Category Archives: Documents

Where There Is Life, There Is Hope – Briefings on the Ninth Congress of ICPC and Its Administration Changes

Where There Is Life, There Is Hope

– Briefings on the Ninth Congress of ICPC and Its Administration Changes

From April 29 to May 13, 2020, the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) held online the ninth congress of its Membership Assembly. 82 of its 153 voting members signed up to attend the congress. The membership assembly held four plenary sessions, approved the work and financial reports submitted by the Board of Directors, and elected the new Board according to its Charter. Among 11 candidates, nine were elected as the directors. They are Mr. ZHAO Shiying, Mr. LI Hai, Mr. ZHAO Changqing, Ms. LI Jianhong, Mr. XU Yonghai. Ms. LIU Di, Mr. LIU Zhengqing, Mr. Song TAN and Mr. PEI Yiran. Mr. DU Daobin and Mr. SUN Honglu were elected as alternate directors. Eight of them are based in China mainland though the human rights situation there have been getting worse with 13 of their colleagues of ICPC members still imprisoned, including Mr. ZHANG Guiqi (aka LU Yang), the 12th candidate who have been detained for suspision of “inciting subversion” by the police in Shandong Province since May 1 before the ICPC election. Continue reading

Charter of Independent Chinese PEN Center

(Adopted by the 2nd Congress of Membership Assembly, 23 October 2005, and amended by the 5th Congress of Membership Assembly, 19 October 2011 and the 8th Congress of Membership Assembly, 11 April 2018)

Chapter One: Generals

Article 1.

This PEN Center shall be a nongovernmental, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization beyond borders based on free association of those (generalized below as the Workers of Chinese Literature) who write, edit, translate, research and publish literature work in Chinese worldwide.

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Briefings on the Eighth Congress of ICPC and Its Administration Change

Never Ever Put Our Pens Down

Briefings on the Eighth Congress of ICPC and Its Administration Change

ICPC Secretariat

(May 2nd, 2018)

From March 28 to April 9, 2018, the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) held the eighth congress of its membership assembly in its online community. 115 of its 213 voting members were recorded to attend the congress. The membership assembly held four sessions, amended the “Charter of Independent Chinese PEN Center” and the “Independent Chinese PEN Center’s Rules of Procedure of Membership Assembly”, and approved the work report and financial report submitted by the Board of Directors. The Membership Assembly reelected the board of directors according to its Charter. Among 12 candidates, 9 were elected as board members. They are Mr. WANG Jinbo, Ms. Tienchi MARTIN-LIAO, Ms. GAO Yu, Mr. ZHAO Shiying, Mr. HE Depu, Ms. QI Jiazhen, Mr. LI Hai, Ms. LIU Di and Mr. DU Daobin. Among them, seven are based in China. It is worth mentioning that Ms. GAO Yu, a famous dissident who had been jailed three times for freedom of speech, Mr. HE Depu and Mr. WANG Jinbo who were jailed due to founding the Democratic Party of China in the 1990s, have brought in new blood to the Board of Directors. Mr. PAN Yongzhong and Mr. XU Yonghai were elected as alternate board members. Continue reading

ICPC Statement on PEN International Day of Imprisoned Writers

For Press Release
15 November 2014

Chen Shuqing Honored the Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award and 17 Writers Adopted as Honorary Members

Chen ShuqingThe Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) has honoured Mr. CHEN Shuqinqing, its member and an imprisoned writer in China, this year’s Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award for his long-term tenacity and courage in writing despite the threat of imprisonment. In addition, ICPC have adopted seventeen of writers imprisoned in China as its new honorary members, including WANG Bingzhang, GARTSE Jigme, WO Zhongxiao, WANG Jianmin, SHEN Yongping, TANG Jingling, WANG Qingying, YUAN Chaoyang, XU Zhiqiang, HUANG Zerong, GUO Yushan, KOU Yanding, HUANG Kaiping, ZHANG Miao, CHEN Kun, CHEN Yongzhou and JIANG Lijun.

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ICPC Statement on the Detention of Its Member Li Jianhong for Returning to China

For Press Release

Li JianhongThe Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) is outraged to learn that its member Miss Li Jianhong (aka Xiao Qiao) was taken into custody by the police from her home in Shanghai, China, in the afternoon of 12 February 2014, since when she has been held incommunicado in an unknown location. ICPC fears that Miss Li has been unjustly detained and mistreated for her returning to China as well as for her words and deeds abroad, and therefore strongly demands the Chinese authorities to restore her personal freedom, and ensure all of her legal rights. Continue reading

ICPC Statement on Criminal Detention of Uyghur PEN Member Ilham Tohti

(January 30th, 2014)

Ilham TohtiIndependent Chinese PEN Center is seriously concerned about the reports of criminal detention of Ilham Tohti, a member of Uyghur PEN and associate professor of economics at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, and fears that he has been retaliated for his criticizing remarks. ICPC calls on the government to restitute as soon as possible his personal freedom, freedom of expression and other basic rights, and release all of those imprisoned for their words, including ICPC former and honorary president Dr. Liu Xiaobo. Continue reading

ICPC Statement to Protest against the Sentence of Its Honorable Member Xu Zhiyong

(26 January 2014)

Xu ZhiyongIndependent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) protests in the strongest terms against sentencing Mr. Xu Zhiyong, its honorable member and Lin Zhao Memorial Award Laureate for 2013, and the initiator of New Citizens’ Movement, to four years imprisonment for “gathering crowds to disrupt public order” announced today by the First People’s Intermediate Court of Beijing. ICPC believes that this verdict, based solely on accounting six small-scale New Citizens’ Movement’s street demonstration and protest activities as being organized, planned and incited by Xu Zhiyong, has completely violated the basic human rights to the freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration, guaranteed to citizens by Article 35 of China’s Constitution and by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which China signed in 1998, and is simply another serious political and judicial persecution in reality. ICPC therefore calls on organizations in China and abroad to urge the Chinese authorities to rectify as soon as possible this miscarriage of justice, and release immediately and unconditionally Mr. Xu Zhiyong and all of those imprisoned for peaceful exercises of their civil rights. Continue reading

ICPC Statement on PEN International Day of Imprisoned Writers

For Press Release
15 November 2013

Two Writers Honoured the Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award

The Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) has honoured two imprisoned writers, TAN Zuoren and Nguyen Xuan Nghia (Vietnam) the ICPC’s 2013 Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award for their long-term tenacity and courage in writing despite the threat of imprisonment. In addition, ICPC have named four writers as new honorary members, including LIU Benqi, XU Zhiyong, LIU Hu and YANG Maodong. Continue reading