China Change » Analyses and Opinions

Yaxue Cao, January 15, 2024 1. People often assume that I know Ilham Tohti in person. I don’t. When Ilham was arrested on January 15, 2014 from his home in Beijing, I, a relative newcomer to human rights living overseas, barely knew his name. I began to read about him. The first thing I read was his autobiographical essay My Ideals and the Career [...] Keep reading »

China Issues 129 New Rules to Revive Private Sector, But Entrepreneurs Point to the Fundamentals: Amend the Constitution and Toss Out Marxist Theory

Yaxue Cao, December 7, 2023 (Open in browser for audio.) Desperate times call for desperate measures. On the heels of worrying economic numbers of the first two quarters that defied bullish expectations at the beginning of the year, in mid-July, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council issued “Opinions on Boosting the Development and [...] Keep reading »

Whither China? — Xu Zhiyong’s Letter of Appeal

November 30, 2023 In August, while waiting for appeal, Dr. Xu Zhiyong wrote the following statement (Chinese original), not so much to the court as to his compatriots. In June, he and Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 years and 12 years in prison respectively on subversion charges, ostensibly for an informal two-day gathering in Xiamen in December 20 [...] Keep reading »

The Education of Li Keqiang

Wang Tiancheng, November 2, 2023 The following essay by Wang Tiancheng was posted on Twitter titled “A Side View of Li Keqiang” (《李克强的一个侧面》), and I take the liberty to give it the somewhat inflated title you see so as to bring the essay into focus. The 1980s was a highly interesting and exciting time in China, a time marked [...] Keep reading »

Eight Years as a Mother (2)

Wang Qiaoling, October 6, 2023 (Audio on browser) In the long year of 2018, there was a bright spot – that May, we found a school for my eight-year-old daughter. As early as 2016, my daughter was admitted to a bilingual school, which was the same school her brother attended for junior high. It also offered kindergarten and elementary. When the 70 [...] Keep reading »

Eight Years as a Mother

Wang Qiaoling, October 3, 2023 (Audio on browser) Since the 709 crackdown on human rights lawyers in 2015, I often introduced myself to others as Wang Qiaoling (王峭岭), wife of 709 lawyer Li Heping. Starting from today, let me introduce myself in a new way. I am Wang Qiaoling, mother of Li Zeyuan (李泽远) and Li Jiamei (李佳美). My son, L [...] Keep reading »

On the Lack of a Fair Judiciary in China: Reflections of a Criminal Defense Lawyer (Two)

Li Jinxing, September 28, 2023 Li Jinxing (李金星), arguably one of the most prominent defense lawyers in today’s China, has dedicated much of his career to overturning wrongful convictions, a Sisyphean task in the People’s Republic. Over the past decade or so, he proved instrumental in reversing a series of wrongful convictions, including j [...] Keep reading »

On the Lack of a Fair Judiciary in China: Reflections of a Criminal Defense Lawyer (One)

Li Jinxing, September 8, 2023 Li Jinxing (李金星), arguably one of the most prominent defense lawyers in today’s China, has dedicated much of his career to overturning wrongful convictions, a Sisyphean task in the People’s Republic. Over the past decade or so, he proved instrumental in reversing a series of wrongful convictions, including ju [...] Keep reading »

Lao Gao and I

Li Tingting, August 29, 2023 Li Tingting (李婷婷), also known as Maizi (麦子), is a feminist activist and one of the “Feminist Five.” She currently lives in New York City with her partner. In this essay, she tells the story of her decade-long interaction with a police officer named Lao Gao. – The Editors In the summer of 2011, as a risin [...] Keep reading »