The 17th of this month is the hearing date for Qingfang’s license revocation case. Because he has declined his friends’ on-site attendance in his statement, coupled with a certain atmosphere that can be understood but not spoken, there should not be many people attending, and his hearing will inevitably be uneventful.
A few days ago, lawyer Li Zhongwei wrote an article for Qingfang, recounting his interactions with Qingfang. It was written in a simple, substantial, and sincere manner, and I forwarded it twice. At that time, Zhongwei also asked me to write something, and I said that Qingfang’s rights protection had just begun, so there was no rush.
In fact, the moment I learned that Qingfang’s license was being revoked, I decided to write something for him. Although we have many differences in our life interests and concerns, Qingfang has helped me, and more than once, some for public justice, some for private matters.
The revocation of the license is a major event for Qingfang. This has nothing to do with whether he is financially free. It is like a warrior’s sword being confiscated, and from then on, you are not allowed to carry a sword in the江湖 (jianghu, the world of martial arts). Friends will definitely pay attention, and should pay attention. I just want to avoid the friends who are more familiar with Qingfang and let them write first.
Personally, because my lawyer’s license was revoked almost 9 years ago, I naturally had very little cooperation with Qingfang in terms of cases, and we are not in the same city. There are not many intersections in life, of course, not many intersections refers to offline, but we are quite familiar online.
If the interaction between friends stays online, even if the three views are consistent, supporting each other and jointly condemning in the group, there will still be a layer of distance, so friends should still interact more.
I will first talk about my limited offline interactions with Qingfang.
My acquaintance with Qingfang originated from representing Dr. Xu’s second instance case. Qingfang is Dr. Xu’s doctoral classmate and has the deep trust of Dr. Xu. He was also very dedicated in representing his classmate’s case. The widely circulated video of Dr. Xu behind bars was not something any lawyer dared to film and make public. Later, after Dr. Xu was imprisoned, he drove his relatives to visit Dr. Xu in a prison far away from the capital every month, which is not something any lawyer with feelings would do.
During the first instance trial of Dr. Xu’s case, Qingfang and lawyer Yang Jinzhu adopted the so-called “silent defense”, highlighting the doctor’s final statement. In a case where a lawyer’s words could not change the outcome at all, I think silent defense is a good choice. In the second instance, I partnered with Qingfang, trying my best to facilitate the second instance trial, or even if we couldn’t open the trial, we had to make some noise to leave more traces for the doctor’s case.
We submitted a lot of new evidence, and we filed many complaints, but to no avail, and we still had a written trial in the end. The two of us had a division of labor. He wrote a long article about the truth of Dr. Xu’s case, and I wrote the defense statement. After the defense statement was made public, Qingfang sent encouragement at the first time, saying that it had spread among Peking University students. I think the truth article he wrote was extremely outstanding and has historical value.
When the second instance was pronounced, I witnessed the passion of a politioner, filled with a righteous and upright aura. After the pronouncement, Qingfang accepted an interview with the media. He spoke fluently, without any sense of stagnation, and recounted Dr. Xu’s passionate speech after the pronouncement, with a very accurate memory, which I greatly admired.
After Dr. Xu’s case, we didn’t cooperate on cases again, but he helped me with a case I personally participated in. This is the well-known “Zhengzhou Ten Gentlemen Case”, which was a case defended by many human rights lawyers and had a good outcome. Lawyers like Chang Boyang were first arrested on the charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Because the reasons for the arrest were far-fetched, and the case was extremely hard-fought, most people were released on bail one after another. In order to continue detaining Boyang, they added a charge of illegal business operations.
Boyang’s defenders, Pang Kun and Feng Yanqiang, wanted to find a famous scholar to testify that Boyang did not constitute illegal business operations. Based on Qingfang’s connection with Peking University, they wanted to ask him for help. They contacted Qingfang through me, and Qingfang readily agreed.
I, Pang Kun, and Yanqiang went to Beijing. Qingfang led us into Peking University and discussed our views on the Boyang case face to face. We also took a tour of the Peking University campus. At noon, Qingfang hosted a sumptuous lunch at Peking University. In the afternoon, he contacted Professor Zhang Qianfan and Professor Liang Genlin. The two professors listened to our case introduction and firmly believed that Boyang did not constitute illegal business operations. Professor Liang also promised that he and several colleagues would jointly write a legal opinion letter, which he would mail directly to the Zhengzhou Municipal Guancheng District Procuratorate.
After a while, Boyang was also released on bail.
Qingfang is from Liangshan, Shandong, and has a heroic spirit. He is happy to help others. If you ask him for help, he almost never refuses and will not make the person seeking help feel embarrassed, which is especially rare. Eight years ago, because of personal matters, I also borrowed a sum of money from Qingfang for a short period of time. Qingfang also directly asked me for my account without saying anything, and soon transferred the money.
Qingfang’s attitude towards money is quite transparent. Although the money came from honest and aboveboard means, earned bit by bit, he has organized friends to travel several times, bearing all the accommodation and travel expenses. At least I know of three times, once in Chengdu, once in Shaolin Temple, and once in Mount Tai. As for his charitable acts of supporting people of conscience, although I know a little, I will leave it to others to speak.
Some people may say that these are small amounts of money for him, and that is true, but there are many people who have money, some only know how to accumulate like iron roosters and never give a penny, and some only know how to indulge in their desires and squander without restraint. I think those who are willing to help friends, do not care about gains and losses when dealing with friends, and can earn money while using it well are transparent, and only the wise can weigh and grasp it.
From Qingfang’s point of view, I think this kind of transparency is also related to his literary temperament. Qingfang has a strong foundation in classical Chinese, is well-read and has a good memory, and can write ancient poems and classical Chinese at his fingertips. He feels effortless when writing old-style poems, and the poems he writes are very appropriate in terms of expression without being polished, and he also preserves a rare sense of antiquity. His articles are also free and unrestrained, giving people the feeling of a river flowing and completing in one go. Without exaggeration or disparagement, I think that with Qingfang’s ability to read widely and his temperament and talent, if he were in ancient times, he could have succeeded through the imperial examinations. To put it bluntly, he has the talent of a traditional scholar. If he could put more energy into old-style poems, I think he could write to a considerable level.
People with a literary temperament rarely value money as their life, otherwise that kind of mercenary spirit will seriously damage a literary person’s spirituality.
Although Qingfang has the literary temperament of being proud of his talent, he is first and foremost a professional criminal defense lawyer. From the perspective of a lawyer, I also think he is a good lawyer. His courage and progress in representing cases are obvious to all. Starting from the Hangzhou Guomai Telecom Fraud Case, he began to move out of the comfort zone of handling cases based on personal connections and handled cases in a hard-hitting manner. And Qingfang’s hard-hitting seems to have never gone through a trial stage, and he went directly into the deep water area, and his first move was a winning move, and his actions were accurate and ruthless. I was impressed by his courage at the time and even wrote a long article.
In the past year or so, starting from the Neijiang case in Sichuan, his defense alone with hard-hitting could not cover it. He actually adopted a “hyper-limited warfare” model, no longer discussing the case, but directly targeting specific people, and “sniping” individuals with extraordinary courage. In the case of Wu Min in Yingtan, Jiangxi, he used all eighteen weapons, including swords, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks. Corruption, academic fraud, and even private forbidden conversations have become his handy tools. He is like a ferocious animal, and he has become a phenomenon-level lawyer. There are legends of him everywhere in the lawyer’s江湖 (jianghu, the world of lawyers), and he even seems to be out of the circle. A friend gave him the nickname “Zhang Da Pao” (Big Digger Zhang), which is a bit rough, and he also accepted it with a smile and declared that he had created the “Tomb Digging School”.
If this kind of mixed-bag approach were done by someone with a less dazzling academic background, they would be criticized as reckless and unprofessional, and they would be killed by the authorities in minutes. But it is done by a Peking University Ph.D. in Criminal Law, coupled with his heart-wrenching and eloquent words, the subconscious various rebellious postures (even his bald head is adding to his rebellious spirit), he not only does not appear reckless, but instead has a certain heroic spirit, which adds to his charm, and his defense method also produces a peculiar effect, highlighting a certain extremely helpless judicial reality.
As for the real fuse for his top-level punishment this time, that is, his defense in the Qian Cheng case, I am not in a position to fully reveal it. I can only pay my respects to him and Zhou Ze, but the two people’s methods determine their different results. Zhou Ze uses a lasso, or rather, a chain wrapped in a layer of cloth, while Qingfang draws a sharp sword and stabs directly.
I don’t want to deify Qingfang. The reason why he can be so brave is actually due to a variety of factors. First, he has long been financially free and is not as afraid of license revocation as ordinary lawyers. Second, the fees are high, and the case itself is also worth fighting for. Third, the academic resources are here. As long as the level of those who move him is not very high, he has the ability to resolve the framing against him.
So to a certain extent, Qingfang’s case handling is a phenomenon that cannot be replicated. After his license is revoked, I am afraid that no one will try to learn from him again. His case handling method is destined to be like a meteor across the night sky, briefly illuminating this vast dark night.
I will not worry about Qingfang’s future. With his intelligence and talent, whether he continues to stay in the legal track or enters other tracks, he will not be mediocre, and his remaining life will not be lonely.
After the famous intern lawyer Zhang Wenpeng was arrested, Qingfang posted a message on his WeChat Moments.
“Without my recommendation, Zhang Wenpeng would not have suffered this misfortune in Hainan. However, I don’t feel sorry for him, and I don’t even think this is a bad thing for him. Life should be measured on a large scale.”
It’s very transparent, and I believe Qingfang will certainly view his license revocation in the same way.
Regarding Zhang Wenpeng, Qingfang also said a few words in the group, which are necessary to post, because Qingfang is not only transparent: “As for the matter in Hainan, as long as Zhang Wenpeng finds me, I think I have an obligation to arrange a lawyer for him, after all, I recommended him, but he has other arrangements, and I will not take the initiative to manage it”.
Liu Shuqing
October 16, 2024
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