Hu Jia (activist)
Encyclopedia
Hu Jia is an activist and dissident in the People's Republic of China. His work has focused on the Chinese democracy movement
, Chinese environmentalist
movement, and HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China. Hu is the director of June Fourth Heritage & Culture Association
, and he has been involved with AIDS advocacy as the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and as one of the founders of the non-governmental organization
Loving Source. He has also been involved in work to protect the endangered Tibetan antelope
. For his activism, Hu has received awards from several European bodies, such as the Paris City Council and the European Parliament
, which awarded its Human Rights prize
to him in December 2008.
On December 27, 2007, Hu was detained as part of a crackdown on dissents during the Christmas holiday season. Reporters Without Borders
said that “The political police have taken advantage of the international community’s focus on Pakistan to arrest one of the foremost representatives of the peaceful struggle for free expression in China.” The decision to take him into custody was made after peasant leaders in several Chinese provinces issued a manifesto demanding broader land rights for peasants whose property had been confiscated for development. On April 3, 2008, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail. Hu pleaded not guilty on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" at his trial in March 2008. He was released at 2:30 am (Beijing time) on Sunday, June 26th, 2011.
under Mao Zedong. They were assigned to work in remote provinces of Hebei, Gansu, and Hunan. His parents often had to live apart until 1978, when Deng Xiaoping came to power and political label held against them was dropped.
In 1996 Hu graduated from the Beijing School of Economics (now Capital University of Economics and Trade, 首都经济贸易大学), where he majored in information engineering.
In January 2006 Hu married Zeng Jinyan
, with whom he has an infant daughter, and who was included in Time magazine's 100 Heroes and Pioneers for her blogging after his arrest in February 2008 for voicing his indignation at China as the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Both his wife and daughter were held in house arrest and harassed by the Ministry of State Security, and eventually disappeared one day before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing.
Hu is a Buddhist
of the Tibetan tradition
.
, led by Liang Congjie
, and the 1997 Green Camp university student environmental camp led by Tang Xiyang
. In 1998 Hu Jia was involved in rescuing some wild elk that were threatened by severe flooding that year. Hu was subsequently involved in efforts to protect the Tibetan Antelope that were being slaughtered for their fur.
In July 2000, the writer Wang Lixiong
introduced Hu to AIDS activist Wan Yanhai
. Afterwards Hu Jia became involved in AIDS prevention work and took an active part in the AIZIBING Institute of Health Education AIDS, which Wan Yanhai had founded. As one of the founders Loving Source a non-governmental organization
and advocacy group for individuals with AIDS, Hu Jia has been involved in helping people suffering from AIDS and AIDS orphans in Henan
province. He has criticized the government over its treatment of people with AIDS. According to Amnesty International
, Hu has since resigned from Loving Source to prevent the authorities from harassing the group.
Hu has also been involved in campaigns to release political prisoner
s, including Wan Yanhai in August–September 2002 and the cyber-dissident
Liu Di
("The Stainless Steel Rat"). In 2003, Hu Jia lodged a letter of complaint to the European Court of Human Rights over German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama
. In 2005 he participated in anti-Japanese demonstrations.
Hu insists on his rights as a citizen of the People's Republic in China. When police
detain him (often for planned activities and sometimes to ensure that he is not active at sensitive times such as June 4, the anniversary
of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
) Hu demands that the police state what provision of Chinese law
he is being held under. Hu says that the security officers are generally unable to do so.
In 2006, Beijing Zhiaixing Information Counseling Center (formerly called Aizhixing Institute of Health Education), a human rights advocacy group with which Hu was affiliated, received combined grant of $179,113 from National Endowment for Democracy
and US State Department for conducting programs within China.
On February 16, 2006, Hu was detained for 41 days. His detention was not acknowledged by the Chinese government. After his return to his apartment in Beijing, where he lives with his wife Zeng Jinyan
(also an AIDS activist), Hu Jia was kept under house arrest
until March 2007. Two months later, on May 18, 2007, Hu Jia and his wife were placed under house arrest again on charges of "harming state security." Hu Jia has remained active via email
s and blog
s while under house arrests.
Using a web camera, Hu participated in a European parliamentary hearing in Brussels in November 2007 about human rights in China
. At the hearing he said: “It is ironic that one of the people in charge of organizing the Olympic Games is the head of the Bureau of Public Security, which is responsible for so many human rights violations. It is very serious that the official promises are not being kept before the games.”
Hu was released from custody on June 26, 2011.
On April 7, Ms Zeng published an open letter on Internet, requesting medical parole of Mr. Hu. Shortly later, Ms Ai Xiaoming and Ms Cui Weiping
, two renowned university professors who are also active in human rights activities, published an open letter on Internet, appealing public support for Ms Zeng's request of medical parole of Mr. Hu. In less than 10 days, over 700 people endorsed the open letter through email and web forms.
Chinese democracy movement
The Chinese democracy movement refers to a series of loosely organized political movements in the People's Republic of China against the continued one-party rule by the Communist Party. One such movement began during the Beijing Spring in 1978 and was taken up again in the Tiananmen Square...
, Chinese environmentalist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
movement, and HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China. Hu is the director of June Fourth Heritage & Culture Association
June Fourth Heritage & Culture Association
June Fourth Heritage & Culture Association is a United States-based non-governmental non-profit organization that conducts research and advocacy on the Culture of June Fourth Movement, Democracy, Political Freedom, and Human Rights in China....
, and he has been involved with AIDS advocacy as the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and as one of the founders of the non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
Loving Source. He has also been involved in work to protect the endangered Tibetan antelope
Tibetan antelope
The Tibetan antelope or chiru is a medium-sized bovid which is about in height at the shoulder. It is the sole species in the genus Pantholops and is placed in its own subfamily, Pantholopinae...
. For his activism, Hu has received awards from several European bodies, such as the Paris City Council and the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, which awarded its Human Rights prize
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought...
to him in December 2008.
On December 27, 2007, Hu was detained as part of a crackdown on dissents during the Christmas holiday season. Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
said that “The political police have taken advantage of the international community’s focus on Pakistan to arrest one of the foremost representatives of the peaceful struggle for free expression in China.” The decision to take him into custody was made after peasant leaders in several Chinese provinces issued a manifesto demanding broader land rights for peasants whose property had been confiscated for development. On April 3, 2008, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail. Hu pleaded not guilty on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" at his trial in March 2008. He was released at 2:30 am (Beijing time) on Sunday, June 26th, 2011.
Biography
Hu's parents were students at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin in 1957 when they were labeled as rightists during the Anti-Rightist MovementAnti-Rightist Movement
The Anti-Rightist Movement of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged "rightists" within the Communist Party of China and abroad...
under Mao Zedong. They were assigned to work in remote provinces of Hebei, Gansu, and Hunan. His parents often had to live apart until 1978, when Deng Xiaoping came to power and political label held against them was dropped.
In 1996 Hu graduated from the Beijing School of Economics (now Capital University of Economics and Trade, 首都经济贸易大学), where he majored in information engineering.
In January 2006 Hu married Zeng Jinyan
Zeng Jinyan
Zeng Jinyan , is a Chinese blogger and human rights activist. The wife of AIDS and environmental activist Hu Jia, Zeng became famous for a blog she had maintained throughout the disappearance of her husband, which was believed to be the working of China's secret police...
, with whom he has an infant daughter, and who was included in Time magazine's 100 Heroes and Pioneers for her blogging after his arrest in February 2008 for voicing his indignation at China as the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Both his wife and daughter were held in house arrest and harassed by the Ministry of State Security, and eventually disappeared one day before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing.
Hu is a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
of the Tibetan tradition
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
.
Activism
Hu became interested in environmental issues while in university and participated in several environmental organizations including the Friends of NatureFriends of Nature (China)
Friends of Nature is the People's Republic of China's oldest environmental non-government organization. On March 31, 1994, the organization was officially registered under the name Green Culture Institute of the International Academy of Chinese Culture under the Ministry of Civil Affairs...
, led by Liang Congjie
Liang Congjie
Liang Congjie was a Chinese historian best known for his work as an environmental activist who established the Friends of Nature in 1994 as the first environmental non-governmental organization to be officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China.Liang's father,...
, and the 1997 Green Camp university student environmental camp led by Tang Xiyang
Tang Xiyang
Tang Xiyang is a Chinese environmentalist. He was awarded the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding....
. In 1998 Hu Jia was involved in rescuing some wild elk that were threatened by severe flooding that year. Hu was subsequently involved in efforts to protect the Tibetan Antelope that were being slaughtered for their fur.
In July 2000, the writer Wang Lixiong
Wang Lixiong
Wang Lixiong is a Chinese writer and scholar, best known for his political prophecy fiction, Yellow Peril , which was ranked 41st in The 100 Most Influential Chinese Novels in 20th Centuryby Asia Weekly and has gained widespread popularity in China as well as worldwide media attention despite...
introduced Hu to AIDS activist Wan Yanhai
Wan Yanhai
Wan Yanhai is the best-known AIDS activist in China born 20 November 1963.His "frank and aggressive" approach toward AIDS have led to frequent run-ins with authorities and landed him in detention three times in the past 12 years. Wan, 43, is the director of the country's foremost AIDS-awareness...
. Afterwards Hu Jia became involved in AIDS prevention work and took an active part in the AIZIBING Institute of Health Education AIDS, which Wan Yanhai had founded. As one of the founders Loving Source a non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
and advocacy group for individuals with AIDS, Hu Jia has been involved in helping people suffering from AIDS and AIDS orphans in Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province. He has criticized the government over its treatment of people with AIDS. According to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Hu has since resigned from Loving Source to prevent the authorities from harassing the group.
Hu has also been involved in campaigns to release political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s, including Wan Yanhai in August–September 2002 and the cyber-dissident
Cyber-dissident
A cyber-dissident is a professional journalist, an activist or citizen journalist who posts news, information, or commentary on the internet that implies criticism of a government or regime....
Liu Di
Liu Di
Liu Di , writing under the screen name "Stainless Steel Rat" , named after the assertive Harry Harrison SF character, became a high-profile symbol for democracy and free speech in China since her detention in November 2002...
("The Stainless Steel Rat"). In 2003, Hu Jia lodged a letter of complaint to the European Court of Human Rights over German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
. In 2005 he participated in anti-Japanese demonstrations.
Hu insists on his rights as a citizen of the People's Republic in China. When police
Public Security Bureau
In the People's Republic of China, a public security bureau refers to the government offices while the smaller offices are called Police posts which are similar in concept to the Japanese Kōban system) present in each province and municipality that handles policing , public security, and...
detain him (often for planned activities and sometimes to ensure that he is not active at sensitive times such as June 4, the anniversary
Anniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
) Hu demands that the police state what provision of Chinese law
Law of the People's Republic of China
Law of the People's Republic of China is the legal regime of the People's Republic of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau....
he is being held under. Hu says that the security officers are generally unable to do so.
In 2006, Beijing Zhiaixing Information Counseling Center (formerly called Aizhixing Institute of Health Education), a human rights advocacy group with which Hu was affiliated, received combined grant of $179,113 from National Endowment for Democracy
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...
and US State Department for conducting programs within China.
On February 16, 2006, Hu was detained for 41 days. His detention was not acknowledged by the Chinese government. After his return to his apartment in Beijing, where he lives with his wife Zeng Jinyan
Zeng Jinyan
Zeng Jinyan , is a Chinese blogger and human rights activist. The wife of AIDS and environmental activist Hu Jia, Zeng became famous for a blog she had maintained throughout the disappearance of her husband, which was believed to be the working of China's secret police...
(also an AIDS activist), Hu Jia was kept under house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
until March 2007. Two months later, on May 18, 2007, Hu Jia and his wife were placed under house arrest again on charges of "harming state security." Hu Jia has remained active via email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
s and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s while under house arrests.
Using a web camera, Hu participated in a European parliamentary hearing in Brussels in November 2007 about human rights in China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
. At the hearing he said: “It is ironic that one of the people in charge of organizing the Olympic Games is the head of the Bureau of Public Security, which is responsible for so many human rights violations. It is very serious that the official promises are not being kept before the games.”
Imprisonment
On December 30, 2007, Hu was arrested at his home in Beijing by the Chinese police for "inciting subvertion of state authority". His trial began in March 2008 on charges of "inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system", stemming from interviews he gave to the foreign media and political articles he wrote and published on the internet. The crime carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. On April 3, 2008, Hu was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. Hu's wife Zeng Jinyan, after an April 2009 prison visit with Hu Jia, noted that his health is deteriorating because of inadequate nutrition and medical care. He is thought to be suffering from a liver condition.Hu was released from custody on June 26, 2011.
Illness
In April 2010, Hu's family got to know that he was sent to prison hospital for medical check of symptoms suspected to be liver cancer but no information of the medical report was released to his family. Hu's wife Ms Zeng requested for the detailed medical report but was denied access. She and Hu's mother requested for medical parole but the prison administration rejected by saying that Hu's disease is not liver cancer, and he might not be released for medical care even if he had liver cancer.On April 7, Ms Zeng published an open letter on Internet, requesting medical parole of Mr. Hu. Shortly later, Ms Ai Xiaoming and Ms Cui Weiping
Cui Weiping
Cui Weiping is a Beijing Film Academy professor and social critic. She was born in Jiangsu province. She is a famous scholar, professional translator and cultural critic....
, two renowned university professors who are also active in human rights activities, published an open letter on Internet, appealing public support for Ms Zeng's request of medical parole of Mr. Hu. In less than 10 days, over 700 people endorsed the open letter through email and web forms.
Awards and honors
Hu was made an honorary citizen of Paris on April 21, 2008, the same day as was the 14th Dalai Lama. On October 23, 2008, the European Parliament announced that its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will be awarded to Hu Jia in December 2008.External links
- The Year of the Dog - A Chinese activist's story
- Chinese AIDS activist missing for six weeks returns home
- Interview With AIDS Activist Hu Jia
- Hu Jia's blog, translated by Google Translate.
- Hu Jia's Live Spaces blog in Chinese
- Friends of Nature website (in Chinese)
- Prisoners in Freedom City, a documentary by Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan (with Chinese and English Subtitles)
- The full documentary, "Prisoners of Freedom City" on the WITNESS Hub - Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3
- Hu Jia Arrest Indicates China Anxiety over Tibet Issue
- Video: Living under house arrest in Beijing