Visual Artists Guild has been participating in on-going vigils to protest the disappearance and detention of various dissidents by the government of the People's Republic of China. This occurs on Sunday afternoons at
Consulate of the Peoples Republic of China
443 Shattto Place (near Vermont and Wilshire)
Los Angeles, Ca 90020
Sunday Afternoons around 4:30 pm.
Join us to stand up for Democracy
Click here for Map or call for info (310) 539 0234
April 13 2003 |
Zhu Ruixian |
Zhu Ruixiang, a lawyer and former producer of the Shaoyang Radio Station, was charged with subversion and sentenced to three years in prison on September 14, 2001 after he forwarded e-mail messages to 12 people inside China. The messages, deemed "reactionary" by a court in Shaoyang in the southern province of Hunan, contained copies of VIP Reference (Dacankao) a daily e-mail publication based in the U.S. consisting of articles and essays related to democracy in China. Zhu was arrested on May 8, 2001, and Public Security Bureau officials confiscated his computer, according to the U.S.-based Free China Movement. Initially, the court wanted to sentence him to nine months in prison, but the local Communist Party Committee overruled the decision and ordered the lengthier prison term for Zhu. |
April 7 2003 |
Jae Hyun Seok |
Jae Hyun Seok - a South Korean free lance photographe held by the PRC since January, 2003. On May 22,2003 a court in Yantai, Shandong Province, sentenced Seok, who works regularly for The New York Times and South Korea's Geo magazine, to a two-year prison term on charges of human trafficking. Seok was arrested on January 18 while photographing North Korean refugees attempting to board fishing boats in Yantai bound for South Korea and Japan. South Korean aid worker Choi Yong Hun, Chinese nationals Piao Longgao and Jin Chengwan, and the North Korean refugees were also arrested. Choi, Piao, Jin, and an unidentified North Korean were today sentenced to between two and seven years on similar charges. For more info click here . |
March 23 2003 |
Liu Di |
This is sixth in a weekly rally in support of prisoners of conscience in China. Internet essayist Liu Di, a 22 year old student at Beijing Teacher's University has been missing since November 7. Public security officials have notified Liu's family that she is being investigated, but her current whereabouts are unknown. Using the pseudonym "Stainless Steel Mouse" (Buxiugang Laoshu), she has written several online essays criticizing the Chinese government. In one essay, Liu wrote that "my ideals are the ideals of an open society... In my view, freedom does not just include external freedom, but freedom within our hearts and minds." For more info click here . |
March 16 2003 |
Yang Zili |
This is fifth in a weekly rally in support of prisoners of conscience in China. Yang Zili, a writer and Web developer, is an active participant in the New Youth Study Group ("Xin Qingnian Xuehui"), an informal gathering of individuals who explored topics related to political and social reform and used the Internet to circulate relevant articles. His Web site, titled "Yang Zili's Garden of Ideas" ("Yangzi de Sixiang Jiayuan"), featured poems, essays and reports by various authors on subjects ranging from the particular shortcomings of rural elections to broad discussions of political theory. Authorities shut down the site following Yang's arrest. Yang was detained in March, 2001, tried with subversion in September, 2001 and still awaiting his verdict. For more info click here . |
March 9 2003 |
Jiang Weiping |
is a veteran journalist currently jailed on charges of "revealing state secrets" after pushing the boundaries of censorship and aggressively reporting on the taboo subject of official graft in China's industrial northeast region. He is former Dalian bureau chief for the newspaper Wen Hui Bao and reporter for the state news agency Xinhua. Jiang was detained in December 2000 after writing a series of articles exposing government corruption for the Hong Kong tabloid Front-Line. Jiang was sentenced to nine years in prison following a secret trial held on September 5, 2001. For more info click here |
March 2 2003 |
Huang Qi |
In October 1998, Huang Qi and his wife, Zeng Li, launched Tianwang Web site (www.6-4tianwang.com), a missing-persons search service based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The site soon became a forum for users to publicize abuses of power by local officials and to post articles about a variety of topics. In December 1999, Huang published an investigative report about labor abuses committed against workers whom the local government had sent abroad, according to an open letter Huang wrote from prison in February 2001. While several domestic newspapers subsequently investigated and published stories on the case, local officials began threatening Huang and repeatedly interrogated him about his reporting. On June 3, 2000, public security officials came to Huang's office and took him into custody. In January 2001, while still in detention, he was charged with subversion. On August 14, 2001, the Chengdu Intermediate Court tried Huang in secret without pronouncing a verdict. |
Feb 23 2003 |
Yang Jianli |
Yang Jianli, 39, is a permanent resident of the United States, who entered China on a false passport when he attempt to renew his Chinese passport was refused by the PRC. He was subsequently detained by the authorities in China and held incommunicado. In June, Yang's relatives were told that he was formally arrested by there was no specify charges nor any written notice as required by law. Yang has doctorates from the University of California and Harvard. His wife and two sons, who live in Brookline, Mass., are American citizens. He heads the Foundation for China in the 21st Century. |
Feb 16 2003 |
Wang Bingzhang |
Wang Bingzhang is a pro-democracy activist based in the U.S. who was abducted and brought into China while he was visiting Vietnam to meet with Chinese labor leaders. Wang was accused of spying and sentenced on February 10, 2003 by the PRC court to life in prison. |