Police question pair over PKU performance art

Two people were questioned for several hours by police in Haidian district Monday after they attempted to stage a performance art piece outside Peking University (PKU).

Campaigner Cheng Shuaishuai, 22, from Henan Province, planned the performance along with two female volunteers to draw attention to what he considers to be the university's unfair admissions policy.

However, before the piece even started, Cheng and one of the women were sent to the police station by PKU security, Yu Fangqiang, a former coordinator from Beijing Yirenping Center, told the Global Times Monday. The center is a non-profit organization which aims to promote social justice and public health.

According to Yu, Cheng has been engaged in public welfare, such as staging performance art pieces to highlight social problems, such as opposing discrimination in the employment of those who are HIV positive.

"After staging a similar protest on August 5, which did not attract the university authority's attention, as Monday was Teacher's Day, Cheng decided to try again," said Yu.

One of the female volunteers, surnamed Guo, managed to avoid capture, she told the Global Times Monday.

After arriving at PKU's south gate at about 9:30 am, she saw Cheng and the other woman, surnamed Wang, being taken to the security office as they tried to enter the campus.

"I was about 300 meters from them, and I saw the security guards take them to the security office after checking what was in their bag. I was frightened and escaped to a mall near the south entrance," she said.