The crime of counter-revolution (Chinese: 反革命) was established in February 1951, involving accusations such as the following: The term was used during the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries to target former Kuomintang elements and other opposition against the PRC government.
During the Cultural Revolution, victims who were being accused of collusion with foreigners (里通外国) would often face long jail term, or death penalty.
The term received media attention in 2010, when Xia Yeliang, a professor of Peking University, was accused of this offence by his students after referring to Taiwan as a country.
Inciting subversion of the state (Chinese: 煽动颠覆国家政权罪) was announced in a 1997 amendment of the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China.
According to Article 105, Paragraph 2, "Anyone who uses rumor, slander or other means to encourage subversion of the political power of the State or to overthrow the socialist system, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years.
[5] According to the United Nations "Working Group on Arbitrary Detention", the vague and broadly defined wording of the legislation allowed the communication of thoughts and ideas to be regarded as "subversion", even without intentions to commit criminal acts.