An 80-year-old Shanghai resident who spent years petitioning authorities over the demolition of his family’s property escaped from an unofficial detention facility ahead of a major Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meeting. He was recaptured hundreds of miles away, according to information provided by sources familiar with the case.
The sources spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
Lu Liming, a retired factory worker from Shanghai’s Yangpu District, escaped on Oct. 27 by using a rope he brought with him to climb down a drainage pipe from the fourth floor of the hotel where he was being held.
He later reached northern China’s Hebei Province, but he was intercepted by security personnel and taken back into detention. He remains held at the facility, described by sources as a “black jail,” an unofficial detention site used to confine petitioners outside the formal legal system.
Petitioning is an administrative procedure to seek redress of grievances. However, in practice, the Chinese regime routinely harasses and persecutes petitioners for expressing dissent.
Photographs and information provided by the sources showed multiple wounds on Lu’s hands, apparently caused by friction from the rope during his escape.
The incident occurred before and during the CCP’s Fifth Plenum, a major political meeting held in Beijing from Oct. 26 to 29. Lu has been repeatedly detained around the times of politically sensitive events and major CCP meetings because of his persistent efforts to seek compensation for his family’s demolished property.
Dispute Over Family Property
Lu, born in 1946, is a resident of the Yangpu District and a retired employee of the Shanghai Metallurgical Steel Recycling Plant.
His dispute with local authorities dates back more than two decades, when his family-owned property in a prime area of the Yangpu District was targeted for demolition.
On June 11, 2003, regime authorities approved the demolition of the residential compound, which included property Lu and his siblings inherited. However, the relocation arrangements offered accommodation only for Lu’s household and did not provide compensation or resettlement for the inherited shares belonging to his other siblings.
Lu refused to sign the demolition agreement and attempted to sue the authorities in the Yangpu District People’s Court. The court declined to accept his case, according to the information provided.
On Jan. 13, 2006, the local government intervened to facilitate the demolition so that a commercial housing project could proceed. The authorities forcibly demolished property jointly inherited by Lu, his brothers, and their mother, affecting six family members.
Lu subsequently began petitioning regime departments for compensation and redress. He has since been detained more than 30 times, according to the sources.
Repeated Detentions and Criminal Conviction
Lu’s efforts to petition regime authorities have led to repeated confrontations with local government personnel responsible for maintaining stability, a term commonly used by the Chinese regime to describe efforts to prevent protests and public dissent.
He was intercepted and beaten on multiple occasions. After the implementation of China’s revised Mental Health Law, he was also forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital by local officials and police, according to the information provided.
Between 2015 and 2016, Lu threw petition documents over the walls of Zhongnanhai, the central CCP leadership compound in Beijing, in an attempt to bring his grievances directly to the regime’s top leadership.
On Dec. 15, 2016, the Yangpu District People’s Court sentenced him to 18 months in prison for the crime of “disrupting the work order of state organs.”
His detention continued during subsequent politically sensitive periods.
During the CCP’s annual Two Sessions political meetings in 2025, private security guards at a black jail allegedly beat Lu, breaking one of his ribs.
He was detained again during the 2026 Two Sessions. In an apparent act of protest, he subsequently set fire to the unofficial detention facility, according to the sources.
Ahead of the CCP’s Fifth Plenum in October, regime authorities again placed him in unofficial detention. His escape attempt on Oct. 27 was followed by his recapture in Hebei.
The Epoch Times cannot independently verify the sources’ claims. The Epoch Times was unable to reach Lu by phone.
Li Xi contributed to this report.
