HONG KONG — A book written by Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese human rights lawyer who spent years in prison, has made it out of China and been published in Taiwan.

In the 446-page book, Mr. Gao describes his time as a prisoner from 2009 to 2014, when he was released and sent to his home in the northwestern province of Shaanxi to live under round-the-clock police surveillance with his older brother, a farmer. The book was introduced in Hong Kong on Tuesday by his daughter, Grace Geng.

Mr. Gao, an army veteran, rose to fame taking on cases that pitted ordinary people against powerful interests, defending farmers from land seizures and suing the police for abuses. He became one of the best-known lawyers in the country, but his advocacy for practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement put him at odds with the government, which shut down his Beijing law firm in 2005.

Image Gao Zhisheng, a rights lawyer, in Beijing in 2010. Credit... Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press

Mr. Gao, 52, became increasingly critical of the Communist Party and renounced his membership. Detained in 2006, he recanted his confession upon release and described the abuse he received from the police. In early 2009, he disappeared, with the government providing no explanation of his whereabouts for more than a year, prompting international condemnation. After being briefly released from prison in 2010, he disappeared into police custody again, only to be released again in 2014 and transferred to house arrest.