Zhang Lifan, November 2, 2019 This is a translation of Beijing-based historian Zhang Lifan’s interview by Deutsche Welle’s Chinese Service. In the interview, Zhang Lifan (章立凡) gives his views on the recently concluded Fourth Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th Central Committee, as well as the overall direction of the Chinese r [...] Keep reading »

Xiang Songzuo, October 23, 2019 Xiang Songzuo (向松祚) is an economist, and a professor of the School of Finance and Finance of Renmin University of China. His speech in December 2018, A Great Shift Unseen Over the Last Forty Years, translated by China Change, was widely disseminated. This short, recent commentary below was immediately censored [...] Keep reading »

Liao Yiwu, September 30, 2019 On August 11, 2019, a nurse during a demonstration against the extradition bill in Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong, had her right eye blown out by a beanbag fired by a police officer, causing lifelong disability and instantly provoking explosive public outrage. Many people regarded this incident as the start of a & [...] Keep reading »

Peter Humphrey, September 30, 2019 Bogged down by a trade war with America, unrest in Hong Kong, a slowing economy and a surge of ill will across the planet, the People’s Republic of China is approaching its 70th anniversary on the back foot, and keen to stir some favourable sentiment. At home, in the run-up to the celebrations, its ruler Xi Jinp [...] Keep reading »

Wang Dan, September 8, 2019 In Hong Kong, social resistance against the “China extradition” law has entered the stage of protracted conflict, with various forms of protests taking place every weekend. Hongkongers’ courageous efforts to defend their freedom have won them respect worldwide. Meanwhile, with regard to the goals they are striving [...] Keep reading »

Wang Lixiong, July 18, 2019 Beijing has designated “the main dangers affecting the stability of Xinjiang” as being “separatist forces and illegal religious activity.” This, as a matter of logical extrapolation, naturally divides the Han and local ethnic minorities into opposed groups. Because the Han are neither in favor of [...] Keep reading »

Citizens Movement in China, June 2, 2019 In the hearts of millions of people, there is a collective memory that has been suppressed for 30 years. How to awaken this memory, and confront our nation’s historical wounds? How to exorcise the haze of authoritarianism that has plagued this great land for millenia past? How to break out from the totalit [...] Keep reading »

Teng Biao, March 12, 2019 As the Communist Party held this year’s “Two Sessions” (两会), Beijing activist Hu Jia (胡佳) was kept under control by being forcibly moved across the country to Guangdong. Human rights lawyer Tang Jitian (唐吉田) and Xu Zhiyong (许志永), of the New Citizens Movement, received midnight visits in Zhengzhou [...] Keep reading »

Lü Pin, March 11, 2019 “As far as human rights activism is concerned, the outside world tends to focus on short-term incidents, such as when activism comes into direct confrontation with the state. But the outside world cannot keep long-term and sustained attention, which leads to many long-term, internal difficulties being left undiscussed.” [...] Keep reading »