Liu Xiaobo: China Tells U.S. not to Interfere Over Jailed Dissident
Beijing has hit back at Washington for "irresponsible remarks" after the US criticised its treatment of Chinese Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo.
U.S. Presses China to Free Activists Scrutinizing Ivanka Trump Shoe Factory
Experts warned that the detentions could make it more difficult for other Western companies to take a clear look at the practices of their Chinese suppliers.
Yahoo Is Sued over $17 Million Fund for Chinese Dissidents
A group of Chinese political activists filed a lawsuit in federal court against Yahoo on Tuesday, saying the company failed to properly oversee a $17 million fund it created a decade ago to help Chinese dissidents
Wife of Detained Activist from Taiwan Is Barred from China
China’s Ministry of Public Security has barred the wife of a detained Taiwan-born rights activist from flying to Beijing on Monday, adding to the drama surrounding the man’s disappearance after he entered China more than three weeks ago.
State Department Aide Charged for Hiding Gifts from Chinese Agents
A veteran State Department employee who held a Top Secret clearance and did three tours in China is facing criminal charges for allegedly covering up tens of thousands of dollars in gifts she and an associate took from Chinese agents.
Australian Vote on Extradition Treaty With China Is Canceled
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull canceled a parliamentary vote to ratify an extradition treaty with China on Tuesday after opposition lawmakers said they would not support it
Taiwan Democracy Activist Said To Be Detained in China
People close to a Taiwanese pro-democracy activist say he went missing nine days ago during a visit to the Chinese territory of Macau and appears to be in Chinese custody.
China Bars Professor at Australian University From Leaving, Lawyer Says
A Chinese-born professor at an Australian university who has often criticized Beijing’s crackdown on political dissent has been barred from leaving China and is being questioned by state security officers as a suspected threat to national...
Eleven Countries Signed a Letter Slamming China for Torturing Lawyers. The U.S. Did Not.
When 11 embassies signed on to a joint letter criticizing China over “credible claims” that lawyers and human rights activists have been tortured while in detention, there were two notable abstentions.
China’s Congress Meeting Brings Crackdown on Critics
Chinese authorities have shut down activist Ye Haiyan’s blogs and forced her to move from one city to another. Left with few options, she now produces socially conscious paintings to make a living and advocate for the rights of sex workers and...
A Human Rights Activist, A Secret Prison and A Tale from Xi Jinping’s New China
Peter Dahlin spent 23 days in a ‘black prison’ in Beijing, where he says he was deprived of sleep and questioned with a ‘communication enhancement’ machine.
The NYRB China Archive
12.22.16
How Tibet Is Being Crushed—While the Dalai Lama Survives
from New York Review of BooksIf you read every page of Tsering Woeser’s latest book and skip the first and last chapters of Tsering Topgyal’s, the ultimate message about the situation in Tibet is often the same. Chinese rule, writes Woeser, is no less than “...
The NYRB China Archive
11.28.16
Inside and Outside the System: Chinese Writer Hu Fayun
from New York Review of BooksOver the summer, I traveled to Wuhan to continue my series of talks with people about the challenges facing China. Coming here was part of an effort...
New Interpol Head is Chinese Former Deputy Head of Paramilitary Police
Vice-minister Meng Hongwei’s election has sparked concerns his position may be used to boost China’s campaign to pursue dissidents around the globe
The NYRB China Archive
10.06.16
China: A Life in Detention
from New York Review of BooksEvery year in China, thousands of people suffer what the United Nations calls “arbitrary detention”: confinement in extra-legal facilities—including former government buildings, hotels, or mental hospitals—which are sometimes...
Media
09.14.16
The Chinese Democratic Experiment that Never Was
Protesters in southern China are up in arms. They feel that Beijing’s promises that they’d be able to vote for their own local leaders have been honored in the breach. They’re outraged at the show of force in the face of peaceful protest, and...
The NYRB China Archive
09.08.16
The People in Retreat
from New York Review of BooksAi Xiaoming is one of China’s leading documentary filmmakers and political activists. Since 2004, she has made more than two dozen films, many of them long,...
Excerpts
08.18.16
Why an Elite Chinese Student Decided Not to Join the Communist Party
“Wish Lanterns” follows the lives of six Chinese born between 1985 and 1990 as they grow up, go to school, and pursue their aspirations. Millennials are a transformational generation in China, heralding key societal and cultural shifts, and they are...
Week of TV Trials in China Signals New Phase in Attack on Rights
Legal experts and supporters of four defendants denounced the hearings, held on consecutive days in Tianjin, a port city near Beijing, as grotesque show trials.
Chinese Activist Zhai Yasmin Found Guilty of Subversion
Hundreds are detained since last year as a part of a crackdown on ‘legal activism’.....
Culture
06.29.16
Using Free Sex to Expose Sexual Abuse in China
Nanfu Wang hoped that a woman called Ye Haiyan (“Hooligan Sparrow”), who had offered free sex on the Internet to draw attention to the plight of poor women selling their bodies to support their children, would lead her to the prostitutes she...
The NYRB China Archive
05.26.16
The Heritage of a Great Man
from New York Review of BooksWhy did communism grow deep roots and survive in China, while it withered and died in Russia? This is one of the central questions of modern history. A plausible answer to the question is that communism in China resonated with the...
With Hong Kong Booksellers Silenced, China Now Goes after Exiled Dissidents
Dissidents in the U.S. and Germany said relatives in China were detained to investigate the anonymous letter asking Xi to resign.
Chinese Activist in N.Y. Says Beijing Officials 'Abducted' His Parents and Brother
An influential Communist Party critic with more than 220,000 Twitter followers said authorities detained his family in Guangdong.
Features
03.21.16
A Thousand Yes-Men Cannot Equal One Honest Advisor
Several cadre leaders have been punished for breaking the law, and nearly all of them have said: There isn’t enough internal supervision and no one warned me; if there’d been someone there whispering in my ear, I wouldn’t have committed such...
Conversation
03.21.16
Cracks in Xi Jinping’s Fortress?
Two remarkable documents emerged from China last week—the essay “A Thousand Yes-Men Cannot Equal One Honest Advisor,” which appeared on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and an open letter calling for Xi Jinping’s...
Obama to Veto Bill to Rename Washington Street After Jailed China Dissident
Liu Xiaobo, who in 2009 was sentenced to 11 years in jail on charges of inciting state subversion.
Q. and A.: Bei Ling on the Missing Hong Kong Booksellers
The disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers in recent months has attracted international attention
The Hard Reality Behind China’s Soft Power
Even as China burnishes its image overseas, the Communist Party conducts brutal suppression of civil liberties at home.
Viewpoint
11.30.15
Court in China Adds Last-Minute Charge Against Rights Leader During Sentencing
from China ChangeOn August 8, 2013, Guo Feixiong (real name Yang Maodong) was arrested and then indicted on charges of “gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place.” The heavy sentence came as a shock to everyone following the case. More shockingly, the...
Why 2,500-Year-Old Tale Gives Ma Hope for Chinese Democracy
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said history gives him hope for political change on the Communist-ruled mainland.
China Insists to U.N. That It’s Combating Torture
Senior Chinese officials dismissed allegations of the widespread use of torture.
Thailand Deports 2 Dissidents to China, Rights Groups Say
The groups denounced the act, by the Thai authorities, as a betrayal of the two men’s right to flee feared political persecution and torture.
China Faces Sharp Questioning by U.N. Panel on Torture
“China has made further progress in its legal development and human rights protection.”
Rights Lawyers in China Routinely Face Abuse, Report Says
Legal activists and those suspected of crimes in China are routinely abused and mistreated at the hands of law enforcement officials.
Human Rights: What Is China Accused of?
China's human rights record has been criticised for years.
How A 16-Year-Old Found Himself Caught Up in China’s Latest Crackdown
He is not a lawyer, or a dissident. He is a 16-year-old with a bowl-cut fringe.
Rights Group Demands Chinese Supporters of Hong Kong Democracy Be Freed
Amnesty International called for the release of eight mainland Chinese activists.
China Dissident's Wife Rejects Invite to State Department
Relatives of Chinese dissidents met with Secretary of State John Kerry as the Obama administration sought to demonstrate it won't gloss over human rights during this week's state visit of Chinese President Xi.
Daring Sailboat Escape by Chinese Dissidents Ends in Rescue, Detention by Taiwan
Chinese dissidents escaped by boat to Taiwan before attempting a journey to Guam.
China Defends Xi Visit to U.N. Forum Despite Activists' Detention
President Xi's attendance at a U.N. women's summit, brushing off concern about its detention of women activists in March.
China Frees Activist Academic Before Xi Trip to United States
Guo Yushan, founder of a think-tank that did research on business regulations, reform and civil society is released recently.
China: Government Should Account for Activist’s Detention, Death
United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) member states should press China to account for a Chinese activist's detention and death.
The NYRB China Archive
09.12.15
‘I Try to Talk Less’: A Conversation with Ai Weiwei and Liao Yiwu
from New York Review of BooksIn late July, Chinese authorities renewed travel privileges for conceptual artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, ending a five-year prohibition following his arrest in 2011. He promptly flew to Munich and then Berlin, where he has accepted a...
The NYRB China Archive
07.09.15
A Blind Lawyer vs. Blind Chinese Power
from New York Review of BooksIn early 2012, Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who had been blind since infancy, lived with his wife and two children in the village of Dongshigu, where he’d been raised, on the eastern edge of the North China plain. They were not there by...
The NYRB China Archive
05.27.15
China’s Invisible History: An Interview with Filmmaker and Artist Hu Jie
from New York Review of BooksThough none of his works have been publicly shown in China, Hu Jie is one of his country’s most noteworthy filmmakers. He is best known for his trilogy of documentaries about Maoist China, which includes Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul (...
Media
04.15.15
Online Support–and Mockery–Await Chinese Feminists After Release
On April 13, Chinese authorities released on bail five feminist activists detained for over a month without formal charges...
Viewpoint
04.10.15
Bury Zhao Ziyang, and Praise Him
Zhao Ziyang, the premier and general secretary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the 1980s, died on January 17, 2005. At a tightly...
Media
02.23.15
Five Predictions for Chinese Censorship in the Year of the Sheep
Blocked websites, jailed journalists, and nationalist rhetoric have long been features of the Chinese Communist Party’s media control strategy. During the Year of the Horse, which just ended on China’s lunar calendar, President Xi Jinping and his...
The NYRB China Archive
02.09.15
China: Inventing a Crime
from New York Review of BooksIn late January, Chinese authorities announced that they are considering formal charges against Pu Zhiqiang, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers, who has been in detention since last May. Pu’s friends fear...
China Labor Activists Say Facing Unprecedented Intimidation
The number of strikes more than doubled in 2014 to 1,378 from 656 the year before, according to China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group. April saw the biggest strike in decades, when about 40,000 employees of Adidas and Nike...
Viewpoint
01.16.15
The Plight of China’s Rights Lawyers
As the year came to a close, at least seven prominent Chinese human rights lawyers rang in the New Year from a jail cell. Under President Xi Jinping, 2014 was one of the worst years in recent memory for China’s embattled civil society. Bookending...