By Song Zhibiao, published: May 17, 2015 We present you the second commentary out of China on the draft law. The first one, by Dr. Wan Yanhai, one of China’s NGO pioneers, briefly examines the operational path of Chinese NGOs from early 1990s to the present, and how the three recent laws will dead-end rights advocacy NGOs in China. This, it turns [...] Keep reading »

By Wan Yanhai, published: May 13, 2015   In March 2007, Guo Yushan (郭玉闪）and others co-founded Transition Social and Economic Consulting Limited, otherwise known as Beijing Transition Institute. In July 2013, Beijing Bureau of Civil Affairs sent Transition Institute (TI) a violation notice, alleging that the organization had not registe [...] Keep reading »

Published: May 6, 2015 Below are excerpts of the letters they posted following their release on April 13, 2015.   Wei Tingting (韦婷婷), April 17, 2015   Since the first day home, I have been constantly trying to make up for what I missed during the detention, reading your articles, tracking your chats, browsing through various reports from va [...] Keep reading »

By Beijing Yirenping Center, April 14, 2015   On April 14, Hong Lei, the Spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), stated publicly that our organization, Beijing Yirenping Center (BYC), “has allegedly violated the law, and will be punished.” Our organization’s response is as follows: 1.  We welcome MOFA in its [...] Keep reading »

Published: April 11, 2015 “You must know the global picture of women to understand the international response to the detention of the five feminists in China.”   Professor Wang Zheng (王政), of the University of Michigan, is a scholar whose research focuses on the modern and contemporary history of Chinese women and gender, and Chinese [...] Keep reading »

A translation of a VOA report in Chinese, published: March 11, 2015 Professor Xia Min of CUNY: “Xi’s fear is exactly that the maturing of civil society will organically provide, with the organizing capacity and solidarity within Chinese society, a platform for the building of political parties.”   A documentary produced by the well-k [...] Keep reading »

By Liu Yu, published: February 25, 2015 “You see?  No hands are raised by those who are absent in the classroom.  Everyone is here. What a wonderful class!”   I complain about China now and then, and a friend of mine pointed out my failing to appreciate it. “China is in great shape now,” she pointed to the window. “Can’t you see? [...] Keep reading »

By Zhai Minglei, published: February 4, 2015 (Chinese original was published in October, 2014.) Get a glimpse of one of the quietest but most admirable NGO activists in China who has been held incommunicado since October 10th, 2014. – The Editor     At this very moment, I am in Shanghai, jotting down some memories of mine. In China, som [...] Keep reading »

By Xiao Shu, published: January 11, 2015   I no longer have the desire to argue about the treatment of Guo Yushan and his colleagues from a legal perspective. We know that “illegal business practices” was the charge for which Guo was formally arrested on December 6th, after remaining in extralegal detention for more than two months. Back [...] Keep reading »