Situation Report on Chen Yunfei, a Member of Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church and Human Rights Defender Who Was Arrested: Currently Detained in Chengdu’s Wenjiang District

On August 24, 2026, this outlet learned that Chen Yunfei, a member of Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church and a human rights defender, was placed under administrative detention by Gansu police while traveling in Gansu Province. After the detention period expired, Gansu police transferred him to Chengdu police, and he is currently detained in Chengdu’s Wenjiang District.

On August 23, 2026, a member of Early Rain Covenant Church contacted Chen Yunfei’s nephew, Chen Peng. He said that Chengdu’s political security authorities told him that his uncle, Chen Yunfei, is currently detained in Chengdu’s Wenjiang District. The police did not disclose whether he was being held in a detention center or elsewhere, or whether he was under residential surveillance, and told him that Chen Yunfei was in good health. The police asked Chen Peng for contact information for Chen Yunfei’s daughter, but Chen Peng refused, explaining that she is abroad; the police then refused to disclose any further information about Chen Yunfei to Chen Peng on the grounds that Chen Peng is not a direct relative.

Chen Yunfei’s biography: Born on August 13, 1967, a native of Daxian County, Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, individual farm owner and agronomist, democratic “amateur animal trainer,” Sichuan “democratic performance artist,” prominent rights defender, dissident, and political prisoner.

In 1989, he participated in the “1989 student movement.” After the June Fourth crackdown, he returned to his hometown to make a living, while continuing to uphold democratic ideals and carrying out various rights-defense activities to help petitioners locally. He was later placed under long-term surveillance and threatened by Chengdu police because he repeatedly attempted to travel to Beijing to commemorate former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang;

On June 4, 2007, he was arrested by Chengdu police for publishing an advertisement in the Chengdu Evening News titled “Pay Tribute to the Mothers of the Strong June Fourth Victims.” He was later placed under residential surveillance for six months on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”;

In 2008, he was warned and threatened by police for donating blood with rights defender Tan Zuoren, Ran Yunfei, and others, in the name of the initiators, to commemorate June Fourth;

In 2011, he was placed under house arrest by police for several days on suspicion of participating in the “Jasmine Revolution”;

On January 26, 2013, dissatisfied with and protesting the authorities’ prohibition on his traveling abroad, he held an unusual funeral for his passport and his travel permits for Hong Kong and Macao, thereby pioneering this type of funeral in China;

On March 5 of the same year, he submitted “An Open Letter to Mr. Xi Jinping and Others,” “A Citizens’ Proposal Calling for the Public Disclosure of the Assets of China’s 205 Most Powerful Officials at or Above the Ministerial Level,” and a list of signatures from 7,033 eligible citizens to the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress, but officials refused to accept them;

On May 13, 2013, after the authorities, in collusion with organized crime, forced him to move out of his rented home, he was beaten by thugs and threatened and attacked by violent police during the move, ultimately suffering serious physical injuries;

From February to March 2015, the authorities also came to resent him because he launched a “one-day tour route from downtown Chengdu to the Pengzhou Sinopec plant,” and his activities were immediately disrupted and sabotaged by Chengdu police.

On March 25, 2015, after he and more than 20 rights defenders went to Xinjin County, Chengdu, to sweep the graves of Xiao Jie and Wu Guofeng, students who died in the June Fourth crackdown that year, they were surrounded and pursued on their return by more than 100 armed special police officers. On March 26, he was placed under criminal detention by police in Xinjin County, Sichuan Province, on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”;

On April 30, 2015, he was formally arrested on the same charges. The procuratorate later dropped the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” and prosecuted him only for picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

On March 31, 2017, Chen Yunfei was sentenced to four years in prison by the Wuhou District Court in Chengdu for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was released after completing his sentence on March 25, 2019.

On March 25, 2021, Chen Yunfei was arrested again and later prosecuted for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. During his trial on December 3, 2021, the charge was suddenly changed and he was sentenced to four years in prison. Sentence period: through March 24, 2025. He suffered torture and abuse in prison.

This outlet will continue to follow Chen Yunfei’s situation.