Key Labor Activists Imprisoned in China

(updated September 2007)

1. Yao Fuxin (Liaoning) — Political charges
    Leader of large-scale worker demonstrations after Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory declared bankruptcy and failed to make wage/benefit/ pension payments to workers. Leader of "All-Liaoyang Bankrupt and Unemployed Workers' Provisional Union." Convicted with Xiao Yunliang of subversion by Liaoyang Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on May 9, 2003 to seven years' imprisonment. Appeal was rejected by Liaoning Higher People's Court on June 27, 2003. Serving sentence in Lingyuan No. 2 Prison, where he reportedly suffered a heart attack in August 2005.
Status: Due for release on March 19, 2009.

2. He Zhaohui, aka He Chaohui (Hunan) — Political charges
    Former railway worker at Chenzhou Railway Bureau alleged to have provided information about Chinese labor protests to a foreign researcher. Reportedly participated in strikes and demonstrations and supported a group backing the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Convicted of "illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to overseas entities" by Chenzhou Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on August 24, 1999 to 10 years' imprisonment. Sentence reduced by one year on Dec. 15, 2005.
Status: Due for release from Chenzhou Prison in October 2007.

3. Hu Mingjun (Sichuan) — Political charges
    Political activist and labor organizer who communicated with workers on strike at Dazhou Steel Mill over unpaid wages. Led Sichuan unit of China Democratic Party (CDP). Convicted of subversion by the Dazhou Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on May 30, 2002 to 11 years' imprisonment.
Status: Due for release from Chuanzhong Prison on May 28, 2012.

4. Hu Shigen (Beijing) — Political charges
    Founding member of "China Free Labor Union." Academic at Beijing Foreign Languages Institute and leader of China Liberal Democratic Party. Arrested with 15 other activists from unofficial trade union and party who made up "Beijing Sixteen." Convicted of "organizing and leading a counterrevolutionary group" and "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement" by the Beijing Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on June 14, 1995 to 20 years' imprisonment. He received sentnce reduction of 7 months on Dec. 16, 2005 and of 17 months on Feb. 5, 2007.
Status: Due for release from Beijing No. 2 Prison on May 26, 2010.

5. Huang Xiangwei (Fujian) — Political charges
    Organized "Labor and Employment Research Association," downloaded labor-union related materials from the Internet, and allegedly tried to form labor unions. Convicted of subversion by Sanming Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on October 30, 2003 to six years' imprisonment.
Status: Due for release in April 2008.

6. Kong Youping (Liaoning) — Political charges
    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, 55 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". Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua were convicted of "subversion" at their trial.
Status: Due for release on December 12, 2018.

7. Ning Xianhua (Liaoning) — Political charges
    Labor activist and political organizer sentenced in the same trial as Kong Youping. Convicted of subversion by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment on September 16, 2004. Codefendent with Kong Youping at the September 2004 trial, Ning Xianhua, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua were convicted of "subversion" at their trial.
Status: Due for release on December 12, 2015.

8. Li Jianfeng (Fujian) — Political charges
    Independent union activist and organizer of "Labor and Employment Research Association." Convicted of subversion and sentenced on October 30, 2003 to 16 years' imprisonment by Sanming Intermediate People's Court.
Status: Held in Jianyang Prison and Due for release April 2, 2018.

9. Li Xintao (Shandong) — Political charges
    Garment worker who with Kong Jun led workers in petition protest against a Yantai factory's failure to make wage and insurance payments. Convicted of "gathering a crowd to attack an organ of the state" by Mouping District People's Court and sentenced in May 2005 to five years' imprisonment.
Status: Due for release in November 2009.

10. Lin Shun'an (Fujian) — Political charges
    Organized "Labor and Employment Research Association," downloaded labor-union related materials from the Internet, and allegedly tried to form labor unions. Convicted of subversion by Sanming Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on October 30, 2003 to eight years' imprisonment.
Status: Due for release in April 2010.

11. Chen Wei (Hainan) — Non-political charges
    Led a protest of workers laid off from a state-owned cement factory after it failed to pay compensation and retirement benefits. Convicted of "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" by the Changjiang Li Minority Autonomous County People's Court and sentenced to four years' imprisonment on April 8, 2005. Chen's appeal was rejected by the Hainan Intermediate People's Court on June 29, 2005.
Status: Due for release in May 2008.

12. Liu Jian (Hunan) — Non-political charges
    Members of Xiangtan Workers' Autonomous Federation involved in a large-scale strike in 1989 during which property was damaged. Convicted of hooliganism by Xiangtan Intermediate People's Court and sentenced in October 1989 to life imprisonment. Liu Jian is only one of original four detainees in this case who has not had his life-in-prison sentenced reduced to a fixed-term sentence.
Status: Serving life term at Hunan Provincial No. 6 Prison.

13. Liu Zhihua (Hunan) — Non-political charges
    Members of Xiangtan Workers' Autonomous Federation involved in a large-scale strike in 1989 during which property was damaged. Convicted of hooliganism and aggravated assault by Xiangtan Intermediate People's Court and sentenced in October 1989 to life imprisonment. Liu Zhihua sentence commuted to 15 years' imprisonment in 1993, extended by five years in 1997, and reduced by two years in 2001.
Status: Due for release from Longxi Prison on January 16, 2011.

14. Wang Sen (Sichuan) — Political charges
    Political activist and labor organizer detained May 3, 2001 for organizing workers in Sichuan. Convicted of subversion by the Dazhou Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on May 30, 2002 to 10 years' imprisonment. Reportedly his health has deteriorated and he has diabetes.
Status: Due for release from Chuanzhong (Nanchong) Prison on May 2, 2011.

15. Yue Tianxiang (Gansu) — Political charges
    Driver at Tianshui City Transport Co. who was laid off and not paid back wages. Won case at Tianshui Labour Disputes Arbitration Committee, but management refused to rehire him. Organizer of "China Worker Watch" newsletter raising labor rights issues. Wrote open letter to then-President Jiang Zemin asking for action on labor rights and arrested after letter was distributed to international news media. Convicted of subversion by Tianshui Intermediate People's Court and sentenced on July 5, 1999 to 10 years' imprisonment. Sentenced reduced by one year in 2005.
Status: Now due for release from Lanzhou Prison on January 8, 2008.

16. Zhang Shanguang (Hunan) — Political charges
    Former secondary school teacher and labor activist. Helped organize the Hunan Workers' Autonomous Federation in 1989 for which he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Tried to form and officially register with authorities a labor rights group in 1998. Convicted of "illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to overseas entities" after giving interviews to Radio Free Asia about worker demonstrations and tax protests. Sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by Huaihua Intermediate People's Court on December 27, 1998. Suffers from tuberculosis and reportedly is in poor health.
Status: Due for release from Chishan Prison on July 21, 2008.

17. Miao Jinhong — Charges unknown
    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 by the Zhuji City People's Court on January 23, 2001 and sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment on charges of "Gathering a crowd to attack an organ of the state" and "Gathering a crowd to disrupt traffic or a public place."
Status: Due for release in October 2008.

18. Ni Xiafei — Charges unknown
    Miao Jinhong and Ni Xianfei 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.)
Status: Due for release in 2008.

19. Zha Jianguo — Political charges
    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 that year, Gao was sentenced to eight yearsÕ imprisonment and Zha to nine years.
Status: Due for release from Beijing No. 2 Prison on June 28, 2008.

20. Li Wangyang — Political charges
    Served a 13-year prison term in 1990s for organizing workers. After his release he began a hunger strike protest his mistreatment in prison, seeing to recover medical expenses. Arrested June 6, 2001, and tried in closed court for incitement to subvert state power. Sentenced to 10 years in prison. Reportedly at Chisan Prison in Hunan province.
Status: Due for release in 2011.

21. Luo Mingzhong — Non-political charges
    Born in 1953, Luo was laid off from his job at the Taiyuan Chemical Factory (part of Taiyuan Holdings), in Yibin, Sichuan Province in 2004. He led his fellow workers in fighting for proper compensation after the factory was privatized. On 22 March 2004, he was placed under administrative detention for ten days for blocking the road and obstructing traffic. In July 2005, Luo, together with fellow laid-off workers Zhan Xianfu, Zhou Shaofen and Luo Huiquan led other workers to block the main factory gate in protest at the insufficient compensation offered for their loss of livelihood. Yibin Public Security officers then arrested the four leaders for allegedly "assembling to disturb public order." In April 2006, the Cuiping District Court in Yibin convicted all four defendants on the charge of "assembling to disturb public order." Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan were sentenced to two years imprisonment. Zhan Xianfu was given a one and a half year prison sentence, suspended for two years. Zhou Shaofen was given a one year sentence, suspended for one year. Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan filed appeals, but the Yibin Intermediate People's Court's ruling rejected their appeals and upheld the original sentences.
Status: Due for release in August 2007.

22. Luo Huiquan — Non-political charges
    In July 2005, Luo Huiquan, together with Luo Mingzhong led other workers to block a factory gate in protest at the insufficient compensation offered for their loss of livelihood. Yibin Public Security officers then arrested the four leaders for allegedly "assembling to disturb public order." In April 2006, the Cuiping District Court in Yibin convicted all four defendants on the charge of "assembling to disturb public order." Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan were sentenced to two years imprisonment. Zhan Xianfu was given a one and a half year prison sentence, suspended for two years. Zhou Shaofen was given a one year sentence, suspended for one year. Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan filed appeals, but the Yibin Intermediate People's Court's ruling rejected their appeals and upheld the original sentences.
Status: Due for release in August 2007.

23. She Wanbao — Political charges
    A Sichuan native, She is a labour organizer and a member of the banned China Democratic Party (CDP). He was previously convicted of counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement by the Guangyuan Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan Province, and was sentenced on 3 November 1989 to four years' imprisonment. He was released in July 1993, but was rearrested July 7, 1999 in connection with his CDP activities and sentenced August 4, 1999. On 25 October 1999, the Sichuan Higher People's Court upheld a conviction on "subversion" charges against She by the Guangyuan Intermediate People's Court. He was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, and has been held at the Chuanzhong Prison since 5 April 2000. On 9 September 2005, She's sentence was reduced by six months.
Status: Due for release on 6 January 2011, after which his political rights will be suspended for three years.

24. Wang Miaogen
— Forced institutionalization. Not strictly a labor case.
    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 (hunger strike) in front of a Shanghai police station in public protest against having recently been severely beaten up by the police for protesting detention of fellow labor activists, he was redetained and then forcibly incarcerated in the Shanghai Ankang Mental Hospital, a facility run by the Public Security Bureau to detain and treat "dangerously mentally ill criminals".
Status: Wang has now been held incommunicado at the Shanghai Ankang Mental Hospital for more than 14 years.

25. Zhao Changqing — Political charges
    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" by the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court on July 17, 2003. Zhao has reportedly been held in solitary confinement for refusing to take part in military training and having contact with detained Falun Gong practitioners.
Status: Held in Weinan Prison and due for release in November 27, 2007. We believe Zhu Fangming has been released based on representations made to the ILO.

26. Cai Guangye (Jilin) — Charges unknown
    A military doctor detained in April 2001 by the Jilin city police after taking part in a worker protest at the Jilin Chemical Company. He maintained contact with workers and was detained again in Decmber 2001. Cai was sentenced to 3 years reeducation through labor in Jilin in July 2003.
Status: Unknown.

27. Zhou Yuanwu — Non-political charges
    A workers representative who lead protests at the Jingchu Brewery in Jingzhou in 2006. The Boxun news agency reported that on 18 August 2006 the Jingzhou police tried to forcibly bring Zhou to court without a subpoena. When he refused, Zhou was beaten up and arrested on the ground of assaulting a police officer. His case was heard by the Jingzhou District court on 6 April 2007, but Zhou was deprived of his advocate, Chen Xiongyan, after Chen was detained for violating court discipline. He was sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment by the Jingzhou District People's Court on May 15, 2007 for "disrupting official business."
Status: Due for release February 17, 2009.

28. Jiang Cunde
— Non-political charges. Not strictly a labor case.
    Jiang Cunde, was a worker at the Dong Xin Tool Repair Works in Shanghai when, in 1985 and 1986, according to the authorities, he began to advocate "imitating the model of Poland's Solidarity Trade Union to overthrow the present political powers." He reportedly also planned to establish a "China Human Rights Committee." In May 1987, Jiang and two others were convicted on charges of planning to hijack an airplane, and he was sentenced to life in prison for counterrevolution. In January 1993, Jiang was released from Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai on medical parole. In 1999 he was rearrested for having allegedly "joined a reactionary organization, written reactionary articles and sent them to news agencies, and used the occasion of the US bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade in 1999 to stir up trouble." Jiang was returned to Tilanqiao Prison in June 1999 to continue serving his life sentence. In August 2004, his sentence was commuted to 20 years' imprisonment, and he is currently due for release in August 2024. [NB: Although Jiang was originally convicted of an internationally recognized criminal offence (hijacking an airplane), he has been included on lists of non-violent detained worker activists because the grounds officially given for his re-imprisonment in 1999 related solely to his exercise of the right to freedom of association and expression, and because of his earlier espousal of independent trade unionism in China.]
Status: Held in Tilanqiao Prison and due for release in August 2024.

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