Recently, a female petitioner from Shanghai and descendant of a navy officer, Gui Shanhong, went to Beijing to petition, but was forcibly taken back to Shanghai by personnel stationed in Beijing, detained in a black prison, and then lost contact. The next day, she was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead. The news shocked petitioners, who are calling for an investigation and severe punishment of the perpetrators. However, the authorities are tightly controlling the information.
According to an informant named Zheng Mingming, on May 20th, Gui Shanhong, a 64-year-old petitioner from the Huangpu District of Shanghai (formerly the Luwan District), took the G110 train to Beijing to petition. Upon arriving at Beijing South Station, she was forcibly taken away by Huangpu District interceptors and arrived back in Shanghai the next morning. She was then detained at the petitioner distribution center located at No. 500 Fucun Road by the Shanghai government.
Zheng indicated that before 10 a.m. on the 20th, Gui Shanhong was still in contact with other petitioners who traveled to Beijing with her. However, after being taken to a black prison by the police from the Ruijin Road Police Station, she could no longer be reached.
Around 8 a.m. on the 22nd, Gui Shanhong’s husband received a call from officials of Ruijin Street saying that Gui Shanhong was being treated at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital. He rushed to the hospital and saw blood at Gui Shanhong’s nostrils. Gui Shanhong was pronounced dead with unsuccessful rescue efforts. The family requested an autopsy.
Zheng stated, “In fact, she had already passed away long before. The doctors pretended to be ‘rescuing’ her.”
Upon learning of Gui Shanhong’s death, about 10 petitioners from Sanlin Town in Pudong New Area, who traveled to Beijing with her, immediately rushed to Shanghai. However, they received a call from the local Political and Legal Committee Secretary, Xu Long, on the way, inviting them to a meal in Beijing and to give them local specialties. Zheng believed that the official was trying to appease the petitioners after the incident but the petitioners declined, saying there were no local specialties in Beijing.
Gui Shanhong’s father was a senior officer in the East Sea Fleet. Over twenty years ago, Gui Shanhong’s house in the prime location of Huaihai Middle Road in downtown Shanghai was forcibly relocated by the Luwan District Anjia Housing Demolition and Relocation Company to Yuantai Road community in Sanlin Town, Pudong New Area. The vacated land was reserved as “land reserve.”
Gui Shanhong had been petitioning for over twenty years with no results. After retiring, she intensified her petitioning efforts, mainly visiting the National Bureau of Letters and Calls’ “People’s Visiting Reception Office” (located at 1 Yongdingmen Street, Beijing) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, avoiding so-called “non-petitioning” and “sensitive” areas controlled by the authorities such as Zhongnanhai and Tiananmen Square.
It is reported that Gui Shanhong’s siblings are officials within the system. Upon hearing the news, her brother flew to Shanghai on the 22nd and reported to the Ruijin Road Police Station for negotiation, but there was no substantial outcome until the early morning of the next day.
After returning to Shanghai, the petitioners went to Gui Shanhong’s forcibly relocated house in Yuantai Road community, Sanlin Town, and met Gui Shanhong’s sister, also an official within the system. She advised the petitioners not to get involved, saying, “If today (the authorities) kill my sister, tomorrow they will kill you.”
Informed petitioners revealed that Gui Shanhong’s family decided to pursue legal procedures, have hired a lawyer, and hope to have the judicial assessment carried out by a judiciary from another province. Many petitioners in Shanghai were shocked upon learning of this and are calling for the truth to be revealed and the perpetrators to be severely punished.
Shanghai petitioner Yu Zhonghuan stated, “The Shanghai authorities are escalating violence to maintain stability. Even the daughters of senior officials are being persecuted to death for petitioning. Illegal abductions, confinement in black prisons, torture, denial of medical treatment, blatantly stealing petitioners’ keys to enter their rooms and steal money and belongings. These actions not only harm the petitioners but also their families. For example, my own daughter who is disabled and not a petitioner was also persecuted to the point of being unable to walk, it’s a living hell on earth.”
Zheng introduced that the former boss of the Luwan District Anjia Company in Shanghai was Zhou Guoliang, known for his ruthlessness. Leveraging his connection as the younger brother of Han Zheng, he acted lawlessly and treated petitioners extremely cruelly. Most petitioners intercepted back to Shanghai from Beijing by them suffered brutal persecution, such as being hung up with a plank of nails beneath their feet, stepping on the nails if they moved their feet.
“There are also methods like sitting on a tiger bench, being bound entirely like a zongzi, starving, sleep deprivation, kneeling for days or even tens of days, etc. Petitioners who have endured such torture unanimously compare it to the infamous Zazi Cave from the novel ‘Red Rock,’ and fear being intercepted back to Shanghai from Beijing by them,” he further stated.
Zheng added, “Now, even the daughters of old officials are being persecuted to death for petitioning, but people like Zhou Guoliang are still being selected annually as Shanghai’s advanced laborers, model workers, and even national labor models. Although Zhou Guoliang has retired in recent years, petitioners claim that the Anjia Company (now merged into the Yongye Company) still exists, and the staff inside continue Zhou Guoliang’s ferocity and brutality.”
In addition to Gui Shanhong and the group of petitioners who went to Beijing to petition, there have been many petitioners from Shanghai going to Beijing for petitioning. On May 24th, 39 people were sent back. Early on May 25th, more than fifty police officers gathered at Shanghai Railway New Passenger Station, waiting to escort these petitioners to the Shanghai Aid Station.
Among the group that was sent back, known petitioners include Gu Guoping, Gao Fuxing, Lv Longzhen, Wu Yufen, Yan Xiulan, Wu Jinfang, Chen Guanghua, and Zhu Peifang, totaling 39 individuals.