Sun Dawu

Sun Dawu (; born June 1954) is a Chinese billionaire. He co-owns the Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group with his wife, Liu Huiru (刘会茹). The Dawu Group was originally focused on agriculture and gradually broadened its scope to include animal feed, real estate, education, and healthcare operations. Dawu is recognized as an advocate of farmers' rights and rural land reform. He is known to have hosted human rights lawyers and financed their legal costs when they came under political fire.

Dawu was detained in late November 2020, along with 20 relatives and business associates, over a land dispute with government-run farms. He was later charged with and convicted of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Early life and career After graduating from junior high school, Dawu spent time in Linfen, Shanxi in the 82nd Division of the 28th Group Army of the People's Liberation Army and the Agricultural Bank of Xushui County. In 1985, he founded the Dawu Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group Co., Ltd., and served as chairman of the board. He began his business with 1,000 chickens and 50 pigs. During his tenure as chairman, Dawu was honored as the No. 1 Chicken-Raising Scholar in Hebei province in June 1996.

In 1995, when the Dawu Group had become one of China's top 500 private companies, Dawu was elected as a Deputy to the Baoding Municipal People's Congress. In August 1996, he was elected as Chairman of the Baoding Poultry and Egg Industry Federation. In 2001, Dawu served as the principal of the Dawu School while remaining chairman of the Dawu Group. In October 2002, he was hired as a senior researcher by the Institute of Farmer Issues of China Agricultural University.

Dawu built a company town in Hebei called Dawu City, which surrounded the campus of the Dawu Group and included amenities such as a hospital with 1,000 beds.

Criticism of the Chinese government Dawu would often post his views, along with articles by liberals, on his company's website. Moreover, he accused the government of covering up an African swine flu outbreak in China, which adversely affected his farms and devastated much of the country's industry in 2019.

Legal issues In May 2003, Dawu was arrested after raising 180 million yuan, even though he was able to prove he was just borrowing the funds. The case received unprecedented attention, with academics such as Mao Yushi, lawyers such as Xu Zhiyong, reporters and even local farmers rallying on Dawu's behalf. President Hu Jintao and Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu reportedly ordered local officials to "handle the case with care." The local court sentenced him to three years imprisonment and four years of probation with a fine of 100,000 yuan for illegally using public funds. However, the sentence was later suspended for four years, and he was set free after the trial. The Dawu Group was also fined 300,000 yuan.

In a pre-trial hearing, Dawu reportedly denied many of the accusations against him, describing himself as an "outstanding Communist party member". He however admitting to having made mistakes, including posting messages online.

In July 2021, Dawu was sentenced to 18 years in prison, having been found guilty of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Other charges levied against him included illegally occupying farmland, assembling a crowd to attack state agencies and obstructing government workers from performing their duties. He was also fined 3.11 million yuan ($478,697).

In a closing statement to the court, Dawu asked that all criticism be directed to him alone and pleaded for other defendants to be acquitted.