But those were troubled times. She was divorced in 2004, the same year she lost her home return permit - which means she is now unable to visit her parents.

Her book, Who Sparked Off the Zhou Zhengyi Case? Shen Ting and Zheng Enchong Take On the Shanghai Gang, is published by Hong Kong's Open Magazine.

Much of her book is devoted to how lawyer Zheng Enchong helped her family and more than 2,000 neighbouring households fight against an eviction order, which would allow Chau to redevelop the area. But she lost that battle.

Zheng was jailed for three years on the grounds of leaking state secrets. He was released last year, remains under 24-hour surveillance and is placed under house arrest from time to time.

But Shen's legal battle contributed to the fall of Chau, once dubbed the richest man in Shanghai. He was jailed for bribery, falsification of tax invoices and embezzlement.

'I lost my family because I believed justice must be done,' Shen said. 'I divorced because I didn't want my family to go through unnecessary pressure. I was also deprived of the rights to visit my parents ... My lawyer is still deprived of freedom. I hope the book will raise the profile of this case and lead to his eventual freedom.'

She added: 'I'm obliged to do it because this is all I can do to help Zheng Enchong. He knew helping me would land him in jail, but he still took up the case. He was the only lawyer in Shanghai willing to do it.'

Shen collected a human rights prize on behalf of the imprisoned lawyer in Germany in 2005.