Chen Xi: Family or democracy, a choice he cannot make

When he was released from prison, his father-in-law gave him two options.
Either to withdraw from all democratic activism, or to cut all ties with his family and divorce his wife.
“Your 13 years of imprisonment has already harmed this family enough.”
Chen Xi was unable to make that choice; both activism and family are things that he could not give up. In the end, his daughter came forth and save the day, standing resolutely by her father side. The issue of divorce was thus shelved.
The suffering of this family was fated since that day in 1989. It was 5 June, the day after the Tiananmen Massacre, when the bloodstain was still wet, when the whole country was terrified and stunned into silence, and when leaders of the movement either went into hiding or escaped. Chen Xi however, went against the tide and formed the “Guizhou Patriotic Democratic Alliance” in Guiyang, in order to carry on the democratic movement and protest against the massacre. At the meeting where the Alliance was formed, Chen Xi said, “Everyone here today risks their lives in coming here… We are here to protest against tyranny, and we will protest against tyranny with the fearlessness of striking stone with eggs.”
The Alliance issued the “Statement to our fellow countrymen of Guizhou” and “Strike Declaration”, printing and distributing them among workers and citizens. It even organized a thousand strong people strike to protest against the state’s brutal suppression. Retaliation was swift; on 13 June, Chen Xi and many members of the Alliance were arrested. This “illegal organisation” which had existed only for about a week, brought Chen Xi his first prison term of 3 years. The former university teacher and Communist Party cadre became a steadfast “counter-revolutionary” from then on.
Chen Xi was released in 1992, and was arrested again in 3 short years. This time, he was arrested as the leader of the Democratic Party of China Guizhou division. This was also a short-lived party; its key members had almost all been arrested even before it had publicly announced its formation. The only thing they did in the name of the Democratic Party was to issued two public letters and distribute some leaflets on Tiananmen Square. Even so, Chen Xi was still sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for “organizing and leading a counter-revolutionary clique”.
In prison, the authorities brought him a pre-written confession, telling him to sign. As long as he put his name on it, he would be granted a substantial reduction of his sentence.
“At that time I really want to sign it, I did not want to stay there one second longer. I wish so much to go back to my family. Every moment I was imagining that the next minute, my daughter and wife would be there by my side…. I hesitated for a long time, I had even picked up the pen. But when I really tried to put my name on that few pieces of paper, I discovered that I simply could not do it. The pen was in my hand, but it just wouldn’t go down, wouldn’t go down…”
He ended up serving the full 10 years term. The next day after he walked out of prison, he was back working for the democratic movement. He set up the annual “Guizhou Citizens Human Rights Forum”, became Charter 08’s first batch of signatories, and ran for the People’s Congress election as an independent candidate in an attempt to challenge the state’s fake election.
Unsurprisingly, he was soon back in prison. He was charged with inciting subversion and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2011. In total he was sentenced thrice to a total of 23 years imprisonment, and as a result was unable to be by his parents’ side when they passed away.
His wife Zhang Qunxuan appears to have gotten use to such cycle. When Chen Xi was in prison, she would pick and mail books for him, and travel several hundred miles each month to visit him and bring him stuff. When Chen Xi was out, and when “prison guards” followed him to the door of their home, she stayed cool and composed, going to work and taking care of the family as usual. When Chen Xi was being tried, phone lines at home were cut and her mobile phone became monitored. A journalist asked her if she was afraid, she calmly replied, “What is the use of being afraid?”
“If his imprisonment could cause many more people to wake up to the reality of this country, then I am proud to have such a husband,” she said.
(中文版)
