong and Li were sentenced to two and five years' imprisonment respectively. (Li was reportedly detained in November 2004; the date of Kong's detention is not known.) They had organised public protests against the bankruptcy of their factory, the Huamei Garment Company, and had sent official complaints to Shandong provincial officials. According to Li and Kong, managers at the company, which declared bankruptcy in August 2002, had failed to pay the workers' wages or social insurance benefits from March 2001 onwards. Both worker activists expressed the wish to appeal against their sentences but were reportedly unable to find lawyers willing to represent them.
..........................................................................................................[2 years] [5 years]
7) Kong Youping
A former official trade union official in Liaoning Province, Kong Youping was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on 16 September 2004 by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court. Kong's colleague and co-defendant at the September 2004 trial, Ning Xianhua, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. Kong, 54 years old, originally worked as the union chairman at a state-owned enterprise in Liaoning, but his support for protests by laid-off workers and his sharp criticism of government corruption and suppression led to his dismissal from both the factory and the union. In the late 1990s, a group of political dissidents, including Kong Youping, were working to establish a branch of the China Democracy Party (CDP) in Liaoning Province, and in 1999 Kong was detained and imprisoned for a year on charges of "incitement to subvert state power". Prior to his recent arrest and trial, Kong was reportedly involved in planning the establishment of an independent union and had posted articles on the Internet criticizing official corruption and calling for a reassessment of the June 4th Massacre. The specific charges laid against Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua at their trial are currently unknown.
..........................................................................................................[1+15 years] [12 years]
8) Li Wangyang
Li was first arrested in June 1989 and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment the following year on charges of "counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement" for founding the Shaoyang Workers' Autonomous Federation and leading workers' strikes during the May 1989 pro-democracy movement. He was released in June 2000, but in February 2001, he staged a 22-day hunger strike in an attempt to obtain medical compensation for injuries to his back, heart and lungs that he had sustained while in prison, and which reportedly left him unable to walk unaided. For staging the hunger-strike protest, Li was again arrested by the police. On 5 September 2001, he was tried in secret by the People's Intermediate Court of Shaoyang on the charge of "incitement to subvert state power" and sentenced to a further 10 years' imprisonment.
..........................................................................................................[13+10 years]
9) Li Xintao
Serving sentence of 5 years. For further details, see case of Kong Jun (above).
..........................................................................................................[5 years]
10) Liao Shihua
A worker at the Changsha Automobile Electronics Factory, Hunan Province, in October 1998 Liao Shihua led a mass protest action against corruption at the factory and calling for proper health care coverage and housing benefits for the factory's retired and laid-off workers. In June 1999, Liao joined with more than 100 laid-off workers to stage a demonstration in front of the Hunan provincial government headquarters, demanding a resolution to the area's unemployment problems. After addressing the crowd, Liao was escorted away by an unknown person and then officially detained on grounds of "inciting the masses to attack a government office." On 7 July 1999, he was formally charged with "conspiring to subvert state power" and "assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic," and he was subsequently reported to have been tried and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. (The subversion charge is believed to have resulted from his involvement in the now-banned China Democratic Party (CDP.) Liao had assisted Tong Shidong, now 71 years old, a professor at Hunan University who in November 1998 had founded the Hunan University Preparatory Committee of the CDP, to edit the dissident group's magazine "Opposition Party" [Zaiye Dang]. Also detained in June 1999, Professor Tong was later charged with "subversion" and is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.) The US-based Dui Hua Foundation reports, however, that Liao Shihua in fact received a four-year sentence which was subsequently increased by a further three years after he allegedly "disturbed social order," presumably inside prison. Accordingly, Liao, who is now 56 years old, will be due for release in June 2006.
..........................................................................................................[7 years]
11) Liu Jian
Liu Jian, now in his early forties, and Liu Zhihua, age unknown, were both workers at the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant, Hunan Province, prior to June 1989 and participated in a rowdy demonstration by over 1,000 workers from the factory just after June 4 that year to protest the government's violent suppression of the pro-democracy movement. After one of their fellow workers had his arm broken by the factory¡¯s security guards, the demonstrators then allegedly ransacked the home of the security section chief. Arrested shortly afterwards, the two workers were tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in either August or October 1989 on charges of "hooliganism" and "intentional injury." However, the government has not publicly produced any evidence linking either Liu Jian or Liu Zhihua to specific acts of violence or other genuine crime. Two other workers from the same factory, (Chen Gang and Peng Shi, also received life sentences for their involvement in the same protest action, but the sentences were later reduced and both men were reportedly released in 2004.) Liu Jian is apparently the only one of the four detained Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant workers who has still not had his life prison term reduced to a fixed-term sentence. He is currently being held at the Hunan Provincial No.6 Prison (Longxi Prison.)
..........................................................................................................[Life Imprisonment]
12) Liu Zhihua
Formerly a worker at the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant, Liu Zhihua was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1989 for taking part in a mass protest against the government's June 4 crackdown that year on the pro-democracy movement. (For further details of this incident and of the specific charges brought against Liu, see above: the case of Liu Jian) In September 1993, his sentence was reduced to 15 years' imprisonment with five years' subsequent deprivation of political rights, but in 1997 his sentence was extended by five years after he allegedly committed "injury with intent" in prison. His effective combined sentence then became 16 years' imprisonment (sentence to run from January 1997 to January 2013). In June 2001, Lui Zhihua's sentence was again reduced by two years, and he is now due to be released on 16 January 2011. He is currently being held at the Hunan Provincial No.6 Prison (Longxi Prison.)
..........................................................................................................[Total sentence: 22 years]
13) Miao Jinhong
Miao Jinhong and Ni Xiafei led a group of migrant workers in Zhejiang Province in blocking a railway line and attacking a police station to protest unpaid wages. Both men were detained in October 2000 and were subsequently tried and sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment (charges unknown.)
..........................................................................................................[8 years]
14) Ni Xiafei
Serving an 8-year prison sentence. For details, see case of Miao Jinhong (above).
..........................................................................................................[8 years]
15) Ning Xianhua
Serving a 12-year prison sentence. For details, see case of Kong Youping(above).
..........................................................................................................[12 years]
16) Shao Liangchen
Shao was a leading member of the Ji'nan Workers' Autonomous Federation in Shandong Province during the May 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations. He was detained by police on 15 June 1989, tried in September that year by the Ji'nan Intermediate People's Court on charges of "sabotaging communications equipment" and then sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. His sentence was subsequently reduced to life imprisonment, and then in July 1994 to 17 years' imprisonment. He received two further sentence reductions in 1998 and 2000, totaling three years and six months, bringing his date of release to November 4, 2007. Shao Liangchen is currently serving his sentence in Weihu Prison, Shandong Province.
..........................................................................................................[Total Sentence: 18 years]
17) Wang Miaogen
Wang, a manual worker in Shanghai at the time of the May 1989 pro-democracy movement, was a leading member of the Shanghai Workers Autonomous Federation which was formed that month. Detained shortly after the June 4, 1989 government crackdown, Wang then spent two and a half years in untried police detention undergoing "re-education through labour" on account of his involvement in the banned workers' group. In April 1993, after he committed an act of self-mutilation in front of a Shanghai police station in public protest against having recently been severely beaten up by the police, he was redetained and then forcibly committed to the Shanghai Ankang Mental Hospital, a facility run by the Public Security Bureau to detain and treat dangerously mentally ill criminals. Wang has been held incommunicado at the Shanghai Ankang now for more than 12 years.
..........................................................................................................[2.5 years + 12 Years' ongoing incommunicado detention]
18) Wang Sen
Serving a 10-year sentence. For details, see case of Hu Mingjun (above).
..........................................................................................................[10 years]
19) Xiao Yunliang
In March 2002, Xiao Yunliang, a former worker at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory, Liaoning Province, and another local worker, Yao Fuxin, led around 2,000 workers from the same factory, along with a further 15,000 workers from five other factories in Liaoyang, in a series of major public demonstrations. The workers were protesting against alleged corruption in the factory - which they argued had directly caused its recent bankruptcy - and calling for unpaid wages and other owed benefits, including pensions, to be paid to the workers. Xiao was secretly detained on 20 March 2002 and then formally charged with the crime of "illegal assembly and demonstration." Subsequently, on account of his alleged involvement in the banned China Democracy Party (CDP) - he has consistently denied such involvement - the charge of "subversion" was brought against him. Tried at the Liaoyang Intermediate People's Court on 15 January 2003, Xiao was sentenced to four years in prison and will be due for release in March 2006. Like his fellow prisoner Yao Fuxin, he has been plagued by serious health problems throughout his imprisonment.
..........................................................................................................[4 years]
20) Yao Fuxin
After the Ferro-Alloy Factory in Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, was declared bankrupt in early 2002, the local workers founded the "All-Liaoyang Bankrupt and Unemployed Workers' Provisional Union" and elected Yao Fuxin as their spokesperson to conduct negotiations with the local government. In March 2002, Yao and Xiao Yunliang (see above for details) then helped to organize a series of massive protest demonstrations in Liaoyang. Yao was secretly detained 17 March 2002, charged together with Xiao Yunliang, with the crime of "illegal assembly and demonstration". Subsequently, on account of his alleged involvement in the banned China Democracy Party (CDP) - he has consistently denied such involvement - the charge of "subversion" was brought against him. (In November 2002, during a press conference in Beijing, Deputy-Chairman Zhang Junjiu of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) stated that Yao had been "detained because he broke Chinese law by carrying out car-bombings and not because he organized a worker's campaign". This ludicrous allegation was later denied even by the chairman of the Liaoyang ACFTU branch, a Mr. Su, who confirmed by telephone to China Labour Bulletin: "That is sheer rumour. There is no way that Yao Fuxin was involved in such activities.") Tried at the Liaoyang Intermediate People's Court on 15 January 2003, Yao was sentenced to seven years in prison and will be due for release in March 2009. Like his fellow prisoner Xiao Yunliang, he has been plagued by serious health problems throughout his imprisonment.
..........................................................................................................[7 years]
21) Yang Jianli
A US-based research scholar and political dissident, Yang participated in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement in 1989; his name was on a 1994 PRC police blacklist of 49 Chinese pro-democracy activists who were barred from re-entering China. Yang Jianli entered China in April 2002 by using a friend's passport, as part of a plan to try and investigate the rapidly growing labour unrest situation in Shenyang City, Liaoyang City and Daqing City in northeastern China. He was detained on 26 April 2002 and officially arrested by the Beijing State Security Bureau on 28 April 2002. He was then held in incommunicado detention for the next 15 months - well beyond the legally permitted maximum period for pre-trial detention. On 13 May 2004, Yang was tried in a closed court hearing on charges of "espionage" and "illegal entry," and was duly pronounced guilty and sentenced to a term of five years' imprisonment.
..........................................................................................................[5 years]
22) Yue Tianxiang
In 1995, Yue Tianxiang, a driver at the state-owned Tianshui City Transport Company, Gansu Province, was laid off from his job despite being owed three months' back pay. When the company refused to negotiate a settlement regarding their wage arrears and to provide them with a legally-entitled living allowance, Yue and another laid-off driver, Guo Xinmin, decided to take their case to the Tianshui Labour Disputes Arbitration Committee. The Committee ruled that the company should find new positions for the two workers as soon as possible, but the company manager refused to implement this decision. When Yue and Guo learned that many of their fellow drivers in Tianshui faced the same kind of treatment, they set up a journal called China Labour Monitor and used it to publish articles on various labour rights-related issues, including reports of corruption at their former company. They also wrote an open letter to President Jiang Zemin asking for the central government to take action on these issues. In late 1998, after receiving no response from the authorities, they distributed their letter to the international news media. A few weeks later, in January 1999, they were detained by the Tianshui police and were eventually charged with "subversion of state power". On 5 July 1999, Yue Tianxiang was tried and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. (His fellow activist Guo Xinmin was also sentenced at the same time, but he was freed from prison around one year later.) Yue will be due for release in January 2009.
..........................................................................................................[10 years]
23) Zha Jianguo
Serving a 9-year sentence. See case of Gao Hongming (above) for details.
..........................................................................................................[9 years]
24) Zhang Shanguang
Labour activist Zhang Shanguang, formerly a secondary school teacher, was first sentenced to seven years imprisonment after the June 4, 1989 government crackdown for his role in organizing the Hunan Workers' Autonomous Federation in May of that year. While in prison, he contracted severe tuberculosis. After his release, in early 1998, Zhang was interviewed by several overseas radio stations about widespread labor and peasant unrest in his home county of Xupu. He also gathered supporters for, and attempted to officially register with the authorities, a labour rights group that he had recently founded - the Association to Protect the Rights and Interests of Laid-Off Workers (APRILW). By July 1998, this association had attracted more than 300 members from all walks of life, including workers, peasants, intellectuals and cadres, and even some local officials were initially supportive of the group's aims. On July 21, 1998, the police detained Zhang, searched his home and confiscated all documents and correspondence relating to APRILW. Zhang's wife, He Xuezhu, was questioned and threatened by the police, who also urged her to divorce her husband. His many supporters in Xupu County rose swiftly to his defense, writing numerous appeals and even staging hunger strikes demanding his release. According to one such appeal letter, "The work of Zhang Shanguang will surely encourage the people of Hunan and the whole country to wage an even wider-scale struggle to win democracy and freedom." Subsequently charged on the twin counts of "passing intelligence to hostile overseas organizations" and "incitement to subvert state power," Zhang was tried on 27 December 1998 and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. His tuberculosis has continued to worsen and he is reportedly now in very poor medical condition.
..........................................................................................................[7+10 years]
25) Zhao Changqing
Zhao, now 36 years old, was first arrested in June 1989 and detained for four months at Qincheng Prison, Beijing, for having organized a Students' Autonomous Committee at the Shaanxi Normal University during the pro-democracy movement in May that year. He was arrested again in 1998 while teaching at a school affiliated with the Shaanxi Hanzhong Nuclear Industry Factory 813, after attempting to stand for election as a factory representative to the National People's Congress and publicly criticizing the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) for failing to defend workers interests. In an open letter to his fellow factory workers, dated 11 January 1998, Zhao wrote: "You should treasure your democratic rights. Even if I cannot run as a formal candidate, if you believe I am capable of representing you and of struggling for your interests, then I ask you to write in my name on the ballot. If elected, I will be worthy of your trust and will demonstrate my loyalty to you through my actions." Before the workers' ballots could be cast on January 14, Zhao was secretly detained by the police on suspicion of "endangering state security." In July that year, he was tried at the Hanzhong City Intermediate People's Court on charges of "subversion" and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. After his release, in early November 2002 Zhao drafted and circulated an open letter to the National People¡¯s Congress demanding, among other things, an official reassessment of the 1989 pro-democracy movement and the release of all political prisoners. In due course, 192 other political dissidents signed the letter, thereby attracting widespread international attention to what was the most significant political action by Chinese dissidents in recent years. In December 2002, Zhao Changqing was arrested by police for the third time and was later sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment for "incitement to subvert state power".
..........................................................................................................[3 + 5 years]
26) Zhu Fangming
Zhu was a 28-year-old worker at the Hengyang City (Hunan Province) Flour Factory and vice-chairman of the Hengyang City Workers Autonomous Federation. He organized demonstrations and took part in sit-in in front of the municipal government offices. After the events of June 4, he allegedly led workers to the municipal Public Security Bureau to demand justice. He was sentenced in December 1989 by the Hengyang City Intermediate People's Court to life imprisonment on a charge of "hooliganism". Zhu is currently being held in Hengyang Prison (Hunan Provincial No.2 Prison).
..........................................................................................................[Life Imprisonment]
AN INTERVIEW WITH LABOUR RIGHTS LAWYER XU JIAN
The following is an interview with Xu Jian, a labour rights lawyer from Baotou City in the province of Inner Mongolia. Between 1999 and 2003, Xu Jian was jailed by Chinese authorities on a series of trumped-up charges (including "incitement to subvert state power"). The following is a translation of an interview with Xu Jian conducted on November 30th, 2004 by China Labour Bulletin and Human Rights in China.
XU'S WORK AS A LABOUR RIGHTS LAWYER BEFORE HE WAS ARRESTED:
Q: Let's start with the basic facts of your imprisonment. What did the authorities charge you with, and when and how did you arrive at Chifeng Prison?
XJ: In 1998 and 1999, I worked as a labour lawyer, and during this time, a lot of economic changes were taking place in Inner Mongolia. Many workers were being laid off due to factory restructuring, and many others were left in dire straits by employer bankruptcies. Some workers, feeling that their rights were being violated, sought my legal counsel. My job, given to me by the government, was to provide such legal counsel and advise workers as to what protections and rights were guaranteed them by Chinese labour law.
One day a group of workers from the No. 2 Machinery Factory came to me with complaints about long overdue wages, and I advised them that the withholding of wages was clearly in violation of Chinese labour law. They went to the factory management and demanded their back wages. Management came back to me and angrily demanded to know why I had dispensed legal advise to their workers, warning me against any further dispensing of legal advice.
Eventually my boss at the law firm told me I had to stop talking to workers about their rights. I was later approached by the chief of the justice bureau, a man who would later become a National People's Congress (NPC) delegate for a district in Baotou. He, too, asked me to stop telling workers about their legal rights. I don't begrudge the man. I think his orders came from the mayor, the deputy mayor, and other related authorities who wanted me warned against spreading the idea that workers actually had legal rights. The mayor even ordered to write a self-criticism, apologizing for discussing the rights and responsibilities of workers with the workers themselves. When I refused to do so, he advised me that my rights to work as a lawyer could be rescinded. Reluctantly, I did write a self-criticism, the first copy of which was rejected on the grounds that I didn't sound "serious enough". In the end, I had to write another. After my second apology was accepted I assumed the incident was over.
Later, towards the end of 1998, I began receiving requests for legal representation from the families of imprisoned political dissidents. First I received a request from the wife of Wang Youcai [dissident and founding member of the China Democracy Party, sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in 1998; currently living in exile]. About that time I also received a letter from Xu Wenli [another founder of the China Democracy Party]. It is often difficult for such clients to get proper legal representation, and I approached my law firm for a seal of approval [required by Chinese law in criminal cases] to work on Wang's case. My firm, however, withheld the seal without explanation. This was rather surprising, both to myself and the other lawyers in my firm, as it was my job to defend such clients. I later learned that my telephone conversations had been monitored, and that my firm had been told by the State Security Bureau to withhold approval.
So I asked a friend who worked in another law firm, to help me to get the proper approval stamp, offering to handle the case jointly with him. Neither of us realized that my telephone was bugged. During the weekend we went to his office to pick up the approval stamp and found that the lock to the door had been damaged and the door wouldn't open. We eventually got the door open and got the document approving our representation, then headed to Hangzhou City to handle the case. However, the incident badly intimidated my friend, and he decided to drop the case. I later found out that the Chief of the Justice Bureau paid my friend a visit and warned him to stay away from me. The same chief also paid me a visit on my return to Baotou, telling me to "stop making trouble" and to simply "be a lawyer!" I told him I didn't know what he meant by making trouble and I thought I was only fulfilling my obligations as a lawyer by representing my clients. Later, when I went to renew my license [in China, lawyers are required to renew their licenses each year], the registrar advised me against renewing the license, saying it would only get me in trouble. I insisted on renewing it, and in the end they gave in, but again warned me that I was heading for trouble.
ARREST AND INTERROGATION:
XJ: In December of 1999 I headed to Guangzhou because a local law firm was offering me a good work contract. On the evening of 30 December, at around 10.30 pm, officials from the State Security Bureau of Guangdong Province came to my hotel room and ordered me to go to another hotel with them. There they questioned me about my reasons for coming to Guangzhou.
Q: Were these Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials?
XJ: No, they were from the State Security Bureau. I told them I was pursuing a legitimate employment opportunity in Guangzhou, and showed them my contract to prove it. They remained suspicious, demanding again and again to know "what I was really up to in Guangzhou."
Unfortunately, they searched my bag and found I was carrying 60,000 Hong Kong Dollars [about 7000 USD]. When I told them that the money was indeed my own, and that I was under no legal duress to explain the source of my finances to them, they switched tacks and demanded to know why I was carrying Hong Kong currency. Of course, they knew well enough that in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong currency is commonplace, even exchangeable at most hotels. Further, I explained that as a private citizen I was clearly beyond suspicion of somehow embezzling state funds, and was not obliged to answer questions as to the origin of my funds. I then asked for evidence of any wrongdoing, and though they provided none they still brought me to a detention center of the State Security Bureau of Guangdong Province.
Q: Was this detention center in Guangzhou City?
XJ: I think it was in Guangzhou; it might have been Huadu City in Guangdong Province, I'm not sure. During my time there I was interrogated daily. On the first or second day of January 2000, I was visited by the chief of the State Security Bureau of Inner Mongolia, Shi Zhongsheng. He and the chief of State Security Bureau for Baotou City came all the way to Guangdong just to question me. They asked me again about the source of my money, and I again refused to answer. I protested my illegal detention and requested legal representation. They ignored me, so I continued to refuse to answer their questions. For six days they kept at it. For the first three days I was allowed to sit, but for the subsequent three I was made to stand. Our daily sessions lasted from five to nine hours. It was very tiring to stand that long.
Q: Did your interrogators question you together?
XJ: No, They took turns.
CONDITIONS IN PRISON:
XJ: It was snowing and cold on the day they sent me back to Baotou (9 January 2000), maybe twenty below [Celsius]. Again, I was interrogated every day, and again I said nothing. Each day I got two small buns, about 150 grams each, and a clear vegetable broth. Mealtimes were at 09.00 and 16.00.
Q: Was that the regular ration per detainee?
XJ: Yes. I was so hungry that I figured that starving to death quickly was preferable to doing so slowly and on January 15th I began a hunger strike. I neither ate nor drank for five days. Eventually I could do little more than lie in bed. The hunger strike did result in something positive.
Q: What was that?
XJ: Beginning on the 20th of January, I got an extra bun per day, so I began eating again. The detention centre guards later told me that the bun came from them and not the government. And the questioning continued. Every day I was asked about my relationship with the Democratic Party and my reasons for representing Wang Youcai. My answer was very simple: Wang was my client, and representing him was my job. Still, the questioning continued. Sometime around the 22nd of February, for reasons unknown, I was transferred to Jiuyuan District Detention Center. I asked a fellow detainee about to be released to inform my family of my whereabouts [Xu's family had never officially been informed of his detention] as he was about to be released. I also gave him an item of my clothing to present as proof of identify. I guess the State Security Bureau didn't want my family coming to the detention centre to look for me, so they transferred me to another one. Unfortunately the detainee who helped me was discovered "leaking the secret of my whereabouts" to my family. Sadly, I would later meet him again behind bars.
The new detention centre was even worse. The food was like horse food – corn and cabbage cooked without salt, day in, day out. I could barely swallow it. Beginning on the 21st of March they switched my interrogation schedule from daytime to nighttime, questioning me from 22.00 until sunrise.
Q: Could you sleep during the day?
XJ: No. Sleeping was not allowed. I was forced to sit up straight and face the wall during the day. At this time, the nature of their questions changed. They were now asking me to admit to having been instructed by a foreign power to subvert the state under the guise of providing legal assistance to workers, and to being in the employ of hostile elements. Their charges were baseless, and of course I refused to admit to such ridiculous charges. They promised me improved treatment if I'd only confess, but how could I possibly cooperate? Again and again I explained that it was the Communist Party that had allowed me to become a lawyer in the first place, and that my responsibility was to provide legal consultation, and that nobody, hostile element or otherwise, had ever induced me to do anything.
On March 22nd I was told by Liu Mingdong, chief of State Security Bureau that my refusal to cooperate would lead to even stricter measures. His words struck me as quite funny. "If you continue to behave like this," he said, "we aren't going to keep being so nice to you." I wondered how they could possibly be less nice to me, and the next day I found out. That was the day that other detainees were brought in and ordered to attack me. I was badly beaten up by these other detainees, suffering serious abdominal injury and the loss of a tooth.
Q: How many people were involved in the attack?
XJ: About seven or eight, but to be fair, my attackers were coerced. Their leader told them that they would be in trouble if they failed to beat me. Following the beatings, the guards accused me of "making trouble for my fellow prisoners." They handcuffed me and put me in chains. The chains weighed about 20 kilos, and were placed on my naked skin. I was forced to exercise in the chains, and the friction badly wounded my feet and legs. After four days of wearing handcuffs and chains I began another hunger strike, and five days later they were removed.
In April I requested that I be allowed to write my family. One day at 04.00 following an interrogation session they allowed me to do so. I wrote a very brief letter, telling my mum not to worry about me. It was the fourth month of my detention and the first letter I had been allowed to write.
In May, I was transferred to Guchengwan Detention Center, a filthy ramshackle place where I was incarcerated alongside condemned prisoners awaiting execution.
Q: As a political prisoner, were you treated differently from the other inmates?
XJ: Not as such. I was in bad shape by then, and my physical and psychological state was quite weak. My gums were infected and swollen and I ran a fever for a long time. Our cell, 15 meters square, held 20 people. This tiny cell, with one small window, was where we all ate, slept and defecated. We couldn’t sleep all at the same time because of the limited space, so we slept in shifts of 4-5 hours. In the summer, temperatures ran as high as 40 degrees Celsius, and a guy next to me had a heart attack. I suppose he died of suffocation. They just took him away. Had I died there, they would have removed me without a trace. Such occurrences are very common there.
XU JIAN IS HOSPITALIZED:
XJ: I myself came close to dying at one stage. My fever lasted more than a dozen days, and my body temperature got up to 42 degrees Celsius, putting me in a coma. The prison doctor was so sure I would die that they took me to No. 291 Beijing Military Hospital in Baotou City, where I was put on oxygen. My family was told to send money to pay for my hospitalization. My mother, wife and brothers were able to collect 8,000 Yuan, which they brought to me. When my family arrived, I was on an intravenous drip. At first they didn't recognize me because I'd lost so much weight. Once they confirmed that it was indeed me, they handed over the money but were not permitted to touch or embrace me.
I stayed in the hospital for a week and still had a fever when I was taken back to the detention centre. They told me that some senior officials thought I shouldn't have been admitted to hospital in the first place and should simply have been left to die.
TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT:
XJ: On 1 July 2000, I was given a closed-door trial; my family was not allowed to attend, on the grounds that "state secrets" might be revealed, and no lawyers were present. The only people at my trial were the judges, the prosecutor, a cameraman, and myself. The accusations against me included: organizing a strike of kindergarten teachers to demand their overdue wages, distributing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and writing open letters advocating a "worker's overthrow of the government". Attempts to defend myself were futile. When I opened my mouth, I was told repeatedly to "shut up and behave". I was sentenced to four years imprisonment and returned to the detention center.
That September, the guards at the detention center said they were taking me somewhere else to recuperate. Still being quite ill, I was happy to hear this. I slipped some food and money my family had send me for the Mid-Autumn Festival into my luggage and left with three guards for the train. As the train passed through Hohhot [the capital of Inner Mongolia] and we didn't get off, I wondered where we were going. The guards didn't tell me, exactly, just said that I was heading someplace where I could recuperate. Later, they confiscated my cigarettes and money – more than 1,000 Yuan – saying the money would pay for my train fare and meals. They also seized my leather shoes and belt, both my Sunday best. At last I was brought to Chifeng Prison, a "Reform-through-Labour" Camp. Once there, prison officials took away the remaining items I had left, including my radio, cash and medicine. I was then assigned to a work team.
Q: Can you tell us about this work team, and what kind of work was done?
XJ: Each team had around 900 prisoners, and each was split into smaller groups doing different tasks. One group made bricks to be sold for construction, another (the group I belonged to) knitted carpets while yet another would clean and prepare them for sale. Old, sick and disabled prisoners did various odd jobs. Some of them were very sick, with ailments such as severe liver and lung disease. They packed chopsticks, made footballs and basketballs for sale – jobs like that.
Q: Can you describe your prison cell?
XJ: Several times I was kept in what's known as a "Xiaohao" – the punishment and isolation cell. I'm 1.73 meter tall and I couldn't stretch or lie down straight in it. Also, on several occasions I was punished with a treatment that the prison authorities called "hugging the gate." Basically, this consisted of being strapped face-forwards against an iron gate with both hands and feet shackled to it. My feet became all swollen after a two-day session of this treatment, and I was so weak afterwards that I collapsed.
Q: What did you eat while you were in prison?
XJ: In the punishment cell I received a small bowl of congee [gruel soup] each day – perhaps 100 gm of food in all.
Q: Why were you put in the punishment cell?
XJ: At first, though imprisoned, I refused to admit to having done anything wrong. In the punishment cell I was forced to write self-critiques each day. I wanted to live to see my family again, so I finally admitted to the crime of disturbing social order and subverting state power, promising to reform. The authorities had me read my confession to the other prisoners, and I was made to vow never again to take actions that might harm the nation.
Q: Was this some kind of official punishment, or just something the prison authorities forced you to do?
XJ: To my knowledge it was the latter. Basically, prison authorities have all the power. If a prisoner fails to submit, they pay a heavy price. Assault of inmates was common there.
Q: Were ordinary criminals kept together with political prisoners? And were Mongolians and Hans segregated?
XJ: Everyone was kept together, but speaking the Mongolian language was strictly prohibited. There were some Mongolian prisoners from remote areas doing time for stealing animals and other such crimes. They quickly learned to speak only Mandarin. To be heard speaking Mongolian did not bode well for a prisoner.
Q: And the political prisoners?
XJ: We were treated strictly, not even allowed to speak to each other. Other prisoners were told that I was a political criminal and told to stay away from me or risk punishment.
Q: Besides the ban on talking to other inmates, what other restrictions were political prisoners subject to?
XJ: Visits and letters were highly restricted. All prisoner correspondences are checked, but for political prisoners this "checking" could take ages. My wife was allowed to see me only twice, once in 2001 and again the next year. Our entire meeting was conducted by phone in a small room with a window separating us, and with officials closely monitoring our every movement. We weren't permitted to engage in meaningful conversation, only the most superficial chitchat.
Q: In December of 2003 you were released. What have you done since?
XJ: I immediately began looking for work, but nobody wanted to employ me once they learned of my background. There were some job offers but the wages were not enough to make ends meet, like street-cleaning work. After insurance, I got less than 200 Yuan a month. To make matters worse I was followed around by the PSB. They visited me regularly, and it was clear that I would be punished for the slightest infraction. I felt miserable and lost, the future looked bleak.
THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT LABOUR SITUATION IN CHINA:
Q: Earlier this month [Nov 2004], retired workers staged a road blockade in Baotou to claim their pensions. Can you elaborate on the situation currently faced by workers in Baotou, or elsewhere in China?
XJ: Workers are still underpaid, forced to work unpaid overtime, and subject to undeserved termination. Many companies simply don't pay their workers at all. In one instance, a group of workers at a company called North Heavy Industries Group were asked to sign a blank sheet of paper. The next day they were laid off, and presented with their own signatures on contracts indicating that they'd agreed to the layoff. This is the same company who had accused me of wrongdoing after I'd advised their workers of their rights before my detention.
Q: China Labour Bulletin has received numerous calls from workers from this company claiming to have been forced to take non-paid leave, and then laid off afterwards on the grounds that they'd refused to work.
XJ: Typical. And even workers who have paying jobs might only make 300- 400 Yuan per month. Can you imagine having to support a family on that? And what happens if just one family member gets laid off? It's really tragic.
Q: We hear daily news of protests taking place in the industrial cities of northern China. Looking ahead, what do you see happening?
XJ: Big things, events which may impact the entire country. But it's difficult, as currently workers' rights are being suppressed. Each protest brings a wave of detentions and nobody wants to become a workers’ representative. Answering yes to the question "do you represent these workers" is tantamount to asking for detention.
Q: Can workers look to the legal system for help?
XJ: Laws to protect workers are rarely enforced, especially in the state owned enterprises. Management knows it can do as it pleases, and even if a worker sues they won't win.
Q: Is the formation of free trade unions a long-term goal?
XJ: Absolutely, but this will take a long time. I believe that it's an historical inevitability.
Q: What do you think organizations like China Labour Bulletin can do?
XJ: CLB is doing a great job in giving workers a voice. Workers in China have been kept silent for a long time; by giving them a voice, the issues important to them can begin to be discussed openly. Then, perhaps, wrongs can be redressed.
Q: Besides helping to broadcast their stories, what more can be done to help workers?
XJ: We need to help workers become more aware of their rights. Currently, Chinese workers have little knowledge of or faith in the law. But I believe that in the long term, the legal system should be able to help and CLB should work in this direction.
Q: Finally, do you have any regrets?
XJ: None. I did nothing wrong. As I wrote in a letter to my wife, in the future my innocence will be proven. That is how history works.
In November 2004, Xu Jian managed to leave China with his family, and he is currently living in London on an academic fellowship and continuing his China labour rights work.