Overview
Xu Wanping (许万平) is a Chongqing democracy activist and China Democracy Party organizer whose imprisonment after the 1989 democracy movement, later reeducation through labor, 2005 prosecution, and 2014 release are documented by multiple sources.
1989 imprisonment
The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and Human Rights in China (HRIC) report that Xu served eight years in prison in connection with his participation in the 1989 democracy movement. HRIC’s later publication of Xu’s own biographical account says he was sentenced after establishing the “China Action Party” following June 1989. Because source descriptions of the underlying conduct differ in detail, this profile does not infer facts beyond the documented record.
1998 reeducation through labor
CECC reports that Xu received three years of reeducation through labor in 1998 for disturbing public order in connection with attempts to establish the China Democracy Party. HRIC similarly links this period to his China Democracy Party activity.
2005 prosecution
Xu was detained in 2005. In December 2005, the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to twelve years’ imprisonment and four years’ deprivation of political rights for incitement/subversion-related activity. CECC reported that the Chongqing High People’s Court rejected his appeal on February 28, 2006. Contemporary accounts differ on the precise detention date and on how authorities characterized the conduct underlying the prosecution, so those details remain source-attributed rather than silently harmonized.
Release in 2014
Radio Free Asia reported that Xu was released on April 29, 2014, after approximately nine years of the twelve-year term. Xu told RFA that the original sentence had been reduced by three years. RFA also reported that four years’ deprivation of political rights remained and described health concerns reported by Xu and his wife.
Evidence and status
The core record used here comes from CECC, HRIC, and Radio Free Asia. Later claims about Xu’s activities or present circumstances are not inferred from his earlier record. His documented 2014 release means he is treated here as a former political prisoner rather than as currently imprisoned on the basis of these cases.
Related media archive: Xu Wanping / 许万平 — Media Profile & Archive.