Former retiree of Changchun Engineering College, volunteer for Tianwang during the June 4th incident, and citizen journalist Zhang Jixin, who spent 4 years and 9 months in prison 10 years ago for seeking justice for her son Qian Hongzhao, had her pension stripped after her release. Recently, she was criminally detained in Beijing for reasons unknown.
In recent days, retired teacher and rights activist Gu Guoping from Shanghai informed a reporter from Epoch Times that Zhang Jixin had been detained by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau without cause.
Liaoning petitioner Jiang Jiawen also told Epoch Times reporters that after inquiring with two Beijing petitioners, it was confirmed that Zhang Jixin had been criminally detained by the Beijing authorities. Currently, her son has gone to Beijing to find out more, but has been unable to make contact.
In 2008, Zhang Jixin’s son Qian Hongzhao returned from studying abroad and was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison and fined 350,000 yuan for his involvement in a bribery and corruption case.
Zhang Jixin sought justice for her son, making numerous public reports and sending tens of thousands of letters over the course of six years without result. In September 2012, after years of seeking justice for her son in vain, she and a thousand petitioners from Jilin Province petitioned the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, making her a targeted individual for surveillance.
In December 2013, Zhang Jixin went to the China Internet Human Rights Affairs Center in Chengdu, Sichuan, and met with Huang Qi, the founder of “June 4th Tianwang.” Subsequently, Zhang Jixin became a volunteer for Tianwang and a citizen journalist advocating for petitioners.
In November 2014, Zhang Jixin and seven other rights activists protested outside the venue of the first World Internet Conference, calling for “internet freedom” and the release of internet rights activists, such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. They were arrested by special police in Hangzhou and interrogated for over five hours.
On April 9, 2015, during a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Changchun, Jilin Province, Zhang Jixin and a group of petitioners gathered outside the Nanhu Hotel where Li Keqiang was staying to protest their grievances. They were charged with “provocation and disrupting state agencies,” and Zhang Jixin was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison. After her release, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security stopped paying her pension and ordered Changchun Engineering College to recover the retirement benefits on behalf of the organization.
In recent years, Zhang Jixin has been residing in Beijing, advocating for rights, and has faced suppression and arrest by Beijing police. However, the reasons behind her current criminal detention remain unknown to the public.