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Reports

The 10th Anniversary of the 709 Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders: Ten Notable Events Over the Past Year
China Change, August 7, 2025 The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the “709” crackdown. A full decade has passed since the mass arrest of lawyers that shocked both China and the world, and this persecution has not ended. Over the past year, several more lawyers have been arrested, sentenced, or placed in administrative detention. Some have been stripped …
Passing Through Luhe Traffic Police Brigade and Songzhuang Police Station – a Nightmare on the Tail of the 10th anniversary of the 709 Crackdown
Li Heping, July 24, 2025 “The 709 crackdown was already one of the greatest injustices of our time. If I am now framed by these traffic police, I might as well smash my head against the wall and die right here.” — Li Heping, 709 lawyer Part One: A Five-hour Wrangling With Luhe Traffic Police Brigade from July 11, 2025, …
Event Announcement: Marking the 10th Anniversary of the 709 Crackdown in China and the 9th China Human Rights Lawyers Day on July 9th, 2025
July 1, 2025 Ten years ago, beginning on July 9th, the Chinese authorities launched a large-scale crackdown on human rights lawyers and rights defenders, arresting over 20 lawyers and their associates, placing them under the notorious “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location” where they were subjected to physical and psychological torture. Meanwhile, the police interrogated and threatened nearly 300, mostly …
An Introduction to Dr. Xu Zhiyong
China Change, November 10, 2024 Born in 1973 in Henan province, Dr. Xu Zhiyong is a prominent political prisoner who is currently serving a 14-year prison term on bogus charges of “subversion of state power” in Lunan Prison in Shandong province. He has been on hunger strike since October 4 protesting the denial of his right to correspond with his …

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Analysis and Opinions

‘Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics’: Establishment, Destruction, Reconstruction, Reform, and Reversal
Li Fangping, August 21, 2025 It’s been seven decades since the promulgation of Communist China’s first Constitution in 1954. To evaluate the journey of its rule of law, the successes and failures, I’m going to divide my analysis into four periods. I. The CCP’s founding leaders never meant to honor PRC’s first Constitution The 1954 Constitution of the People’s Republic of …
1,296 Days in Limbo: The Trial of Xie Yang and the Eleven Notices That Delayed It for Thirty-Two Months By Way of Punishment
Yaxue Cao, July 29, 2025 I. At 10 a.m. Beijing time on July 30, 2025, after 1,296 days in detention, lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳) is finally standing trial at the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court. He is charged with “inciting subversion of state power.” This is the second time Xie Yang has been imprisoned since the internationally known “709 Crackdown” on …
A Decade On — It’s Time to Stop
Chen Guiqiu, ex-wife of Xie Yang, July 28, 2025 Human rights lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳) was arrested in January 2022, shortly after displaying a banner in support of an elementary school teacher in his province who had been arbitrarily detained in a mental hospital for online expression. As of today, he has been held for 1,295 days without trial. His …
The Global Chinese Anaconda
Rana Siu Inboden, May 12, 2025 Scholar Perry Link famously referred to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the “anaconda in the chandelier” whose omnipresent monitoring meant that the Chinese people often engaged in self-censorship or preemptive obedience, avoiding saying or doing things that might get them on the wrong side of the Chinese government. The People’s Republic of China …

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Interviews and profiles

A Home in God: The Story of Detained Pastor Jin Mingri and China’s City Churches, Part Two
Yaxue Cao, November 4, 2025 (Continued from Part One) The Birth of Zion Church: In the Open, Not Underground In early 2007, Pastor Jin Mingri, together with his wife and three children, returned to Beijing. By then, China had already undergone over a decade of rapid economic development. From the street level to its skyline, Beijing — rebuilt by cheap …
The Collapse of Yesterday’s World – A Chinese Millennial Journalist’s Chronicle of the ‘Reform and Opening Up’ That Never Was, Part Three
Jia Jia, October 15, 2025 One of the interrogators asked me: Why do you write for Apple Daily? … Are you only doing it for money? I replied: Yes, for money. Suddenly, he was enraged, interrupted me, and sternly said: “No! You’re writing for your ideals!” I was stunned, and could not think of a response. Continued from Part One, …
The Collapse of Yesterday’s World – A Chinese Millennial Journalist’s Chronicle of the ‘Reform and Opening Up’ That Never Was, Part Two
Jia Jia, October 15, 2025 It was a night of jubilation, but I felt melancholic. It was a vague hunch that our optimism was groundless — after all, on every issue, our hopes had always been dashed on a cold and unyielding wall. Continued from Part One 2. Days that Shone Like Gold It was a night of jubilation, but I …
The Collapse of Yesterday’s World – A Chinese Millennial Journalist’s Chronicle of the ‘Reform and Opening Up’ That Never Was, Part One
Jia Jia, October 7, 2025 Truman Capote once said, “… one person’s story can be the story of his time.” This is one such account. Now based in Tokyo, Jia Jia (贾葭) is a Chinese journalist, columnist, and editor who worked at several prominent publications in China and Hong Kong, including Oriental Outlook (瞭望东方周刊), Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊), GQ Chinese Edition, …

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