Sichuan human rights defender Chen Yunfei administratively detained while traveling in Gansu

(Information Center of China Human Rights Defenders Network report) On August 6, 2026, this outlet learned that Sichuan human rights defender Chen Yunfei was intercepted by police at Dunhuang Railway Station while traveling to Jiayuguan, Gansu, as a tourist. He is currently being held in administrative detention for 12 days by the Subei County public security authorities.

Chen Yunfei has been imprisoned twice, serving a total of eight years. After his release from prison in March 2025, he remained under surveillance and was repeatedly summoned by police against his will.

Chen Yunfei biography: Born on August 13, 1967, he is from Daxian County, Dazhou City, Sichuan Province. He is an independent farmer and agronomist, a democratic “amateur animal tamer,” Sichuan’s “democracy performance artist,” a prominent rights-defending citizen, dissident, and political prisoner.

In 1989, he participated in the “1989 student movement.” After the June Fourth crackdown, he returned home to make a living while continuing to uphold democratic ideals and carrying out various rights-defense activities locally to assist petitioners. He was later placed under long-term surveillance and threatened by Chengdu police because he repeatedly attempted to travel to Beijing to pay tribute to former CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang;

On June 4, 2007, he was arrested by Chengdu police for placing an advertisement in the Chengdu Evening News reading “Pay tribute to the mothers of the resilient June Fourth victims.” He was later placed under residential surveillance for six months on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”;

In 2008, he was warned and threatened by police for donating blood, in the name of an initiator, together with rights-defending citizens Tan Zuoren, Ran Yunfei, and others to commemorate June Fourth;

In 2011, he was placed under house arrest at home for several days because he was suspected of participating in the “Jasmine Revolution”;

On January 26, 2013, dissatisfied with and protesting the authorities’ prohibition on his traveling abroad, he held an unusual funeral for his passport and his permits to travel to Hong Kong and Macao, thereby pioneering this type of funeral in China;

On March 5 of the same year, he was refused receipt after submitting to the Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee an “Open Letter to Mr. Xi Jinping and Others,” a “Citizens’ Proposal Calling on China’s 205 Most Powerful Officials at the Ministerial Level and Above to Disclose Their Assets,” and a list of signatures from 7,033 valid citizens;

On May 13, 2013, the authorities, working with organized crime, forced him to move out of a rented home. During the relocation, he was beaten by thugs and threatened and attacked by abusive police, ultimately suffering serious physical injuries;

From February to March 2015, the authorities also came to resent him for launching a “one-day tour route from downtown Chengdu to the Sinopec plant in Pengzhou,” after which his activities were disrupted and sabotaged by Chengdu police.

On March 25, 2015, after he and more than 20 rights-defending citizens went to Xinjin County, Chengdu, to sweep the graves of Xiao Jie and Wu Guofeng, student victims of the June Fourth incident, he was pursued and intercepted on his return by hundreds of armed special police officers. On March 26, he was criminally detained by police in Xinjin County, Sichuan Province, on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”;

On April 30, 2015, he was formally arrested on the same charges. The procuratorate later dropped the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” and prosecuted him only for picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

On March 31, 2017, Chen Yunfei was sentenced to four years in prison by the Wuhou District Court in Chengdu for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was released after completing his sentence on March 25, 2019.

On March 25, 2021, Chen Yunfei was arrested again and later prosecuted for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. During a court hearing on December 3, 2021, the charge was suddenly changed and he was sentenced to four years in prison. His sentence was due to end on March 24, 2025. He suffered torture and abuse in prison.