Labour activist Zhang Shanguan [2]was quietly released from prison on the evening of 19 July 2008, two days before his scheduled release date, according to the Boxun news network [3]. However, there has been no official confirmation of his release.

 

Zhang was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 1998 after founding a labour rights support group, the Association to Protect the Rights and Interests of Laid-Off Workers, in his home province of Hunan.