Zhang Yuebing (张岳兵)
Mr. Zhang Yuebing (张岳兵) is a rights defender (维权人士) from Rugao City, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China. For years he has used administrative lawsuits and public complaints — including challenges to government information disclosure, bus fare overcharging, and blocked fire lanes — to hold local authorities accountable, and local police have repeatedly subjected him to surveillance, travel restrictions, and criminal procedures in return. In October 2023, just days after completing a prison term and returning home, he was criminally detained by the Rugao Public Security Bureau on suspicion of intentional injury following a dispute; a written detention notice was issued to his family. In August 2025 he suffered a fractured right sixth rib in an incident his family attributes to a beating by local personnel, and while hospitalized he was kept under surveillance and staged a hunger strike over his treatment. On September 22, 2026, Rugao police took him away for forwarding rights-defense information on WeChat and questioned him for about 24 hours before releasing him the next afternoon. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists him among its detained-without-trial prisoners in the Jiangsu group.
Background
Rights defenders (维权人士) in China are ordinary citizens who use petitions, lawsuits, and public reporting to challenge local government misconduct. Mr. Zhang’s record, as documented by the independent Chinese-language outlet 民生观察 (Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch) and reported by 聚焦中国 (China Focus), shows a years-long pattern: early administrative lawsuits against the Rugao municipal government over government information disclosure; sustained public-interest complaints about bus fare irregularities and blocked fire escapes; and in response, repeated police surveillance, restrictions on his movement, and successive criminal procedures.
The 2023 detention
According to China Focus’s October 2026 report, Mr. Zhang was released in October 2023 after serving a prison term. Within days of returning home, he was involved in a conflict and was criminally detained by the Rugao Public Security Bureau on suspicion of intentional injury (故意伤害罪); police issued a formal written detention notice to his family. During an earlier court hearing in his case, his defense lawyer described police seizing his phone and deleting video footage at the scene, according to the same report.
Injury and hospitalization, 2025–2026
In August 2025, Mr. Zhang was again at the center of a serious personal-injury dispute. Imaging reports from the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, published by 民生观察, showed a fractured right sixth rib among his injuries. Mr. Zhang and his family allege he was beaten by local personnel and have strongly questioned the public security organs’ handling of the matter; the report notes these specific responsibility claims come principally from the parties’ own public statements. In August 2026, 民生观察 reported that he was under personnel surveillance while hospitalized at the Rugao Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and staged a hunger strike to protest his treatment.
The September 2026 summons
On the afternoon of September 22, 2026, Rugao Public Security Bureau officers took Mr. Zhang away; he was questioned for approximately 24 hours and released at about 3 p.m. on September 23. The summons was linked to his forwarding of rights-defense information on WeChat. No public reporting has shown that the forwarded content involved violence, or disclosed the specific legal basis, provisions, or written instruments for the summons.
Current status
The Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 monthly report (August 31, 2026), which lists 259 reported detained-without-trial political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, places 张岳兵 in its Jiangsu (13 people) group. A September 23, 2026 report described him as released after a 24-hour summons; the precise custody arc between the August roster listing and the September release is unresolved from available sources. He should be treated as a rights defender subject to recurring police custody, not as confirmed to be currently detained.
A note on sources
The case chronology above draws on 聚焦中国 (China Focus), an independent Chinese-language news platform, which itself reports from 民生观察 (Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch) coverage, published detention notices, court-hearing accounts, and hospital imaging reports. These are non-state sources sympathetic to rights defenders; factual claims — dates, detentions, the injury, and the summons — are recorded here as reported by those outlets. Allegations about who inflicted the August 2025 injuries are attributed to Mr. Zhang and his family, not independently verified. No court judgment, state-media account, or international-media reporting on his case was found. His inclusion as a current political prisoner is corroborated independently by the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 roster (August 31, 2026).
Sources
- 聚焦中国 (China Focus), “一条微信转发换来24小时传唤：如皋维权者张岳兵再遭警方带走,” October 8, 2026
- 维权网 (Rights Defense Network), “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）,” August 31, 2026 (Chinese edition; 张岳兵 in the 羁押未判 / detained-without-trial Jiangsu 13-people group)
- 维权网 (Rights Defense Network), English edition of the same report (“Detained without trial… 12, Jiangsu (13 people): … Zhang Yuebing …”), August 31, 2026
Media profile & archive: Zhang Yuebing (张岳兵) — Media Profile & Archive