China Change, September 24, 2023 It took three whole years of secret detention for journalist Huang Xueqin (黄雪琴) and labor activist Wang Jianbing (王建兵) to be tried on charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” as announced on Friday, September 22, in the southern Chinese city Guangzhou. Still, little has been made public about [...] Keep reading »

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 »

Andréa Worden, March 29, 2022 In sharp contrast with the beginning of the 2022 tennis season, we haven’t heard much from players or fans with respect to Peng Shuai’s plight. The “Where is Peng Shuai?” t-shirt campaign at the Australian Open in January, which drew global attention to Peng Shuai’s silencing and disappearance by Chinese aut [...] Keep reading »

Chair Merkley, Co-Chair McGovern, Members of the Commission, thank you for holding this hearing and for asking me to share my thoughts on the case of the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Indeed, Peng Shuai has become a special kind of political prisoner. Meanwhile, the Women’s Tennis Association’s decision to suspend all tournaments in China has [...] Keep reading »

In the final part of her interview, Lü Pin discusses the Feminist Five case, how the #MeToo movement caught on in China at a time when the feminist movement seemed to be fading, and the eventual shutdown of Feminist Voice. According to Lü Pin, while the feminist movement is facing an uncertain future, the repressive regime is far from claiming vi [...] Keep reading »

After leaving China Women News, Lü Pin began to work with women intellectuals pioneering women’s rights advocacy in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2009, Lü Pin founded ‘Feminist Voice.' Its sharp interpretation of women issues through a feminist lens attracted many young educated women. A small NGO called ‘One-yuan Commune’ was established in Be [...] Keep reading »

Since the 1990s, Lü Pin has been a pioneering advocate for women’s rights in China as well as a prolific writer on gender issues and a mentor to a group of activists known as the “young feminist activists.” In part one of our 3-part interview of her, Lü Pin traces her upbringing, the 1989 movement, her journalism career at China Women’s N [...] Keep reading »

Lü Pin, March 11, 2019 “As far as human rights activism is concerned, the outside world tends to focus on short-term incidents, such as when activism comes into direct confrontation with the state. But the outside world cannot keep long-term and sustained attention, which leads to many long-term, internal difficulties being left undiscussed.” [...] Keep reading »

Xiao Meili, March 27, 2018     January 2018 was a special month for the Chinese feminist movement. On January 1, Luo Xixi (罗茜茜) released an open letter –– using her real name –– in which she accused her former PhD advisor, Chen Xiaowu (陈小武), of sexually harassing female students. It was as if she had lit a spark that i [...] Keep reading »