Hu Ping, Yang Zili, Wu Shaoping
Mr. Guo Feixiong stands as one of the defining figures in China’s democratic resistance movement. Whether through the unyielding courage he demonstrated during his year-long hunger strike, the leadership he displayed during the tumultuous Southern street protests, or the heartrending scenes of separation from his beloved wife, he has etched a heroic chapter into the annals of China’s democratic struggle.
Following Guo Feixiong’s third imprisonment, friends both overseas and within China sought to compile and publish his political essays, defense statements, open letters, and other writings. Overseas, Hu Ping, Zhu Rikun, Yang Zili, Wu Shaoping, Cao Yaxue, and others jointly established the Guo Feixiong Concern Group and launched a public fundraising campaign for The Collected Works of Guo Feixiong, raising a total of $4,000. Of this, $2,500 covered specific editorial expenses, while $1,500 funded publication costs. Due to the harsh domestic political climate, the primary editors could not be named. Thus, Hu Ping, Yang Zili, and Wu Shaoping served as nominal chief editors, undertaking various editorial and proofreading tasks.
As Guo Feixiong himself remains incarcerated, his writings circulate online or among electronic communication networks. Consequently, the collected works represent only a partial selection of his representative pieces. This is particularly true for commentaries on Guo Feixiong by others, which inevitably leave much unsaid. Given the editors’ limited resources, textual proofreading may contain oversights. We welcome readers’ corrections.
Editor
May 2024
Guo Feixiong, whose real name is Yang Maodong, was born on August 2, 1966, in Gucheng County, Hubei Province. He is a Chinese human rights defender and independent writer. Guo Feixiong is his most commonly used online pseudonym. He graduated from the Philosophy Department of East China Normal University in Shanghai in July 1988 and previously worked as a philosophy teacher. From 1993 to 2001, he primarily engaged in independent publishing before transitioning to writing as his livelihood. He participated in the 1989 student movement and has been a key participant and leader in China’s New Citizens Movement and Southern Street Movement. He has been detained four times by Chinese Communist Party authorities for rights defense actions, advocating for Falun Gong, and demanding asset disclosure from CCP officials. He endured repeated torture, beatings, and other persecution yet fought uncompromisingly for Chinese human rights. Guo Feixiong remains incarcerated at Zhaoqing Prison in Guangdong Province, China.
Guo joined the civil rights movement in 2001. In late April 2005, he was detained for 15 days by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order” after applying to organize a protest march against Japanese right-wing groups.
In July 2005, as legal counsel for Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm, Guo traveled to Guangdong. By late July, he was involved in the Taishi Village recall incident, providing legal assistance. On the evening of September 13, he was criminally detained by the Panyu Public Security Bureau in Guangzhou and began a hunger strike in protest. While incarcerated, he petitioned Guangdong authorities regarding forced labor imposed on prisoners. He was released in December of that year. For his outstanding contributions to grassroots democratic operations in Taishi Village, he was named a 2005 Person of the Year by Asia Weekly.
Guo Feixiong also publicly defended Falun Gong practitioners against illegal persecution. In 2006, he staged a hunger strike to protest beatings he endured at a police station.
Following the August 2006 arrest of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, Guo Feixiong actively sought his release and was subsequently detained by authorities on suspicion of “illegal business operations.” During secret detention, Guo suffered torture including electric baton shocks to his genitals to extract confessions. In November 2007, he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 40,000 yuan on charges of “illegal business operations.” He was sent to Meizhou Prison in Guangdong Province and released on September 12, 2011, after completing his sentence.
During the 2013 Southern Weekly New Year’s Special Issue incident, Guo Feixiong organized a group of citizens to support the editors of Southern Weekly. In April that year, citizens in eight Chinese cities staged street protests demanding that Chinese Communist Party officials disclose their assets. Guo Feixiong was considered one of the organizers and coordinators. On August 8, 2013, Guo Feixiong was criminally detained on suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disrupt order in public places.” In November 2015, Guo Feixiong was sentenced to six years in prison on two charges: “gathering a crowd to disrupt order in public places” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” After his release in August 2019, Guo Feixiong went into hiding to evade surveillance, communicating with family and friends only online.
In January 2020, Guo Feixiong’s wife Zhang Qing, who had fled to the United States, was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. Guo Feixiong sent an open letter to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi, subsequently obtaining a passport. On January 28, 2021, while preparing to board a flight at Shanghai Pudong Airport to visit his terminally ill wife in the U.S., Guo was denied exit by border control on grounds of “endangering national security.” He immediately declared a hunger strike in protest and was subsequently arrested. After being secretly detained in Guangdong for a period, authorities gradually eased restrictions on his movements.
On November 29, 2021, Guo Feixiong again sent an open letter to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, demanding authorities allow him to travel to the United States to visit his critically ill wife. He received no response and was re-arrested on December 5 of the same year. Guo Feixiong’s wife, Zhang Qing, passed away in Maryland, USA, on January 10, 2022. On January 12, 2022, Guo Feixiong was formally arrested on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power. In August 2022, it became known that he was prosecuted for accepting foreign interviews and operating a constitutionalism website. Guo Feixiong has been on a hunger strike since his arrest on December 5, 2021, causing severe damage to his health. After learning of his wife’s death, he wrote to his sister to arrange her final affairs. On May 11, 2023, Guo Feixiong was sentenced to eight years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power” and later transferred to Zhaoqing Prison. Guo Feixiong continues his hunger strike in prison to demand basic human rights, persisting until authorities provide him with fundamental humane treatment.
Guo Feixiong’s courageous struggle for human rights has earned high praise from China’s and the global human rights community. Human rights defenders and prominent scholars both domestically and internationally have repeatedly signed joint letters demanding his release. In 2015, the Irish human rights organization Front Line Defenders awarded him the Front Line Defenders Award. Overseas Chinese democracy and human rights groups have also honored him with several awards, recognizing his unyielding spirit in the struggle for democracy and human rights in China.
Editor
May 2024
Guo Feixiong, who remains optimistic and open-minded despite enduring hardships