China Intensifies Crackdown on Civil Society Leading up to Human Rights Day

Ongoing arrests and opaque trials highlight Beijing’s heightened control over activists, religious groups, and political expression.

Protesters hold up a white piece of paper against censorship as they march during a protest against China’s strict zero-COVID measures in Beijing, China, on Nov. 27, 2022. Getty Images/Kevin Frayer

In the days leading up to International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, new crackdowns across China have drawn renewed scrutiny from international organizations.

Recent reports show shrinking space for civil society, arbitrary detentions, and opaque legal procedures under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which impacts activists, political dissidents, religious communities, and human rights lawyers.

Activists Denied Due Process

Human rights advocates say China’s overall rights climate has tightened significantly in recent years. Earlier this month, a court in Xinyang, Henan Province, upheld a three-year sentence for labor-rights advocate Xing Wangli, who was convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and transferred to prison shortly after the verdict. The charge is routinely used to target dissidents.

His son, Xing Jian, who is currently based in New Zealand, told The Epoch Times that his father was held incommunicado throughout his detention. Xing has long been targeted for his activism and has now been imprisoned five times, serving a combined 12 years, 8 months—not including periods of extrajudicial detention, surveillance, or administrative detention.

“This shows a clear pattern of targeting,” Xing Jian said, adding that the pressure extends across borders.

At the same time, participants in China’s 2022 “White Paper” protests—the nationwide demonstrations against COVID-19 restrictions—continue to face legal consequences. Many young protesters were reportedly charged or tried behind closed doors in 2024 and 2025.

Human rights activist Xing Wangli in 2020. Courtesy of Xing Jian

White Paper Protesters Still Missing

One of the most troubling developments is the long-term disappearance of some participants. A young man from Nanjing, identified only as the pseudonym “Xiao Fang,” told The Epoch Times that Li Kangmeng, a student at Nanjing Communication College who held up a blank sheet of paper during the protests, has been missing for years.

“We’ve been trying to find out where Li Kangmeng is, and we even went to the college, but we still haven’t been able to locate him,” he said.

Protesters hold up a white piece of paper against censorship as they march during a protest against China's strict zero-COVID measures in Beijing on Nov. 27, 2022. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

A report by The Diplomat last month noted that progress in White Paper-related cases continues nationwide, citing figures that more than 100 participants have been detained since late 2022. Some have been charged or sentenced in the past year, often without families receiving information on court proceedings.

Human Rights Lawyers Report Growing Pressure

International concern has also mounted over the treatment of China’s human rights lawyers. Human Rights Watch documented the ongoing disappearance of prominent rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, missing for more than eight years with no public information about his whereabouts or health. Another lawyer, Xia Lin, has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world since receiving a 12-year sentence in 2016 for handling politically sensitive cases.

Meanwhile, prominent lawyer Yu Wensheng is serving a three-year sentence for “inciting subversion.” He was permitted to meet briefly with his wife, Xu Yan, and their son earlier this year—their first family visit in two years.

In a joint statement in July, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said that since the mass crackdown on lawyers in 2015—known as the “709 crackdown”—Chinese human rights lawyers continue to face detention, disappearances, harassment, and politically motivated licensing procedures. Several lawyers and their families say conditions tightened further over the past year, with some law firms instructed to strengthen CCP oversight and reduce involvement in public interest cases.

A lawyer in Shandong familiar with the annual licensing process told The Epoch Times that many attorneys are no longer willing to take politically sensitive cases.

“Shanghai lawyers have long been barred from handling sensitive cases without approval,” he said. “Beijing, Shandong, and Henan also use annual license reviews as a form of pressure.”

He added that taking cases involving political speech, underground churches, Falun Gong practitioners, and other rights issues all require prior approval from the authorities.

“If lawyers refuse police requests, they risk losing their license the following year, and their law firms may face official pressure,” he said.

Chinese activists demonstrate in front of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate on the 61st birthday of missing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Crystal Lu/The Epoch Times

Religious Groups Face Raids, Arrests, and Secret Trials

Religious communities—including underground Christian groups and Falun Gong practitioners—have also faced escalating pressure over the past year.

Human Rights Watch reported on Oct. 14 that authorities launched coordinated raids in early October on Zion Church, a major underground house church network spanning Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and four other cities. Nearly 30 pastors, evangelists, and members were detained. Reuters reported that at least 18 church leaders were formally arrested and face potential sentences of up to three years.

A house-church pastor in Anyang, China, told The Epoch Times his congregation has been questioned multiple times this year and told to limit attendance and seek approval for religious activities.

“Only family members can join house gatherings—outsiders are not allowed,” he said. “State security officers told us to attend state-sanctioned ‘Three-Self churches.’ They said unregistered gatherings are illegal.”

Under the CCP, the regime implemented the “Three-Self Patriotic Movement,” which organized Christian churches under a CCP-supervised entity. What’s taught at these state-sanctioned churches must be approved by the CCP.

Grace Jin Drexel, daughter of founding pastor Ezra Jin of Zion Church in China, speaks during the China Forum at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington on Oct. 27, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported in March that numerous Falun Gong practitioners were detained or sentenced in 2024 and 2025 for holding gatherings or distributing materials. Family members told The Epoch Times that detentions were carried out without paperwork, and information about detainees was difficult to obtain afterward.

A petitioner in Jilin Province familiar with Falun Gong cases told The Epoch Times: “Police and courts treat Falun Gong cases with extreme secrecy. Trials and verdicts are often held behind closed doors. We can’t even ask questions.”

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. First introduced to the public in China in 1992, the practice quickly spread by word of mouth to reach an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners by 1999.

The CCP, fearing that Falun Gong’s popularity threatened the regime’s power, began a brutal campaign to eradicate the practice on July 20, 1999. Since then, an untold number of practitioners have suffered arbitrary detention, forced labor, torture, and even death by forced organ harvesting.

Online Speech Restrictions Intensify

Human Rights Watch and the State Department’s human rights reports all document rising restrictions on speech under the CCP. Numerous Chinese internet users were detained in 2024 and 2025 for posts about public issues, according to China Digital Times. Families say police routinely order detainees to delete their accounts afterward.

One user, identified only by his surname Lyu, told The Epoch Times that his WeChat and Weibo accounts have been shut down repeatedly. These are Chinese social media platforms with oversight from the Chinese censors.

“They’ve blocked seven or eight of my accounts,” he said. “Eventually, they started blocking me even when I didn’t post anything. Last week, they shut down another one. They must have tracked my phone model and IP address.”

A Continued Tightening

Li Li, a scholar specializing in China’s legal system, told The Epoch Times that 2025 has brought a continued tightening of human rights conditions, with opaque legal procedures becoming a major point of contention.

“Public incidents are increasingly routed into judicial processes,” he said. “We will need to monitor how the space for public expression and the legal system evolves in the coming year.”

Xin Ling contributed to this report.