Wang Xiuying, the Image Ambassador for Reeducation through Labor Abolition

AuthorChina Law Digest

The Olympic Old Woman of Reeducation Through Labor
In August of 2008, Wang Xiuying’s home was demolished without her consent and without compensation. Once she heard that people could demonstrate during the Beijing Olympic Games, she applied for protest in Zizhu Yuan Park. The written decision of the Reeducation Through Labor Committee of Beijing stated that around March 2008, in order to resolve the issue of forced demolitions and evictions, Wang Xiuying went to the Zhonganhai and Tiananmen Square areas several times and disturbed the public order by using banners and even planning to light firecrackers. Under international pressure , Beijing Bureau of Public Security decided to “temporarily stay enforcement.”
Image Ambassador of Re-education through labor
On August 2012, Wang Cheng, a lawyer in Hangzhou launched the Re-education through Labor abolition movement. Ms. Wang Xiuying followed and responded. She launched a signature campaign in her neighborhood in Beijing. As police cars garrisoned in front of her door, Wang Xiuying and her daughter Wang Fengxian went out with homemade anti-reeducation-through-labor labels and collected signatures from the public. Wang Fengxian said that, “since my mother started petitioning against forced demolition, she has met many petitioners. She learned that a lot of petitioners were easily sent to the labor camp for reeducation, particularly for those who went to Tiananmen or Zhongnanhai to complain about the local authorities. Because the authorities were doing so without any legal procedures, it is unconstitutional.”
Right of demonstration
Wang...

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