Created in 2000, Dui Hua’s Political Prisoner Database (PPDB) contains information about political and religious prisoners incarcerated in China since 1980. Using mostly open-source materials, Dui Hua collects information on non-violent:

  • Political dissidents: people imprisoned for expressing their opposition to one-party rule by exercising universally recognized rights to free speech and association and often charged with “endangering state security” crimes such as “subversion” and “incitement”
  • Religious practitioners: people persecuted for holding religious beliefs that are not officially sanctioned, including members of house churches and Falun Gong
  • Ethnic minorities: people labeled “splittists” and jailed for participating in cultural and pro-independence movements
  • Petitioners: people jailed for seeking redress to grievances related to land seizure, demolition, corruption, miscarriages of justice, and other issues

The purpose of the PPDB is to advance clemency and better treatment for at-risk detainees by analyzing trends in the persecution of individuals who exercise their universal human rights to free speech, association, and expression; documenting the treatment of political and religious prisoners in the criminal justice system; providing raw material for the drafting of prisoner lists of concern; and informing dialogue with government officials inside and outside China.

2023 Q2 PPDB

Names: 48,205

People under coercive measures: 7,520

Official records: 22,690

Unofficial records: 39,541

as of June 30, 2023

 

Key Metrics for Active (under coercive measures) Cases

Total Prisoners 48,205
Active (under coercive measures) 7,520

Top Crimes

Organizing/using a cult to undermine implementation of the law 2,897
Picking quarrels and provoking troubles 448
Endangering State Security – Splittism; Inciting splittism 432
Endangering State Security – State Secrets; Espionage 235
Endangering State Security – Subversion; Inciting subversion 99

Top Provinces

Xinjiang 1,325
Sichuan 741
Shandong 367
Liaoning 355
Henan 332
Guangdong 328

Gender

M 2,638
F 2,040

Gender by Top Crimes

M F
Cult 651 1,430
Picking quarrels 198 158
Splittism; Inciting splittism 198 26

The information above is based on information Dui Hua has obtained, the information does not represent all cases involving political prisoners in China.