January 1, 2022 In 1925, the 26-year-old poet and political dissident Wen Yiduo (闻一多) wrote in his poem titled “Dead Water”: Here is a ditch of doomed, dead waterNo spring breeze can stir up even half a ripple In 1946, Wen was assassinated on the streets of Kunming by military security officers of the Kuomintang that ruled China at the ti [...] Keep reading »

China Change, November 21, 2021 Lin Qilei (蔺其磊) is one of the most productive human rights lawyers in China for over a decade. Like many human rights lawyers, especially since the 709 Crackdown, he has been targeted and now driven out of the profession for his work. In this 12-minute video, he recounts how the Beijing Municipal Justice Bureau [...] Keep reading »

November 15, 2021 To the directors of the Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau and Shanghai Women’s Prison: We, as citizens, as friends of Zhang Zhan (张展), and as people who admire her sense of conscience, have been concerned about the deteriorating state of her health. We are deeply concerned to have learned that Zhang Zhan’s older brothe [...] Keep reading »

Yaxue Cao, October 31, 2021 In China, Hao Jinsong (郝劲松) is very well-known as a public interest litigator who, for the better part of seven years between 2004 and 2010, sued various authorities such as the Beijing Subway Company, the Ministry of Railways, Shaanxi provincial Forestry Department, and the Shanghai traffic police, and confronted [...] Keep reading »

Opening remarks by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC at the 5th China Human Rights Lawyers Day on July 9, 2021. "I wanted to encourage everyone who's a lawyer in other parts of the world to recognize the importance of standing alongside our colleagues in the law, who takes such brave positions in China." [...] Keep reading »

Shandong Province Linyi Municipal People’s Procuratorate Indictment Lin Proc Dept One Crim Indict [2021] No. Z43 Defendant Xu Zhiyong (许志永) (previously used the name Xu Zhiyong 许志勇), male, born on March 2, 1973, citizen ID number [REDACTED], ethnic Han, post-graduate education, former lecturer at Beijing University of Posts and Teleco [...] Keep reading »

Shandong Province Linyi Municipal People’s Procuratorate Indictment Lin Proc Dept One Crim Indict [2021] No. Z42 Defendant Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜) male, born on August 17, 1967, citizen ID number [REDACTED], ethnic Han, post-graduate education, former lawyer at Beijing Dehong Law Firm, currently jobless, household registration and current address [...] Keep reading »

China Change, September 25, 2021 On December 7 and 8, 2019, twenty or so people – more than half of them human rights lawyers and the rest citizen movement enthusiasts – gathered in Xiamen, Fujian Province, for a day-and-half informal gathering. It was a mixed affair of chatting, debate, karaoke, lunch, and dinner, and the topics they touched o [...] Keep reading »

Chen Zijuan, September 19, 2021 Born in 1984, Chang Weiping has been an outstanding member of the younger generation of human rights lawyers in China. Starting in 2014, he has represented human rights defenders in areas of free speech, expression of political dissent, religious freedom, anti-discrimination in the workplace and more. For example, he [...] Keep reading »