China's price for protest
Updated on 04 June 2007
How the heavy hand of communism still tyrannises even the simplest of political bloggers
Plain clothes policemen track and sometimes obstruct 23-year-old Zeng Jinyan, Chinas most famous dissident blogger, every move.
A video was shot by her husband, AIDS activist Hu Jia, filming from their apartment where he was under house arrest, showing them blocking her every step.
He showed me the film in their small apartment - the police tried and failed to stop us entering. The film shows the secret police camped outside his window.
Two weeks ago, they prevented Hu and Jinyan from going to Europe where they planned to show it.
"They questioned me for 6 hours. They wanted to know what I did, who I met, and what I had published in Hong Kong. Then they announced that both my wife and I are suspected of harming state security and are banned from leaving the country."- Hu Jia, activist.
The film shows Zeng Jinyan trying to turn the tables by blocking and embarrassing the police. Her placard reads: "Shame To Insult a Woman". On another occasion she was filmed wearing a t-shirt saying "Shame on you for following me."
She like her husband has tried to highlight the plight of people with AIDS, something the Chinese government doesn't want to publicise.
During our interview, the police were never far behind. Her blog, which she started when Hu Jia disappeared for 41 days, has garnered international attention.
"I don't feel like a dissident. Sometimes, I don't think Hu Jia is a dissident either. We just uphold certain principles, but these principles are not permitted under our living conditions."- Zeng Jinyan, dissident blogger.
Today marks the 18th anniversary of the killings in Tiananmen Square. The government still denies this was a massacre and while China is far less repressive now, its by no means free.
In previous years, we wouldn't have been allowed to film on the Square today - it was deemed too sensitive. But eighteen years on, memories have faded. Today's activists and dissidents don't try to organise on the same scale. But they find when they criticise the government, they're deemed subversive, deprived of their liberty or worse.
The Olympic clock counts down above the square: 431 days to go. China said it would open up before the games but we've seen a document apparently issued from this building, the Public Security Bureau, defining 11 categories of people to be barred from the Olympics.
They include:
- media members or NGOs who may harm the Olympics
- dangerous elements and those seriously unhappy with the Party
- those who use the internet to promote bad feelings towards the Party
Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan fear the State Security Police may pay them even closer attention as the Olympics approach:
"The film is to let people know what it's like to be under house arrest, to be stalked and harassed. I'm only one of many Chinese citizens held illegally. This film provides evidence of the harm the Chinese government inflicts on its citizens - which it denies. The harm is intensified as the Olympics get closer." - Hu Jia
"I'm not too concerned about my own safety. According to my faith, life and death is determined by God. The bigger problem I face is pressure from my family and practical issues like simply surviving". - Zeng Jinyan
"The film is to let people know what it's like to be under house arrest, to be stalked and harassed. I'm only one of many Chinese citizens held illegally. "- Hu Jia
The Chinese government has mounted a massive public relations campaign for the Beijing Olympics showing China as successful, open and free.
The dissidents can't match the professionalism of the production but they do have humour on their side mocking the secret policemen who guard their flat; who spend their time eating; smoking; snoozing and picking their noses...
As the shadow of Tiananmen Square fades, these are images of the new China which the government would rather the world didn't see.
- Lindsey Hilsum, reporting for Channel 4 News from Beijing.
