Last month brought the end of the official period that my political rights were suspended. Under Chinese law, I am now free to say whatever I want. But a week before this happened, local police who for the past year have largely prevented visitors from reaching me began to stop me from going out. And I was beaten. June is a tense, sensitive time in China. There is the anniversary of the Tianamnen massacre on June 4. State security steps up “home surveillance,” or house arrest, each year on the people viewed as threats or likely to protest. Under such home surveillance, police don’t observe legal procedures. They don’t tell me when it will be over or why they are there. I can’t tell if I can go outside from one day to the next.
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