Jiang Zhanchun, a human rights defender from Jiangsu, detained for 10 days by the Tiananmen Public Security Sub-Bureau on the grounds of disturbing public order by visiting Tiananmen Square without a reservation

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On September 17, 2026, this outlet learned that at noon on September 16, 2026, Jiang Zhanchun, a human rights defender from Jiangsu, was stopped and questioned by police from the Tiananmen Public Security Sub-Bureau while visiting Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and was detained on the grounds that, by not having made a reservation, he had disturbed order in a public place. After losing contact with her family member, Jiang Zhanchun’s wife, Ma Yuzhen, called 110 to report it. The police initially cited Jiang Zhanchun’s failure to make an advance reservation to visit Tiananmen Square as the reason for his detention. Ma Yuzhen pointed out that making a reservation to visit was merely a requirement of local departments, not a law, and asked which law stipulated that a person could be detained for failing to make an advance reservation. The police subsequently changed their claim and said that Jiang Zhanchun had been “illegally petitioning,” but they could produce neither any conduct by Jiang Zhanchun involving “petitioning” in the square nor any evidence. After her husband was detained, Ma Yuzhen was also restricted to her hometown by local authorities in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, and was not allowed to travel to Beijing.

Jiang Zhanchun was detained merely for going to Tiananmen Square, despite having committed no illegal act. Ultimately, this was because of his status as a “petitioner,” which had been marked in the surveillance big-data system used by the authorities to control society.

Chinese citizens are marked by the authorities as potential risks merely for seeking redress, subjected to preventive control everywhere, and deprived of their freedom without any legitimate reason.

Introduction to Jiang Zhanchun: Born on August 11, 1976, he is from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, and lives at No. 12 Dongcaishi Street, Jingkou District, Zhenjiang. He is a Christian, a person with disabilities, and a rights defender.

On December 20, 2008, while entering a railway station to take a train for a business trip, he had a verbal dispute with security guards over the matter of showing his identity card after a routine baggage inspection. He was then dragged into the station duty room, where police forcibly demanded that he remove all his clothes for inspection and beat him arbitrarily. Because he had a disability, after being pulled, dragged, and beaten, he was completely unable to fight back. He was forced to call 110 dozens of times for help, but the police surprisingly did not respond. When his wife, younger brother, and other family members came to inquire, they were also violently beaten and verbally abused. He was eventually taken to a police station to give a statement. His wife and young son, only two years old, were held there until late at night before finally being allowed to return home. Because he had been beaten without cause, he went the next day to the local petition bureau and the Nanjing Railway Sub-Bureau to lodge complaints in pursuit of fairness and justice, but achieved no result. He was then forced to embark on the long road of petitioning in Beijing.

On March 11, 2009, after going to Beijing to petition, he was intercepted and sent back by petition-interception personnel from Sipaílou Subdistrict in Jingkou District, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, and locked up in Dongwu Hotel (a black jail), where he was repeatedly threatened and beaten by hired gangsters. He was beaten unconscious on the ground and had to be taken by ambulance to Zhenjiang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for emergency treatment. On September 24 of the same year, after again going to Beijing to petition, he was intercepted by stability-maintenance personnel from Sipaílou Subdistrict in Jingkou District, Zhenjiang, together with police from the jurisdiction, and was taken back under the pretext of “pursuing a fugitive.” He was confined for 10 days in a “hotel” (actually a black jail). After being beaten nearly to death, he was then administratively detained for 10 days by Sipaílou police on the charge of “intentionally injuring government personnel.” After that, because he petitioned in Beijing, he was repeatedly taken back and held for several days in black jails.

On March 5 and November 9, 2012, he was questioned by police from the Maizidian Police Station in Beijing twice while passing near the embassy district, and was then administratively detained for five days. After his release, he was again sent back to his hometown by petition-interception personnel.

On September 9, 2015, after displaying a banner in Tiananmen Square to appeal for help over his rights-defense experience, he was administratively detained for 10 days by police from the Tiananmen Sub-Bureau. After his release, he was sent back to his place of origin and criminally detained at the Danyang City Detention Center. He was not released until January 2017, after being held beyond the statutory period for 472 days and the Jingkou District Procuratorate in Zhenjiang reviewed his case and withdrew the charges. During this period, his wife was also detained by police in January 2016 because she was defending her rights over the matter of being “a married-out woman, for whom the village leaders refused to issue a homestead.” She was subsequently sentenced to two years by the Danyang City Court in Zhenjiang and was not released until November 22, 2017.

In 2018, in order to make a living, the couple took their young child to Beijing to seek employment, but they were again sent back to their place of origin by petition-interception personnel. His wife was administratively detained for seven days, their young son, who was more than three years old, was sent to the Danyang City orphanage, and he himself was also sent back while traveling in Beidaihe. He was also criminally detained for one month on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

On February 26, 2019, while the couple were dining with several Christian friends and discussing their baptism, they were unexpectedly found by household petition-interception personnel. After being taken back to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, they were immediately criminally detained for one month on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On September 26 of the same year, he went to Yanjiao, Hebei Province, to work in order to provide funds for his family’s three children’s schooling and daily living, but was again seized and taken back by petition-interception personnel. He was criminally detained by police from Jingkou District, Zhenjiang, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On October 25 of the same year, the charges against him were changed to suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “disturbing the working order of state organs.” From October 25, 2019, to February 27, 2020, he was placed under residential surveillance at a designated location and was secretly held in three different places during that period. On February 27, 2020, he was again detained at the Zhenjiang City Detention Center. In April 2020, he was formally arrested by the Jingkou District Procuratorate in Zhenjiang on the same charges. On July 1, 2020, his case was transferred by the Jingkou District Procuratorate to the Jingkou District Court. On April 9, 2021, his case was heard by the Runzhou District Court in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. On October 15, 2021, he was ultimately sentenced by that court to three years and six months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” with his sentence running until February 14, 2023. He served his sentence at Tongzhou Prison in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. Because Jiang Zhanchun was repeatedly severely beaten while under residential surveillance, both of his legs became unable to support him, and he could only walk with difficulty on his knees when meeting with his lawyer. Having been beaten repeatedly and unable to endure it, he attempted suicide with a network cable and by slashing his wrists.

On April 9, 2025, while Jiang Zhanchun was resting on a chair on Beijing’s Wangfujing pedestrian street, police took him to the Wangfujing Police Station and subsequently transferred him to Nie Feng, deputy head of the Lücheng Police Station of the Danyang City Public Security Bureau. Ma Yuzhen called Nie Feng to ask about it, and Nie Feng claimed that he was acting on orders. On April 10, Jiang Zhanchun was placed under residential surveillance at a designated location by the Jurong City Public Security Bureau in Zhenjiang on the charge of “disturbing the working order of state organs.” On July 17 of the same year, after being under residential surveillance for more than three months, he suffered an internal cervical-spine injury as a result of torture and fainted on the spot. He was taken to hospital for emergency treatment and only then obtained release on bail pending trial.