China’s dissidents Chen Xi and Dong Hongyi have both been persecuted and imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party for their dissenting opinions. Upon release, their pensions were withheld, plunging them into financial difficulties. They are not the only dissenters facing such plight in China.
Chen Xi, originally named Chen Youcai, is a pro-democracy activist from Guizhou, 71 years old this year, and has been imprisoned three times. In 1989, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for supporting the Tiananmen Square protests. In 1995, he openly called for the CCP to reverse its stance on the events of Tiananmen Square and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” He was released in 2005. On December 26, 2011, he was sentenced to another 10 years in prison for his allegedly provocative online articles, bringing his total sentence to 23 years.
Recently, Chen Xi told a reporter from Epoch Times that he only received 2 years of pension after being released in November 2021 before it was suspended. Chen Xi’s family paid his social security premiums during his incarceration, totaling 220 months. According to regulations, starting from August 2022, he should have been entitled to a basic pension of 1663.82 yuan per month.
The local social security bureau deducted the years of pension payments he made during his third imprisonment, considering only 8 years of social security payments and requiring him to continue paying for an additional 15 years to qualify for the minimum local retirement pension. Moreover, he was not eligible for low-income support from the community. “China is not a country ruled by law. Despite paying social security premiums for 18 years, they canceled it because I was imprisoned,” Chen Xi said.
Chen Xi believes that the Chinese Communist Party should treat all citizens equally and not divide them into different classes. “They treated me differently. I now have no pension, no low-income support, no social security, no medical insurance – I have nothing.”
Chen Xi’s life has become difficult, relying on financial support from family and friends. He has complained to the Guizhou Provincial Social Security Office and other relevant departments but has not received any response.
Similar cases of pension suspension and deduction have occurred to many other dissidents, such as Wang Wenjiang from Liaoning, Xu Yonghai from Beijing, Zhang Shijun from Shandong, and Dong Hongyi from Hebei.
Dong Hongyi, 79, a retired engineer from Handan Iron and Steel Group in Hebei Province, was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison for “provocation” at the end of 2022 for proposing changes to the party charter, party-government separation, and preventing personal worship at the CCP’s 20th Party Congress. After his release in March 2024, the local social security center stopped and began to deduct his pension.
“This is political and personal persecution against me,” Dong Hongyi told Epoch Times, stating that the Handan prosecutor’s office frequently harasses, intimidates, and threatens his family members and WeChat friends in an attempt to isolate him. “I am very angry about this!”
Dong Hongyi believes that retirement pensions are earned through labor and are private property acquired through insurance premiums. “You (CCP authorities) arbitrarily encroach on personal private property, which we consider a violation of the constitution.”
Despite financial difficulties and challenges, Dong Hongyi remains determined to fight for his rights. He has hired a lawyer and is preparing for administrative review, all of which require significant financial support.
“I have committed no crime, I am solely being punished for my words. If they want to add more charges, I have no fear – I will continue to resist them to the end,” Dong Hongyi said.