Activist scholar Yu Jianrong dismisses claims he has sought ‘exile’ in remote village

Yu Jianrong, one of China’s most influential anti-graft activist scholars, has swapped his daily routine at the Chinese Social Academy of Sciences in Beijing for a more active grassroots role as the assistant head of an almost deserted village in remote Guizhou province.

Yu arrived in Anju village on Sunday along with a small group of volunteers from a rural development society he founded, the Suishou Public Welfare Fund. He is expected to officially serve in his function for two years starting in October, he told the Beijing Times in an interview published on Monday.

The scholar has gained international prominence as an outspoken advocate of governance reform and rights for underprivileged groups such as farmers and migrant workers.

In 2011, he launched a social media campaign asking followers of his blog and microblog to post pictures of child beggars so as to help abducted children find their parents. Thousands of photos flooded in. Yu later set up a nursing institution for child beggars.

At the beginning of this year he launched a similar campaign shaming military officials or their families for driving luxury vehicles. Every day, Weibo users sent him photos of limousines and SUVs with military licence plates, which he occasionally shares with his 1.8 million followers on Weibo.