Shandong human rights defender, renowned poet and writer Lu Yang (real name Zhang Guiqi), sentenced to six years, released after completing his sentence and returns home

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On May 6, 2026, this website learned: Shandong human rights defender, renowned poet and writer Lu Yang (real name Zhang Guiqi), who was sentenced to six years, was released after completing his sentence on May 5, 2026, and has returned home.

Zhang Guiqi: Born in January 1971, he is from Shen County, Shandong Province. His pen name is Lu Yang and his online name is “Madman of Western Shandong.” He is the former founder of media platforms including the “Yangziwan Poetry Society,” the “Chinese Contemporary Poetry Forum,” the “China Free Culture Forum,” and the “Chinese Poets’ Lecture Hall—Wenshu Academy”; a former teacher at the Liaocheng Foreign Language School in Shandong Province; a renowned Shandong poet and writer; a signatory of Charter 08; a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center; a pro-democracy dissident; and a political prisoner.

In 1994, he began literary and poetry writing activities. He once founded the “Yangziwan Poetry Society” and served as chief editor and publisher of Yangziwan Poetry Journal; in 2003, he founded the “Chinese Contemporary Poetry Forum” and served as chief editor and publisher of the periodical Chinese Contemporary Poetry; after the forum was sealed by the Chinese Communist authorities, he began in 2005 to publish poetry in famous domestic poetry journals such as Stars and Poetry Periodical; in 2004, he founded the “China Free Culture Forum,” which was subsequently repeatedly suspended by the authorities because of its considerable influence, later moved to the overseas “Free China” website, and ultimately incorporated into the Boxun website; in 2006, he was forced to resign from his position at the Liaocheng Foreign Language School in Shandong Province because of his free writing; because his wife’s work was also affected, the couple left Shandong together and were forced to make a living in the south. During this period, he shifted from poetry writing to free cultural writing, and after many of his works were published on major domestic websites and resonated with society, they were subsequently republished by multiple overseas media outlets; in 2008, the couple’s jobs were again affected because they participated in signing Charter 08, and both became unemployed; in September 2009, he became a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center because he followed and supported Liu Xiaobo, a political prisoner who had been imprisoned and sentenced; in 2010, influenced by the “Chinese Jasmine Revolution,” he became unemployed again and was deported back to his hometown in Shandong; in 2017, after Professor Deng Xiangchao of Shandong Jinan University of Architecture was dismissed for holding up a sign in support of criticism of Mao Zedong, Professor Deng was beaten by thugs at the university where he worked, attracting attention from Chinese and foreign media, and Lu Yang also became a key target of monitoring by the authorities; in 2019, because he was committed to continuing the dissemination of free culture, he once again created a new media platform, the “Chinese Poets’ Lecture Hall—Wenshu Academy,” provoking extreme opposition and suppression by the authorities;

In April 2020, because he had been nominated as a candidate for the board of the Independent Chinese PEN Center and had repeatedly posted politically sensitive statements online such as “Xi Jinping must step down, and the Chinese Communist regime must end,” he was taken away by police from Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, on May 1, 2020, and his home was searched; on May 13 of the same year, the Liaocheng City police criminally detained him on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and sent him to the Liaocheng City Detention Center; on June 18 of the same year, the Liaocheng City Procuratorate formally approved his arrest on the same charge, accused him of being highly suspected of “endangering national security,” and transferred him to the Chiping County Detention Center in Liaocheng City; in September 2020, his case was rapidly tried in secret at the Liaocheng City Court in Shandong Province, but there was no further news afterward;

On July 26, 2022, the Liaocheng Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong secretly sentenced him to six years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power”; he appealed, but the second-instance court nevertheless upheld the original verdict; since his arrest, his wife and daughter had suffered repeated collateral pressure, all the assets in the home had been confiscated, his wife’s successive jobs had been disrupted and terminated, and she had repeatedly been threatened and warned by police; on May 5, 2026, he was finally released after completing his sentence. He had previously served his sentence in a Shandong Province prison (91 Gongye South Road, Lixia District, Jinan City, Shandong Province, postal code: 250100).