Several provincial-level local political consultative conferences and People’s Congress meetings were held intensively in mainland China in mid to late January 2026. Provinces such as Henan, Fujian, Liaoning, and Sichuan were in session, with stability maintenance operations launched across various regions. Many petitioners were either surveilled during their travels or intercepted and controlled, leading to some losing contact.
On January 28, petitioner Sun Jinxiu from Gansu arrived in Lanzhou and was monitored by four unidentified individuals along the way. After she reached out to a reporter from Dajiyuan with information, she is now unreachable.
Liu Guangfen, a petitioner from Chongqing, was forcefully abducted by a group of people outside her sister Li Hualan’s house in Longjing Jiayuan Phase 1, Nanan District, Chongqing, on the morning of January 28. She sent a message stating, “They are driving around, and I don’t know where they are taking me. If I lose contact, I entrust the people of the whole country to report the case for me to 023110, 02312345.”
In the afternoon of January 28, Chongqing Yunyang resident Ran Chongbi was intercepted by police (badge number 208211) and three to four other officers while posting a letter on Zhengyi Street in Dongcheng District, Beijing. She was then abducted and had her freedom restricted at the Dongcheng Police Station in Beijing.
Liaoning petitioner Jiang Jiawen is currently being held at a hotel in Dandong. He told a reporter from Dajiyuan, “Around 1 pm on January 26, I boarded a train at Dandong Wulongbei Railway Station to go to Shenyang, but the head of the Qidao Police Station, Sun Dayong, along with Li Dong, the director of the Qidao office, and Zhao, the secretary of the Yujia community, chased me in a police car. They boarded the train at Nanfen Station and forcibly sent me back to Dandong. I am now held at a hotel, with four personnel in two shifts per day. There is a female guard during the day, and 24-hour close monitoring.”
Shanghai began stability maintenance operations for local two sessions in mid-January. Song Jiahong, a person from Shanghai Black Jail, stated, “The Shanghai government’s petition office ignores constitutional provisions and, without legal authorization, intercepts and abducts petitioners. The new year’s stability maintenance has begun!”
Senior petitioner Lu Liming from Yangpu District, Shanghai, who was planning to petition in Beijing on January 20, was intercepted at Shanghai Railway Station and not allowed to travel to Beijing. Currently, he is detained at the Vienna Hotel on Guohe Road in Yangpu District.
On the morning of January 16, petitioner Zhong Jihong from Jing’an District, Shanghai, went to the meeting place of the district committee at 1222 Pingxingguan Road to voice grievances and urge leaders to address petition issues. As a result, she was abducted by stability maintenance personnel and taken to the Black Jail in Chenjiazhen, Chongming District. Upon arrival at the Black Jail, she managed to escape while the guards were distracted. According to petitioners near Zhong Jihong’s residence, there seem to be surveillance personnel deployed near her home.
In the afternoon of January 14, a group of people in Sichuan Province were sunbathing in the Damazilou area outside the provincial justice hall when suddenly a group of armed personnel wearing black uniforms and leather shoes rushed out without showing any identification. They violently grabbed and forced a 70-year-old retired teacher onto the ground, dragged him on the cement floor, and forcibly put him into a vehicle, simultaneously arresting other petitioners in batches, with each petitioner being apprehended by four or more armed personnel. Some were captured several hundred meters away from the justice hall, and another group was detained on the 15th.
According to witnesses on the scene, “The elderly teacher is named Xia Guocai, 74 years old. He has diligently worked for the party and the country’s education cause on the national education front for forty-two years, also paying imperial taxes to the state for 56 years.”
“Xia Guocai paid a cash sum of 30,000 yuan for basic pension insurance to the government in 2010. Now, he only receives a monthly pension of 388 yuan, with deductions of 400 yuan for medical insurance and 400 yuan for taxes annually. He has submitted over 17,000 sets of materials to officials at various levels and presented documents to the justice hall on multiple occasions and the provincial committee for law and governance. However, he faced relentless attacks and violent torture. On January 14, many Sichuan residents were implicated and retaliated against simultaneously.”
Expressing sadness, the people stated, “Even when we kneel and beg for mercy, these heartless thugs won’t spare us a way out. When will these atrocious acts be put to an end?”