Chang Weiyun (常卫云) — Media Profile & Source Archive
This archive collects the reported coverage for the case of Chang Weiyun (常卫云), the Henan farmer detained in 2023 after fourteen years of petitioning over her family’s 2009–2013 criminal case. Items are ordered chronologically. Each item notes its source and what it establishes.
Source chronology
2009–2018 — The family’s criminal case (reported background, 自由宪政之声 / Voice of CLA investigative feature).
The feature reconstructs the case from family and local accounts: Zhang Haofeng’s 2009 real-name corruption complaint against village party secretary Xu Hongzhen; the leak of the complainants’ names; two home invasions by the secretary’s son Xu Zhenjun on July 3 and July 19, 2009; the fatal clash on July 19; the 2013 Xinxiang Intermediate Court verdict convicting Zhang Haofeng and his son Zhang Haibin of intentional homicide with death sentences reprieved; and the Supreme People’s Court’s 2018 rejection of the appeal. The feature’s legal analysis disputes the courts’ treatment of the self-defense claim. All of this background is reported as the feature’s account; it is not independently adjudicated here.
2009–2023 — Fourteen years of petitioning (same feature).
The feature describes Chang Weiyun’s petitioning across fourteen years — to the Xinxiang courts, the provincial petitions bureau, the justice department, and Beijing — and the local stability-maintenance apparatus’s response: watchlisting, travel restrictions, interception, and surveillance. This account is attributed to the feature’s reporting and to Chang Weiyun’s own statements to the interviewer.
2023-07-18 — Criminal detention (same feature).
Chang Weiyun was criminally detained by the Fengqiu County Public Security Bureau on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and fraud. The alleged basis was her connection with petitioner Xu Tingjing of Taikang County, whom police accused of posing as a journalist and lawyer to defraud; prosecutors alleged Chang Weiyun “colluded” with him. The feature reports that the money in question went directly to Xu Tingjing, that Chang Weiyun never handled it, and that the defense called the case guilt by association driven by the political sensitivity of long-term petitioning.
2024–2025-11-03 — Transfer and trial (same feature).
The case was transferred to the Weihui City Court in 2024 and tried on November 3, 2025, with media barred from observing. The feature, published shortly after the trial, reports that Chang Weiyun maintained her innocence in court. No verdict is reported in the feature.
2026-06-14 — Prisoners of Conscience Database status (tenchu.org).
The tenchu.org POC database row for 常卫云 / Chang Weiyun lists her status as 刑拘候审 (“detained, pre-trial”), last updated June 14, 2026. The database is a monitoring compilation; no further case detail is given in the row. This is the most recent dated status located.
2026-08-31 — Issue 131 roster listing.
The Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 monthly report lists Chang Weiyun among 1,638 reported current-custody political-prisoner and prisoner-of-conscience cases.
Source provenance and limitations
- The Voice of CLA feature is a single long-form advocacy-media account (published in Chinese on Medium shortly after the November 2025 trial); it was read in full for this archive. It is the only located source narrating the 2009–2025 history and the 2023 detention in detail. Its characterization of official motives (e.g., “legalized stability maintenance”) is the author’s analysis and is presented as such.
- The tenchu.org database row is a thin monitoring entry; it corroborates name, romanization, and reported detention status but adds no case detail.
- No court document, judgment, lawyer’s statement, or state-media account of Chang Weiyun’s 2023–2025 case has been located. The verdict of the November 3, 2025 trial is unreported in all located sources.
- Photographs in the feature (2009 hospital photo; interview photo) are not reproduced here.
Person Profile: Chang Weiyun (常卫云) — the full case profile, from the 2009 family case through the 2025 trial.