Last Wednesday morning around 5am, Xu Zhiyong, a Chinese lawyer, legal scholar, legislator and human rights activist was grabbed by public security police at his Beijing apartment and hustled away. He has not been seen or heard from since. His blog's gone silent.


Xu was the founder of the Open Constitution Initiative (in Chinese, Gongmeng), which was also shut down last week. Gongmeng is a kind of Chinese ACLU--they took on pro bono cases for cheated workers, and more recently advocated for reparations for the kids harmed in the tainted Sanlu milk scandal.

What's important here is that Xu, and Gongmeng, aren't dissidents or radicals. They believe in working for justice through the system--in this case, through China's legal system (however flawed and corrupt it might be). Xu is a bright light of his young generation. If China is going to move forward it will be because of pragmatic idealists like him.

Why is China cracking down on him and his organization? There is lots of speculation but I'm inclined to go with the theory of scholar Qian Gang:

If NGOs are cravenly obedient, they might continue in China without incident. But if, like Gongmeng, they work determinedly toward democracy, rule of law and social justice, making their presence felt in major legal cases, they will find opposition from the authorities.

It is chilling indeed to see an NGO to be targeted in such a way. The party now seems to regard even the most moderate forces of change as a scourge on its leadership. And the only explanation for this can be that hardline, extreme elements within the party are making their influence felt. These are dangerous signs!

For China's progressive wing, Xu's detention is particularly disheartening--as an anonymous correspondent wrote to James Fallows:

.. to know they actually detained Dr. Xu, a highly respected lawyer and a people's representative of Haidian District [the northwest university/tech district of Beijing], just as they do to any other petitioner is just shocking. This means that nobody is safe from random detainment, or free from the fear of it.

China commemorates the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic this October 1st. Stomping on concerned citizens like Xu Zhiyong is a hell of a way to celebrate it.