Picking quarrels and provoking trouble

Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (Chinese: 寻衅滋事; pinyin: xúnxìn zīshì), also translated as picking quarrels and stirring up trouble or picking quarrels and making trouble, is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China.

Picking quarrels and provoking trouble
Simplified Chinese寻衅滋事
Traditional Chinese尋釁滋事

Overview

It comes under article 293 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code, and carries a maximum sentence of five years.[1] The former offense of "hooliganism" was removed in the same revision of the penal code.[2]

The crime is defined as undermining public order by creating a disturbance in a public place.[3] It is a type of criminal disorderly conduct.

As this is an ill-defined crime, it has frequently been used as an excuse to arrest human rights activists, civil rights activists, and lawyers in China, and hold them in detention pending more serious charges such as inciting subversion of state power.[3]

Text of the law

Article 293 of the 1997 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China:

Article 293. Whoever undermines public order with anyone of the following provocative and disturbing behaviors is to be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, or control:

(1) willfully attacking another person and the circumstances are bad; (2) chasing, intercepting, or cursing another person, and the circumstances are bad; (3) forcibly taking away, demanding, or willfully damaging or seizing public or private property; and the circumstances are serious; (4) creating a disturbance in a public place, causing serious disorder.[1]

Discussion

Zhu Zhengfu, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice-chair of the All China Lawyers Association, said that the law's "legal ambiguity breeds room for selective law enforcement, damages the public’s legal interests and undermines judicial credibility." Zhu argued in 2022 that the law should be eliminated.[2]

List of notable people charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble
Wikisource has several original texts related to court adjudications of picking quarrels and provoking trouble cases.

See also

References
  1. "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China". Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Vienna. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  2. "Stop making it a crime to 'pick quarrels' in China, says leading lawyer". South China Morning Post. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  3. "Report submitted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention — Addendum: Visit to the People's Republic of China, 1997" (PDF). United Nations. 22 December 1997. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  4. Richardson, Sophie (14 March 2014). "Dispatches: The Death of a Defender in China". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  5. Hernández, Javier C. (24 October 2019). "China Holds #MeToo Activist Who Wrote About Hong Kong Protests". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  6. Buckley, Chris (2 February 2021). "A Chinese Dissident Tried to Fly to His Sick Wife in the U.S. Then He Vanished". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  7. "Zhang Zhan: China jails citizen journalist for Wuhan reports". BBC News. 28 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  8. "Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China's Christmas crackdown". the Guardian. 28 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  9. "Outspoken billionaire Sun Dawu jailed for 18 years in China". The BBC. 29 July 2021.
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