Another Chinese Writer Detained

    Arrest of Zhou Yuanzhi brings number of imprisoned writers to 40

    NEW YORK, TORONTO, STOCKHOLM, May 7 /CNW/ - 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.

For further information: Larry Siems, PEN American Center, (212)
334-1660 ext. 105, [e-mail]; Isobel Harry, PEN Canada, [phone]
ext. 22, [e-mail]; Yu Zhang, Independent Chinese PEN Center,
[phone], [e-mail]