Profile: Zhang Xiaodong (张晓东)
Media and document record — Zhang Xiaodong (张晓东)
This archive preserves the dated media and document record for Zhang Xiaodong (张晓东), the Nanchang citizen sentenced to four years in prison in a 2024 speech-related case, in chronological order. Each entry states what the source establishes and where it is limited.
November 2022 — detention reported
Rights Defense Network (维权网), “江西南昌公民张晓东已被刑事拘留 被控罪名为涉嫌寻衅滋事” (November 17, 2022). The outlet’s information center reported that Zhang, taken by Jiangxi police days earlier, had been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”; his family had received the detention notice. It identified the arresting unit as the Xihu branch of the Nanchang public security bureau and the place of custody as the Nanchang No. 1 Detention Center. The report sketched his background — a Nanchang native born in 1961, formerly on leave without pay from the railway sector, years in business, retired, known for helping citizens and lawyers in trouble — and described the November 15 arrest: three uniformed officers, arms cuffed behind his back, his answer to a neighbor (“a political matter”). It noted his friendship with the four Jiujiang citizens detained in early September 2022 and his repeatedly blocked WeChat accounts. The outlet said it would continue to follow his situation.
January 2023 — detention conditions reported
Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch (民生观察), “南昌公民张晓东近况” (January 6, 2023). Citing a netizen’s account of Zhang’s detention-center spending, the report raised concern that he might be suffering mistreatment: his account showed normal daily spending in the first half of December 2022 and almost none in the second half. It recapped the November 15 detention and the December 23 formal arrest approval, and added that lawyer Xiong Benxiang had visited Zhang in early December 2022, found him in fair condition, and applied for release on guaranty pending trial. It confirmed his online nickname “从善如流的战士” and described him as a well-known figure among Jiangxi rights defenders.
2022–2024 — case chronology compiled
Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), Prisoners of Conscience database — Zhang Xiaodong (张晓东) record (record entered January 11, 2023; case details updated through the record’s sources). The database record gives his date of birth as September 5, 1960, the charge as 寻衅滋事罪 (“picking quarrels and provoking troubles”), the detention date as November 15, 2022, and the sentence as four years, with the term ending November 14, 2026, served at Ganjiang Prison. Its case summary states that his case was transferred to the Qingshanhu District Procuratorate on February 20, 2023; that the indictment’s evidence consisted entirely of his statements in WeChat groups, Moments, and QQ groups; that the Qingshanhu District Court tried the case on March 19, 2024 without announcing a verdict; that he was sentenced to four years on May 10, 2024 and appealed in court; and that, per a Rights Defense Network report of August 28, 2024, he had been transferred to Ganjiang Prison, where his wife visited him and found him very thin with worsening vision problems. The record cites the Rights Defense Network, Radio Free Asia, and Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch as its sources.
August 2026 — current-custody listing
Rights Defense Network, Issue 131 monthly report (August 31, 2026). The report lists 张晓东 / Zhang Xiaodong in its 判刑4年 (sentenced to four years) group of prisoners reported as currently in custody — consistent with the four-year sentence recorded by CHRD. The listing is a roster classification, not a court document.
What this archive does not contain
No court judgment, indictment text, or state-media account of this case has been located. The birth-year discrepancy (1960 vs. 1961) between CHRD and the two Chinese-language outlets is unresolved. Nothing here establishes his present health or conditions beyond the August 2024 visit account.