Ran Yunfei
| Ran Yunfei | |||||||
 Ran Yunfei | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 冉云飞 | ||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 冉雲飛 | ||||||
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Ran Yunfei (simplified Chinese: 冉云飞; traditional Chinese: 冉雲飛; pinyin: Rǎn Yúnfēi; born: 1965) is a famous Chinese writer and a high-profile democracy activist and blogger. He was arrested in late March 2011, shortly after the start of the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests, on charges of inciting subversion of state power.[1] He was released in August 2011 and remains under residential surveillance.[2]
Biography
Ran is a member of the ethnic Tu minority and was born in Youyang County, Chongqing. After graduating from Sichuan University, where he studied Chinese literature, in 1987, he was engaged in supporting the students who dedicated themselves in the Tiananmen Square Protests. Because of the sweeping crackdown from the authorities, he went to Aba autonomous prefecture for a while. He works for the magazine Sichuan Literature and is a resident of Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Although he became a scholarly writer of Chinese classical culture hereafter, he was increasingly active in online writing. He is a prolific writer of social and political commentary. His blog is well known in China and his Twitter account has more than 44,000 followers. Ran was also among those who signed Charter 08.
Arrest
In the backdrop of the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests, Ran was summoned to “tea” by public security on the morning of 20 February 2011 and detained. Officers later searched his home and confiscated his computer. On 24 February 2011, he was officially detained for "subversion of state power", according to a formal detention notice received by his wife. On 25 or 28[3] March 2011 he was formally arrested for inciting subversion of state power in China.[1][4] [5] [6][7] [8] He was released from arrest on 10 August 2011, and placed under residential surveillance.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Individuals Affected by the Crackdown Following Call for "Jasmine Revolution"". Chinese Human Rights Defenders. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Chinese Blogger Released after Six-month Detention," The Associated Press, 10 August 2011.
- ↑ "Prominent Chinese blogger charged as crackdown deepens". Reuters. 28 March 2011.
- ↑ Smalls, David (15–22 February 2011). "China Human Rights Briefing February 15–22, 2011". Chinese Human Rights Defenders. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ↑ "China: More than 200 arrests to quell the "jasmine revolution" in China". AsiaNews. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
- ↑ "News Flash: Suining, Sichuan Rights Activist Chen Wei Criminally Detained (快讯：四川 遂宁维权人士陈卫被刑事拘留)". boxun.com. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ↑ "No News on Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, or Teng Biao, Missing for Many Days (唐吉田、江 天勇、滕彪律师失踪多日仍无消息)". boxun.com. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ↑ Schmelzer, Paul (11 April 2011). "Chinese artist Guo Gai also detained by Beijing police". Daily Planet. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
External links
- Ran Yunfei on Twitter
- Learning How to Argue: An Interview with Ran Yunfei, Interview in the New York Review of Books
- Writing by Ran Yunfei in Chinese, English and French
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