Hao Jinsong (郝劲松) — Media Profile & Archive
This archive preserves the source record behind the Hao Jinsong (郝劲松) profile: the Shanxi public-interest litigator detained in December 2019 and sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in July 2023, with provenance and limitations noted. Sources are graded; allegations remain attributed rather than stated as fact.
Voice of America — “China Opens Trial of Veteran Activist on International Human Rights Day” (December 10, 2020)
(Opened and read in full: https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/2020/china-201210-voa02.htm — the VOA article via its mirror). Reports that Hao’s trial opened at the Dingxiang County People’s Court in Shanxi on December 10, 2020 — International Human Rights Day. Cites Chinese Human Rights Defenders as the source for the trial’s opening. States Hao had been detained since December 17, 2019, held at the Wutai County Detention Center, and charged with “provoking troubles, defamation and fraud.” Summarizes his public-interest litigation against the Ministry of Railways. Quotes activist Hu Jia and lawyer Chen Jiangang on the trial’s timing. Source grade: established international media.
Radio Free Asia via Chinese Human Rights Defenders — “China Puts Rights Lawyers, Families Under House Arrest on Human Rights Day” (December 10, 2020)
(Opened and read in full: https://www.nchrd.org/2020/12/china-puts-rights-lawyers-families-under-house-arrest-on-human-rights-day/). Reports that the Shanxi authorities canceled the pretrial meeting in Hao Jinsong’s case on December 10, 2020. Quotes his lawyer Li Xiongbing linking the cancellation to Human Rights Day, and fellow defense attorney Lin Qilei on the three charges (picking quarrels and stirring up trouble, defamation, fraud). Source grade: established international media via recognized human-rights NGO.
China Change — “China’s Best Known Public Interest Litigator Awaits Trial,” by Yaxue Cao (October 31, 2021)
(Opened and read in full: https://chinachange.org/2021/11/01/chinas-best-known-public-interest-litigator-awaits-trial/comment-page-1/). A detailed profile of Hao’s public-interest litigation career (2004–2010): the Beijing Subway and Beijing Railways receipt suits, the Ministry of Railways Spring Festival price-hike suit and open letter, the South China tiger hoax challenge, and the Shanghai “fishing law enforcement” cases. Documents the detention sequence: 15-day administrative detention from December 17, 2019, criminal detention from January 2, 2020, and indictment on November 15, 2020 on charges of picking quarrels and provoking disturbances, defamation, and fraud. Notes the trial, first held December 10, 2020, was repeatedly postponed. Source grade: established independent Chinese-language media (US-based).
Verdict — Dingxiang County People’s Court, July 20, 2023 (as reported via Phoenix TV online and Weiquanwang, summarized in reference entries)
Hao was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for fraud and one year and nine months for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, with a combined sentence of nine years’ imprisonment and a 350,000-yuan fine. Weiquanwang reported that by the verdict he had spent more than 1,200 days in pretrial detention. Source grade: reference-entry summaries of domestic reporting (Phoenix TV online; Weiquanwang, July 21, 2023); the court judgment itself was not located — verdict facts are attributed, not independently verified.
Background references — English and Chinese Wikipedia
English Wikipedia, “Hao Jinsong” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hao_Jinsong) and Chinese Wikipedia, “郝劲松” (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%83%9D%E5%8A%B2%E6%9D%BE) — the Chinese entry contains the fullest cited chronology of the case, referencing Phoenix TV and Weiquanwang. Used only as corroboration for dates also covered by the reporting above, and for verdict facts; read as search-result text. Source grade: reference encyclopedia (secondary).
维权网 — August 2026 monthly report, Issue 131 (August 31, 2026)
维权网《中国大陆在押政治犯、良心犯月度报告（2026年8月31日）第131期（共1638人）, mirrored in English and Chinese. Lists 郝劲松 / “Hao Jinsong” as in custody; the report copies reviewed confirm the ZH name but no specific sentence band, so no band is asserted here. Source for in-custody classification as of August 2026. Source grade: monitoring organization; single-source roster fact.
Source conflicts and limitations
Detention start date: December 17, 2019 (EN sources, China Change) vs. December 18, 2019 (ZH Wikipedia); both agree criminal detention began January 2, 2020. The “lawyer” label: VOA and some outlets call him a lawyer, while Weiquanwang and China Change note he held a law degree but did not practice as a licensed lawyer, acting instead as a citizen or citizen proxy — the profile uses “legal scholar and civil-rights activist” accordingly. The trial opened December 10, 2020, but the verdict was not issued until July 20, 2023 (over 2.5 years later), with more than 1,200 days of pretrial detention. The July 2023 verdict facts are presented as reported by Phoenix TV online and Weiquanwang, not from a located court judgment. No verified information on his place of detention or condition after the July 2023 verdict has been located. An Amnesty International report on Chinese courts’ repression of rights defenders was reviewed as general context, not Hao-specific evidence. WRONG-PERSON items excluded from this record and recorded as do-not-merge evidence: Amnesty International’s 2018 item on Dong Guangping (董广平), forcibly returned from Thailand in 2015 (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/china-free-forcibly-returned-activist-dong-guangping/); and the November 2025 PRC Ministry of State Security publicity case about an employee “surnamed Hao” convicted of espionage and sentenced to life (https://news.china.com/socialgd/10000169/20251112/48984704.html).
Person profile: Hao Jinsong (郝劲松)