The two have tried to change the country from within, by presenting an alternative to the Communist Party’s one-party rule. The party has been banned however and its leaders sent to prison or into exile. And yet the two dissidents and other CDP members say they cannot give up trying to change the country.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Chen Shuqing, a dissident writer and co-founder of the China Democratic Party (CDP), was released after four years behind bars after he was convicted on subversion charges. Police took him to a police station in Hangzhou, and then to his home. On Tuesday, Wu Yilong (pictured, second from left), was also released. A member of the CDP and the founder of the journal Du Shu Ren (Book readers), he spent 11 years in prison, also because of a conviction on subversion. Dissident Zhu Yufu told Radio Free Asia that he and Wang Rongqing went to the police station to welcome Chen but were prevented from doing so.

"I was held in the detention centre for 15 months along with more than 20 others," Chen said on his arrival home. "I started to get pain from my sciatica there if I didn't move around enough."

In prison, he worked making boxes with glue whose gases were bad for his health. He was able to change work after “I told my wife and she told people outside.”

Police warned him at his released to behave himself if he did not want to have more problems. In prison too, they tried to “reform” him, but he told them “that jail was jail and that no one could reform me.”

On Tuesday, Chen and Wu celebrated their release at a Hangzhou restaurant with dozens of CDP members. Wu told them that whilst in prison he went on a hunger strike in order to obtain the right to read books and to speak to other inmates who initially were told to ignore him.

Chen along with Wang Youcai, Wang Donghai and Lin Hui founded the CDP in June 1998. He was arrested in August 2006 and sentenced to four years for “incitement to overthrow state power”.

The CDP has tried to change China from within, presenting itself as an alternative to the Communist Party’s one-party rule. It has also tried to get existing laws enforced and has promoted democratic reform and respect for rights.

Members Qin Yongmin and Xu Wenli have been sentenced to 12 and 13 years respectively on subversion charges.

The CDP has been banned and its leaders tried and convicted, but none of them is giving up. Instead, they continue to advocate change from within the country.

Zhu said that police might “arrest everyone” but it cannot force them to give up their beliefs. “We need to think about what direction this society is going to develop in."

Chen confirmed that he would continue his struggle for democracy even if it meant sacrifice.

In August 2006, the CDP held its first congress, in New York City, with many exiled dissidents in attendance.

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