Andréa Worden, January 31, 2026 Xu Zhiyong (许志永),  美好中国 (published in Chinese by Bouden House, NY, 2025).[1] English translations of the 24 essays comprising A Beautiful China are available on the website of China Change. Anthony J. Spires, Everyday Democracy: Civil Society, Youth, and the Struggle Against Authoritarian Culture in C [...] Keep reading »

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 [...] Keep reading »

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 [...] Keep reading »

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 [...] Keep reading »

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 gov [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Joshua Rosenzweig, January 28, 2025 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before this, h [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Leo Timm, January 25, 2025 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before this, he had ser [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Leo Timm, January 19, 2025 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before this, he had ser [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Elizabeth Lindley, January 9, 2025 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before this, he [...] Keep reading »