Famous Chinese Democracy Party Member, Student Movement Leader and Rights Activist Xu Guang Released

On May 19, 2026, this outlet learned that Mr. Xu Guang, one of the principal leaders of the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party, a student movement leader in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, during the 1989 “June Fourth” period, and organiser of Hangzhou’s Fairness in Affordable Housing for Thousands of Households campaign (“Defend Equal Housing, Equal Governance”), was sent back home before dawn today by the Zhejiang prison authorities, working with local public security authorities, after serving four years in prison after being framed for the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was taken to Room 601, Unit 3, No. 42 Wa? Dongshannong, Xihu District, Zhou City. In addition, many of Xu Guang’s friends known to the authorities were restricted and unable to attend, causing the welcoming event organised by Xu Guang’s fellow China Democracy Party members, rights defenders and other friends to fall through.

Because Xu Guang insisted on fasting every year during his imprisonment to commemorate “June Fourth,” refused “reform,” and was frequently subjected to abuse under the so-called prison rules and discipline, he suffered from malnutrition. His physical condition was extremely poor when he was released; emaciated and barely able to stand, he was carried into his home on a stretcher and “dumped” with his family. Xu Guang will face new difficulties and challenges both in recovering physically and in restoring his life. We hope everyone will pay attention and believe that everything will get better.

Xu Guang’s telephone: 13362181277.

The following is a profile of Xu Guang:

Xu Guang was born on September 11, 1968. His registered residence is Room 407, Building 2, Youshenong, Fuchun Subdistrict, Fuyang District, Hangzhou. He currently lives at Room 601, Unit 3, No. 42 Wa? Dongshannong, Xihu District, Hangzhou. He is one of the founders of the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party and one of the most important leaders of the Zhejiang Democracy Party. The following is his profile:

From 1986 to 1990, Xu Guang studied in the biology department of Hangzhou University. After graduating, and until his first arrest and imprisonment in June 1999 in connection with the China Democracy Party organising case, he worked at the Environmental Monitoring Station of the Environmental Protection Bureau in his hometown of Fuyang City.

Xu Guang was one of the leaders of the student movement at Hangzhou University during the spring and summer of 1989. He was dispatched by Ye Jianding, chairman of the United Students’ Association of Hangzhou University, as a representative to the Zhejiang Provincial Higher-Education Autonomous United Association. He was a member of the student fasting group at Wulin Square, made up especially of students from higher-education institutions in Zhejiang and those in Hangzhou, protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s April 26 editorial, “We Must Clearly Oppose Turmoil,” which slandered the patriotic student movement; opposing martial law in Beijing and the dispatch of troops to suppress it; and expressing support for fellow students gathered at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

On November 27, 1995, Xu Guang participated in the statement to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, “Unconditionally Release Wei Jingsheng and Advance the Building of Democracy and the Rule of Law,” initiated by Mr. Wang Donghai and jointly signed by Fu Guoyong, Wang Youcai, Chen Longde, Wu Gaoxing, Mao Guoliang, Chen Shuqing, Hu Xianhuan and others. During the seventh anniversary of “June Fourth” in 1996, Xu Guang and the aforementioned individuals also participated in a joint appeal drafted by Mr. Wang Donghai, “Call for the Immediate Release of Wei Jingsheng, Wang Dan, Liu Nianchun, Zhang Lin, Hu Shigen, Xu Yonghai and All Other Imprisoned Political and Religious Prisoners.” It put forward five proposals, including reassessing June Fourth and the 1989 Democracy Movement, conducting broad dialogue with all sectors of society, and carrying out gradual political-system reform in an orderly and step-by-step manner. At gatherings of Zhejiang democracy movement participants, he repeatedly proposed organising an independent opposition party to achieve effective supervision of and checks and balances on the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

In June 1998, Xu Guang, together with Wang Youcai, Wang Donghai, Lin Hui, Wu Yilong, Zhu Zhengming, Zhu Yufu, Wang Rongqing, Mao Qingxiang, Qi Huimin, Wang Peijian, Shan Chengfeng and others, organised the preparatory Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party, and was one of its core members. In spring 1999, Xu Guang formed the “Preparatory Committee of the Fuyang City Branch of the China Democracy Party” in his hometown of Fuyang with Lou Yugen, Wang Youhua, Jiang Xuebiao, Wang Hangli and others, and drafted the “Open Declaration on the Establishment of the Preparatory Committee of the Fuyang City Branch of the China Democracy Party.” It was the China Democracy Party’s first county-level organisation. Xu Guang also wrote articles including “China’s Democracy Party Cannot Be Completely Suppressed” and published them in the Zhejiang Democracy Party publication Opposition Party, openly advocating democracy, constitutional government and human rights. On June 23 of the same year, Xu Guang was detained by the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau. On September 15, the Hangzhou Municipal Procuratorate approved his arrest. On November 9, the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province sentenced Xu Guang to five years in prison for “subversion of state power” and deprivation of political rights for two years. Xu Guang refused to accept the verdict and appealed. On December 10, the Zhejiang High People’s Court issued a second-instance ruling upholding the original judgment. After the judgment took effect, Xu Guang was imprisoned at Qiaosi Prison in Zhejiang Province. During his imprisonment, Xu Guang refused to accept the so-called instruction and reform, continued to oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian dictatorship and spread democratic ideas, and fasted for 24 hours in prison every year on “June Fourth,” causing considerable difficulty for the prison authorities. As a result, he was placed under strict control every year, repeatedly subjected to brutal beatings by prison guards, locked in an iron cage, and abused by inmate bosses, who are usually secretly directed or encouraged by prison guards, including having faeces and urine poured over him.

On September 14, 2004, Xu Guang was released after completing his sentence. Every “June Fourth,” in addition to continuing his long-standing practice of fasting for one day to mark the anniversary, Xu Guang often published articles or used other means to urge the authorities to rehabilitate June Fourth, and actively participated in various activities promoting democracy and defending human rights. Because of persecution by the Communist Party’s authoritarian forces, many members of the Democracy Party in Zhejiang have encountered considerable difficulties in their lives and employment. For many years, Xu Guang always helped these colleagues and their families to the extent he could. Every year, during the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party’s Spring Festival fundraising, Xu Guang was also one of the people who donated the most.

In November 2004, a draft Party Law of the People’s Republic of China was drafted and submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress under the direction of Mr. Wang Rongqing. Xu Guang was one of the 11 reviewers of the draft from the Zhejiang preparatory committee of the China Democracy Party (Wu Yuanming, Wang Donghai, Wang Fuhua, Chen Shuqing, Xu Guang, Lou Yugen, Shan Chengfeng, Xiao Libin, Wang Rongyao, Yang Jianmin and Wei Guoping). In his review, he said: “The introduction of a Party Law is an important milestone in democratic politics. Democracy and the rule of law are the shared ideals of the June Fourth university students and members of the China Democracy Party.” Taking the China Party Law draft as an opportunity, the China Democracy Party’s organising activities emerged from the several-year low ebb following the second major crackdown by the Chinese Communist authorities on the party’s organising activities in 1999.

At around 10 a.m. on April 16, 2005, Xu Guang joined an anti-Japanese march at Hangzhou’s Huanglong Sports Centre. He advocated that “opposing Japan means not only opposing the aggression of Japanese militarism in history, but also reflecting on why we have fallen behind and why we have been beaten.” Because he shouted “Down with the traitors!” and “Down with the traitors who have sold our national territory!”, police rushed forward, forcibly dragged him into a police vehicle and took him away. He was administratively detained for 15 days on the grounds that “during the period in which his political rights had been deprived, he left the county or city where he was located without authorisation to participate in a march or assembly.”

In February 2006, Xu Guang participated in a relay fasting protest against rights abuses and violence initiated in Beijing by Gao Zhisheng, Zhao Xin and Hu Jia, and organised and coordinated in Zhejiang by Chen Shuqing. Chen Shuqing; Wang Donghai, Wang Rongqing and Xu Guang; and Shan Chengfeng and Lü Gengsong fasted in pairs for 24 hours, taking the seventh, eighth and ninth shifts. Together with the many members of the China Democracy Party in Zhejiang who participated later, the Zhejiang Democracy Party members played a key role in accelerating the activity at a crucial moment, carrying it forward from its predecessors and preparing the way for those who followed, both in duration and in the number of participants.

After learning in May 2006 that Mr. Zhu Zhengming of the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party had been released, Xu Guang, together with Wang Rongqing, Lou Yugen, Chen Shuqing and others, drove a thousand kilometres back and forth from Hangzhou specifically to Jiangshan to visit Zhu Zhengming in his hometown. They introduced him to the activities of Zhejiang Democracy Party members in recent years and laid some groundwork for Mr. Zhu’s return to Hangzhou and renewed participation in the Zhejiang Democracy Party’s activities and public rights-defence activities.

On September 21, 2013, at around 10:30 a.m., at a pavilion beside Broken Bridge on West Lake in Hangzhou, Xu Guang joined Lou Liming, Qian Xiaoling and other affordable-housing rights defenders. Xu Guang defended their rights by sticking slogans reading “Equal Housing, Equal Governance; No Retroactivity of the Law” on his body and shouting “Down with fascism,” among other actions, attracting onlookers. Police considered their behaviour to have affected sightseeing order at West Lake and, under Article 23, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Public Security Administration Punishments, decided to impose 10 days of administrative detention on Xu Guang. Xu Guang believed that his identity as a member of the China Democracy Party was the reason he received the harshest punishment and that he was placed under strict control and abused at the detention centre. He therefore went on a hunger strike for one week. On the day of his release, October 1, the head and deputy head of the State Security Detachment of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau personally led a team to the detention centre to prevent Democracy Party members from welcoming Xu Guang. They also took measures in advance against the Democracy Party members they knew would come to welcome him: shortly after 6 a.m., Chen Shuqing was stopped by three plainclothes officers outside the entrance to his residential building; Lü Gengsong was caught halfway to pick up Xu Guang by two auxiliary police officers, who forcibly dragged him back; and police took Democracy Party members Tan Kai, Lou Baosheng, Wang Fuhua and others to a police station and detained them for eight or nine hours...

Xu Guang refused to accept the administrative detention and first applied for administrative reconsideration to the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau. On December 20, 2013, Xu Guang filed an administrative lawsuit with the Xihu District Court of Hangzhou. Xu Guang’s agent sternly pointed out in court that Xu Guang had shouted “Down with fascism” because plainclothes personnel of unknown identity had used violence without restraint against citizens relaxing and visiting the Broken Bridge attraction. The defendant had not pursued those plainclothes officers, but had punished the plaintiff for acting bravely to stop the violence. This had confused right and wrong, reversed black and white, and constituted a frame-up of the plaintiff. The plaintiff and his agent hoped that the Xihu District Court would revoke the defendant’s punishment decision and uphold the law and the justice of the rule of law.

At the end of February 2014, Mr. Chen Kaipin travelled to Taiwan to represent the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party in talks with Ma Ying-jeou, then president of the Republic of China under Kuomintang rule, and meetings with Democratic Progressive Party leaders Su Tseng-chang, Tsai Ing-wen and others, discussing how cross-strait party exchanges could “support democracy on the mainland and defend freedom in Taiwan” and “preserve peace and promote (democratic) unification.” After Chen Kaipin received a threat from Xiaoshan police that “if you come back, you will receive a heavy sentence,” beginning when Chen Kaipin landed at Xiaoshan International Airport at 2:10 p.m. on March 6, Xu Guang, Chen Ziliang, Tan Kai, Wu Yuanming (Ren Weiren), Lai Jinbiao, Chen Zhaorong, Zou Wei and Jiang Zaihong repeatedly went to the airport to wait and visited Chen Kaipin’s home to comfort his elderly parents, who were both over 80 at the time. They also promptly informed the outside world of the situation, which was believed to involve Chen Kaipin’s “secret disappearance” (house arrest and surveillance) by the authorities. In particular, the participation of Chen Liqun and Sheng Xue in rescue efforts and appeals received extensive attention in China and abroad and played an indispensable role in Chen Kaipin’s safe return home on March 17 and avoidance of political persecution.

On April 2, 2014, because Xu Guang posted and chatted on QQ and WeChat groups, joking that “the Communist Party can rent a boat on South Lake in Jiaxing to hold its First National Congress, and the Democracy Party can also rent a boat on West Lake in Hangzhou to hold its First National Congress,” Hangzhou police in Zhejiang used this as “evidence” to detain Xu Guang on April 3. He was arrested on May 9 and held at the Xihu District Detention Centre in Hangzhou on suspicion of subversion of state power. Xu Guang maintained a prolonged hunger-strike protest during his detention. Mr. Guo Lianhui, founder of Jiangxi Mingli Law Firm and a well-known rights-defence lawyer, was retained by Xu Guang’s older sister to serve as his defence lawyer. Although the lawyer’s repeated requests to meet with the client were not approved by police, the authorities accepted the lawyer’s legal opinion, which clearly stated that Xu Guang’s remarks had no necessary legal relationship with subversion of state power, and requested that the public security authorities withdraw the case. According to a May 10, 2014 report by the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, more than 1,200 people from various sectors jointly signed a statement saying that the authorities’ arrest of Xu Guang on a fabricated charge not only seriously violated Xu Guang’s personal freedom but also seriously damaged China’s legal system and rule of law. They strongly demanded that the Hangzhou Municipal Procuratorate release Xu Guang. On July 31, 2014, Xu Guang was released on bail pending trial.

Following the death in 2014 of Mr. Wang Rongqing, a principal leader of the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party, and the subsequent arrests and sentencing of Lü Gengsong and Chen Shuqing, the China Democracy Party entered another prolonged round of political persecution, the most sustained since it began organising openly. Together with Zou Wei, Chen Ziliang, Qi Huimin, Mao Qingxiang, Yan Zhongliang and Zhu Yufu, who had just been released after repeated persecution, Xu Guang withstood the pressure for a long time in an extremely hostile environment, ensuring that the organisation of the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party did not fall apart, that its banner did not fall and that its activities did not stop. They carried out arduous and outstanding work and made significant contributions.

On April 25, 2018, because he organised and participated in the International Labour Day “Nationwide Resonance” action jointly initiated by democracy movement figures in China and abroad, calling on people across China to gather in squares in their local cities on May 1, exercise the civil rights affirmed by the Constitution, express their demands and advance China’s democratic progress, Xu Guang was administratively detained for seven days and was not released until after the date of the activity had passed, on May 2. On August 5, 2019, public security authorities inspected the Samsung mobile phone of defendant Xu Guang and found 19 videos, as well as images, audio and other content sensitive to the authorities. They again decided to detain Xu Guang for six days under the pretext of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

On May 24, 2022, with “June Fourth” approaching, Xu Guang received a summons from the Yuquan police station of the Xihu District Public Security Bureau in his residential area, but did not respond. On the morning of May 25, Xu Guang was shopping in the Dongshannong residential compound where he lived. As he passed near Yuquan police station, which had jurisdiction over the area, he happened to encounter officers from that station and was taken inside. They warned Xu Guang that “June Fourth” was approaching and that he should not make any sensitive remarks or take any sensitive actions related to “June Fourth,” and forcibly confiscated his two mobile phones. On May 26, Xu Guang went to Yuquan police station, holding up a sheet of paper reading “Rehabilitate June Fourth” along the way to protest the police’s persecution of him. He was criminally detained by Xihu District police and his home was searched. State security police threatened Xu Guang, saying, “This time we’ll settle the old and new accounts together; this time he’ll receive a heavy sentence.” At 5 p.m. on June 24, Xihu District state security police searched Xu Guang’s home for a second time.

On July 2, 2022, the Xihu District Procuratorate of Hangzhou formally approved Xu Guang’s arrest on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Xu Guang began a hunger strike in the Xihu District Detention Centre in Hangzhou from the day he was criminally detained, relying only on daily nasogastric feeding to maintain his life. Xu Guang’s family retained the renowned lawyer Ji Zhongjiu of Zhejiang Zuoqi Law Firm, regarded as one of the most prominent in Zhejiang, and lawyer Wu Youshui of Zhejiang Bijian Law Firm as defence counsel. However, during the investigation stage before the case was transferred for review and prosecution, the authorities refused to allow the lawyers to meet with the detained client.

On November 7, 2022, the People’s Procuratorate of Xihu District, Hangzhou, filed a public prosecution against defendant Xu Guang for picking quarrels and provoking trouble in an indictment numbered Xi Jian Xing Su (2022) No. 560. It accused Xu Guang of posting videos and articles on WeChat, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube between 2018 and 2022, spreading false information that damaged the country’s image and endangered national interests, and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble online.” Xu Guang believed that he had been framed by the authorities. He said that, as a participant in the Hangzhou June Fourth student movement, he publicly commemorated “the 1989 June Fourth” every year and held up signs saying “Do Not Forget June Fourth.” He loved his country and firmly believed that achieving democracy and the rule of law and defending human rights could better safeguard the country’s image and national interests. Statements he made on different occasions could not be labelled false information simply because the authorities dared not clarify them publicly. To maintain stability around June Fourth, the Chinese Communist authorities were suppressing members of the China Democracy Party and had therefore arrested him before June Fourth. After meeting with his retained lawyers, Xu Guang firmly demanded that they defend him as not guilty.

On April 3, 2024, the Xihu District Court of Hangzhou held a hearing and announced its verdict. The Criminal Judgment of the People’s Court of Xihu District, Hangzhou (2022) Zhe 0106 Xing Chu No. 561 sentenced Xu Guang to four years in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, with his sentence running until May 19, 2026.

After the judgment took effect, he was detained at Beijiao Prison in Hangzhou (No. 9 Beichuang Road, Xiasha Subdistrict, Qiantang District, Hangzhou). Beginning in August 2024, Xu Guang was transferred to the hospital of Hangzhou Beijiao Prison. According to a November 29, 2024 report by the Information Centre of the Rights Defence Network, Xu Guang, a Democracy Party member from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and a student leader in 1989 who had been sentenced to four years, had not been allowed family visits from the time of his arrest. Xu Guang had previously maintained a prolonged hunger-strike protest, and the prison used nasogastric feeding. Xu Guang also frequently pulled out the feeding tube, and weighed only slightly over 40 kilograms. Hunger-strike protests are regarded in prison as a serious violation in which inmates resist instruction and reform, and result in many punishments, including “high alert” (solitary confinement or squatting in an iron cage), cancellation of communication with and visits from family members, and so on. Xu Guang had asked someone to request that his family bring underwear and daily necessities, but items sent by the family were still refused by the prison authorities. The family feared that Xu Guang might suffer harm and hoped for appeals and attention from China and abroad.

Xu Guang has served more than nine years in prison in total over multiple imprisonments and is one of China’s political prisoners who have long upheld democratic ideals. His case has often received attention from international human rights organisations and overseas media. Today, May 19, 2026, Xu Guang completed his sentence and was released. It is believed that Xu Guang’s fellow members of the China Democracy Party and all the many other friends who love freedom and democracy in China and abroad will continue to provide the necessary watch over his safety and health.