Labour activist Zhang Shanguan 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. 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.