Picking quarrels and provoking trouble
 | This article is missing information about predecessor (流氓罪; criminal hooliganism), and the entire 口袋罪 (catch-all crime) classification. (December 2020) |
| Picking quarrels and provoking trouble | |||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 寻衅滋事 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 尋釁滋事 | ||||||
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Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (Chinese: 寻衅滋事; pinyin: xúnxìn zīshì) (also translated as picking quarrels and stirring up trouble or picking quarrels and making trouble) is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China.
Overview
It comes under article 293 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code, and carries a maximum sentence of five years.[1] The former offense of "hooliganism" was removed in the same revision of the penal code.[2]
The crime is defined as undermining public order by creating a disturbance in a public place.[3] It is a type of criminal disorderly conduct.
As this is an ill-defined crime, it has frequently been used as an excuse to arrest human rights activists, civil rights activists, and lawyers in China, and hold them in detention pending more serious charges such as inciting subversion of state power.[3]
Text of the law
Article 293 of the 1997 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China:
Article 293. Whoever undermines public order with anyone of the following provocative and disturbing behaviors is to be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, or control:
(1) willfully attacking another person and the circumstances are bad; (2) chasing, intercepting, or cursing another person, and the circumstances are bad; (3) forcibly taking away, demanding, or willfully damaging or seizing public or private property; and the circumstances are serious; (4) creating a disturbance in a public place, causing serious disorder.[1]
Discussion
Zhu Zhengfu, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice-chair of the All China Lawyers Association, said that the law's "legal ambiguity breeds room for selective law enforcement, damages the public’s legal interests and undermines judicial credibility." Zhu argued in 2022 that the law should be eliminated.[2]
List of notable people charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble
- Li Tingting (李婷婷), Wei Tingting (韦婷婷), Zheng Churan (郑楚然), Wu Rongrong (武嵘嵘), and Wang Man (王曼) (see Arrest of Chinese Feminists in 2015)
- A-nya Sengdra (Tibetan: ཨ་ཉ་སེང་སྒྲ; Chinese: 阿亚桑扎), a Tibetan anti-corruption activist who was arrested in September 2018[4]
- Cao Shunli, a lawyer and human rights activist who was arrested at Beijing Airport in September 2013, and subsequently died in detention in March 2014[5]
- Huang Xueqin (黄雪琴), a journalist who was prominent in China's Me Too movement and who wrote about the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests was arrested for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in October 2019[6]
- Huang Tingliting (黄婷李婷), another prominent journalist who was arrested for spreading "misinformation" regarding the coronavirus pandemic
- Liu Ping
- Nankezhou (南柯舟)
- Pu Zhiqiang
- Qin Huohuo
- Tie Liu
- Wang Meiyu (王美雨), democracy activist who died in police custody under suspicious circumstances in September 2019 after having been arrested for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in July 2019[7]
- Xiao Chuanguo (肖传国)
- Yang Maodong, a Chinese human rights lawyer, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 after being charged with disturbing public order and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".[8]
- Wang Jingyu, a teenager who made comments on social media about the India-China border standoff and Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrations.[9]
- Zhang Zhan (张展), a citizen journalist who reported on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan was arrested in May 2020, and sentenced to four years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in December 2020.[10][11]
- Zhao Lianhai
- Zhou Li (周莉)
- Sun Dawu, a billionaire sentenced to eighteen years in prison in July 2021.[12]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China". Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Vienna. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ a b "Stop making it a crime to 'pick quarrels' in China, says leading lawyer". South China Morning Post. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Report submitted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention — Addendum: Visit to the People's Republic of China, 1997" (PDF). United Nations. 22 December 1997. Retrieved 20 December 2018.[dead link]
- ^ "China detains Tibetan anti-corruption activist on politicised charge of 'provoking trouble'". 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Richardson, Sophie (14 March 2014). "Dispatches: The Death of a Defender in China". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ Hernández, Javier C. (24 October 2019). "China Holds #MeToo Activist Who Wrote About Hong Kong Protests". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ Kuo, Lily (27 September 2019). "Death of Chinese activist in police custody prompts calls for investigation into torture". The Guardian.
- ^ Buckley, Chris (2 February 2021). "A Chinese Dissident Tried to Fly to His Sick Wife in the U.S. Then He Vanished". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ Press, Associated. "Teen With US Ties Again on the Run From China With Fiancee". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "Zhang Zhan: China jails citizen journalist for Wuhan reports". BBC News. 28 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ "Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China's Christmas crackdown". the Guardian. 2020-12-28. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "Outspoken billionaire Sun Dawu jailed for 18 years in China". The BBC. 2021-07-29.