Soft detention () is a form of

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

used in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

to control political dissidents. It has its roots in the practices of the Chinese Empire which employed it as early as the

Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

when those such as

Su Shi Su Shi ( zh, t=, s=苏轼, p=Sū Shì; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese poet, essayist, calligrapher, painter, scholar-official, literatus, artist, pharmacologist, and gastronome wh ...

who criticized the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

were subjected to it. Traditionally, and in modern practice, there are three levels of restriction; the loosest, "juzhu", restricts the detainee to their home district. This restriction was employed on the history teacher Yuan Tengfei who included information about banned aspects of modern Chinese history in his lectures. The second level, "anzhi", employed anciently on Su Shi, restricts the prisoner to their home, but they may be allowed to go for a walk or go to work. The severest form, "bianguan", which was imposed on the human rights activist Chen Guangcheng involves limited movement of the prisoner to their home, constant surveillance, restriction of contact with others, and, sometimes, harassment.

Notes

External links

''New York Times'' video of the escape of Chen Guangcheng from house arrest
{{China prisons Imprisonment and detention Penal system in China

See also

Notes

External links