Writers at Risk Database

Huang Zerong Tie Liu

Veteran writer Tie has been targeted by the Chinese government for decades. For his criticism of former Chairman Mao Zedong online and for undisclosed reasons, Tie has been in… More

Xue Deyun Ma Zhe

A leader of the Guizhou cultural revival movement, which called for increased literary freedom in China, Xue was jailed from 1987-90 and again from 1998-2001 for attempting to overthrow… More

Writers at Risk Database

Zhang Jianhong Li Hong

Leading dissident writer Zhang spent two years in a labor camp in the late '90s. He was imprisoned again in September 2006 and was denied medical treatment until his… More

Liu Jingshen

A key figure in the Democracy Wall movement, Liu was arrested as one of the Beijing Fifteen dissidents in 1992 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for counter-revolutionary… More

Writers at Risk Database

Huang Jinqiu Qing Shuijun

Following his rise as a pro-democracy essayist and blogger in the early 2000s, Huang was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for writing 'reactionary' articles… More

Writers at Risk Database

Shi Tao

In 2005, Shi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking a Communist Party document to an overseas Chinese website over Yahoo email. Yahoo was criticized by the… More

Chen Xi Chen Youcai

On December 26, 2011, Chen was sentenced to 10 years in prison at a trial that lasted less than three hours for “inciting subversion of state power.” His conviction… More

Writers at Risk Database

Yang Maodong Guo Feixiong

Yang served six years in prison over protests against corruption and censorship in 2013, and was assaulted and denied proper medical care in prison. He was finally released conditionally… More

Cui Haoxin An Ran

Cui, a Hui Muslim, uses poetry and online platforms to protest China’s treatment of Muslim minorities. After enduring harassment throughout 2018, Cui was arrested in January 2020. There is… More

Dong Rubin Bianmin

After posting critical comments against Chinese authorities about alleged corruption, Dong was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in July 2014. Dong had predicted his arrest,… More