BEIJING, Oct. 15 — Chinese police officials have charged a prominent human rights lawyer with inciting subversion, part of a continuing crackdown on people who have sought to use China’s nascent legal system to limit the power of the state.

The lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, was taken into custody in mid-August and was formally arrested on Sept. 21, but the police only recently made clear the nature of the charge, said his lawyer, Mo Shaoping.

If Mr. Gao ends up being indicted and tried on subversion charges, it could mark one the highest profile prosecutions of an internationally recognized dissident in recent years.

China often uses the legal system to punish people it considers subversive. But in recent years it has mainly sought to prosecute them for violating ordinary criminal laws, such as leaking state secrets, violating commercial codes, disrupting traffic or committing fraud.