On February 22, after the ten-province joint hunger held on February 15, the nationwide relay hunger strike to protest violence, initiated by attorney Gao Zhisheng, had a new development. This time, sixteen provinces spontaneously held a joint 24-hour hunger strike.
Gao told Sound of Hope that, “There were hundreds of civilians signed up to participate [in the hunger strike]. Don’t allow the authorities to think we cannot find people. Tomorrow, there will be a sixteen-province joint hunger strike. It shows that there are many people who wanted to participate, many people. For tomorrow’s hunger strike, I have received calls from people in sixteen provinces to participate. They will start at 6 a.m. tomorrow and wrap up 6 a.m. the day after tomorrow. All of them wanted to protest that China has become a gangster-like organization and protest that the government indulges the gangster-like police.”
According to Gao, those who participated in the joint hunger strike include 15 people from Heilongjiang Province: Yang Chunling, Liu Huilian, Yang Kejian, Gao Fusong, Yang Zhou, attorney Yuan Xiancheng, Jiang Jizhang, Yu Jiangchi, Wang Zhong, Li Zhiquan, Hong Xinhe, Li Xinfu, Gao Hongshuang, Yang Guirong, and Zen Shaoguang.
He said that also included would be:
“Wang Kezhi and Zhang Chuanlin.”
“Guangdong Province: Zhao Shuqin and Fu Laishan.”
“Shandong Province: Lu Jin, Liang Dajun, Zhang Zuohua, Yang Tie, and Yue Qianyu.”
“Jilin Province: Wang Yuejin, Chai Jinzhao, Liu Jiaping, and Hu Guangao.”
“Hebei Province: Wang Chuguang, Zhang Jiali, Hu Guangmin, and Gao Zhenchai.”
“Hunan Province: Yao Xiaojin and Zhou Zhirong.”
“Shanxi Province: Cai Qiucheng, Gao Guangbin, Qu Jinli, and Ma Shixue.”
“Jiangxi Province: Zhou Youfa and Cui Hongmei.”
“Guizhou Province: Wu Yuqin and Zhu Heping.”
“Jiangsu Province: Guo Naixin and Chang Jianmin.”
“Beijing: Liu Jun and Xiaotian.”
“Shanghai: Zhu Yali and Ji Judy.”
“Ningxia: Wu Guoxiong and Chen Huifa.”
“Guangxi Province: Wei Tongcheng and Fu Yumei.”
“Liaoning Province: Cheng Zhaohong and Xiao Shanfeng.”
“These are people from the sixteen provinces. Nobody has arranged them. They were all spontaneous. If we can manage to arrange it, it will be bigger for sure. Those are only ones that can reach me by phone and ones I wrote down the names.”
Gao also introduced participants of the Monday-through-Sunday seven-day relay hunger strike. “[Right now] the six persons are, Monday: still looking for someone; Tuesday: Ye Shuang; Wednesday: He Junren; Thursday: Jiang Meili, wife of Zheng Enchong; Friday: Ni Yulan; Saturday: Gao Zhisheng; and Sunday: attorney Guo Guoting. Among the six persons, only Ye Shuang doesn’t have any legal background. Jiang Meili is the wife of an attorney. He Junren is a grand attorney in Hong Kong. Ni Yulan is an attorney under persecution in China. Guo Guoting is an attorney that was persecuted by the Chinese authority, and Gao Zhisheng is an attorney under persecution.”
