Chen Lantao (陈兰涛) is a former political prisoner from Shandong Province who served more than eleven years in prison for his role in the 1989 democracy protests in Qingdao.
Chen was a fresh graduate of Qingdao Oceanography University — described by Amnesty International as a marine biologist — when he was detained in June 1989, at age 26, together with his then-pregnant wife, Sun Lijuan. Sun was released after 53 days. According to Amnesty International, Chen had taken part in the peaceful demonstrations in Qingdao before 4 June 1989, made contact with the leaders of the Qingdao Students Autonomous Federation, and, after the crackdown, made speeches outside his former university and a nearby factory criticizing the government’s suppression of the protests, demanding greater democracy and calling on the Chinese Communist Party to step down. He was also accused of having listened to Voice of America broadcasts since 1981.
In August 1989, the Qingdao Municipal Court sentenced Chen to 18 years’ imprisonment and five years’ deprivation of political rights on charges of “counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement” and “disturbing public order and traffic,” after what Amnesty described as an unfair trial. His sentence was later reduced — to 13 years in late 1993 or early 1994, per Amnesty — and the Dui Hua Foundation reports that he was released on December 31, 2000, six and a half years before the end of his sentence, following advocacy by Dui Hua founder John Kamm, who had raised Chen’s case with Chinese officials in March 1999. Dui Hua notes his 18-year sentence was the longest imposed for non-violent actions during the spring 1989 protests.
Chen’s post-2000 whereabouts are not publicly documented; no claim about his current status is made here.
Related reading: Chen Lantao / 陈兰涛 — Media Profile & Archive