Zhang Kai () is a human rights lawyer known for defending churches 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 ...

that were being forced to remove their crosses and

crucifixes A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

. He is also known for representing or campaigning on behalf of the disadvantaged, such as

Feng Jianmei On June 2, 2012, Feng Jianmei () was Forced abortion, forced to have an abortion in Zhenping County, Shaanxi, Zhenping County, Shaanxi, China, when she was seven months pregnant with her second child. Local officials had demanded that Feng and h ...

, a woman forced by government authorities to have an abortion in 2012.

Arrest and detention

Zhang was detained on 25 August 2015 in

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...

Zhejiang Province 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 Jiangs ...

, a city with a strong Christian influence. He had been representing churches whose crosses were demolished by government officials, and was also accused of ‘masterminding illegal religious gatherings’. He was charged with “endangering state secrets” and “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” and placed in criminal detention. Along with a group of religious leaders, Zhang had been scheduled to meet US envoy for religious freedom, David Saperstein, the following day. Officials in the province have been waging a campaign to remove crosses from more than 1,200 churches and other buildings. Communist Party general secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

was once the

Party Committee Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

of the province. Since coming to power in 2012 Xi’s strict political regime has clamped down on human rights lawyers, liberal academics, journalists, bloggers and feminist campaigners. Rights groups say the campaign has affected hundreds of parishes. Zhang, like many of China's human rights lawyers, is a Christian, and earlier in 2015 had posted an online essay denouncing the Communist party’s treatment of Chinese churchgoers. Zhang made a televised confession, which was rejected by his supporters. Zhang Lei, a fellow human rights lawyer, said “it is utterly appalling for a person to be made to confess on the television”.

Release

Zhang was released on 23 March 2016. He posted a message on

WeChat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...

confirming his release, and that he was back in his hometown in Inner Mongolia.

Lawyers and activists detained in China

Other people detained by the authorities include lawyers Wang Yu,

Zhou Shifeng Zhou may refer to: Chinese history * King Zhou of Shang () (1105 BC–1046 BC), the last king of the Shang dynasty * Predynastic Zhou (), 11th-century BC precursor to the Zhou dynasty * Zhou dynasty () (1046 BC–256 BC), a dynasty of China ** West ...

Li Shuyun Li, li, or LI may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Landscape Institute, a British professional body for landscape architects * Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia, US, that teaches "political tec ...

and

Xie Yanyi Xie or Hsieh may refer to: Xie People *Xie of Xia (), legendary king of the Xia Dynasty * Xie of Shang (契), legendary nobleman * Xie, Marquis of Jin (; th century BC), ruler of the State of Jin * King Xie of Zhou (; BC) *Alexandra Kitchin (186 ...

; as well as

Li Heping Li Heping () is a civil rights lawyer in the People's Republic of China and a partner of the Beijing Global Law Firm who was abducted on 10 July 2015. He is a prominent figure in China's Weiquan (rights defending) movement, having defended under ...

and his two assistants,

Zhao Wei Zhao Wei (; born 12 March 1976), also known as Vicky Zhao or Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, businesswoman, film director, producer and pop singer. She is considered one of the most popular actresses in China and Chinese-speaking regions, a ...

and Gao Yue; another legal assistant,

Liu Sixin / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...

; and activists

Hu Shigen HU or Hu may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Hu Sanniang, a fictional character in the ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature * Tian Hu, one of the antagonists in the ''Water Margin'' * Hollywood Unde ...

and

Gou Hongguo Gou or GOU may refer to: People * Empress Gou (), wife of Fú Jiān of Former Qin * Empress Dowager Gou (), mother of Fú Jiān of Former Qin * Oeyo (1573–1626), wife of Shōgun Tokugawa Hidetata Surname * Terry Gou (born 1950), Taiwanese ...

. In June 2016, there were reports in the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

that Zhao Wei had been released after apparently 'confessing' – however these reports have not been confirmed. Her husband also believes that she may have been forced to recant, and disputed the authenticity of statements on her

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...

social media account.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kai, Zhang Chinese human rights activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)