This list consists of activists who are known as Chinese dissidents. The label is primarily applied to intellectuals and other high-profile individuals from China who are known for their criticism of the Chinese government or its policies.
Many Chinese political activists have been detained or jailed or exiled for their pro-democracy or rights defending activities. They include the following notable activists.
| Name | Occupation | Detained | Allegations | Sentence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ai Weiwei | artist and activist | 2011 | alleged economic crimes | Fine of 2.4 million for tax evasion | Detained for 80 days from 3 April[1] to 22 June 2011 |
| Bao Tong | government official | 1989 | revealing state secrets and counter-revolutionary propagandizing | 7 years | Sentenced in 1992. Prison from 1989–1996. As of 2009, under surveillance. |
| Bao Zunxin | historian | 1989 | counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement | 5 years | Sentenced in 1991. Released in 1992. Later died in 2007. |
| Cai Lujun | businessman, writer | 2003 | incitement to subversion | 3 years | Released in 2006, sought political asylum in Taiwan in 2007. |
| Cao Shunli | lawyer, human rights activist | 2013 | illegal assembly, picking quarrels and provoking trouble | Died in detention in 2014. | |
| Chen Pokong | author, commentator, democracy activist | 1989 1993 | "carrying out counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement", illegally crossing state borders | 3 years, 2 years | Sentenced in 1989 and 1993.[2] |
| Cheng Jianping | online activist | 2010 | disturbing social order | 1 year | Reeducation through labor for a sarcastic post on Twitter.[3] |
| Gao Zhisheng | lawyer | 2006 | disturbing public order | 5 yrs suspended | Illegally detained and tortured in 2007; forcibly removed from family home in Shaanxi in 2009.[4] 'Disappeared' by government in 2009, reappeared in 2010. The Chinese foreign minister claimed a prison sentence was for 'subversion'.[5] [6] |
| Guo Quan | professor | 2008 | subversion of state power | 10 years | Sentenced in 2009. Awaiting appeal. |
| Hao Jinsong | law professional, activist | 2019 | picking quarrels and provoking trouble, fraud | 9 years and a fine of 350,000 yuan | Sentenced in 2023.[7] |
| He Depu | writer | 2002 | "incited subversion" on the Internet[8] | 8 years | Sentenced in 2003. Released in 2011. |
| Hu Jia | activist | 2007 | inciting subversion of state power | 3.5 years | Arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced in 2008. Released in 2011. |
| Huang Qi | webmaster, anti-human trafficking activist | 2000 | inciting subversion | 5 years | Sentenced in 2003. Accused of violating articles 103, 105, 55 and 56. Released in 2005. |
| 2008 | illegal possession of state secrets | 3 years | Sentenced in 2009. Arrested after essay regarding the Sichuan earthquake. Released in 2011. | ||
| Ilham Tohti | economist | 2014 | inciting subversion | life | Detained in January 2014 after criticizing Beijing's response to 2013 Tiananmen Square attack. |
| Jiang Lijun | writer | 2002 | inciting subversion of the state power | 4 years | Sentenced in 2003. Arrested for "Internet writing and publishing dissident articles". Also sentenced to 'deprivation of political rights' for 1 year. |
| Jiang Rong | writer | 1989 | Released 1991. | ||
| Jiang Yanyong | doctor | 2004 | Detained and released in 2004. Broke story on SARS epidemic. Wrote critical letter regarding Tiananmen. | ||
| Jiang Yefei | political cartoonist | 2015 | incitement to subversion | Escaped from China to Thailand in 2004, he was granted political asylum by the Canadian Government, but was arrested by Thailand Immigration authorities on illegal entry. In November 2015 he was deported from Thailand at the request of the Chinese authorities and now awaiting trial in custody.[9] | |
| Lei Chen | civil servant, journalist | 1960 | incitement to subversion | 10 years | Member of the Control Yuan and expelled from the Kuomintang in 1954. Released in 1970 by the Kuomintang government and died on 7 March 1979. Posthumously exonerated by the Transitional Justice Commission in 2019. |
| Li Hai | student | 1994 | 9 years | Sentenced in 1995. Released in 2004. | |
| Li Zhi | civil servant | 2003 | inciting subversion | 8 years | Sentenced in 2003. Yahoo! helped the government against him. Expected release in 2011. |
| Liao Yiwu | writer, musician | 1990 | poem "Massacre" about Tiananmen Square | 4 years, permanent blacklist from travel | Under a 2011 'travel ban' for 'national security' reasons. |
| Liu Di | student | 2002 | Released in 2003 | ||
| Liu Xiaobo | professor of literature | 2008 | inciting subversion of state power | 11 years | Sentenced in 2009. Died on 13 July 2017. Recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. |
| Qin Yongmin | human rights activist | 1998 2018 | inciting subversion of state power | 12 years 13 years | Sentenced 1998 and July 2018. Co-founder of the Democracy Party of China.[10] |
| Qiu Zhanxuan | student activist | 2019 | unknown, likely because he was the leader of the Marxist student association at Peking University | unknown | Qiu was abducted on 29 April 2019 by State security agents on the outskirts of Beijing. He was the leader of the Marxist student association at the elite Peking University, a communist of conscience who defied the Chinese Communist Party. He remains missing. |
| Ren Zhiqiang | tycoon, blogger | 2020 | purported corruption | 18 years | Sentenced in 2020.[11] |
| Ruan Xiaohuan | blogger, InfoSec specialist | 2021 | inciting subversion of state power | 7 years | Sentenced in 2023.[12] |
| Shi Tao | journalist, writer, poet | 2004 | illegally supplying state secrets to overseas organizations | 10 years | Sentenced in 2005. Yahoo! helped the government against him. Released 2013.[13] [14] |
| Tan Zuoren | writer | 2008 | 3 years | Sentenced in 2009. | |
| 2010 | subversion of state power | 5 years | Sentenced in 2010. | ||
| Tang Baiqiao | activist | 1989 | spreading counterrevolutionary propaganda; inciting counterrevolutionary activities; defection to the enemy; treason. | 3 years | Released under international pressure in 1991. Fled to Hong Kong, then United States in 1992. |
| Wang Bingzhang | doctor | 2002 | spying, terrorism | life | Sentenced in 2003. |
| Wang Dan | professor of history | 1989 | Tiananmen activities | 4 years | Sentenced in 1991. Released on parole in 1993. |
| 1995 | 11 years | Sentenced in 1996. Released on medical parole to United States in 1998 and currently in Taiwan. | |||
| Wang Quanzhang | lawyer | 2015 | subversion of state power | 4½ years | Put on trial in December 2018, sentenced in January 2019.[15] |
| Wang Xiaoning | engineer | 2002 | incitement to subvert state power | 10 years | Sentenced in 2003. Yahoo! helped the government against him. Expected release in 2012[16] |
| Wang Youcai | 1989 | ||||
| 1998 | subversion | 11 years | Released and exiled in 2004. Currently in the United States. | ||
| Wei Jingsheng | electrician | 1979 | passing military secrets | 15 years | Released and jailed again in 1993 and released for "medical reasons" and deported to the United States in 1997. |
| Wu Gan | blogger | 2015 | subversion of state power | 8 years | |
| Xu Zhiyong | lawyer, lecturer | 2014 | gathering crowds to disrupt public order | 4 years | For his role of founding New Citizens' Movement and in protests. |
| Xu Zhangrun | constitutional lawyer and lecturer | 2020 | using prostitutes | one week | |
| Yang Jianli | activist, scholar | 2002 | alleged espionage & illegal entry | 5 years | The Chinese government placed Yang on a 1994 blacklist of 49 pro-democracy activists barred from returning to China. Yang used another person's passport to enter China in 2002.[17] |
| Yu Wensheng | lawyer | 2020 | inciting subversion of state power | 4 years | According to Yu's wife Xu Yan, he was also deprived of his citizens' rights for three years.[18] |
| Yuan Hongbing | jurist, writer | 1994 | Detained and forced to leave China in 1994. Travelled to and sought political asylum in Australia in 2004. | ||
| Yue Xin | student activist | 2018 | unknown, likely in response to protests organized by Yue | unknown | Yue went missing in October 2018, after she and fifty other students were detained by Chinese authorities after participating in Jasic Incident. She remains missing. |
| Zeng Jinyan | blogger | 2006 | suspected of harming state security | Under house arrest with husband Hu Jia from August 2006 – March 2007 and under house arrest again from May 2007;[19] released later | |
| Zhao Changqing | teacher of history | 1989 | Tiananmen activities | Released after about 1/2 year. | |
| 1998 | workers rights activity | 3 years | |||
| 2002 | attempted subversion of state power | 5 years | Sentenced in 2003.[20] | ||
| Zhao Lianhai | food safety worker, activist | 2009 | inciting social disorder | 2.5 years | Sentenced in 2010.[21] [22] |