On March 4, a man in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, suddenly felt unwell and was told he needed to undergo surgery after being examined at Taixing People’s Hospital. After waiting anxiously outside the operating room for several hours, his family was informed that ‘he had already been sent to the funeral home long ago.’ On March 5, the family of the deceased went to the hospital to demand an explanation.
On March 5, vegetable vendors at the Jinshan Farmers’ Market in Wenchang, Hainan, went on strike for the third consecutive day to protest rent increases. According to those involved, the market was originally collectively owned but was later sold by the government to a private owner.
On March 5, in Nafan Village (under the Yagang Village Committee) of Yacha Town, Baisha County, Hainan Province, furious villagers cut down a massive number of betel nut trees—including both their own and those planted by the Baisha Farm—in retaliation after the farm had chopped down trees planted by the villagers.
According to the villagers, the land in dispute spans over 40 mu (approximately 6.6 acres) and is collective village land. Ten years ago, after the state-owned Baisha Farm claimed ownership of the plot, both sides refused to back down and ended up jointly planting betel nut trees on the same land. Over the past few years, the farm would cut down a dozen or so of the villagers’ trees annually, which the villagers let slide. This year, however, the farm abruptly felled 460 trees, ultimately pushing the villagers over the edge.
Home Forcibly Demolished While in Prison! Beijing Rights Defender Quan Shixin Real-Name Accuses Authorities as She Faces Homelessness (2026.03.04)
On March 4, prominent Beijing rights defender Quan Shixin recorded a video accusing the local government and a demolition company. She stated that while she was arrested and serving time in prison for her rights defense activities, her legally owned homestead property was completely subjected to “black demolition” (illegal demolition) and “stealth demolition.” Now that she has served her sentence and been released, she faces the desperate situation of being homeless, having nowhere to appeal, and lacking even a change of clothes.
Quan Shixin is not an ordinary petitioning villager, but a Beijing rights defender with a certain level of recognition in the overseas rights defense community. Quan embarked on the path of rights defense in her early years due to a homestead dispute. During this time, she faced multiple crackdowns and detentions for publicly exposing local corruption with her real name and speaking out. The true reason behind her “second imprisonment” mentioned in the video is this: on March 5, 2023 (coinciding with China’s “Two Sessions”), Quan Shixin accepted an interview with Voice of America (VOA) regarding the “stability maintenance” surveillance she was subjected to. After the interview, she was swiftly arrested by the police and detained at the Haidian District Detention Center. While in prison, she went on a hunger strike to protest and was force-fed. Ultimately, she was sentenced by the court to 2 years and 9 months in prison on trumped-up charges. She was just released at the end of 2025 after completing her sentence.
In the video, Quan Shixin angrily pointed out that the homestead property where she had lived since childhood, applied for by her mother as a rural “Gu Nai Nai” (an unmarried daughter remaining in her natal family), had been zoned into a “green isolation belt” many years ago. The government had been stalling under the excuse of “not approving new homesteads, waiting for unified resolution during demolition.” However, shortly after her arrest and imprisonment in March 2023, the local forced demolition machinery was activated. “They started posting notices in August and demolished the house in October. I was completely unaware of this the whole time. No one told me while I was in the detention center!” Quan accused. When she came out after serving her sentence of more than two years, she found that her original home had been reduced to flat ground filled with tower cranes. All her personal belongings inside the house, even her change of underwear, were wiped out in this unnotified “stealth demolition.” Upon her release, she truly faced a wretched situation of having absolutely nothing left.
Faced with the reality of losing everything, on March 4, 2026, Quan Shixin, who suffers from heart disease, braved sleet and snow to seek an explanation at the Beijing Municipal Letters and Calls Bureau and the Haidian District Letters and Calls Bureau, only to encounter textbook “buck-passing.” Beijing Municipality: This matter is led by Haidian District; we can only register and transfer it. Haidian District: Transferred to Sijiqing Town for handling. Sijiqing Town / former Xishan Village: Claimed that the village committee has now been abolished and turned into a “Neighborhood Committee Project Preparatory Group,” and told Quan Shixin: “If you have any issues, go find the demolition company (Siji Chuangkai) yourself.”
Quan Shixin felt this was extremely absurd and infuriating: “I am a local farmer. Demolishing my house without even a word of notice is illegal and forced demolition! Now the government won’t show its face at all and tells me to go to the company myself. Since when does a company have the final say in the People’s Republic of China?”
Currently, Quan Shixin is riddled with illnesses, has no income, and doesn’t even have a place to stay. In the face of buck-passing from various levels of government, she chose to publicly report the demolition company involved, “Siji Chuangkai,” on the internet using her real name, accusing them of illegally occupying thousands of mu of land and being involved with mafia-like organizations.
At the end of the video, this long-suffering rights defender showed a desperate resolve. She bluntly called out to the authorities: “If you want to say I am making false accusations, or say I am making trouble and pestering with petitions, I am ready for you to come and arrest me at any time! Anyway, I have no income now, I am sick and have no money for treatment, and I don’t have my own housing. If you arrest me and let me go back to eating prison food, I’m not afraid, and it will actually save me trouble!”
Quan Shixin’s ordeal is a cruel microcosm of the thousands upon thousands of bottom-tier rights defenders in China. When public power aligns with interest groups, they can not only legally deprive rights defenders of their freedom but also seize the opportunity when they lose the ability to resist to wantonly plunder their only resources for survival. Currently, Quan Shixin is still in a difficult struggle to defend her rights and calls for external attention.
On March 4 in Beijing’s Miyun District, a woman was denied when attempting to withdraw 70,000 RMB from her matured fixed-term deposit at a China Construction Bank branch. Bank staff first demanded she explain the purpose of the withdrawal, and then required her to call the police (Public Security Bureau) and other authorities.
On March 4, to cut costs, the 21st Century Kindergarten in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, fed 400 children rotten fruit and spoiled food. Upon discovering this, parents staged a collective protest at the kindergarten to seek accountability and demand tuition refunds.
Financial Collapse of Fujian Putian’s “Golden Wharf”: Thousands Besiege City Hall (2026.03.02)
On March 2, 2026, a large-scale rights-defense protest took place in Putian City, Fujian Province. Over a thousand investors gathered in front of the municipal government building, demanding that “Golden Wharf” honor their deposits. The atmosphere at the scene was tense, and authorities deployed a massive police presence to stand guard.
According to those involved, Fujian Golden Wharf Group Co., Ltd. had long been raising funds by offering a high monthly interest rate of 0.75% (locally known as “7.5 li”) and luring customers with gifts such as rice, cooking oil, and small home appliances. Attracted by the promise of high interest and the backing of “physical gold shops,” many middle-aged and elderly people invested their life savings; some even put in their pensions and their daughters’ dowries. The victims invested amounts ranging from hundreds of thousands to over a million yuan, originally hoping to earn a steady monthly interest for a peaceful retirement. However, after the Spring Festival, the promised returns suddenly stopped, employees successively lost contact, and store branches in various locations closed down one after another. It is reported that there are more than 2,000 victims in total.
On February 26, the company’s chairman, Lin Guochun, who was still in Singapore at the time, released an open letter. He admitted for the first time that the company was facing cash flow problems, claiming that “embezzlement and rule violations by individual employees led to the freezing of some accounts.” In his statement, he emphasized that the company “had no malicious intent to misappropriate customer funds,” declared that he had not absconded, and promised he “would not evade responsibility and would return to handle the matter.” On March 1, Lin Guochun recorded a video stating that he had returned to China from Singapore and was willing to take responsibility and cooperate with investigations. However, for the vast majority of investors, the stores were already closed, the money had stopped, and empty promises were completely useless.
At the protest scene on March 2, investors were highly emotional, chanting the slogan, “Give us back our hard-earned money.” Several elderly individuals fainted at the scene due to physical exhaustion, making for a heartbreaking sight. A large number of police officers guarded the scene throughout the event, but no clashes occurred between the two sides.
On March 3, following the large-scale rally, videos showing “Golden Wharf resuming business” began to circulate online. However, according to multiple investors, although the stores showed signs of being open, their deposits still could not be cashed out.
On March 2nd, at the “Master of the Seas” residential project in Supsekh village, Anapa city, Russia, a Russian construction company defaulted on the wages of Chinese construction workers. The workers’ attempts to claim their unpaid wages were unsuccessful, and they were even driven out of their residential barracks by the Russian staff.
The government of Zhangshan Town, Jizhou District, Ji’an City, Jiangxi Province, had promised the villagers of Qusha Village that a new ancestral hall would be built after the old one was demolished. However, after the old ancestral hall was torn down, the Zhangshan government reneged on the agreement and dispatched government personnel on February 28 to violently prevent the villagers from building the new ancestral hall.