New | What is Beijing up to? Summer of increased harassment, surveillance leaves Chinese NGOs on edge

Weekly visits and random questioning by local police officers are not unusual for the Shenzhen Chunfeng Labour Disputes Centre in Guangdong province. This summer, though, has been different, says Zhang Zhiru, the centre’s director.

The centre provides legal training and advice for workers in countless factories in and around the economic powerhouse of Shenzhen. It teaches migrant workers how to negotiate with employers and organise, and for this reason it has regularly provoked the ire of local authorities. 

 “Since we launched in 2009, we’ve always been under pressure. So over the years, I’ve gotten used to it,” Zhang said in an interview. This spring and summer, however, visits by police are more frequent.

“The situation feels more tense than before,” Zhang said.

On May 19, Shenzhen police took Zhang to the police station, where he spent several hours answering questions about the source of Chunfeng’s funding, its staff and its operations.

Chunfeng is just one of a handful of NGOs that have spoken out recently about a new trend in police questioning. Employees at four NGOs and two founders of major NGOs operating in Henan, Sichuan, Guangdong and Yunnan tell the South China Morning Post they have received a noticeably different kind of police attention this summer.