''Ankang'' () is a name shared by a number of
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
s or asylums in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The term literally means "''peace and health
or the mentally ill'". Many of these institutions are prison-hospitals for holding prisoners judged to be mentally ill, and operate directly under the local
Public Security Bureau
A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...
. As a result, "''ankang''" is sometimes used in the Western press to denote the system of prison-hospitals in China. However, not all ''ankang'' hospitals are prison-hospitals, and some offer conventional psychiatric and medical treatment services.
Some patients sent to these institutions are
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s or
Falun Gong
Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
practitioners. By some estimates 3,000
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s are held in about 25 ''ankang'' institutions across China.
[ Section 1d: "Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile."]
List of ''ankang'' hospitals
According to the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
, there were 20 ''ankang'' hospitals in China in early 2009, which are overseen by the
Ministry of Public Security.
* Beijing Ankang Hospital (北京市安康医院),
Fangshan District
Fangshan District () is situated in the southwest of Beijing, away from downtown Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 814,367 (2000 Census). The district is divided into 8 subdistricts, 14 towns, and 6 townships.
The district administ ...
(1800 beds), Psychiatric facilities: yes
* Chengdu Ankang Hospital (成都市安康医院)
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
(500 beds), Psychiatric facilities: yes
* Hangzhou Ankang Hospital (杭州安康医院),
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
(520 beds)
* Jinan Ankang Hospital/Shandong province Ankang Hospital (济南安康医院/山东省安康医院),
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
(1040 beds), Psychiatric facilities: yes
* Nanjing Ankang Hospital (南京市安康医院),
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
(112 beds)
* Ningbo PSB Ankang Hospital (宁波市公安局安康医院),
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
* Shanghai PSB Ankang Hospital (上海市公安局安康医院)
* Tangshan Municipal Ankang Hospital (唐山市安康医院),
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
(150 beds)
* Tianjin Municipal Ankang Hospital (天津市安康医院), Psychiatric facilities: yes
* Wuan Ankang Hospital (武安市安康医院),
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
(Est 1988, 120 beds), Psychiatric facilities: yes
* Xi'an Ankang Hospital (西安市安康医院),
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
(250 beds), Psychiatric facilities: yes
Controversies
Wang Wanxing
Wang Wanxing (, born 10 October 1949) is a prominent Chinese pro-democracy activist who was a prisoner of conscience for 13 years in Chinese detention centres and psychiatric institutions called ''Ankang''. Wang was the only person to have been d ...
, a prominent democracy activist with a history of anti-government protest, was again arrested on June 4, 1992, when he unfurled a banner in Tiananmen Square on the third anniversary of the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He was swiftly arrested and locked up in a psychiatric hospital near Beijing, for alleged "political monomania". Following his release in 2006, Wang was examined for two days by Dr. Raes and Dr. van der Meer, who said in a statement: "He was not suffering from any mental disorder that could justify his admission." Human Rights Watch says it has documented 3,000 cases of psychiatric punishment of political dissidents since the early 1980s.
In 2000, Robin J. Munro drew attention when he made allegations of abuses of forensic psychiatry in China. In 2002,
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
and the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry issued a report which alleged that Chinese dissidents, independent labour organisers, whistle-blowers and individuals who complain about official misconduct have been labelled "political maniacs" and locked up in mental hospitals simply for opposing the government. Symptoms of "political mania" as defined by the police include "shout
ngreactionary slogans, writ
ngreactionary banners and reactionary letters, mak
nganti-government speeches in public, and express
ngopinions on important domestic and international affairs". Such individuals may be detained indefinitely in ''ankang'' centres.
See also
*
Black jails
Black jails () are a network of extralegal detention centers established by Chinese security forces and private security companies across the People's Republic of China. They are used mainly to detain, without trial, petitioners (上访者, '' ...
*
Laogai
''Laogai'' (), short for ''laodong gaizao'' (), which means reform through labor, is a criminal justice system involving the use of penal labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea (DPRK). ''Láogǎi'' i ...
*
Political abuse of psychiatry#China
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankang (Asylum)
Human rights abuses
Hospitals in China
Human rights in China
Political abuses of psychiatry
Imprisonment and detention