{"id":85134,"date":"2018-08-03T13:17:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T13:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=85134 "},"modified":"2018-08-03T13:17:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T13:17:00","slug":"85134-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=85134","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Police Hold Outspoken Professor in Hill Resort After VOA Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">2018-08-03<\/span><\/div>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p><div>&nbsp;<\/div><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mzzg.org\/UploadCenter\/ArticlePics\/2018\/31\/201883a58f0e4e-5e35-4e29-b9ed-a2fbd39254e4.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/>&nbsp;<\/div>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Sun Wenguang speaks to a reporter at his home in Jinan, Shandong province, in a file photo.<\/span><\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&nbsp;AFP<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">An outspoken democracy activist and retired university lecturer who has repeatedly criticized the ruling Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping has been detained by police.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Former Shandong University lecturer Sun Wenguang, 84, was taken away by police who burst into his home and interrupted a live interview with Voice of America (VOA) TV on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">As he began to answer a question about President Xi&#8217;s overseas investment strategy, Sun was forced to break off as the police officers arrived at his home.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Here they are again, the police, seven or eight of them,&#8221; Sun is heard saying on a recording of the interview.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;You should listen up,&#8221; he tells them. &#8220;Ordinary Chinese people are very poor, so we shouldn&#8217;t be throwing our money at African countries; this won&#8217;t help our nation.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Shortly after that, Sun is forced to break off, however.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Let me tell you, it&#8217;s illegal for you to come to my home,&#8221; he is heard telling the police officers. &#8220;I have my freedom of speech!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Sun has been incommunicado since the incident. Calls to his phone were cut off before anyone answered, with indistinct voices in the background, or rang unanswered.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Sun&#8217;s friend Li Hongwei confirmed that he had been detained by police in Jinan, capital of the eastern province of Shandong.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;I heard he was taken away by the Jinan police department at around 9:00 p.m. yesterday,&#8221; Li said on Friday.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Li said the detention was likely linked to the content of the VOA TV interview, but also recent articles that Sun had published online.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;I heard that it was because of a few articles he wrote,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Li said Sun and his wife are now believed to be under residential surveillance at the Yanzi Resort in the hills outside Jinan.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;His phone line is being monitored, as is mine,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The Jinan municipal police department have him under round-the-clock monitoring and surveillance,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Every time he is placed under residential surveillance, that&#8217;s where they hold him.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">An officer who answered the phone at the police department at Shandong University, Sun&#8217;s former employer, said they didn&#8217;t know about his detention.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Everyone is on vacation right now, so we don&#8217;t know anything about this,&#8221; the officer said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Calls to the retirement office of the university, and to the nearby police station, rang unanswered during office hours on Friday.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Government critics<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Jinan rights activist Cheng Yunqin confirmed that Sun is being held at an out-of-town guesthouse.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;He and his wife were both taken away to the Yanzi Resort,&#8221; Cheng said. &#8220;We can&#8217;t get in touch with them. The police usually take over his cell phone in such situations.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Based on previous experience, I&#8217;d say he&#8217;s probably safe, though.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Journalist Liu Kaiming said the authorities are particularly keen to crack down on government critics who give interviews to overseas media.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;It&#8217;s actually very rare to hear of people bursting in when someone&#8217;s giving an interview like that,&#8221; Liu said. &#8220;There is now very, very little room for any kind of free speech, and a big threat to personal freedom [when people do speak out].&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;People need to be very careful when giving overseas interviews,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Sun&#8217;s outspoken views resulted in a jail term during the political turmoil and violence of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) under late supreme leader Mao Zedong.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Sun was among countless intellectuals and professionals in that era locked up in &#8220;cow-pens&#8221; while their jobs were taken over by the &#8220;revolutionary masses.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><br \/><\/p>  <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/professor-08032018095013.html\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For detail please visit here<\/span><\/a><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <div>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;div&gt;Former Shandong University lecturer Sun Wenguang, 84, was taken away by police who burst into his home and interrupted a live interview with Voice of America (VOA) TV on Thursday.As he began to answer a question about President Xi&#39;s overseas investment strategy, Sun was forced to break off as the police officers arrived at his home.&lt;\/div&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ChinaHumanRights","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}