Liu Feiyue (刘飞跃): Local activist monitoring socio-economic rights, such as basic health and education rights, working as a rural teacher in Suizhou City, Hubei Province. Mr. Liu continued to experience police harassment in 2006 because of his activities in monitoring and reporting on human rights development in the local areas. He was involved in investigating and publicizing rights abuses in a wide range of areas, including the rights of rural teachers, laid-off workers, farmers who have lost their land, victims of forced evictions.  In 2005-06, he investigated the poor conditions at rural schools and the causes of drop-outs.  His activities caused him to be demoted to teaching at a remote rural school.  He also investigated the poor conditions of rural health care and obstacles for farmers to access medical treatment due to officials collecting false expenses and colluding with pharmaceutical companies to raise drug prices. He gathered hundreds of signatures on petitions requesting that the government increase resources directed toward basic medical care and education in rural areas, exposing the discrimination inherent in China’s rural-urban divide, particularly in relation to health care and education. In 2005, Liu began to post articles on the Internet under the name of his group of several volunteers, “Monitoring Citizens’ Rights to Basic Living.” Local police monitored his phone calls and telecommunications.  In early 2007, his application for a passport in order to travel abroad for a conference was denied.  He was detained briefly and then put under residential surveillance in March after he reported a local case involving suspicious land deals and a large protest.  

Fu Xiancai (付先财): Rural activist, representative of villagers forced to resettle to make way for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.  Mr. Fu was instrumental in disclosing the embezzlement of compensation for families evicted and resettled local officials.  He drew international attention to the re-settlers’ plight by giving interviews to international media such as Das Erste of Germany. As a result, he was subjected to various forms of harassment by local authorities. On June 8, 2006, soon after leaving the Zigui County Public Security Bureau where he had been asked to go to meet the PSB chief, Fu was clubbed to the ground by an unidentified attacker. He suffered fractures of his cervical vertebrae, and was still bed-ridden and paralyzed six months after the initial surgery. He may suffer lifelong incapacity. Evidence from various quarters suggests that Fu’s claim that the aggressor was instigated by local public security personnel is true.

Gao Yaojie (高耀洁): 82, HIV/AIDS activist, a retired gynecologist who was credited as the first doctor to recognize HIV infection in Henan Province in 1996. Has been fighting for the rights of poor villagers living with HIV/AIDS in Henan. Reports of her findings were quickly covered up by the provincial government because the outbreak was due to state hospitals’ illegal unsanitary practices in processing blood sold by poverty-stricken villagers.  Her efforts to get the word out and stop the spread of the virus brought her harassment, threats, and even police surveillance.  Officials prohibited any reporters from speaking to Dr. Gao and refused her the necessary travel documents for traveling overseas to receive a prestigious human rights award in 2001. In early 2007, this official action was repeated when Dr. Gao was recognized again with an international award. Provincial authorities eventually gave in after an intervention from the US Senator Hilary Clinton. Dr. Gao attended the award ceremony in the US in March.

In the 1990s, thousands of impoverished farmers went to the local state-run hospitals to sell blood to make some money. To maximize profit, the blood-collection stations ignored many safety measures. Without any inspection of the blood samples for viruses, the collected blood was mixed, stored and manufactured into a myriad of products. Sometimes, plasma from collected blood was re-injected back into the donor’s body, resulting in severe contamination and widespread infection. In some Henan villages over 65% of the population is infected with HIV. During Gao’s medical visits, she discovered the hidden facts and tried to convey the severity of the situation to the government. However, the government tried to silence her. Gao donated large portions of her own pension and savings to help patients and raise awareness about AIDS. She has written many articles and several books of popular education on HIV/AIDS.

Zhu Binjin (朱炳金): HIV/AIDS activist, coordinator of the Jilin Provincial HIV/AIDS Infected Persons Association. On March 8, 2006, Zhu was detained on criminal charges for “visiting the Great Wall during the period of the Two-Meetings” (the annual meetings of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference). The Public Security Bureau was worried that he might be organizing HIV-infected people to go to the central government in Beijing to complain and demand compensation. Zhu was later sentenced to one year Reeducation Through Labor, but he served his sentence at home due to his HIV infection.

Kong Delin (孔德麟), activist working on issues of discrimination, compensation and care for hemophilia patients who became infected with HIV from contaminated blood transfusions in state-run hospitals, is director of the National Hemophilia Association.  Mr. Kong was detained by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau under false claims on October 24, 2006. A protest by a group of hemophilia sufferers demanding compensation from the responsible government-owned pharmaceutical company met with police violence.  Some of the protesters fought back and were arrested.  Police took in Mr. Kong accusing him of masterminding the protest.  Two months later, due to national and international pressure, police decided not file charges against him and released him. At least two protesters, both hemophiliacs, remained detained and were charged with criminal activities. 

Wan Yanhai (万延海): HIV/AIDS activist, gay rights advocate, doctor, former government health ministry employee, now director of the Beijing AIDS Action Health Education Institute. Dr. Wan is instrumental in exposing HIV/AIDS infections in Henan Province and elsewhere.  He created the first AIDS NGO in China. On November 24, 2006, Wan was seized by the Beijing Public Security Bureau and “disappeared” for three days until his release due to international protests. Authorities cancelled the “Blood Safety, AIDS, Law and Human Rights” forum Wan had planned to convene on November 26 in Beijing. Forum speakers and other participants, many of them persons living with HIV/AIDS infection, were told to go back to their provinces. Authorities were nervous that the participants would go to the Ministry of Health to petition about their cases and demand redress.

After the outbreak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in rural villages in Henan, Wan played a crucial role in revealing the truth to the public. He set up his NGO to increase official transparency in the public health system, improving measures to prevent HIV infection and care for those with HIV/AIDS, and protecting the rights of infected people. However, the authorities used technical excuses to ban his group by taking away its NGO status. He was compelled to register it as a for-profit company instead. In August 2002, after forwarding to a listserve a Henan official document (which he had received by email from an anonymous sender) that contained information about the conditions of the Henan outbreak, he was detained by authorities for one month under “suspicion of illegally divulging national secrets,” during which he was tortured and forced to cooperate. He was released following intense international protests and lobbying.  Later that year, Wan was awarded the “Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights” by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

Ai Xiaoming (艾晓明):  Professor of the Chinese Literature Department, Director of Comparative Literature & World Literature Program, and the Deputy Director of Women Study Center at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, she is active on women’s rights, the rights of HIV/AIDS sufferers and orphans, and other areas of human rights.  She has written several books, including translations of the novels of Milan Kundera.  She was involved in the campaign to abolish the Custody and Repatriation detention system, a campaign started following the death in such a detention facility of the migrant Sun Zhigang, due to a severe beating by fellow inmates. She was awarded “For Public Good and Conscience” by the magazine Nan Feng Chuang (Southern Wind Window) and named one of the “Ten Most Influential Persons” by the Shanghai magazine Oriental Female in 2003. In 2006, she continued her work with HIV/AIDS activists and made documentary films about the lack of rights protection and care of HIV/AIDS infected villagers and orphans in rural Henan province.  With the money she collected from selling copies of the film, she gave donations to the case of the orphans.  In collaboration with film makers, she made other documentary films about village elections. Because of these activities, she has been repeatedly warned by her university, which was under pressure from the government, not to over step the boundaries.  Her personal correspondence as well as her movements are closely monitored by police.

Sun Xiaodi (孙小弟): Environmental activist, campaigned to expose pollution produced by the 792 Uranium Mine, where he works, in Gansu Province. On December 1, 2006, Sun was awarded the “Nuclear-Free Future Award,” the most prestigious anti-nuclear award in the world. However, the award annoyed the Chinese authorities, who subjected Sun to surveillance and harassment including physical assault. In early November 2006, Sun was diagnosed with a tumor in his abdominal cavity. In order to confirm the diagnosis and receive treatment, Sun requested the National Security police from the provincial Public Security Bureau (which was monitoring him) to permit him to go to Beijing for treatment. He was not given the permission for a while, but eventually he managed to get to Beijing. Sun also has a stone in his bladder and a cardiac condition.  Sometimes he cannot sit or lie down due to the pains. Since December 5, 2006, Sun’s home has been burglarized six or seven times in the middle of the night. The attackers use bricks to smash his doors and windows till none of his windows were intact. When Sun reported this situation to the police, he was told, “You can always leave!” In Beijing, while undergoing tests, Sun is closely watched by police and has experienced harassment.

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