Jiangsu Zhenjiang rights activists Jiang Zhanchun and Ma Yuzhen stopped by police while taking their child on a spring outing in Beijing

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On April 4, 2026, this outlet learned that recently, Jiangsu Zhenjiang rights activists Jiang Zhanchun and Ma Yuzhen took their child on a spring outing in Beijing. On the afternoon of April 2, 2026, while they and their child were visiting the Nanluoguxiang pedestrian street, a police officer suddenly appeared and came directly up to Ma Yuzhen, asking whether she was Ma Yuzhen. Ma Yuzhen answered that she was. The officer said that he had work instructions to verify the identity of Ma Yuzhen’s family, and asked what they were doing in Beijing. Ma Yuzhen said they had brought their child to Beijing for a spring outing, and asked in return why, with so many people on the street, their family in particular was being checked. Jiang Zhanchun questioned why the police officer had not shown his identification, but the officer said that they had not asked him to show it. Shouldn’t police officers proactively show their identification when carrying out official duties? The officer said that if they did not answer his questions, he would take the entire family to the police station. Ma Yuzhen and Jiang Zhanchun argued their case, saying that their family had simply come to Beijing for a spring outing, so why should they be taken to the police station? In the standoff, after contacting the local work group stationed in Beijing, the officer finally allowed the family to leave.

In China, once citizens engage in rights defense, they become key targets of the authorities, and even normal travel can at any time result in harassment by police.

Profile of 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-defending citizen.

On December 20, 2008, while entering a railway station to take a train on a business trip, he had a verbal dispute with security guards over showing his identity card after a routine luggage inspection. He was then taken into the station duty room, where police officers 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 then forced to call 110 dozens of times for help, but the police did not respond. When his wife, younger brother and other family members came to inquire about him, they too were violently beaten and verbally abused. He was ultimately taken to a police station to give a statement, while his wife and young son, who was only 2 years old, were detained alongside him until late in the evening before being allowed to return home. Having been beaten without cause, he went to the local bureau of letters and calls and the Nanjing Railway Branch the next day to lodge complaints in pursuit of fairness and justice, but his efforts produced no result, forcing him to embark on the long road of petitioning in Beijing.

On March 11, 2009, he was intercepted and sent back by petition-interception personnel from the Sipailou Subdistrict in Jingkou District, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, for going to Beijing to petition. He was also locked up in the Dongwu Hotel (a black jail), where he was repeatedly threatened and beaten by hired gangsters, leaving him unconscious on the ground and requiring an ambulance to take him to Zhenjiang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for emergency treatment. On September 24 of the same year, he was again intercepted by stability-maintenance personnel from Sipailou Subdistrict, Jingkou District, Zhenjiang, and police from the jurisdiction after going to Beijing to petition again. He was brought back under the pretext of “pursuing a fugitive,” and held 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 Sipailou police on the grounds of “intentionally injuring government personnel.” Afterward, he was repeatedly taken back and held in black jails for several days because of petitioning in Beijing.

On March 5 and November 9, 2012, he was questioned by police from the Maizidian Police Station in Beijing after passing near the embassy district on two occasions, 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 pulling a banner in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to appeal for rights over his experience in rights defense, he was administratively detained for 10 days by police from the Tiananmen Branch. 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 legal detention period for 472 days and the Jingkou District Procuratorate in Zhenjiang reviewed his case and withdrew the prosecution, at which point he was released without charge. During this period, his wife was also detained by police in January 2016 because she was defending her rights over the issue of “being a woman married out of the village and the village leaders refusing to issue her a homestead.” She was later sentenced to two years in prison 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 work, but they were again sent back to their place of origin by petition-interception personnel. His wife was administratively detained for seven days, their youngest child (just over 3 years old) was sent to the Danyang City orphanage, and he himself was also sent back while traveling in Beidaihe, and 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, petition-interception personnel unexpectedly found them and escorted them back to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, after which they were immediately criminally detained for one month on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On September 26 of the same year, they went to Yanjiao, Hebei Province, to work and provide funds for their three children’s schooling and daily living expenses, but were again seized and taken back by petition-interception personnel. Jiang was criminally detained by Jingkou District police in Zhenjiang on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On October 25 of the same year, the charges against him were changed to “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “disrupting the working order of state organs.” From October 25, 2019, to February 27, 2020, he was placed under residential surveillance at a designated location, during which he was secretly detained in three different places. 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 beaten during his residential surveillance, leaving him unable to stand on both legs, he could only walk laboriously on his knees when meeting with his lawyer. After being 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, after which he was handed over to Nie Feng, deputy director of the Lücheng Police Station of the Danyang City Public Security Bureau. Ma Yuzhen called Nie Feng to ask about the matter, 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 “disrupting the working order of state organs.” On July 17 of the same year, after being under residential surveillance for more than three months, he fainted at the scene after suffering torture that caused an internal cervical spine injury. Only after he was taken to hospital for emergency treatment was he granted bail pending trial.