Classification: Investigative journalist from Hubei; detained in April 2023; sentenced in 2024 to an effective eleven years in prison following a second-instance reduction; serving at Huangshi Prison with a term running to April 2034.
Background
上官云开 (Shangguan Yunkai), born March 15, 1966, in Jingmen, Hubei Province (ancestral home Meixian, Guangdong), is an investigative journalist known for years of anti-corruption and rights reporting in Hubei. He formerly headed the Hubei bureau of Legal Daily and authored books including 《让弱者哭出声》 and 《珠海的爱与痛》. For over two decades he published corruption exposés through WeChat public accounts and microblogs, including “昆士兰生活” and “黄孝土鸡蛋”.
Detention
On the morning of April 20, 2023, he was seized by Ezhou police in Wuhan and placed under criminal detention on suspicion of selling counterfeit medicines — a Taiwan-made ointment he had been selling through his online accounts. Requests by his lawyers to meet him were refused. Colleagues and activists believe the prosecution was retaliation for his reporting, which had brought down a series of officials. (The detention-day detail is recorded as reported: the CHRD record dates the seizure to April 20, 2023, while Dui Hua dates the formal criminal detention to April 21, 2023 — a consistent sequence.)
Trial and sentencing
On January 5, 2024, the Echeng District People’s Court in Ezhou sentenced him to a combined 15 years in prison on five charges — selling counterfeit medicines, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, fraud, illegal confinement, and bigamy — and fined him 380,000 yuan. He appealed. In June 2024, the Ezhou Intermediate People’s Court reduced the sentence to 11 years and the fine to 340,000 yuan. He is serving his sentence at Huangshi Prison, with the term recorded as ending on April 19, 2034.
Current status
As of August 31, 2026, he was listed among in-custody political prisoners in the “Sentenced to 11 years, 7 people” group of the Rights Defense Network’s monthly report.
Identity note: The six other names in the 11-year roster group — 阿布拉江·阿乌提, 吴文章, 孙志芬, 王素平, 吴成收, 刘庆 — are a statistical cohort, not related cases; they are different people. The site’s Wu Wenzhang media archive concerns a different Wu Wenzhang case.
Sources: Dui Hua Foundation, “Prisoner Updates 2024 #1” (January 2024); Rights Defense Network (维权网), “一审获刑15年的湖北反腐记者上官云开案二审改判为11年，已转监黄石监狱服刑” (September 10, 2024); CIVICUS Monitor, “China: Activists and journalists face arrests and convictions despite UN human rights review” (2024); Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Prisoners of Conscience database, individual record for 上官云开 / “Shangguan Yunkai” (11 years; term to 2034.4.19; Huangshi Prison); Rights Defense Network (维权网), Issue 131 monthly in-custody report, August 31, 2026. The political-retaliation framing is the stated belief of colleagues and activists, not a judicial finding. All facts are reported by the cited sources.
Media archive: Media archive for 上官云开 (Shangguan Yunkai)