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 »

China Change, January 29, 2026 In December 2019, Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, and more than 20 other Chinese lawyers and ordinary citizens held a two-day gathering in the southeastern city of Xiamen, Fujian province, later referred to as the “Xiamen Gathering.” Shortly afterward, Chinese authorities launched arrests targeting the participant [...] 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 »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Elizabeth Lindley, November 25, 2024 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, [...] Keep reading »

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 h [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Elizabeth Lindley, Joshua Rosenzweig, and Leo Timm, October 30, 2024 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 “subverti [...] Keep reading »

China Change, October 24, 2024 We’ve learned the worrying news that Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永), leader of the Citizens Movement and perhaps the most prominent dissident in China after the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been on hunger strike for twenty days as of October 23, protesting the extreme inhumane treatment that he has re [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Andréa Worden, August 28, 2024 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 ha [...] Keep reading »

Xu Zhiyong, translated by Joshua Rosenzweig, July 29, 2024 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 h [...] Keep reading »