This English version may have been machine-generated from the Chinese original and may not convey the original meaning accurately.
September 19, 2026, marks the first anniversary of citizen journalist and human rights defender Zhang Zhan being sentenced to four more years in prison.
One year ago today, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court again sentenced Zhang Zhan to four years in prison for the “crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
Previously, she had endured prolonged imprisonment after traveling to Wuhan in person during the most severe period of the pandemic there and documenting what she saw and heard through her camera. Just over three months after completing her sentence and being released in 2024, she was arrested again and once more faced trial and imprisonment.
Zhang Zhan is remembered not only because she documented what she saw, but also because when many people chose silence, she chose to go to Wuhan, to document, and to speak out.
Despite imprisonment, hunger strikes, physical suffering, and sustained pressure, she has still not abandoned her choice.
Sometimes, the hope of a nation lies precisely in such perseverance.
China needs people who dare to question the truth, journalists and intellectuals who uphold their conscience, and ordinary people who, even under pressure, are still willing to speak the truth.
The true strength of a society should not come from the fear that silences people, but from people's ability to freely express, document, question, and discuss.
What Zhang Zhan has personally endured also prompts us to reconsider an important question:
When a society leaves so little room even for an ordinary citizen to document and express what they see and hear, how should we understand truth, freedom, the law, and citizens' rights?
Today, we commemorate Zhang Zhan not merely to remember what one person has endured.
More importantly, we remember:
In the darkness, there are still people who choose to light a lamp;
In the face of fear, there are still people who choose to remain true to their conscience;
Amid silence, there are still people willing to speak out for the truth.
May Zhang Zhan remain safe.
May all those who suffer for upholding their conscience and pursuing the truth receive the dignity and freedom they deserve.
And may the day come when people in China no longer fear speaking the truth, and no longer pay the price of their freedom for seeking the truth.
May the truth never be forgotten, and may conscience never be extinguished.