The New York Times (April 24) reported that Sun Dawu, an outspoken rural businessman who has been a critic of Xi Jinping, was formally arrested on April 21 on a number of charges, months after being taken into detention. Sun Dawu was  held in Hebei province since November, on charges of illegal fund-raising and obstructing public service. Sun Dawu was earlier arrested in 2003, for defying the government.

(Comment: Sun Dawu, a PLA veteran, worked at China’s state-owned Agricultural Bank of China before starting his own business, called Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group, which now employs thousands of people. He built a town in Hebei called Dawu City, with services like a 1,000-bed hospital, and cultivated the image of a benevolent corporate leader.)