Jiangxi human rights defender Xiao Qingshan, sentenced to 4 years and 6 months, released upon completion of sentence on March 18, 2026

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On April 15, 2026, this website learned that Jiangxi human rights defender Xiao Qingshan, who was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months, was released upon completion of his sentence on March 18, 2026.

Biography of Xiao Qingshan: His real name is Xiao Gaosheng; born on February 17, 1967, he is from Xiatang Village, Futian Town, Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, and a resident of Bailuyuan, Jizhou District, Ji'an City; he is a legal aid provider for labor rights defenders, the inventor of the “Xiao Litigation Method,” a real-name whistleblower, a pro-democracy rights defender, and a human rights defender.

In his early years, while working to make a living in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, he taught himself law after becoming disabled in a work-related accident, and subsequently established a legal services office in Guangzhou aimed at helping migrant workers defend their rights; later, after being suppressed by the Guangdong authorities for helping workers defend their rights, he was forced to go to Beijing to petition; during this period, he established the Xiao Qingshan Rights Defense Team and traveled throughout the country to defend the rights of disadvantaged labor groups, gradually becoming a human rights defender with a certain degree of prominence in China; precisely because he continuously defended justice and rights, he was repeatedly suppressed and persecuted by the Chinese Communist authorities; over the years, because he repeatedly defended the rights of labor rights defenders and his own relatives and children in Dongguan City and Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province, as well as in his hometown in Jiangxi and in Beijing, and because he engaged in rights-defense protests, held banners calling for action, and filed lawsuits with local judicial agencies over the injustices they encountered, he was repeatedly arrested, summoned, threatened, and intimidated; from January 9 to 13, 2009, the Dongguan City Labor Bureau, Chang'an Branch, and Xiabian Labor Service Station in Guangdong Province ransacked and looted his home and money in the manner of bandit violence, and after he reported it to the police, the police actually refused to respond; he also filed a complaint with the Second Procuratorate of Dongguan City, but it too was ignored; on May 6 of the same year, he was taken away by police and detained for several days for publicly supporting and commemorating the 20th anniversary of the June Fourth student movement in front of the government gate of Songgang Town, Bao'an District, Shenzhen City; because he protested in defense of labor rights, his mobile-phone text-message function was repeatedly shut down by the Dongguan police; because he wanted to travel to Hong Kong, the Dongguan City police in Guangdong Province and the Jiangxi police jointly refused to process his visa application; because he defended the rights of others, he was subjected to retaliation, resulting in his farmland in his hometown in Jiangxi being occupied by village officials without any compensation; because of his efforts to defend justice and rights, his relatives and family were repeatedly implicated, with their homes searched or their money taken, and despite years of appeals for justice, there has still been no result; because he went to Beijing to petition for redress, he not only failed to obtain redress but was instead detained several times;

In recent years, because he has continuously held banners and made appeals online, demanding that judicial and political organs and discipline inspection departments at all levels in Jiangxi Province punish judicial scoundrels in accordance with the law, and because his banner-holding and slogan-shouting activities all had specific grounds, he was repeatedly warned and threatened by police; at the end of September 2021, he was secretly arrested by police in Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, and it was later learned that he had been criminally detained; on November 5, 2021, he was formally arrested by police in Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, on suspicion of “the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and was held in the Ji'an City Detention Center; on December 8, 2022, his case was heard at the Qingyuan District Court; on March 1, 2023, the court finally sentenced him to 4 years and 6 months in prison for “the crime of false litigation” and “the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” with his sentence running until March 18, 2026. Before his release, he was serving his sentence at Ji'an Prison in Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province (P.O. Box 1126, Changtang Town, Jizhou District, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province; postal code: 343015).