Wang Wei (王威) — born October 24, 1967, in Harbin, Heilongjiang; a resident of the Xindu district of Chengdu, Sichuan. He is also known by the alias Li Yi (李义).
Wang Wei is serving an eight-year prison term in China for subversion of state power (颠覆国家政权罪), imposed for his role in secretly organizing an opposition political party, the China Democracy Victory Party (中国民主胜利党).
According to case records documented in the Chinese Human Rights Defenders’ Prisoners of Conscience database and reported by the Dui Hua Foundation from a copy of the court judgment, Wang Wei joined an online forum in 2009 where he frequently discussed sensitive political topics. Through the forum he came into contact with Tang Gaofeng, who had conceived of the China Democracy Victory Party while abroad, and with Wang Yifei, Liu Zhengang, and others. The group began secretly organizing the party, and in early October 2011 its core members met in a rented room in Chengdu’s Chenghua district for the party’s first central committee meeting, which adopted a party platform calling for an end to Communist Party rule and established an organizational structure. Tang Gaofeng became chairman; Wang Wei became vice-chairman.
From 2011 to 2016, Wang Wei and the other core members publicized the party’s founding, political program, and aims on international online platforms including Facebook and Twitter, recruited members, and sought to register the party abroad.
On May 17, 2022, Wang Wei was detained by police in Luzhou, Sichuan — the first of the group to be taken — and placed under residential surveillance at a designated location. On September 8, 2022, he was criminally detained on suspicion of subversion of state power; on September 30, he was formally arrested. The Luzhou Intermediate People’s Court convicted him of subversion of state power and sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment, with three years’ deprivation of political rights and confiscation of 100,000 yuan in personal property. On December 2, 2024, the Sichuan High People’s Court rejected the appeals of all six defendants and upheld the verdicts. His term is projected to run to about March 2030. He is held at the Luzhou City Detention Center.
Five co-defendants were convicted in the same case: Tang Gaofeng (12 years), Wang Yifei (7 years and 6 months), Zhou Dan (6 years), Liu Zhengang (5 years and 6 months), and Dai Lu (3 years).
According to the CHRD record, none of the six defendants’ families received legal documents or notifications in the years since the arrests, and the families were subjected to intimidation and threats; the defendants’ conditions in custody have not been made public.
Status
Wang Wei is currently imprisoned, in custody as of August 31, 2026 (Rights Defense Network monthly prisoner roster); reported held at the Luzhou City Detention Center.
Note on sources: the first-instance verdict date is reported as April 24, 2024 by Dui Hua and as June 19, 2024 in the CHRD database record; both agree the sentences were upheld by the Sichuan High People’s Court in December 2024. The charge, conviction, and sentence are court findings as reported by these monitors, not independently verified facts. This profile concerns the male Wang Wei (王威) of the China Democracy Victory Party case — a different person from the female Wang Wei (王威, female) pair also published on this site.
Media archive: Wang Wei (王威) — Media Profile & Archive