Xu Zhiyong Is Missing

Xu Zhiyong went missing sometime in the morning on July 29, 2009. At the time, Xu was the prominent head of the Open Constitution Initiative (gongmeng), a research and advocacy group dedicated to promoting the rule of law in China. Heightened media attention brought about Xu's release about four weeks later, but only after his organization was charged with tax evasion and saddled with 1.4 million RMB in fines and back taxes (Canavas 2009).

Six years before, Xu was emerging as a star in the people's congress system. In 2003, he was elected as an independent candidate to a lowerlevel people's congress in Haidian, a district of Beijing. Xu quickly earned a reputation as an activist deputy eager to address the needs of the people. In 2004, he worked with deputies at the national level to propose an amendment – which was subsequently adopted – to include the words “human rights” in the country's constitution. Other motions aimed to improve education for children of migrant workers and to ensure fair compensation for displaced residents.

Xu's activism made him something of a cult hero among proponents of democratic reform.One TIME reporter described Xu as “probably the person most committed to public service that I've met in China, and possibly inmy whole life” (Osnos 2009). In 2009, themagazine Mr. Fashion – China's version of Esquire – ran a feature that asked sixty prominent individuals to explain their vision of a “Chinese Dream.” Xu Zhiyong was featured on the cover.

At the time of his first detention in 2009, Xu had started pushing the boundaries a little too far. In 2009, his Open Constitution Initiative issued reports condemning oppression of minorities in Tibet and advocating greater transparency in government expenditures. Xu also personally worked to provide legal assistance to citizens illegally detained in black jails,which sadly probably contributed to his own detention months later.

Shortly after the charges of tax evasion – a common pretense for political purges – Xu's organization and its website were banned. Xu himself was prohibited from teaching law, which he had been doing at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications for many years. He lost his deputy seat in Haidian in the following election.