(Midland, Texas) China Aid Association is pleased to announce Ms. Xu Qin as the winner of the Lin Zhao Freedom Award 2022. You can watch the video announcement here.
Ms. Xu is a well-known activist who served as the secretary general of the civil organization “China Human Rights Watch” and a spokesperson for Rose Team (玫瑰中国), a group committed to promoting political dialogue. Despite the arrests of her coworkers Qin Yongmin and Liu Xinglian in 2015, she remained unafraid and continued her work, paying close attention to human rights affairs, deeply participating in rights protections, and forming close relations with other petitioners and activists.
On February 9, 2018, before the trial of Qin Yongmin’s case of subversion of state power, Chinese officials criminally detained Ms. Xu. On March 11, she was placed under residential surveillance at a designated location and released on bail for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, an unfounded charge often used by the Chinese Communist Party to silence dissidents. She was also indicted on April 24, 2020, on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and placed under residential surveillance in May 2021. She was ultimately arrested on November 4, 2021 and is currently detained in the Yangzhou City Detention Center.
The Lin Zhao Freedom Award is awarded in honor of Lin Zhao, a Chinese Christian who was murdered for her dissent against the Communist Party. An outspoken author and poet, she was classified as a rightist in 1958 four years after enrolling at Peking University. In October 1960, she was arrested for participating in the planning of the underground publication “Xinghuo/Spark.” During her time imprisoned in the Tilanqiao Prison, she used her blood to write poetry and essays against then-Chairman Mao Zedong and the Chinse Communist Party’s “Tyranny Enslavement.” On April 29, 1968, Lin Zhao was sentenced to death, and the officials shot her on the same day.
On August 22, 1980, the Shanghai Higher People’s Court posthumously revoked the ruling and found her not guilty on the grounds of mental illness. On December 30, 1981, they reviewed the case again and concluded that the mental illness ruling was inappropriate, fully acquitting her.
On the 50th anniversary of Lin’s death in 2018, ChinaAid established the Lin Zhao Freedom Award to be given to Chinese citizens who show an exemplary commitment to Chinese civil society and the progression of rule of law. All five members of the award selection committee voted unanimously for Ms Xu Qin after a challenging deliberation process because all ten nominees were highly qualified for the award. Even though it is named after her, the Lin Zhao Freedom Award does not have any relation with Lin Zhao’s family members.
“Ms. Xu exemplifies the legacy of Lin Zhao in her commitment to her faith and pursuit of a free democratic China even at great cost to herself,” Dr. Bob Fu, Founder and President of ChinaAid, said of this year’s recipient. He continued, “We admire her courage and pray for justice for her case. We urge the world to do the same.”
ChinaAid is committed to honoring activists, leaders, and prisoners of conscience like Xu Qin who the Chinese Communist Party tries and fails to silence.
