 Twenty-four-year-old Zeng Jinyan is a Chinese human rights activist and Internet writer. She was placed under house arrest on 27 December 2007 following the arrest of her husband, Hu Jia, at their shared apartment in the ironically-named BoBo Freedom City, a Beijing suburb close to the site of the Olympic stadium. Hu Jia is prominent environmentalist and AIDS activist, accused of inciting subversion against the Chinese government. Their baby daughter Qianci, born in November 2007, was barely a month old at the time of her father’s arrest.
The couple has been under the watchful eye of the authorities for over two years, and spent much of 2006 restricted to their apartment by the security services. During this time, Hu Jia made a documentary entitled “Prisoners of Freedom City,”’ which can be viewed on YouTube.com), while Zeng Jinyan wrote a daily blog about her experience of life under surveillance.
Zeng Jinyan began Internet writing in early 2006 to publicize her husband’s 41-day detention, his successive and extended house arrests, and their shared life of surveillance, threats and harassments. Through her daily blog she connected with many others in China who suffered similar experiences, and she began re-telling their stories too. She quickly became a prominent human rights reporter and campaigner, and inevitably attracted the attention of the authorities. In September 2006 the Chinese authorities blocked mainland access to her blog, but she continued to write for overseas websites. Since her husband’s arrest, her phone line and internet access have been cut, and as many as fifty security officers are currently guarding her apartment. |
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