Tan Zuoren

Tan Zuoren was born in 1959 in Chengdu, Sichuan, and worked as a citizen journalist and environmental activist. Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, he travelled independently to the disaster areas to conduct investigations, systematically compiling lists of students killed at individual schools; his documented death figures differed significantly from official figures. His research attributed the pattern of school building collapses — in which demolished school structures stood alongside intact government buildings — to failures of oversight by local officials and systemic corruption in construction contracts.

Tan was arrested in February 2009 as he was preparing to organise a memorial commemoration for the student victims on the first anniversary of the earthquake, and was charged with "inciting subversion of state power". On 12 August 2009, the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to five years' imprisonment on this charge; his defence lawyers were subsequently harassed by the authorities. He was released in 2013 upon completion of his sentence.