Du Bin, a writer and producer who worked for the Beijing bureau of the New York Times, was detained by the Beijing Public Security Bureau for allegedly provoking trouble. Since leaving the Times, Du Bin has focused on historical research and is one of the very few mainland Chinese to have compiled a book on the June 4 incident. In recent years, he has kept a low profile and lived in seclusion, but his sudden removal by public security officials has led to a wide range of opinions, including that the authorities are taking action against him in connection with his upcoming book.
Du Bin’s sister Du Jirong, who lives in Shandong, received a call from Beijing police on Thursday (17) informing her that Du Bin had been taken away by public security and was currently being held in Daxing District Detention Center.
Public Security Bureau officer: “Hello. You’re Du Bin’s sister, right?”
Du Jirong: “Yes, yes.”
Public Security Bureau officer: “Tell you about it. The company has been detained yesterday on suspicion of provocation and nuisance. He proposed to entrust you to hire a lawyer for him.”
Du Jirong: “He often stays at home and does not go out, how can he provoke and cause trouble?”
Public Security Bureau personnel: “too specific I can not say too much, can only tell you because of what illegal. Because he often write something, if you can, as a family to persuade her.” The
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. He rarely goes out, because the new crown epidemic, foreigners are not allowed to go out. The house he rented was in his friend’s name, so he didn’t have a permit, so he rarely went out, and there was no possibility of provocation. It’s surprising, isn’t it? My brother told me last time that he wouldn’t do this kind of thing again. Because my father also passed away, he also felt that he didn’t want to cause trouble for us, that is, he wouldn’t go back to offending those things that the authorities asked him not to do, and he wouldn’t do it earlier.”
Recently, Du Bin has been summoned several times by the authorities
Hu Jia, a close friend of Du Bin’s and a Beijing-based rights activist, revealed that Du Bin has been summoned by the authorities several times recently.
Hu Jia: “His friend told me that he was actually summoned more than once recently and sent to the police station, asking him to change his Twitter name, which seemed to be ‘Collecting Debts from the State Security. The authorities asked him to change his name or delete it, (I don’t know) if he didn’t comply with the pressure this time, or if he was already prepared to settle old scores with new ones.”
Du Bin, 48, worked as a photographer for the Beijing bureau of The New York Times. That job made him well-known and led to him being targeted by authorities.
Hu Jia: “He was really an official employee there at the time, in essence a photojournalist, but Chinese regulations prevent Chinese citizens from working as journalists. In fact, Du Bin is unattractive, and wrapped in very old clothes through the crowd, sometimes not very conspicuous, he can get back some relatively real, more relevant to the reality of the pictures.”
In 2011, the Chinese Foreign Ministry refused to issue a permit for Du Bin to work for the New York Times. In recent years, he has focused on historical research, writing “The Tiananmen Massacre,” said to be the first book by someone in China to document the June Fourth Incident, publishing a photo book of petitioners, and producing documentaries on the abuse of prisoners in reeducation-through-labor camps. He has also published a photo book of petitioners and produced documentaries on sensitive subjects such as the abuse of prisoners in labor camps.
Hu Jia: “Then the authorities put pressure on the New York Times, that is, they didn’t give Du Bin the right to be hired by foreign media, so the Times couldn’t hire him, and he had more time to write on his own, on a wide range of subjects, including June 4. There should be more than one person from mainland China who has published books about June 4, but those people are overseas. If you are in mainland China and don’t have the will to leave here and still insist on doing these things here and publishing shaped books, I really haven’t seen another one so far.”
Hu Jia said the authorities’ sudden action against Du Bin cannot be ruled out as being related to the fact that the West is not focusing on human rights issues in China as it approaches Christmas. It is widely rumored that Du Bin is preparing to publish a new book entitled “Red Terror: Lenin’s Communist Experiment”, which is scheduled to appear in January next year.
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