Advertisement
Human rights in China
ChinaPolitics

Wife of missing Chinese activist dies in US after appeal to Beijing for reunion fails

  • Zhang Qing, who has been separated from husband Guo Feixiong since he was jailed in China in 2006, died in Washington after battling cancer
  • Last year, former human rights lawyer Guo tried several times to leave China before going missing in December

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
7
Zhang Qing had appealed for the Chinese government to allow her husband, activist Guo Feixiong, to fly to the US while she had a relapse of late-stage cancer.     Photo: Twitter
Mimi Lau
Zhang Qing’s dying wish was to be reunited with her husband, Chinese activist Guo Feixiong.

But that wish was left unfulfilled on Monday when Zhang, 55, died of cancer in the United States, with Guo missing in China and out of reach of his family.

Just before Christmas Zhang made a desperate plea to Chinese authorities in an interview with the South China Morning Post for her husband to be allowed to travel to the US to see her one last time because she felt time was running out. The couple has been separated for 15 years since Guo, also 55, was jailed in China in 2006.
Zhang Qing died in Washington on Monday after battling colon cancer. Photo: Handout
Zhang Qing died in Washington on Monday after battling colon cancer. Photo: Handout

“The illness is killing me,” Zhang said in the interview from her sick bed in Washington last month.

Advertisement

“I dare not entertain the thought that he might not be able to join us because he should, and ought, to come at a time like this.”

Zhang arrived at hospital by ambulance early on Monday and died soon after, according to a social media post by a family friend.

02:34

Australia, Britain, Canada join US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights

Australia, Britain, Canada join US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights

Speaking last year, Zhang said her colon cancer had returned and spread to other vital organs. She was told by her doctors there were no effective treatment options available.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x