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 »

China Change, August 7, 2025 The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the “709” crackdown. A full decade has passed since the mass arrest of lawyers that shocked both China and the world, and this persecution has not ended. Over the past year, several more lawyers have been arrested, sentenced, or placed in administrative detention. [...] Keep reading »

Li Heping, July 24, 2025 “The 709 crackdown was already one of the greatest injustices of our time. If I am now framed by these traffic police, I might as well smash my head against the wall and die right here.” — Li Heping, 709 lawyer Part One: A Five-hour Wrangling With Luhe Traffic Police Brigade from July 11, 2025, 11:00 p.m. to July [...] Keep reading »

July 1, 2025 Ten years ago, beginning on July 9th, the Chinese authorities launched a large-scale crackdown on human rights lawyers and rights defenders, arresting over 20 lawyers and their associates, placing them under the notorious “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location” where they were subjected to physical and psychological tor [...] 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 »

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 »

China Change, July 8, 2024 Six 709 lawyers and three 709 lawyers’ wives speak out on the 9th anniversary of the 709 Crackdown on human rights lawyers and defenders about the continuous harassment, loss of livelihood, and the significance of the fateful event that started nine years ago and is still ongoing. 709大抓捕九周年，六位律� [...] Keep reading »

29 Principles and China Change, July 1, 2024 This year, 2024, marks the 9th anniversary of the “709” crackdown on China’s human rights lawyers and rights activists that began in the summer of 2015. Since then, the Chinese authorities’ repression of these lawyers has continued nonstop, with harassment and restrictions extending to their rela [...] Keep reading »

Hermann Aubié, March 12, 2024 One year ago today, on March 11, 2023, the world lost a remarkable figure: Dr Jiang Yanyong (蒋彦永), a Chinese surgeon who first became known to the world for exposing a government cover-up during the SARS crisis of 2003. He thus played a crucial role in ensuring that both his compatriots and people worldwide were [...] Keep reading »