The Chinese communist regime’s local authorities have been chasing down and harassing petitioners traveling to other provinces to prevent them from filing grievances during the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) top political meetings known as the “Two Sessions.”
As this year’s Two Sessions meetings opened on March 4, some longtime petitioners in Shanghai, fearing further persecution in black jails, left Shanghai early to avoid being targeted by the authorities’ “stability maintenance” efforts.
The Two Sessions refers to the annual plenary sessions of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC), the two houses of China’s rubber-stamp legislature.
The Chinese regime set up its petition system decades ago, inviting citizens to directly address with central authorities issues or injustices caused by local officials. Numerous people from across the country travel to Beijing each year to file their petitions, especially before major political meetings or anniversaries. Petitioners believe that during these times, with more officials gathered in the capital, they have a better chance of having their grievances heard and corrected.
In response, the CCP typically ramps up its already stringent security measures ahead of dates deemed sensitive, stopping petitioners and preventing any potential escalation into protests at the nation’s political center.
Liu Dongbao, a 70-year-old longtime petitioner from Jing’an District in Shanghai whose home was forcibly demolished by local authorities, has been criminally detained nearly 10 times, totaling more than 300 days, for going to Beijing to file grievances. In 2025, he was detained in a black jail for 92 days by the authorities for displaying banners calling for human rights. During this time, he was severely beaten by guards hired by the local authorities, who knocked out two of his teeth, and his legs were beaten so badly that he could not walk. The website Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch recorded his brutal treatment in detail.
Black jail usually refers to where the Chinese communist regime used to hold petitioners and activists without legal procedures.
To avoid persecution and the authorities’ “stability maintenance” measures—and to celebrate the Lunar New Year holidays—Liu and his wife returned to her hometown in Maoba Town in Ankang City of Shaanxi Province in northwest China on Feb. 7.
On Feb. 27, three people from the Shimen Erlu Subdistrict Office and the police station in Jing’an District in Shanghai drove 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) from Shanghai to Maoba Town. With no official documentation, they told Liu not to go to Beijing. That same day, two cars were parked downstairs at his wife’s house, with eight people guarding the place.
“They were unlicensed security guards hired by the Shimen Erlu Subdistrict Office from Xi’an,” Liu told The Epoch Times. “I’m in a mountainous area, more than 1,000 kilometers away from Beijing, and it would have been more than 300 kilometers from Xi’ann. It’s truly a bizarre thing.”
Song Jiahong, an activist who posted the list of Shanghai’s black jails, said Liu was threatened by the police even though the CCP’s “Regulations on Petition Work” explicitly state in Article 18 that “no organization or individual may retaliate against petitioners,” and in Article 27 that “all levels of government agencies, units, and their staff shall maintain normal petitioning order.” Song said that certain Shanghai officials have a goal of zero Shanghai petitioners going to Beijing during this year’s Two Sessions.
Crossing the Yongding River
Another petitioner escaped detention and attempted to cross the Yongding River to reach Beijing.According to information provided by human rights activist Yang Caiying, Hou Jing, a petitioner from Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, was abducted from Beijing to Gu’an in Hebei Province by Heilongjiang police on March 2. After escaping, she attempted to cross the turbulent Yongding at night to continue her petitioning in Beijing.
“Due to the rapid current of the Yongding River, Hou Jing’s life is in serious danger as she attempts to cross it alone! We hope the media will pay attention to this matter,” Yang told The Epoch Times.
The Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times attempted to contact Hou by phone, but the call could not be connected.
According to Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch’s report in February, which detailed the Hou family’s ordeal, Hou Jing’s brother, Hou Jun, an active-duty military officer, died while serving in the Suibin Border Defense Brigade of the Hegang Detachment of the Heilongjiang Armed Police Border Defense Corps some years ago. The police issued a death certificate stating that the cause of death was drowning, while the military reported that he died of illness. Hou’s mother rejected the causes of death and pursued legal action at various levels to find justice. In 2012, she was beaten and illegally detained for nine days in the reception room of the Border Defense Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense, resulting in a ruptured spleen that had to be removed by surgery. To this day, the police have refused to file a case for her injury.
In 2019, Hou Jing and her mother were each sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” without any factual basis. Hou Jing’s 70-year-old mother fell ill in prison and died due to a lack of timely medical care. Her body has remained at the Harbin Funeral Home.
In March 2022, Hou Jing was released from prison. She began seeking justice for her mother; however, the efforts have been ineffective as various departments have shirked responsibility.
