Zhao Changqing

Zhao Changqing, (b. April, 1969 zh-stp|s=赵常青|t=趙常青|p= Zhào chángqīng) a history teacher and political activist in the People’s Republic of China.

Biography

Zhao hails from a small village in Shaanxi province, China. In September 1988, he entered the History department of the Shaanxi teacher training college.

tudent activism

In April 1989, he and a group of classmates started a students’ self-governing committee [cite web | url = http://www.laogai.org/dissent/show.php?code=671&n=| title = Prisoners in P. R. China (Chinese)|accessdate = 2006-08-03| publisher = Laogai.org ] .

Arrested in June 1989 for taking part in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he was imprisoned in Xincheng prison in Beijing for more than half a year, but was then discharged and sent back to his old school in Shaanxi, where he graduated in 1992.

From his graduation until 1998, Zhao worked as a teacher at the Shaanxi Hanzhong Nuclear Industry Factory 813.

Petition to the 15th National Congress

In August 1997, he petitioned the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to introduce political reforms with his essay "Reform the political system and take the path to democratisation". In defense of fellow workers against corruption and substandard working conditions, he tried to stand for election as a factory representative to the National People Congress, on a platform critical of the All China Federation of Trade Unions. He was detained on March 25, 1998, and was tried on September 6, 1998 and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment [cite web | url = http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/chinareport/unionprisioners.shtml | title = Labor Activists Imprisoned in China |date = February 28, 2000| publisher = National Labor Committee ] .

Petition to the 16th National Congress

In November 1992, he was responsible for drafting the Open letter to the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and collecting 192 signatures to support his demands for democracy. Zhao was charged with "attempted subversion of state power" and tried behind closed doors at the Xian People's Court on July 10, 2003. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for his crimes.

HRIC president Liu Qing denounced the trial for being "just another form of intimidation through an unfair legal process. It is especially objectionable that a trial over an open letter was held in secret on the pretext of protecting state secrets" [cite web | url = http://www.justresponse.net/Zhao_appeal.html | title = Appeal for release of Zhao Changqing |date = Sep 3, 2003 | publisher = Just Response ] .

Imprisonment

In December 2005, he refused to participate in a flag-raising ceremony and refused to sing the national anthem, and was put into solitary confinement for 40 days. On February 18, 2006, he was again punished with solitary confinement for 3 months for refusing to take part in military drills and for receiving Falun Gong members [cite web | url = http://www.laogai.org/dissent/show.php?code=671&n=| title = Prisoners in P. R. China (Chinese) |accessdate = 2006-08-03| publisher = Laogai.org ] .

He remains in prison and is on Amnesty International's watch list.

References

ee also

* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA170051998?open&of=ENG-394 Amnesty International]
* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/62385 IFEX]