The Jailed China Dream – Xu Zhiyong and the Governance of Political Dissent in China

For years, the Chinese political dissident, Xu Zhiyong, produced public moments of dissent to promote civil rights and liberal democratic reforms in China. He also attempted to institutionalise his activism through grassroots organising. His activities clashed with the traditional rejection of political dissent by China's hegemonic party-state, and Xu is now in jail for the second time. The study examines Xu's career as a political dissident with a focus on how his political activism provoked the party-state to suppress him with specifically designed governance tools. While identifying and explaining how these governance tools work, this study of Xu's career as a political dissident concludes that despite the inevitable loss of personal autonomy associated with being a persistent political dissident in China, Xu Zhiyong disregards the glaring power asymmetry between him and the party-state and insists on continuing as a political activist to inspire future political change.