IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 877 
Expressing support for Chinese human rights activists Huang Qi and Tan 
Zuoren for engaging in peaceful expression as they seek answers and 
justice for the parents whose children were killed in the Sichuan earth-
quake of May 12, 2008. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 29, 2009 
Mr. WU (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. WOLF, Mr. SMITH 
of New Jersey, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. SKELTON, 
Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of 
California, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. REYES, Mr. THOMPSON 
of Mississippi, Mr. HONDA, Mr. CAO, Ms. CHU, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. 
HIRONO, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. STARK, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. SMITH of 
Washington, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. FLAKE, Ms. WASSERMAN 
SCHULTZ, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. JONES, Mr. BART-
LETT, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. MITCHELL, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 
HALL of New York, Ms. KILROY, Mr. COHEN, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Mr. MILLER of North 
Carolina, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. BAIRD, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. ING-
LIS, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 
BILBRAY, Mr. GRAYSON, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. SIRES, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. 
ADERHOLT, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. 
WHITFIELD, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. 
NUNES, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. 
SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. WAMP, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. 
KINGSTON, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. 
CRENSHAW, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 
HINCHEY, 
Mr. 
PASCRELL, 
Mr. 
CAPUANO, 
Mr. 
STUPAK, 
Mr. 
PERLMUTTER, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, 
Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. 
CARSON of Indiana, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. BUR-
TON of Indiana, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. 
PETRI, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. BAR-
TON of Texas, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. TANNER, Mr. 
MOORE of Kansas, Mr. FILNER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 
MOLLOHAN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. JACKSON of Illi-
nois, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
03:35 Oct 30, 2009
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•HRES 877 IH 
SABLAN, Mr. COOPER, Ms. BEAN, and Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for Chinese human rights activists 
Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren for engaging in peaceful 
expression as they seek answers and justice for the par-
ents whose children were killed in the Sichuan earth-
quake of May 12, 2008. 
Whereas Chinese human rights activists Huang Qi and Tan 
Zuoren both sought to help the parents whose children 
were killed as a result of the collapse of numerous school 
buildings during the Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 
2008; 
Whereas the parents allege that school buildings collapsed at 
a much higher rate than other types of buildings during 
the Sichuan earthquake; 
Whereas the parents also allege that poor construction con-
tributed to the higher rate of school building collapses 
and that possible corruption among local officials and 
builders contributed to inferior construction and poor 
maintenance of the school buildings; 
Whereas Chinese courts have refused to hear lawsuits 
brought by parents seeking accountability for the school 
collapses, and Chinese officials have warned lawyers not 
to take on these cases; 
Whereas local Chinese officials have taken steps to prevent 
parents from petitioning to higher authorities and have 
kept some parents in arbitrary detention; 
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•HRES 877 IH 
Whereas, Huang Qi, founder of the human rights advocacy 
website 
Tianwang 
Human 
Rights 
Center 
(64tianwang.com), traveled to the earthquake zone after 
the Sichuan earthquake and later posted articles on his 
website about the demands by parents for an investiga-
tion into the collapse of school buildings that killed thou-
sands of children; 
Whereas plainclothes police took Huang into custody on June 
10, 2008, and Chengdu public security officials formally 
arrested him on July 18, 2008, on charges of illegally 
possessing state secrets; 
Whereas Huang’s lawyer said that during Huang’s detention, 
authorities questioned him about interviews he conducted 
during visits to areas affected by the quake; 
Whereas Chinese officials have considerable discretion to de-
clare information a state secret, and their power to use 
such a charge to deny defendants access to counsel and 
an open trial is subject to few limitations; 
Whereas Huang’s closed trial was held on August 5, 2009, 
and according to the international nongovernmental orga-
nization Human Rights in China, four police officers kid-
napped a volunteer for the Tianwang Human Rights 
Center, Pu Fei, to prevent him from testifying on 
Huang’s behalf; 
Whereas Huang suffers from numerous serious medical con-
ditions, but Chinese authorities reportedly have denied 
him adequate treatment; 
Whereas Chinese officials denied requests to allow Huang to 
visit his seriously ill father, who passed away in early 
September 2009; 
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•HRES 877 IH 
Whereas following the Sichuan earthquake, writer and envi-
ronmental activist Tan Zuoren was active in calling for 
the government to investigate the cause of the large num-
ber of school building collapses during the earthquake; 
Whereas Tan was quoted in a May 27, 2008, South China 
Morning Post article as saying that ‘‘the government and 
the public must work together to find an answer’’ regard-
ing why so many school buildings collapsed and urging 
local governments to inspect other school buildings for 
poor construction; 
Whereas in February 2009, Tan issued a proposal via the 
Internet calling on volunteers to travel to Sichuan to 
compile lists of students killed in the quake, research the 
treatment of the deceased students’ parents, and conduct 
an independent investigation into the quality of school 
building construction; 
Whereas Tan issued a preliminary report in March 2009 that 
criticized officials for failing to follow through on a com-
mitment to fully investigate the role that inferior con-
struction played in the school building collapses and for 
failure to deal with parents’ demands; 
Whereas authorities detained Tan on March 28, 2009, three 
days after the report was published; 
Whereas the indictment, dated July 17, 2009, said Tan was 
charged with inciting subversion of state power in part 
because he gave interviews to international media after 
the earthquake in which he allegedly harmed the image 
of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Gov-
ernment; 
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Whereas Tan’s trial, held by the Chengdu Intermediate Peo-
ple’s Court on August 12, 2009, was marred by proce-
dural violations; 
Whereas the court reportedly rejected requests by Tan’s law-
yers to call three witnesses, including Ai Weiwei, a noted 
artist who helped design the Beijing Olympics’ National 
Stadium, or Bird’s Nest, and who also was investigating 
student deaths in the Sichuan earthquake; 
Whereas Ai told various news agencies that police came to his 
hotel and used force to prevent him and 10 other volun-
teers from leaving until after the trial ended; 
Whereas Tan’s lawyers reported that the judge frequently cut 
them off during the trial and that their request to show 
video evidence was not accepted; 
Whereas the parents of earthquake victims who attempted to 
attend Tan’s trial were detained; 
Whereas court officials reportedly did not allow reporters into 
the courtroom, and police also barred hundreds of sup-
porters from entering the courtroom, saying the sup-
porters needed passes even though court officials had told 
them earlier that no passes were necessary; 
Whereas the courts have not yet issued judgments in either 
Huang’s case or Tan’s case; and 
Whereas the Chinese Government’s own National Human 
Rights Action Plan, issued by the State Council Informa-
tion Office in April 2009, says that ‘‘the state will guar-
antee citizens’ rights to criticize, give advice to, complain 
of, and accuse state organs and civil servants, and give 
full play to the role of mass organizations, social organi-
zations and the news media in supervising state organs 
and civil servants’’: Now, therefore, be it 
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•HRES 877 IH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses its support for Huang Qi and Tan 
Zuoren for engaging in peaceful expression as they 
seek answers and justice for the parents whose chil-
dren were killed in the Sichuan earthquake of May 
12, 2008; and 
(2) calls on the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China to— 
(A) provide Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren 
with the rights that all Chinese citizens have 
under article 35 and article 41 of China’s Con-
stitution, namely freedom of speech and asso-
ciation and the right to make suggestions to of-
ficials free from suppression and retaliation; 
(B) ensure that Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren 
are afforded the rights guaranteed to all de-
fendants under the Criminal Procedure Law of 
the People’s Republic of China; and 
(C) implement its own National Human 
Rights Action Plan by allowing parents, con-
cerned citizens, and the news media to conduct 
their own investigations into the role inferior 
construction and corruption may have played in 
the collapse of school buildings during the 
Sichuan earthquake, free from government har-
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assment and official interference, and by ensur-
ing that citizens have full access to effective 
legal remedies for their grievances. 
Æ 
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