Human Rights Defender Tan Zuolong’s Reflections on the First Anniversary of His Release from Prison—“I Will Continue on the Original Path; You Continue Living”

Editor’s note: Tan Zuolong was sentenced to three and a half years for reporting problems involving public funds and the judiciary, on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” After his release, he continued reporting problems and defending rights, while using self-media to continue following and supporting other human rights cases.

More than 2,000 years ago, Socrates was sentenced to death. At parting, he said: “The time has come for us to part; I go to die, and you go to live. Which is better, only God knows.” It was not that he was unafraid of death; he was simply afraid that he had not made himself clear.

Today marks exactly one year since my release from prison.

On this day last year, I walked out of the gate of Wudu Prison.

A prison police officer still tried to pull me toward the prison vehicle and would not let me get into the car sent by my friends to pick me up. I turned around and punched him in the face. Once I had walked out of the prison gate, he no longer had the right to restrict my personal freedom.

This prison guard was both pitiable and hateful. He thought he could do whatever he wanted to prisoners inside the prison, and could also do whatever he wanted outside the prison gate. Although my punch did not hit him in the face, it did give him a little clarity. He had no right to make me get into that vehicle.

After my release, I lost my job and had nowhere to live. Not one person in the circle of former public employees dared to contact me. To survive, I embarked on the arduous road to the imperial capital to make a living. I queued at Yongdingmen, rented a place in Fangshan, and was taken to Jiujingzhuang. The Gansu Office in Beijing also restricted my freedom (does that count as unlawful detention?). Certain judicial personnel also warned friends who contacted me, saying that Tan Zi was constantly monitoring my whereabouts and was ready to arrest me again at any time.

Over this year, I once again saw streets where I was free, people bargaining at vegetable markets, students carrying schoolbags across the road, and ginkgo leaves turning yellow for another season. I saw those most ordinary scenes while dragging my drunken body along with friends from Yunnan, and walked through them together with a friend from Hunan while listening to his difficult-to-understand dialect.

In the first half of my life, I taught at a primary school in Cheng County, wrote documents at the county Party committee’s Policy Research Office, and worked in the Organization Department and the Supervision, Inspection and Assessment Bureau. I served as deputy director of the Talent Office, director of the Grassroots Office, a member of the Organization Department’s Leading Party Members Group, head of the Cadre Division, and deputy director of the Supervision, Inspection and Assessment Bureau. The Organization spent decades cultivating me. What it taught me was not to protect myself by staying out of trouble, but to be loyal to the Party, to dare to take responsibility, and to be accountable for public funds.

Later, because I persisted in reporting the problem of China Property & Casualty Insurance’s alleged fraud involving approximately 800,000 yuan in government funds, I believed that Wang Zhaozhi and Li Haifeng of the Cheng County Procuratorate, and Yang Gengding of the Cheng County Court, had engaged in favoritism and bending the law rather than acting in accordance with the law. I sent letters reporting the matter to relevant authorities, including Cheng County Party Secretary Li Xiang and Wang Wenquan. I was held criminally responsible on charges of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, sentenced to three years and six months in prison, and sent behind the high walls.

I respect legal procedures and also abide by the court’s judgment; but I have never regarded the fact that I “reported problems” as a crime. The law gave me a term of imprisonment, but it also gave me time—time to think through many things.

Over this year, I came to understand that reporting those judicial officials who show favoritism and bend the law is protecting the peace of more people. This is not hatred; it is responsibility.

Over this year, I have thanked many strangers who did not know me at all. They gave me selfless help and helped me get through the most difficult days. I thank the friends who answered my calls late at night. They did not urge me to give up; they only urged me to be careful. I also thank the comrades with whom I once worked. Even though many people no longer contact me, I understand that silence.

Over this year, I learned one thing: emotion can never speak for evidence. There is nothing wrong with crying out that one has been wronged, but reporting requires documentation, and the documentation must stand up to scrutiny. So I do not make a scene, curse, or invent stories. I submit materials according to procedure, write letters, and go from one service window to another. Some submissions are rejected, some disappear without a trace, and some receive only the reply, “Received.” That is all right. I keep the receipt for every submission, because I believe that one day, someone will carefully read everything through.

Socrates drank hemlock. He did not win, but his students passed down his teachings. I am not great, nor do I want to be a martyr. I only want to be a living, clear-minded person who speaks openly in the sunlight.

“I will continue on the original path; you continue living.” These are my own reflections on leaving prison. I do not curse anyone, nor do I expect to overturn a wrongful case overnight. I only know that the past has already been judged, while the future has yet to be decided. I have the judgment in my hands. Everything else I leave to Heaven, and also to the law.

On the first anniversary of my release, I am neither sad nor excited. I will continue walking, continue writing, and continue submitting materials until there is a reply that dares to tell me: The problems you reported have all been thoroughly investigated.

Because I have understood one most simple truth: Some things always require someone to stand up and speak; some peace always requires someone to protect it.

I will also look at Yang Jia’s past, and at the QQ incident. In fact, there are things that everyone can do.

In this world, nothing is a question of whether it is worth it; it is only a question of whether you are willing.