Blogger admitted into Tilanqiao Prison after long delays
Ruan Xiaohuan (阮晓寰) was admitted into a prison in Shanghai, more than seven months after the appellate trial was concluded on December 13, 2024. The Shanghai High People’s Court rejected Ruan’s appeal and upheld the sentence of seven years imprisonment with two years of deprivation of political rights.
Since being detained in May 2021 for inciting subversion, an endangering state security crime, Ruan had spent more than four years in Yangpu Detention Center. On August 18, Ruan’s wife Bei wrote on Twitter that he was transferred at the end of July to the infamous Tilanqiao Prison (提篮桥监狱) at its new location in Qingpu District.
Ruan is the author of the well-known blog, “Program Thinking 编程随想,” where he shared his thoughts on society and politics and tools to bypass internet censorship in China. Many of his readers credited Ruan’s blog as a source of their political enlightenment.
Bei visited Ruan on August 22 for 20 minutes and posted the latest updates on Twitter. Ruan is allowed to read books in his cell, which he shares with seven other prisoners. While he was at the detention center, he lost weight and some teeth because of vitamin deficiency. However, Ruan remains in good spirits.
Ruan’s sentence expires in May 2028.
Rights lawyer released, remains in China
Rights lawyer Lu Siwei (卢思位) was released on August 5 in Sichuan, after severing 11 months for illegal border crossing.
Lu is renowned for defending other rights lawyers, dissidents, and activists. In 2020, Lu represented Guangxi lawyer Chen Jiahong (陈家鸿) and Beijing Lawyer Yu Wensheng (余文生). Both Chen and Yu were later convicted of inciting subversion.
In the same year, Lu provided legal aid to the twelve Hong Kong activists detained in Shenzhen for illegal border crossing. Lu’s legal practice license was revoked by the Sichuan Justice Department in January 2021 due to his involvement.
In July 2023, Lu was intercepted by Laotian police as he was about to board a train to visit his friends in Thailand, despite holding a valid passport and tourist visa. He was repatriated to China in September 2023 and arrested 13 months later.
Dissident author, songwriter sentenced in Guangzhou
Dissident author and songwriter Xu Lin (徐琳) was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble by a district court in Guangzhou on August 8. This is his second imprisonment for the same crime.
Xu was born in Zhuzhou, Hunan, and has resided in Guangzhou since 2010. In 2012, he composed a protest song based on a poem by another veteran activist Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫) and was detained in April for inciting subversion. Xu was later placed under residential surveillance in a designated location. In 2015, his protest song in support of the lawyers apprehended amid the “7.09” crackdown, landed him in residential surveillance for a month in Guangzhou. In September 2017, Xu was detained by Guangzhou police and sentenced to three years for PQPT in December.
Xu was detained again in May 2024 and tried in March 2025. He is expected to be released in February 2028.
Activist imprisoned for incitement denied family visitation
Hainan activist Wu Kongda (吴孔大) wrote in letters to his family that he has been denied visitation rights since April this year. No reasons have been given by the prison authority.
Wu’s family claimed that State Security police visited and warned supporters not to send letters anymore.
Wu, a former primary school teacher in Hainan, was convicted of inciting subversion for expressing political opinions online and raising protest banners in public. He was sentenced to three and a half years and is due to be released in April 2027. He is serving his sentence at the Meilanxu Prison, Hainan.
Authorities often deprive political and religious prisoners of family visitations for refusing to admit guilt or comply with reform.