Tu Jincan is a Beijing-based publisher specializing in genealogy, biographies, and family histories, and who founded the "Genealogy and Biography Agency” in 2008. In the lead-up to his detention and formal arrest in late 2024, public security bureaus summoned him multiple times, police shut down his book warehouse, and customs fined his company. In January 2025, he was formally charged with “illegal business operations” reportedly related to his publishing outside of the official licensing system. After multiple extensions of investigative authority, a Beijing court sentenced him to 3 years and 6 months in prison in March 2026. He was previously detained for a 1989 essay titled “Where is China Heading?” and for being a signatory of Charter 08.