[11][12][13][14] SESRI carried out studies for public or private clients, published books, and conducted opinion polls on the political attitudes of people in China, such as democracy and reform.

[18] The death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989 sparked the people's movement in which Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming became furtively involved.

[20] Wang and Chen organized daily meetings with intellectuals, students, and journalists in hopes of influencing their protesting strategies by discussing and advising them about what to do.

Wang had gone into hiding in various towns around China thereafter, but was found and arrested in Changsha four months later while trying to purchase a train ticket during his planned escape to Hong Kong.

[26] In March 1991, Wang requested medical treatment after blood tests confirmed that he had contracted Hepatitis B and was suffering from coronary heart disease.

Despite thirty written requests for care, officials insisted he was not ill and transferred Wang to punitive solitary confinement in Beijing No.2 Prison.

[27] In August 1991, Wang announced that he was going on hunger strike to protest his poor conditions and the authorities’ refusal to allow his wife for visitation.

[29] In September 1991, the Justice Ministry announced that Wang had been moved to a hospital in Yanqing Prison and a spokesman acknowledged that he was suffering from hepatitis.