Another
Chinese
Writer
Detained
Arrest
of Zhou
Yuanzhi
brings
number
of
imprisoned
writers
to 40
New York,
Toronto,
Stockholm,
May 6,
2008！Zhou
Yuanzhi,
a writer
and
member
of the
Independent
Chinese
PEN
Center,
has been
detained
in
connection
with his
writings
and
could
face
trial
for
inciting
subversion,
a
development
PEN
called
＾another
troublesome
indication
that a
crackdown
on
freedom
of
expression
is
underway
in
China
ahead of
the
Beijing
Olympic
Games.￣
Zhou
Yuanzhi
has been
in
custody
since
May 3,
2008.
According
to PEN¨s
sources,
Zhou and
his wife
were
taken
away by
the
police
of the
National
Security
Bureau
of
Zhongxiang
City,
Hubei
Province.
His wife
was
released
and
placed
under
house
arrest.
Zhou is
still in
custody,
and has
been
formally
detained
on
suspicion
of
＾inciting
subversion,￣
a charge
used
against
many
writers
in
China.
Calls to
Zhou¨s
home
remained
unanswered
as of
May 6,
provoking
fears
that his
phone
line has
been
cut.
Zhou
Yuanzhi,
aged 47,
is a
freelance
writer
who has
published
two
books in
Hong
Kong,
as well
as over
500
pieces
of
writing
under
several
pen
names in
overseas
Chinese
magazines
and on
overseas
Web
sites,
and have
included
political
commentaries,
reportages,
essays
and
short
stories.
Many of
his
articles
have
been
critiques
on
social
issues
and
official
corruption.
Zhou
graduated
from the
Zhongnan
University
of
Economics
in 1988
and then
became a
taxation
official.
In 1992,
after an
article
he
contributed
to
Voice of
America
was
censored
by the
National
Security
police,
he was
dismissed
from his
post as
deputy
chief of
the
Downtown
Branch
of
Taxation
Bureau
of
Zhongxiang
City
and
expelled
from the
Communist
Party of
China.
PEN
American
Center,
PEN
Canada,
and the
Independent
Chinese
PEN
Center
are
among
the 145
worldwide
centers
of
International
PEN, an
organization
that
works to
promote
friendship
and
intellectual
co-operation
among
writers
everywhere,
to fight
for
freedom
of
expression,
and
represent
the
conscience
of world
literature.
On
December
10,
2007,
the
centers
launched
We Are
Ready
for
Freedom
of
Expression,
an
Olympic
countdown
campaign
to
protest
China¨s
imprisonment
of at
least 40
writers
and
journalists
and to
seek an
end to
internet
censorship
and
other
restrictions
on the
freedom
to write
in that
country.
For more
information,
please
visit
www.pen.org/china2008,
www.pencanada.ca,
and
www.chinesepen.org.
