IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1650 

Calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately 

release Chen Guangcheng and his relatives from house arrest and to 

cease persecuting and harassing Chen Guangcheng, his relatives, and 

supporters. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. WOLF, Mr. PITTS, and Mr. 

FORTENBERRY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

to immediately release Chen Guangcheng and his relatives from house arrest and to cease persecuting and 

harassing Chen Guangcheng, his relatives, and supporters. 

Whereas Chen Guangcheng, a citizen of the People’s Republic 

of China, overcame great obstacles, including the loss of 

his sight due to a childhood disease, to become a self-educated lawyer; 

Whereas in 2005, Chen collected testimony and evidence on 

a one-child policy enforcement campaign in Linyi county, 

Shandong province, which resulted in 130,000 forced 


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2 

•HRES 1650 IH 

abortions and sterilizations, according to press reports 

cited by the United States Department of State; 

Whereas in 2005, Chen met with legal scholars and foreign 

journalists to discuss filing a class-action lawsuit against 

those responsible for the one-child policy enforcement 

campaign in Linyi county and to publicize the enforcement campaign; 

Whereas in 2005, Chinese officials placed Chen under effective house arrest, surrounding his house with police officials, not permitting him to leave freely, and restricting 

others’ access to his home and village; 

Whereas in August 2006, Chinese officials convicted Chen of 

property destruction and assembling a crowd to disrupt 

traffic and sentenced him to four years, three months in 

prison; 

Whereas Chinese officials announced Chen’s trial date several 

days before the trial, detained the lawyers he had selected 

to represent him, and refused to permit them to enter the 

courtroom; 

Whereas Chen was beaten by his fellow prisoners, prevented 

from communicating with his family, and suffered chronic and serious illness while in prison; 

Whereas since 2005, Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, has been 

placed under varying degrees of house arrest, surveillance, and visitors to their house have been beaten and 

harassed, and their children prevented from enrolling in 

school; 

Whereas, on September 9, 2010, the date Chen’s sentence expired, Chinese officials transported Chen from prison to 

his house, which officials have surrounded with police and 

surveillance cameras; 


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•HRES 1650 IH 

Whereas Chen has called on ‘‘international organizations and 

people of conscience’’ to react to his continued house arrest ‘‘in a united manner . . . If they can help me today, 

their actions will help another person tomorrow’’; 

Whereas in 2006, Chen was included in Time magazine’s list 

of ‘‘2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World’’ in 

the category of ‘‘Heroes and Pioneers’’, and in 2007, 

Chen was recognized with the Ramon Magsaysay Award, 

which cited, ‘‘his irrepressible passion for justice in leading ordinary Chinese citizens to assert their legitimate 

rights under the law’’; 

Whereas the violence that Chen sought to document in 2005 

is ongoing, and in 2010 there are reliable reports of large 

scale and violent abortion enforcement campaigns in 

Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces; 

Whereas it is not known that the Government of the People’s 

Republic of China has ever punished an official for forcing a woman to undergo abortion or sterilization; and 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

links officials’ job promotion with their ability to meet or 

exceed population planning targets, evaluates officials by 

a system that rewards them for overseeing compulsory 

abortions, and frequently urges officials to ‘‘rigorously’’ 

enforce compulsory abortion on pregnant women who do 

not have a birth permit: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) calls on the Government of the People’s Re3 public of China to immediately release Chen 

4 Guangcheng and his relatives from house arrest and 


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•HRES 1650 IH 

1 to cease persecuting and harassing Chen 

2 Guangcheng, his relatives, and supporters; 

3 (2) calls on the Government of the People’s Re4 public of China to ensure that Chen Guangcheng 

5 has access to medical treatment; 

6 (3) calls on the Government of the People’s Re7 public of China to investigate the one-child policy 

8 enforcement campaign held in 2005 in Linyi county, 

9 Shandong province, and to punish those responsible 

10 for the massive human rights violations perpetrated 

11 in connection with that campaign; and 

12 (4) condemns the birth limitation policy of the 

13 Government of the People’s Republic of China, par14 ticularly the enforcement of birth limitations 

15 through policies that encourage officials to physically 

16 force women to have abortions or to be sterilized or 

17 both. 

Æ 


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