杨立才 (Yang Licai) — Media Profile & Archive

Person Profile: 杨立才 (Yang Licai) — Political Prisoner Profile

Identification method

The Issue 131 roster lists "Yang Licai" in the Liaoning "detained without trial" group with no case detail. A prisoners-of-conscience database record (queried directly, October 10, 2026) gives the Chinese name 杨立才 with the romanization "YANG LI CAI," a Panshan County, Liaoning native, seized in Shenzhen on December 13, 2019 by Panjin police and held at the Panjin County Detention Center with no sentence recorded — matching the roster band on name, province, and detention status. Across 4,372 database records, exactly one entry matches this name, and all name-variant queries resolve to it.

Source chronology

December 25, 2009 — Liu Xiaobo trial support. Yang went to the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court on the day Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years, offered to serve alongside him, and was taken to the Babaoshan police station for a statement before release (recorded in the advocacy-database profile).
2010 — Surveillance and administrative detention. Round-the-clock tracking and house arrest around Qingming; a 10-day administrative detention in May after a generator dispute at his 798 studio (recorded in the advocacy-database profile).
December 12–13, 2019 — Detention. A Mandarin-language international broadcaster reported the seizure (linked from the database record). ChinaAid reported on December 13 that Panjin county police took Yang from his Shenzhen rental, searched the premises, and placed him under criminal detention on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble; people close to him linked it to his online posts, including Hong Kong-related comments; a lawyer met him at the Panjin County Detention Center while his family kept a low profile.
December 31, 2019 — PEN America statement. The writers' organization demanded Yang's immediate release, describing the arrest as punishment for alleged online support of the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests and noting he could face up to five years; it also noted his earlier persecution for signing Charter 08 and a 2010 detention during Beijing artist-studio demolitions.
January 2020 — CPPC record (00844). Compiles the full profile: Liaoning origin, nickname, Charter 08, Sugar Jar Studio, the 2009–2010 incidents, the December 13, 2019 seizure, the Panjin County Detention Center, and the family's request for a low profile.
February 10, 2020 (entry date) — Prisoners-of-conscience database record. Detained 2019.12.13; charge picking quarrels and provoking trouble; no sentence; Panjin County Detention Center.
August 31, 2026 — Rights Defense Network Issue 131. Lists "Yang Licai" in the Liaoning "detained without trial" group.

Media records

Chinese Human Rights Defenders' Prisoners of Conscience database — direct query record for 杨立才 (retrieved October 10, 2026) — VERIFIED
Chinese Political Prisoner Concern, 楊立才（CPPC編號：00844） (January 2020) — VERIFIED (opened and read)
ChinaAid Association, "辽宁艺术家杨立才被刑拘…" (December 13, 2019) — VERIFIED (opened and read)
Hyperallergic, "Artist Arrested in China on Charges of Supporting Hong Kong Protests Online" (January 2020), reporting the PEN America statement — VERIFIED (opened and read)
RFA Mandarin, December 12, 2019 (linked from the database record) — UNOPENED: retrieval blocked by policy at research time — publisher click-verification noted
Rights Defense Network Issue 131 monthly report (August 31, 2026) — VERIFIED (read locally, Chinese edition)
Minghui.org, 2015 article naming a 杨立才 as a Zhenzi Town Police Station deputy director (Hebei) — WRONG-PERSON: a perpetrator-side police officer, unrelated to the Liaoning detainee; recorded as exclusion evidence only

Official-source / consulate check

No official (police/court) statement on the case was found in the consulted sources. No consular involvement: Yang is a Chinese national with no foreign-national element.
International advocacy found: PEN America demanded his release (December 31, 2019). Ai Weiwei publicly supported him.

Conflicts and limitations

Detention date: the advocacy-database record, ChinaAid, and the database entry give December 13, 2019; the PEN America account gives December 11. The two-day variance is unresolved (possibly seizure vs formal detention date); December 13 is used as the primary date.
The link between the detention and his online/Hong Kong-related posts is reported as belief and suspicion by people close to him — not as an established fact.
The family's request for a low profile means few details are public; no later dated custody information exists.
The roster and database records are monitoring compilations, not court documents.