Chen Qiushi (born September 1985
), also known as Steven Chen, is a Chinese
lawyer,
activist, and
citizen journalist who covered the
2019–20 Hong Kong protests and the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
which included criticism of the government response. He went missing on 6 February 2020 after reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. The Chinese government reportedly informed Chen's family and friends that he has been detained for the purpose of COVID-19 quarantine. Critics, including media freedom groups, have expressed skepticism about government motives, and have unsuccessfully called on the government to allow outside contact with Chen.
Chen re-emerged in September 2021, but provided no explanation of the circumstances of his disappearance.
Childhood, education and media career
Chen Qiushi was born in September 1985 in
Daxing'anling Prefecture
Daxing'anling Prefecture (), also known as Da Hinggan Ling Prefecture, is the northernmost Chinese prefecture-level division, located in northwestern Heilongjiang Province. It covers and has a population of 520,000, as of 2004. It is named after ...
,
Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
, China, and studied law at
Heilongjiang University
University of Heilongjiang () is a national university in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China.
The university was established in March 1941, in the revolutionary base area of the Chinese Communist Revolution, ...
, graduating in 2007.
After graduating, he moved to Beijing, worked in film, television and media, and performed at bars in his spare time.
In 2014 he was the runner up in the
Beijing TV reality TV show ''I am a speaker'', where contestants give five-minute speeches to an audience and panel of judges. He joined Longan Law firm in 2015, where he specialised in intellectual property, labour law and dispute resolution.
Journalism
Hong Kong protests
After hearing about the
2019-20 Hong Kong protests in state newspapers, Chen traveled there as a private citizen to see for himself.
He posted online videos reporting on the protests in Hong Kong against the
2019 extradition bill, where he countered the government's characterization of the protestors as violent rioters.
His videos were described by Western media observers as determinedly neutral. He also attended both pro-Beijing and pro-Hong Kong rallies while refusing to explicitly take a side.
Days after the videos' August 2019 release, he was contacted by Chinese authorities, including the
Ministry of Public Security, the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
, his legal association and his employer, and he returned home early. His
Sina Weibo account, of 740,000 followers, was deleted along with his other social media. Chen described being questioned, recorded, "criticised and educated" about why going to Hong Kong was wrong.
In early October he began posting on YouTube,
blocked for many in mainland China, stating that since freedom of speech is a right in the Chinese constitution he must continue.
COVID-19
After being blocked from Chinese social media for his reports on the
2019–2020 Hong Kong protests
The Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, also known as the 2019 Hong Kong protests, or the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, were a series of demonstrations from 15 March 2019 in response to the introduction by the Hong Kong government ...
, Chen took to
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
and
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
to continue his reporting. Chen began reporting on the
COVID-19 pandemic in China
The COVID-19 pandemic in China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak of the ...
, travelling to
Hankou
Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wher ...
,
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
, on 23
or 24
January 2020, where he interviewed locals and visited various hospitals including
Huoshenshan Hospital
Huoshenshan Hospital () was an emergency specialty field hospital, built between 23 January and 2 February 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The facility is located near Zhiyin Lake () in the Caidian District, Wuhan, Hubei, C ...
, which was still under construction at the time. According to Chen, doctors were overworked and there were insufficient medical supplies, but prices of goods were otherwise stable.
Chen published a video on 30 January showing crowding in Wuhan hospitals, with many people lying in corridors. Unlike state media reporters, who wore hazmat suits, Chen appeared to have only goggles and a face mask to protect himself.
Chen stated,
By early February 2020, while reporting about the coronavirus outbreak, Chen had 433,000 YouTube subscribers and 246,000 Twitter followers.
Chen's supporters accused the Chinese government of censorship of the coronavirus outbreak. According to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', many pro-Chen comments on Sina Weibo were censored.
Around 4 February, in the last video posted by Chen before his subsequent disappearance, Chen interviewed Wuhan resident "A Ming". A Ming stated his father had probably contracted coronavirus during a health check-up in the beginning of January, when there were no safety precautions; A Ming's father had subsequently died from the virus. During the video Chen stated "many people are worried I will be detained".
Journalist Linda Lew, writing in ''South China Morning Post'', later judged that Chen was one of the most high-profile citizen journalists covering the coronavirus outbreak. She also stated that Chen's reporting contrasted with ''
Caixin
Caixin Media () is a Chinese news website based in Beijing known for investigative journalism. Caixin means "New Fortune" in Chinese.
Structure
The founder and publisher is Hu Shuli, a former Knight Fellow in journalism at Stanford University ...
'' and ''Sanlian Lifeweek'', which have "lines they cannot cross", and that Chen's reporting contrasted even more strongly with the "official line" of state-controlled media.
2020 – 2021 disappearance
Chen disappeared on 6 February 2020, at some point after informing his family of an intention to report on a temporary hospital.
His friends were unable to contact him after 7 pm
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00.
With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...
on 6 February. His mother, and friend
Xu Xiaodong
Xu Xiaodong ( (Pinyin: ''Xú Xiǎodōng''); born 15 November 1979), nicknamed "Mad Dog", is a Chinese mixed martial artist (MMA) who is known for challenging and fighting fraudulent and traditional martial artists. He gained prominence online ...
, have both stated that on 7 February, they received news from authorities that Chen had been detained at an undeclared time and place and held in an unknown location for the purpose of quarantine.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
's Patrick Poon said around 14 February 2020 that it was still unknown whether Chen (and another citizen journalist,
Fang Bin
Fang Bin () is a Chinese businessman, citizen journalist and whistleblower who used YouTube and WeChat to broadcast images of Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was arrested several times between February 1 and 9, 2020.
Personal life
Fan ...
) had been arrested or placed under "forced quarantine". Poon called on China to inform their families and provide access to a lawyer, stating: "Otherwise, it's a legitimate concern that they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment."
A
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 ...
representative stated the Chinese government "has a history of harassing and detaining citizens for speaking the truth or for criticizing the authorities during public emergencies, for example, during
SARS
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''sever ...
in 2003,
Wenchuan earthquake in 2008,
Wenzhou train crash in 2011 and
Tianjin chemical explosion in 2015."
Around March 2020 it was reported that
Li Zehua
Li Zehua (, born 1995) is a Chinese citizen journalist, rapper, and YouTuber. Li was born in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. After graduating from the Communication University of China, he joined China Central Television (CCTV) as a television presenter in ...
, a citizen journalist in part inspired by Chen, had also disappeared; Li resurfaced in April 2020. The One Free Press Coalition included Chen in both its March 2020 and April 2020 lists of the ten "most urgent" cases.
The
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...
has also called for Chen's release.
On 23 March, the Chinese Ambassador to the US,
Cui Tiankai
Cui Tiankai (; born October 1952) is a Chinese diplomat and longest-serving Chinese Ambassador to the United States, a role he filled from April 2013 to June 2021.
Early life and education
In 1952, Cui was born in Shanghai, China. He is a nat ...
, stated he'd never heard of Chen. In early April, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. called for an inquiry into the Chinese government's behaviour, including the disappearances of Fang Bin, Chen Qiushi, and Li Zehua, saying "(The Chinese authorities) lied to the world about the human-to-human transmission of the virus, silenced doctors and journalists who tried to report the truth, and are now apparently hiding the accurate number of people impacted by this disease."
In September 2020, Xu Xiaodong broke news that his friend Chen was in "good health" but under "supervision of a certain agency". A human rights lawyer stated Chen had been moved to Qingdao, where his parents live, and was under "strict supervision by the authorities".
As of 31 March 2021 he is reportedly living with his parents, it is unclear whether he will be prosecuted.
On September 30, 2021, Chen re-emerged with a short appearance on his friend Xu Xiaodong’s live video feed on YouTube, while also posting a letter on Twitter. In the letter, Chen wrote, "Over the past year and eight months, I have experienced a lot of things. Some of it can be talked about, some of it can't, I believe you understand."
See also
*
List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who dis ...
*
Li Zehua
Li Zehua (, born 1995) is a Chinese citizen journalist, rapper, and YouTuber. Li was born in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. After graduating from the Communication University of China, he joined China Central Television (CCTV) as a television presenter in ...
, a Chinese citizen journalist who disappeared for two months after reporting on COVID-19 in Wuhan.
*
Fang Bin
Fang Bin () is a Chinese businessman, citizen journalist and whistleblower who used YouTube and WeChat to broadcast images of Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was arrested several times between February 1 and 9, 2020.
Personal life
Fan ...
*
Zhang Zhan
Zhang Zhan ( zh, t=張展, s=张展, p=Zhāng Zhǎn; born 2 September 1983) is a Chinese citizen journalist and former lawyer who travelled to Wuhan in February 2020, from where she reported on the impact of the lockdown measures imposed in the ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Chen Qiushion YouTube
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Qiushi
1985 births
2019–2020 Hong Kong protests
Chinese journalists
20th-century Chinese lawyers
21st-century Chinese lawyers
Citizen journalists
Formerly missing people
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on journalism
Living people
Missing person cases in China