Citizen journalist Zhang, who was released from prison over three months ago, was once again arrested and detained by Shanghai authorities on August 25th of this year. Internet writer Lu Qianrong publicly appealed for the Chinese Communist regime to stop persecuting Zhang and immediately release her.
In February 2020, Zhang, as a citizen journalist, went to Wuhan to report on the COVID-19 outbreak. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Chinese authorities on charges of “provocation and troublemaking.” Zhang was released on May 13, 2024, but continued to be under surveillance, unable to live a free life.
Writer Lu Qianrong visited Zhang’s residence on May 31 this year. She lived in a small residential building on Sun Yao Road in Pudong, Shanghai, with her father after her release from prison.
Lu Qianrong told a reporter, “As soon as I arrived at Zhang’s house, the state security police called her father, saying that Lu Qianrong had come. Zhang’s father’s attitude towards me changed drastically after receiving the call. I became unwelcome in Zhang’s family.”
On that afternoon, shortly after Lu Qianrong left Zhang’s house, Zhang messaged him on WeChat, saying, “The police came for a visit.” Later, state security police pressured Zhang and her family not to contact Lu Qianrong.
Lu Qianrong stated, “About two months before Zhang’s recent arrest, I warned her and a close friend in WeChat: ‘Based on my emotional intelligence and keen social insights, the Xi regime will most likely order your (Zhang’s) re-arrest within six to twelve months after your release.’ I advised Zhang to take care of herself.”
As predicted, the Chinese authorities re-arrested Zhang at the end of August 2024, three months after her release.
Lu Qianrong said, “The night before Zhang’s latest arrest, I was still worried about her safety and the persecution she faced from the Chinese Communist Party. During our last phone call, Zhang did not mention her situation of being persecuted by the CCP.”
On August 25, 2024, while on her way to her hometown, Zhang lost contact and was detained at the Pudong Detention Center in Shanghai. She was criminally detained on charges of “provocation and troublemaking.” Lawyer Fan Biaowen from Guangzhou, after meeting with Zhang’s mother to understand the case, was detained by the police for nearly 8 hours the next day. Zhang’s mother, after inquiring about Fan Biaowen’s whereabouts at the police station, also went missing. The state security police pressured Zhang’s family to dismiss Fan Biaowen as Zhang’s defense lawyer.
Lu Qianrong said, “Under the red terror rule of the Xi Jinping regime, Zhang has been a victim of political persecution with no one effectively speaking up for her. As a Chinese, as a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, as a Chinese citizen, I have to stand up today to speak out for the Christian sister Zhang.”
Lu Qianrong added, “I want to ask the Xi Jinping regime, after sentencing Zhang to four years last time, how much more severe will the persecution against Zhang and her family be this time? Are they planning to keep Zhang from coming out alive?”
He further stated, “Remaining silent in the face of the evil of a regime and not daring to expose it is being an accomplice to evil, it is committing a crime.”
Zhang, a woman from Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, is a citizen journalist, a Christian, and was brought to Shanghai as a professional in 2010. She previously worked as a lawyer. Her lawyer’s license was revoked due to her participation in rights activities and signing campaigns to revise lawyer management regulations.
Since February 2020, when she was arrested while reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan as a citizen journalist, Zhang has been serving a 4-year sentence on charges of “provocation and troublemaking.”
During her trial, Zhang proclaimed, “Do you not feel that by putting me in the dock, your conscience tells you this is wrong?” and “This is a court judging you, not me.”
Among her accolades, Zhang received the 2021 Free Speech Honor Award from the Free University of Brussels, the 2020 Lin Zhao Freedom Award, the 21st Youth Chinese Human Rights Award in 2021, and the Courage Award for Press Freedom in 2021.