BEIJING –– A Chinese court has sentenced a 36-year-old man to four years in prison on charges he tried to subvert the government by posting political essays on the Internet, his wife and a human rights group said Friday.

Guo Qinghai was sentenced Thursday by the Intermediate People's Court in Cangzhou, a city in the northern Chinese province of Hebei, said his wife, Su Lifen. The court convicted him of "inciting the overthrow of state power," she said.

Guo had said before Thursday's sentencing that he would appeal, his wife said by telephone from her home in Botou, 30 miles from Cangzhou.

Guo, who previously wrote articles for state-run newspapers, had since 1999 posted essays under a pseudonym on overseas Web sites that called for political reforms, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. It called him an "Internet dissident."

Su said she wasn't sure what Guo wrote about. But she said he felt he hadn't done anything wrong.

"He said I'm not against the Communist Party, I'm not against socialism, I'm just expressing my opinions," said Su. "Maybe his language was a bit strong."

Guo was fired from his job at a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China after his Sept. 15 arrest, his wife said.

Guo's trial on April 3 lasted about two hours, Su said, but officials did not inform her it was taking place so she did not attend. Her husband did not hire a lawyer, Su said.

While eager to harness the Internet's economic potential, China's communist government has enacted laws and formed special police units to prevent online dissent. The government blocks sites deemed subversive. Internet service providers are warned to censor their sites or be held responsible for any anti-government content.