This English version may have been machine-generated from the Chinese original and may not convey the original meaning accurately.

Nine Years Since Gao Zhisheng Disappeared: Where Is He? Is He Still Alive?

On August 13, 2017, China’s renowned human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng suddenly lost contact with the outside world in the area around Jia County, Yulin, Shaanxi.

That disappearance has now lasted nine years.

Nine years later, we still do not know the answer to one question:

Is Gao Zhisheng still alive?

As of August 2026, publicly available information still indicates that his whereabouts and fate have not been confirmed. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) currently lists his status as “Unknown” and records him as having been forcibly disappeared since August 13, 2017.

On August 13, 2026, Rights Defense Network also stated, on the ninth anniversary of Gao Zhisheng’s disappearance, that he remained “completely out of contact, with his fate and whereabouts unknown.”

Why was he arrested?

To understand Gao Zhisheng’s subsequent nine-year disappearance, we must begin with his earlier experiences.

Gao Zhisheng was originally a lawyer.

In the early 2000s, he began representing large numbers of disadvantaged people and victims of abuse, including Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, farmers whose land had been expropriated, and other rights defenders. He also publicly criticized the authorities’ violations of citizens’ rights.

In 2005, his license to practice law was revoked.

In August 2006, he was detained by police; on December 22 of the same year, he was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for “inciting subversion of state power.”

In 2011, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court decided that he would serve the original three-year sentence.

On August 7, 2014, he completed his sentence and was released.

But being “released from prison” did not mean that he had truly regained his freedom.

Human Rights Watch noted at the time that Gao Zhisheng continued to face strict restrictions after his release in 2014, and it was uncertain whether he had truly regained his freedom.

After his release, he wrote a book

After being released in 2014, Gao Zhisheng was restricted to living in the area around his hometown in Shaanxi.

During that period, he secretly wrote 2017: Rise Up, China.

The book was later published in Taiwan in 2016.

It records his past experiences of detention, interrogation, and abuse, while also expressing his views on China’s politics and future direction.

Gao Zhisheng had previously disappeared multiple times.

In 2007, he was taken away again by the authorities because of actions including an open letter, and was subjected to severe abuse; between 2009 and 2010, he was again out of contact for an extended period.

In 2011, he was sent back to serve his sentence at Shaya Prison in Xinjiang.

Therefore, his disappearance in 2017 was not the first.

But this time, it lasted exceptionally long.

Where exactly did he go on August 13, 2017?

This is one of the most difficult aspects of the entire case to understand.

After August 13, 2017, Gao Zhisheng suddenly lost contact with the outside world.

His wife, Geng He, later told Radio Free Asia that she called Gao Zhisheng that day, but no one answered.

Gao Zhisheng was living at his older brother’s home at the time. After his family discovered that he was missing, they reported it to the police.

His family then searched for him through various channels.

However, the relevant authorities in Yulin and Jia County, Shaanxi, did not give his family a clear answer.

In September 2017, Amnesty International reported that his family later learned that Gao Zhisheng might have been taken to Beijing, but the authorities did not clearly inform them of his place of detention, physical condition, or the specific reason for his detention.

After that, he disappeared from public view once again.

Why was he taken away again?

This requires particular caution.

Regarding the specific legal reasons for his disappearance in 2017, the Chinese authorities have still not provided the public with a complete and transparent explanation.

Some human rights organizations and Gao Zhisheng’s family believe that his long-standing provision of legal assistance to disadvantaged groups and religious figures, his public criticism of the authorities, and the publication of 2017: Rise Up, China, among other things, were important reasons why he was subjected to prolonged repression.

However, these are judgments by his family and human rights organizations about the causes of the incident and cannot simply be treated as facts publicly confirmed by a court.

What can be established is:

• Before his last disappearance, he had already been subjected to long-term restrictions and surveillance;
• He had previously been sentenced and had disappeared multiple times;
• Publicly available materials from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Human Rights Watch, and others record that his license to practice law was revoked, that he was sentenced in 2006, that he disappeared for extended periods, and that he continued to face restrictions after his release in 2014.

Nine years, with no trial and no publicly known whereabouts

What is most disturbing is the passage of time.

One year could be described as being out of contact.

Two years could be described as a prolonged disappearance.

Five years is already beyond imagination.

And now, it has been nine years.

Since his disappearance in August 2017, the public has not seen any judicial document capable of confirming his current place of detention, nor any reliable official information capable of confirming his current physical condition.

His family has continued searching for answers.

His wife, Geng He, has publicly said that her greatest wish is not to demand anything first; she simply hopes to receive the most basic answer:

Is he still alive?

In 2024, on the seventh anniversary of Gao Zhisheng’s disappearance, Geng He spoke out again.

She said that because the authorities had never disclosed Gao Zhisheng’s whereabouts, his family had asked lawyers to make inquiries with prison administration authorities in Beijing and the public security authorities in Yulin, Shaanxi, but had received no clear answer.

By August 13, 2026, exactly nine years had passed since his disappearance.

Rights Defense Network still described his fate and whereabouts as “unknown.”

What can we say after nine years?

We cannot say that Gao Zhisheng is dead.

There is currently no reliable public evidence that can prove this.

Nor can we say with certainty that he is still alive.

Because over the past nine years, no reliable public information has emerged to confirm his current situation.

So the most accurate statement may be:

Gao Zhisheng has been missing for nine full years since his disappearance on August 13, 2017. To this day, the outside world still does not know where he is or whether he is still alive.

A person’s life can be enveloped by nine years of silence.

But a question should not disappear simply because too much time has passed:

Where is Gao Zhisheng?

Nine years have passed.

We are still waiting for an answer.

May the day come when that answer can truly be made public.