This archive accompanies the canonical profile of Chen Xuejin / 陈学金, one of five defendants in the 1990 Chenzhou prosecution of the organization described in the court judgment as the “Democratic China Front — Mountain Branch” (民主中国阵线山地支部).
Documented record
The surviving criminal judgment — Hunan Chenzhou Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court, Criminal Trial Division No. 1, case (1990) 郴一初字第88号, issued November 7, 1990 — convicted five defendants of the crime of forming a counterrevolutionary clique (反革命集团罪). The judgment describes the group as drafting a program, assigning roles, recruiting members, creating an emblem, collecting dues, and distributing political leaflets.
The court treated Chen Xuejin as a subordinate participant (accessory): it found he actively took part in the group’s activities and offered advice. The judgment places him among those who distributed the group’s leaflets on the nights of January 14 and 17, 1990. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, calculated from March 4, 1990 through March 3, 1993, plus two years’ deprivation of political rights.
His co-defendants were Bai Xiaomao and Jiang Fuxing — found to be principal organizers and sentenced to eight years each — and Li Jinhong and Li Yumin, treated as accessories (four years and one year respectively).
Post-sentence record and death
Beyond the judgment, the documented record consists of a single 2023 interview report (Women’s Rights in China, Zhang Jing reporting, July 1, 2023), based on an interview with Zhang Yan, the widow of co-defendant Li Jinhong. According to that report, Chen Xuejin lived under long-term surveillance after his release, suffered from depression, later became a Buddhist monk, and lived in poverty, ill but unable to afford treatment. The report states that he died of illness on December 3, 2019, and that Li Jinhong was blocked by Zhuzhou state-security personnel — who threatened him through his children’s school — from attending Chen’s funeral.
The report’s two language editions (Chinese and English) are a single lineage, not independent corroboration. No obituary, death registration, or second witness account has been located. The date and circumstances of his death are therefore recorded as reported but uncorroborated.
Identity caution
Chen Xuejin’s identity block lies on the missing pages 2–3 of the judgment copy; his age, gender, hometown and occupation are unresolved. An earlier working attribution of a Chenzhou hometown has no source and is withdrawn. 陈学金 is a common name; this record is anchored to case (1990) 郴一初字第88号 and must not be merged with any namesake without those anchors.
The organization’s Chinese name is read here, following the direct triple-read audit of the judgment photograph, as 民主中国阵线山地支部. A separate working transcription rendered it as 民主中国华南山区支部； the audited reading is carried here.
Status caution
No reliable custody record, release record, or independent death record has been located. The nominal end of the sentence must not be treated as evidence of release. Current status is recorded as deceased (reported, single source, uncorroborated).
Core sources
- Hunan Chenzhou Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court, Criminal Judgment (1990) 郴一初字第88号, November 7, 1990 (surviving photographed pages 1, 4, 5).
- Women’s Rights in China (WRIC), “六四反革命遺孀攜女「走線」背後的故事” (Zhang Jing reporting, July 1, 2023), containing Zhang Yan’s account of Chen Xuejin’s later life and death (https://wrchina.org/archives/15730; English edition: https://crchina.org/story-behind-the-widow-of-tiananmen-massacre-smuggled-to-us-with-2-little-girls).
Related profile: Chen Xuejin / 陈学金 — Democratic China Front Mountain Branch Defendant