Picking quarrels and provoking trouble () (also translated as picking quarrels and stirring up trouble or picking quarrels and making trouble) is a crime under the law of the
People's Republic of 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 official translation of this crime is "disrupt public order."
Overview
It comes under article 293 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code, and carries a maximum sentence of five years. The former offense of "
hooliganism
Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events.
Etymology
There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...
" was removed in the same revision of the penal code.
The crime is defined as undermining public order by creating a disturbance in a public place. It is a type of criminal disorderly conductor.
As this is an ill-defined crime, it has frequently been used as an excuse to arrest human rights activists, civil rights activists, and lawyers in China, and hold them in detention pending more serious charges such as
inciting subversion of state power
Inciting subversion of state power () is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China. It is article 105, paragraph 2 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code.
Text of the law
Article 293 of the 1997 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China:
Article 293. Whoever undermines public order with anyone of the following provocative and disturbing behaviors is to be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, or control:
(1) willfully attacking another person and the circumstances are bad;
(2) chasing, intercepting, or cursing another person, and the circumstances are bad;
(3) forcibly taking away, demanding, or willfully damaging or seizing public or private property; and the circumstances are serious;
(4) creating a disturbance in a public place, causing serious disorder.
Discussion
Zhu Zhengfu, a delegate to the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...
and vice-chair of the All China Lawyers Association, said that the law's "legal ambiguity breeds room for selective law enforcement, damages the public’s legal interests and undermines judicial credibility." Zhu argued in 2022 that the law should be eliminated.
List of notable people charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble
*
Li Tingting
Li Tingting (; born 1989), known professionally as Li Maizi (), is a Chinese campaigner and activist for gender equality, sexual harassment awareness, and sexuality. She was detained by police on the eve of International Women's Day in 2015, ...
(李婷婷),
Wei Tingting
Wei Tingting (; born 1989) is a Chinese LGBTI+ and feminist activist, writer and documentary filmmaker. She is one of the Feminist Five.
Early life and career
Wei was born in Hechi in the southern region of Guangxi in China.
In 2009, Wei rece ...
(韦婷婷),
Zheng Churan
Zheng Churan () is a Chinese women's rights activist and feminist. Together with four other activists, she was detained, in March 2015, shortly before events planned for International Women's Day. They are collectively known as the Feminist ...
(郑楚然),
Wu Rongrong
Wu Rongrong (; born 1985) is a Chinese feminist and a women's rights activist. She is a member of one of the larger feminist collectives in China known as " Feminist Five" or the "Gang of Five."
Early life and career
Wu Rongrong was born in ...
(武嵘嵘), and Wang Man (王曼) (see Arrest of Chinese Feminists in 2015)
* Cao Shunli, a lawyer and human rights activist who was arrested at Beijing Airport in September 2013, and subsequently died in detention in March 2014
* Huang Xueqin (黄雪琴), a journalist who was prominent in China's
Me Too movement
#MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...
Yang Maodong
Guo Feixiong (; born 2 August 1966) is the pen name of Yang Maodong (杨茂东), a Chinese human rights legal activist from Guangdong province who is often identified with the Weiquan movement. Guo is known as a dissident writer and "barefoot l ...
, a Chinese human rights lawyer, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 after being charged with disturbing public order and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".
*
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 ...
citizen journalist
Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...
who reported on the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
outbreak in
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 ...
was arrested in May 2020, and sentenced to four years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in December 2020.
*
Zhao Lianhai
Zhao Lianhai (赵连海) is a Chinese dissident and former food safety worker who became an activist for parents of children harmed during the 2008 Chinese milk scandal. In 2010 he was sentenced to years imprisonment for 'disturbing social order' ...
* (周莉)
* Sun Dawu, a billionaire sentenced to eighteen years in prison in July 2021.
See also
*
List of Chinese dissidents
This list consists of activists who are known as Chinese dissidents. The label is primarily applied to intellectuals who "push the boundaries" of society or criticize the policies of the government. Examples of the former include Wei Hui and Jia ...
*
Law of the People's Republic of China
The Law of the People's Republic of China, officially referred to as the Socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, is the legal regime of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
...