Zhang Qing, wife of Chinese Human Rights lawyer Guo Feixiong, has died in US

Numerous humanitarians appeal from overseas and human rights groups have failed to persuade the Beijing authority to change its mind. Guo Feixiong, a prominent human rights lawyer, was detained by Beijing authorities early last year while visiting his critically ill wife, Zhang Qing, in the United States on a valid passport. He went missing in early December when he tried to travel to the United States again. Zhang Qing, who was suffering from terminal cancer and could not see her husband, died on January 10, leaving behind a son and a daughter.

Geng He, the missing wife of Gao Zhisheng, a prominent human rights lawyer, said she was “deeply saddened” by the news of the death of Guo Feixiong’s wife, Zhang Qing, in the US. “Fei Xiong and Gao Zhisheng were comrades in arms and were sentenced together in 2006… Zhang Qing and I were forced to flee to Thailand in 2009… Arrived in the United States around the same year… Single mothers with two kids a girl and a boy. The same experience, the same fate, feel zhang Qing’s despair at not being able to meet her husband at the end of her life.

“In disregard of the most basic humanitarian principles, The Communist Party authorities prevented Guo Feixiong from traveling to the United States to care for his dying wife and enforced his disappearance, which severely violated the basic human rights of guo Feixiong’s family,” the rights Protection Network said in a statement. This website condemns in the strongest terms the Chinese communist party authorities for their gross violation of human rights.

Guo Feixiong, a prominent Chinese rights lawyer whose real name is Yang Maodong, was jailed twice for 11 years since the 2000s for his active participation in the fight for democracy and human rights. He was repeatedly threatened, beaten, abused and tortured in prison.

Zhang and her husband have not seen each other since they separated in 2006. Zhang qing came to the United States to work and study while raising two children. Their daughter and son haven’t seen their father in 15 years.

Zhang was found to have advanced bowel cancer in January last year and needed Guo feixiong to come to the United States to take care of her. On January 28, Guo Feixiong was stopped by the Communist Party of China customs at Shanghai Pudong Airport as he was preparing to fly to the US to take care of his wife Zhang Qing, who had cancer surgery.

On February 1, Zhang wrote to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights michelle Bachelet for help. She implored Heria, who is also a mother and wife, to urge the Communist government to respect Guo’s civil rights and allow the family to reunite.

On November 29, The China Aid Association released a statement in which Zhang Qing hoped her husband Guo Feixiong would come to the United States as soon as possible: “My life has come to an end, and I am desperate, but when can I see my husband? Yang Maodong, please come quickly! ”

On Nov. 29, Mr. Guo sent another letter to Premier Li Keqiang, calling on Chinese authorities to allow him to travel to the United States to care for his critically ill wife. The letter was posted on the official wechat app of The State Council and addressed to Li under the title “I have a message for the Premier”.

“I am Yang Maodong, a Chinese citizen, using the pen name Guo Feixiong,” Guo said in the letter. At the beginning of 2021, my wife Zhang Qing was suffering from advanced colorectal cancer in Maryland, the United States. At that time, she underwent open-cut intestinal obstruction surgery. In early November, she had a second intestinal obstruction and was sent to a local hospital for emergency treatment on November 27. As cancer cells spread throughout the body, the local hospital thought that surgery had no effect, only by intubation palliative treatment. My wife’s life was in immediate danger and I urgently needed to be transferred to hospital for surgery.”

In early December, when his wife was critically ill, Guo feixiong tried to go to the US again, but his whereabouts have not been known since he sent a message to a friend on the afternoon of December 5 saying, “I have been arrested.”

On Dec. 5, dozens of scholars and others at home and abroad signed several open letters calling on the Chinese government to allow Guo Feixiong to come to the US to care for his wife, Zhang Qing, who is suffering from worsening cancer.

Guo’s wife, Zhang Qing, was also unable to meet her husband, but she was not alone.