CHENG GUANGCHEN

 

CHEN GUANGCHEN

Chinese civil rights activist who rose to prominence by exposing harsh reality of China’s population policy

Cheng Guanchemg was born in the rural area of Shandong province in 1971. He lost his sight in the early age and he worked as a civil rights activist in the rural areas of the People’s Republic of China. Because of his self-taught background in law he is often described as a ‘barefoot lawyer’ and he is known for advocating disability rights, land rights for farmers and the welfare of the poor.

Reports from his early age said that he was illiterate until 1994 when he signed up for high school meant for the blind people and he studied there for four years. After that he was reported to study Chinese Medicine from 1998 to 2001 and returned to his home province of Shandong. Same time he managed to enrol in law classes and learned enough to help people in his village with his legal skills.

Path to prison and back to freedom

In 2005 he gained international recognition by failing a class action lawsuit accusing officials in Shandong province of forcing late-term abortion on women, imposing compulsory sterilisation and midnight raids and beating. His work was an effort to challenge the violent enforcement of China’s population policy known as one-child policy. Chen and his family were put into house arrest for six months in August 2005.

He was formally arrested in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property. He had a brief trial where he didn’t have access to any defence lawyers and as a result he was sentenced to prison for four years. He was released in 2010 after serving a full sentence. After his release he and his wife were repeatedly beaten by local security thugs and Chen was deprived of his medication. While his family was in house arrest they were subjected to tight monitoring, constant harassment and virtually complete isolation.

In April 2012 things took a dramatic turn when Chen escaped from these extremely oppressive circumstances. He travelled to Beijing and sought refuge at the US embassy. He stayed there for six days causing international diplomatic tension. He was offered a fellowship at a US university and he and his wife and two children were allowed to travel to New York, after high-level diplomatic negotiations between American and Chinese officials.

"The rights defence" movement

Since the touching personal story and legal advice he has become a folk hero of Shandong province.

The escape of house arrest and hard conditions made him internationally famous and he is now representing an important trend in China: ordinary citizens who are aware of their constitutional rights and are willing to fight for justice. This trend is called the Weiquan “rights defence” movement. Chen, among other activists and lawyers, has faced extreme brutality for years by the state and are fighting for the growing gap between government promises and reality.

Author: Trainee at Institute for Cultural Relations Policy Linda Kääriä