The detention has renewed concerns among Chinese human rights advocates over the regime’s continued sensitivity surrounding pro-democracy activism and public discussion of the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, even decades after the events of 1989.
According to Huang, Mao had been taken away by officers from the Xiasha police station in Hangzhou after posting a video of Xu Guang shortly after Xu’s release from prison. Huang said Mao, who is 76 years old, had been held for more than 40 hours and had no family members nearby able to visit him.
A source familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that Mao had traveled specifically to Hangzhou to visit Xu following his release. The source said police warned Mao not to publish photos or videos from the meeting online, including on his private social media feed.
“Just visiting someone and taking a photo is now considered breaking the law,” the source said. “It’s absurd. What kind of legal system becomes so fearful that it treats everything like a threat?”
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Repeated calls to the Xiasha police station by The Epoch Times went unanswered.
A Longtime Democracy Activist
Mao Qingxiang, born in May 1949 in Zhejiang Province, has spent decades involved in China’s pro-democracy movement and has repeatedly been imprisoned for political activism.
He first became active during the Democracy Wall movement in Hangzhou in the late 1970s and helped edit unofficial political journals. In 1981, he was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement.”
In 1998, Mao participated in organizing the Zhejiang preparatory committee of the China Democracy Party, one of the most prominent attempts to establish an opposition political party under the Communist regime. He later helped launch and edit “The Opposition Party,” the party’s publication.
The Chinese regime detained Mao in 1999 amid a sweeping crackdown on the China Democracy Party. Later that year, he was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of “subversion of state power” and stripped of his political rights for three additional years. He was released in 2007.
Xu Guang’s Release Draws Attention
Xu Guang, a veteran participant in the 1989 pro-democracy movement and a member of the China Democracy Party in Hangzhou, completed a four-year prison sentence on May 19.
According to a source familiar with his condition, Xu’s health deteriorated severely during his imprisonment since he carried out prolonged hunger strikes while in custody and was considered a high-risk detainee by prison authorities, who frequently placed him in solitary confinement.
Xu said he had persisted in hunger strikes throughout his imprisonment and at times doubted he would leave prison alive.
He also urged supporters not to forget “June 4,” the term commonly used by Chinese activists to refer to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
“For the democracy of our country, we have sacrificed, paid the price, and worked hard in this lifetime,” Xu said in the video. “We have no regrets.”
Mao’s current whereabouts and legal status remain unclear.
Tang Bing and Hong Ning contributed to this report.
