Classification: Political prisoner of conscience; convicted of subversion in connection with the People’s Election Party / “Shadow Corps” case in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Current status: unknown — the dated evidence conflicts and is documented below.
The Shadow Corps case
According to the Dui Hua Foundation, Xiang Fengxuan (项逢选) established the People’s Election Party and the so-called “Shadow Corps” (影子兵团) with the stated aim, in official accounts, of overthrowing the Communist Party in a violent revolution. Xiang was sentenced to 11 years for subversion in 2017 and was incarcerated in Yangjiang Prison. Dui Hua researchers uncovered from judicial websites that Ma Ji (马骥), Yang Wanben (杨万本), Su Dongliang (苏东亮), and Zhang Junwei (张珺玮) were also sentenced for subversion in Guangzhou for their participation in the party. In 2018, only Yang’s and Zhang’s sentences were known — four years and five years respectively — while Ma’s and Su’s remained unknown.
2019 government response
In June 2019, Dui Hua reported that a Chinese-government response on four prisoners in the case stated that Ma Ji was serving a five-year sentence in Heyuan Prison (due for release in August 2020) and that Yang Wanben was expected to complete his four-year sentence on August 16, 2019. The same response stated that Su Dongliang had already been released from prison on an unspecified date.
Conflicting roster listing and evidentiary limits
维权网’s August 31, 2026 monthly report (Issue 131) lists 苏东亮 among the prisoners of conscience currently in custody, in the “刑期不明” (sentence unknown) group, immediately after Xiang Fengxuan — the co-defendant association that links the roster entry to Dui Hua’s case. These two dated records — a 2019 government response reported by Dui Hua stating Su Dongliang had been released, and a 2026 roster listing him as a current prisoner — cannot be reconciled from available sources. No post-2019 information on Su Dongliang was located, and no rearrest, sentence, or release date is documented. His present status is therefore recorded as unknown; the profile does not claim that he is currently detained, was rearrested, or completed a particular sentence. This profile does not merge Su Dongliang with Xiang Fengxuan, Ma Ji, Yang Wanben, or Zhang Junwei, who are different people.
Further reading
The full documented source record for Su Dongliang is preserved in a companion media archive, which gathers the Dui Hua reporting, the 2019 government response, and the conflicting 2026 roster listing with provenance and limitations in one place.