The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China invites you to check out the Center for Human Rights website at humanrights.catholic.edu There you can find our latest episodes, articles about human rights in China, important events, and information about our annual essay contest for students. Go to humanrights.catholic.edu.
Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello Will, hello everyone. I’m glad to see you here again today.
W: Yeah, and every year around August we commemorate the disappearance of a very important person whose story really deserves to be heard. Guangcheng for those who aren’t familiar, can you tell us about Gao Zhisheng?
G: Yeah, yeah, Gao Zhisheng, you know, he is a very famous lawyer. Yeah, we [stood] up to oppose [the] CCP in 2005. Since that time, the CCP tried to give us trouble.
W: Guangcheng, when you say “us,” you mean like who?
G: At that time, you know, since we were human rights lawyers, Gao Zhisheng and Guo Feixiong and me; the CCP ordered a lot of thugs to follow us. They put us under house arrest in different provinces. Yeah. So Gao Zhisheng lived in Beijing, I lived in Shandong, and Guo Fuxiong lived in Guangdong. All [at] the same time, the CCP put us under house arrest.
Of course, later, you know, they used the kangaroo court [to] sentence us [to] prison. Later, I escaped and came to Beijing and came in [through] the U.S. Embassy, [and] later came here.
When I was in jail, Gao Zhisheng went to Shandong to try to support me, and the CCP arrested him and brought him back to Beijing. And then the CCP kidnapped him and put him in [a] black jail in the military building basement; [they] tortured him a lot there. Yeah. And Guo Feixiong is another activist. He is Gao Zhisheng’s friend. He’s still in jail today.
W: So you’re here, of course. Guo Feixiong is still in prison. What happened to Gao Zhisheng?
G: Gao Zhisheng, you know, the CCP kidnapped and put him in [a] black jail, [and] tortured him a lot. Pictures came out later showing he lost teeth and was much thinner. Yeah, and later the CCP put him in Xayar Prison. Okay. And later the CCP released him in 2015, but put him under house arrest in Shanbei Province. And then after 2 years, the CCP kidnapped him in August 2017.
W: Why did they kidnap him again? Was there…?
G: Because when the CCP put him under house arrest, he used [a] cell phone to write a book and transferred the document to the US and published the book. He continued writing and reporting about the CCP to Western media while he was under house arrest.
W: Gotcha.
G: Yeah. When his book, “[The Year] 2017, Stand Up, China” was published, he disappeared from Shanbei Province. His family went to the CCP’s police station – or even Beijing – to ask “Where is Gao Zhisheng?” They just refused to answer the question.
So since 2017, nobody knows where he is. Nine years have passed. Last week, I got a call from his wife. She asked me to record something to support him. So we can use the video to let the people know the CCP kidnapped famous attorney Gao Zhisheng. All the family, all the people try to ask [the] CCP, “Where is Gao Zhisheng?”
Even when Donald Trump went to visit Beijing, some organizations asked him to mention [something] about Gao Zhisheng. Now, more and more people [have] recorded something and published it to support Gao Zhisheng. Yeah, if our listeners want to do that, just record a short video, “Where is Gao Zhisheng? CCP, tell us where is Gao Zhisheng?” And share it on social media to support him.
W: So Guangcheng, we’ve covered a lot of human rights activists on our podcast. It seems like Gao Zhisheng is the only one that has disappeared for such a long time, right? Or…
G: He is the longest.
W: Yeah, for 9 years.
G: Yeah, for 9 years, no one knows where he is. But the CCP kidnapped not just him.
W: Sure.
G: Yeah, so a lot of families and activists or human rights lawyers, the CCP puts them in black jail and [doesn’t] let the family and the lawyers know.
W: Right. But for 9 years, like, do you think there’s any reason that his case has gone on for this long?
G: Gao Zhisheng is not a normal person, you know, he is very, very famous. You know, the US nominated us for the Nobel Peace Prize.
W: Gotcha. Okay.
G: So he is very famous and a lot of Western media reported on him.
W: Right. Do you think there’s a chance he’s still alive or?
G: No one knows that. Yeah, we should keep asking CCP to tell us about this..
W: Guangcheng, can you tell our listeners the importance of sharing, you know, this podcast, especially this episode, and like why it’s important for people to share this?
G: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please share our podcast on any social media to let more people learn about this. And please let the whole world understand how evil the CCP is. And please think [about] what we should do to support the activists in China and to punish the CCP.
W: Yeah, well, Guangcheng, we definitely encourage our listeners to share this episode in particular on the anniversary month of Gao Zhisheng’s disappearance.
And there’s plenty of material about his story, including a translated statement from his wife, on our website at humanrights.catholic.edu.
So we encourage you to do that. And of course, subscribe and share our podcast, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah.
W: Thank you very much everyone for listening to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China.
G: Thank you everyone.
Coming soon, a new documentary follows Chen Guangcheng as he travels to California to meet artist Chen Weiming at Liberty Sculpture Park, where powerful works of art confront the reality of human rights abuses under the Chinese Communist Party. Through their encounter, the film highlights the cost of speaking truth under authoritarianism and the enduring role of art and witness in the fight for freedom. Stay tuned for its release, coming soon.