Activism
Chen's first petitioned authorities in 1996, when he traveled to Beijing to complain about taxes that were incorrectly being levied on his family (people with disabilities, such as Chen, are supposed to be exempt from taxation and fees). The complaint was successful, and Chen began petioning for other individuals with disabilities. With funding from a British foundation, Chen became an outspoken activist for disability rights within the China Law Society. His reputation as a disability rights advocate was solidified when agreed to advocate for an elderly blind couple whose grandchildren suffered from paralysis. The family had been paying all of the regular taxes and fees, but Chen believed that, under the law, the family should have received government assistance and exemption from taxation. When the case went to court, blind citizens from surrounding counties were in attendance as a show of solidarity. The case was successful, and the outcome became well-known.
In 1997, the leaders of Chen's village began implementing a land use plan that gave authorities control over 60 percent of land, which they then rented out at high cost to the villages. The plan, known as the "two-field system," was a major source of enrichment for the local government. While studying in Nanjing the following year, however, Chen learned that the program was illegal, and he petitioned central authorities in Beijing to end the system, thereby irritating local officials.
In 2000, Chen returned from his studies in Nanjing to his village of Dongshigu in an effort to confront environmental pollution. A paper mill constructed in 1988 had been dumping toxic wastewater into the Meng river, destroying crops and harming wildlife. The chemicals also reportedly caused skin and digestive problems among villagers living downstream from the mill. Chen organized villagers in his hometown and 78 other villages to petition against the mill. The effort was successful, and resulted in the suspension of the paper mill. In addition, Chen contacted the British embassy in Beijing, informing them of the situation and requesting funding for a well to supply clean water to locals. The British government responded by providing £15,000 towards a deep water well, irrigation systems and water pipelines.
In March 2004, more than 300 residents from Chen's village of Dongshigu filed a petition to the village government demanding that they release the village accounts—which hadn't been made public for over ten years—and address the issue of illegal land requisitions. When village authorities failed to respond, villagers escalated their appeals to the township, county and municipal governments, still without response. Village authorities then began to publicly threaten villagers. In November 2004, Chen acted on behalf of villagers to file a lawsuit in the Qi'nan County Court against the local Public Security Bureau for negligence. The case was accepted, and proceedings began in early 2005.
In 2005, Chen spent several months surveying residents of Shandong Province, collecting accounts of forced, late-term abortions and forced sterilization of women who stood in violation of China’s one-child policy. His survey was based in Linyi and included surrounding rural suburbs. Chen later recalled that his survey would have been significantly larger in scope were he not limited by a lack of financial resources.
Though Chinese central authorities have sought to curb the coercive enforcement of the one-child policy since 1990 by replacing measures such as forced abortions and sterilizations with a system of financial incentives and fines, Chen found that coercive practices remained widespread, and he documented numerous cases of abuse. One of the women he interviewed in Maxiagou village, 36-year-old Feng Zhongxia, said that local officials detained and beat her relatives, and indicated they would not be released until she turned herself in and submitted to a forced abortion. She said she was later subjected to forced sterilization. Chen also solicited the help of prominent legal scholar Teng Biao, who conducted his own interviews in Linyi. Teng and Chen later released a report claiming that an estimated 130,000 residents in the city had been forced into 'study sessions' for refusing abortions or violating the one-child policy; residents would be held for days or weeks in the study sessions, and were allegedly beaten.
In 2005, Chen filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of women from Linyi against the city's family planning staff. And in June, he traveled to Beijing to file the complaint and meet with foreign reporters to publicize the case. Although there had been prior instances of Chinese citizens filing complaints about abuses under the one-child policy, Chen’s initiative was the first class-action lawsuit to challenge its implementation.
Although the suit he filed was rejected, the case garnered international media attention. Responding to questions about Chen’s allegation, a senior official with the National Population and Family Planning Commission told the Washington Post that the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations was “definitely illegal,” and indicated that the complaints were being investigated. “If the Linyi complaints are true, or even partly true, it's because local officials do not understand the new demands of the Chinese leadership regarding family planning work,” said the official. In September 2005, the Commission announced that several Linyi officials had been detained. But local authorities in Linyi retaliated against Chen, placing him under house arrest in September 2005 and embarking on a campaign to undermine his reputation; the Linyi officials portrayed him as working for "foreign anti-China forces", pointing out that he had received foreign funding for his advocacy on behalf of the disabled.
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