Category Archives: Organization

About ICPC

Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) is a nongovernmental, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization beyond borders based on free association of those who write, edit, translate, research and publish literature work in Chinese and dedicated to freedom of expression for the workers in Chinese language and literature, including writers, journalists, translators, scholars and publishers over the world. ICPC is a member organization of International PEN, the global association of writers dedicated to freedom of expression and the defence of writers suffering governmental repression. Through the worldwide PEN network and its own membership base in China and abroad, ICPC is able to mobilize international attention to the plight of writers and editors within China attempting to write and publish with a spirit of independence and integrity, regardless of their political views, ideological standpoint or religious beliefs. Continue reading

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

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 Board of Directors (2018-2020)

President Tienchi MARTIN-LIAO (f, essayist, editor, translator, publisher; Germany)

First Vice-president GAO Yu (f, journalist, essayist, prisoner on medical parole; Beijing, China)

Second Vice-president ZHAO Shiying (aka Zhao Dagong, essayist, editor, former prisoner; Shenzhen, China) Continue reading

ICPC Secretariat

Secretary-general & Webmaster WANG Jinbo (essayist, editor, former prisoner; Beijing, China)

Deputy Secretary-general & Press Secretary PAN Yongzhong (essayist, editor, translator, publisher; Germany)

Deputy Secretary-general & Membership Rights Secretary YANG Guang (essayist, former prisoner; Hubei, China) Continue reading

Plainclothes Police Destroy Gao Yu’s Garden and Beat Up Her Son

Gao Yu

Gao Yu talks to reporters in her Beijing home after plainclothes police ransacked her garden and beat her son, March 31, 2016.

Plainclothes police raided the Beijing home of veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu on Thursday, sending the 72-year-old heart patient to the hospital while roughing up and detaining her son and destroying her garden in what supporters said was a bid to intimidate her. Continue reading

China Denies Gao Yu Permission to Leave For Germany

Gao Yu-Hong Kong

Demonstrators hold placards showing portraits of Chinese journalist Gao Yu during a protest in support of her outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong, April 17, 2015.

Authorities in the Chinese capital have effectively denied permission to veteran journalist Gao Yu to go to Germany for medical treatment, even though she is being allowed to serve her sentence outside of jail. Continue reading

174 Writers in Prison in China

Writers in Prison Committee

Independent Chinese PEN Center

August 2014

Writers and Journalists in Prison in China (recorded since 2004)

No.Name of WiP Sentence in Jail Remarks

1 KONG Youping 10 Years (15 y) 10 y Released

2 HUANG Jinqiu 8 y 1 m (12 y) 8 y 1 m Reduced

3 DU Daobin 3 Years 3 y + 1 m Released on bail

4 OUYANG Yi 2 Years 2 y Released Continue reading