China Targeting Rights Lawyers in a Crackdown
Beijing is mounting a broad crackdown on human rights lawyers, contending that they have exploited contentious cases to enrich themselves and attack the party.
Xi Turns Back the Clock on Women’s Rights in China
Although it is unthinkable today, two decades ago 30,000 women from around the world converged outside Beijing to promote a host of social and political causes.
China Locks Up Lawyers, Defending the Rule of Law
Amnesty International says 120 lawyers, and more than 50 support staff, family members and activists, have been rounded up in China since July 9th.
Conversation
07.14.15
China’s ‘Rule by Law’ Takes an Ugly Turn
Yet another crackdown has begun under Chinese President Xi Jinping. This time, the target is so-called “rights lawyers,” loosely defined as those who defend unpopular or dissident clients, or bring cases against the state that rest on claims of...
Lawyers and Activists Detained or Questioned by Police Since 9 July 2015
Amnesty International
Amnesty International has compiled this list of Lawyers and Activists in China who have been detained or questioned by police since July 9, 2015. The list was collated based on various sources. Amnesty International attempted to confirm all...
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...
Viewpoint
07.07.15
U.S. Should Make More Public Statements About China’s Human Rights
When China’s leader Xi Jinping comes to the United States for his first state visit in September, will U.S. leaders use the summit to address the country’s deteriorating human rights conditions?
Not if the U.S. performance at June’s...
China Issues White Paper on Human Rights
China has made "tremendous achievements" on the "the correct path of human rights development that suits its national conditions."
The China Africa Project
05.13.15
A Flash Point in China-Africa Relations Re-Opens in Zambia
When critics of the Chinese in Africa make their case, the Collum coal mine in Zambia is invariably on their list of grievances. The controversial mine has been the site of violent labor disputes that have severely injured, even killed, both...
Media
05.06.15
Online Reaction to Baltimore Protests Reveals Much About Chinese Tension with African Immigrants
Several days ago, a Chinese friend and I were discussing the protests in Baltimore that erupted in response to the death of...
China’s Xi to Make First State Visit to U.S. as Both Flag Problems
The two biggest economies are trying to ease tension over trade, human rights, and accusations of hacking and Internet theft.
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 Steps up Political Arrests, Prosecutions
A total of 2,318 people were arrested or indicted on charges of “endangering state security”, the US-based Dui Hua Foundation said, citing statistics from China’s central prosecution office.
The China Africa Project
11.16.14
China’s Booming Africa Trade in Torture Devices
Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation recently published a new report that alleges China is selling hundreds of millions of dollars...
The NYRB China Archive
10.19.14
China’s Unstoppable Lawyers: An Interview with Teng Biao
from New York Review of BooksTeng Biao is one of China’s best-known civil-rights lawyers, and a prominent member of the weiquan, or “rights defenders,” movement, a loosely knit coalition of Chinese lawyers and activists who tackle cases related to the environment,...
China ‘Strongly Displeased’ by U.S. Rights Report
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a news briefing that the independent U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China "twisted facts and attacked China on purpose" in its report.
China Increasingly Producing ‘Tools of Torture’ for Export: Amnesty
The Chinese equipment, such as spiked batons, fuels human rights abuses by law enforcement authorities in African and Southeast Asian nations, the international human rights group said in a report.
China Chides U.S. Over Ferguson Violence, American Racism
State media of the world’s largest country has stepped up coverage of the Ferguson violence and protests, publishing commentaries accusing the United States of hypocrisy in seeking to be a global guardian of human rights.
Read more here...
Clive Palmer ‘Mongrel’ Comments Irresponsible, Says Chinese Embassy
Australian MP insists his TV remarks were aimed at specific company, but embassy condemns them as ‘full of ignorance and prejudice.’
Media
07.08.14
Changing the Chinese Embassy’s Address to Liu Xiaobo Plaza Is a Silly Idea
I rarely agree with the Chinese Embassy in Washington, but an amendment making its way through Congress has made me unlikely bedfellows with Beijing’s Washington diplomats.
Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has sponsored an amendment to...
China’s Economic Power Buys British Silence on Human Rights
For Prime Minister David Cameron and the British government, Premier Li Keqiang’s recent visit could not have gone better. Diplomatic relations, which turned frosty following Cameron's meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2012, are back on track.
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern Introduces New Bill on Tibet
Mr. McGovern (MA-02) announced today that he has introduced HR 4851, The Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, in the House of Representatives.
Rights Lawyer Detained Ahead of Tiananmen Anniversary
Pu Zhiqiang, 49, has been detained by the Beijing police one month before the 25th anniversary of the deadly crackdown on the Tiananmen protest movement.
China’s Growing Human Rights Movement Can Claim Many Accomplishments
Since Xi Jinping became president of China, there has been a sustained crackdown on advocates of democracy and civil society. A couple hundred Chinese citizens have been arrested and tried or await trial. Lawyer and activist ...
China Cancels Human Rights Dialogue with Britain
Beijing accuses UK of using rights issues to interfere in its internal affairs and axes dialogue that resumed after diplomatic freeze over Dalai Lama
U.S. Ambassador Urges China to Respect Human Rights
At his final news conference as ambassador, Gary Locke said that Washington is "very concerned" about the case of a minority scholar charged with separatism and a recent increase in the arrests of activists and journalists.
China Faults Report Blaming North Korean Leader for Atrocities
Chinese officials criticized a United Nations report serving notice to Kim Jong-un that he might be personally held liable in court for crimes against humanity.
Sinica Podcast
02.24.14
The Disabled in China
from Sinica PodcastThis week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy are joined by James Palmer and John Giszczack for a discussion of the disabled in China. Join us as we discuss how the Chinese language defines the concept of disability, what public attitudes are prevalent...
Spanish Judge Orders Arrest of China's Former President Jiang Zemin
A Spanish judge seeks to arrest Jiang and four others for alleged genocide in Tibet under a ‘universal jurisdiction’ doctrine that can prosecute human rights cases which took place outside Spain.
Baucus Pledges to Press China on Security Issues, Trade in Hearing on Ambassador Post
Baucus says he will hold firm on human rights, intellectual property, free trade, and marine navigation.
Who is Xu Zhiyong?
Four people whose lives were change by Xu Zhiyong describe how he helped them.
Jailed Dissident’s Wife: ‘I Don’t Want You to Give Up’
A public letter from the wife of Xu Zhiyong shows the emotional burden imposed on the family members of jailed dissidents.
Viewpoint
12.20.13
‘Community Corrections’ and the Road Ahead for Re-Education Through Labor
Chinese and foreign observers welcomed the recent announcement that the Chinese government will “abolish”—not merely reform—the administrative punishment system known as re-education through labor (RTL). The proclamation, part of a sixty-point...
China Continues Rights Abuses Even as Labor Camps Ditched—Amnesty
China is increasingly using extra-judicial “black jails” and drug rehabilitation centers to punish people who would formerly have been sent to...
Media
10.11.13
How Social Media Complicates the Role of China’s Rights Lawyers
Xia Junfeng was once unknown, but his 2009 arrest for the murder of security officers—who, he alleged, had savagely beaten him—made him a symbolic figure in a national debate about human rights and reform in China. Yet many wonder whether this...
Congressional-Executive Commission on China: 2013 Annual Report
United States Congress
The Commission notes China’s lack of progress in guaranteeing Chinese citizens’ freedom of expression, assembly, and religion; restraining the power of the Chinese Communist Party; and establishing the rule of law under the new leadership of...
China Activist Cao Shunli ‘Disappears’, Says Rights Group
Cao Shunli has not been seen since September 14, when she was barred from boarding a flight to Switzerland, Human Rights Watch says. Ms, Cao has advocated for the right of petitioners to contribute to China’s human rights reports....
Books
09.03.13
China Across the Divide
Understanding China’s world role has become one of the crucial intellectual challenges of the 21st century. This book explores this topic through the adoption of three conceptual approaches that help to uncover some of the key complex and simultaneous interactions between the global and domestic forces that determine China’s external behavior.
Prominent Advocate Held in Southern China
Police in southern China have detained Guo Feixiong, an outspoken advocate of democratic rights on charges of disrupting public order.
Liu Xiaobo’s Brother-in-Law Liu Hui to Serve 11 Years After Losing Appeal
Family angered over confirmation of verdict seen as persecution of the Nobel prize-winner’s family.
China to Phase Out Use of Prisoners’ Organs for Transplants
China will phase out its decades-long practice of using the organs of executed prisoners for transplants from November as it pushes to mandate the use of organs from ethical sources.
Caixin Media
07.29.13
Why a Reporter Feels Sympathy for an Airport Bomber
These past few years as a reporter, I have met some people with nothing left to live for and now another person can be added to the list. Ji Zhongxing, the disabled man who set off a bomb in a Beijing airport on July 20, is that person.
Ji...
Features
07.23.13
Discrimination in China’s Schools
In a new report titled As Long As They Let Us Stay in Class: Barriers to Education for Persons with Disabilities in China,...
Conversation
07.18.13
Xu Zhiyong Arrested: How Serious Can Beijing Be About Political Reform?
Donald Clarke:
When I heard that Xu Zhiyong had just been detained, my first thought was, “Again?” This seems to be something the authorities do every time they get nervous, a kind of political Alka Seltzer to settle an upset...
Obama's goal in Africa: Counter China
Obama is likely to avoid any criticism of China but he has chosen to visit Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa, countries that are all relatively functional democracies, and he is likely to dwell on the issues of good governance and respect for...
Activist Says Human Rights Will Grow in China
On Monday, Chen accused Beijing of Spending billions of dollars annually to monitor dissidents and activists and out them in jail if they refused to stop their advocacies. "No other regimes in the world have feared or monitored their own...
Conversation
06.11.13
What’s the Best Way to Advance Human Rights in the U.S.-China Relationship?
Nicholas Bequelin:
The best way to advance human rights in the U.S.-China relationship is first and foremost to recognize that the engine of human rights progress in China today is the Chinese citizenry itself. Such progress is...
Why China Executes So Many People
While anti-death penalty activists say public education is needed to get the message out, they believe change ultimately needs to come from the top -- something that they're not optimistic about at all.
“Swept Away”: Abuses Against Sex Workers in China
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch believes the Chinese government should take immediate steps to protect the human rights of all people who engage in sex work. It should repeal the host of laws and regulations that are repressive and misused by the police, and...
The NYRB China Archive
05.09.13
Chen Guangcheng in New York
from New York Review of BooksFollowing are excerpts from a recent conversation among Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal activist who was recently permitted to leave China and is currently a distinguished visitor at New York University School of Law; Jerome A. Cohen,...
Will The State Department Sanction China And Russia For Human Trafficking
This year the State Department must either promote Russia and China to Tier 2 status or demote those countries to Tier 3, the lowest classification, which opens those countries to sanctions from the U.S. government.
The NYRB China Archive
02.09.13
Blogging the Slow-Motion Revolution
from New York Review of BooksHuang Qi is best known in China as the creator of the country’s first human rights website, Liusi Tianwang, or “June 4 Heavenly Web.” A collection of reports and photos, as well as the...
China: The Mao Dynasty Moves Toward Democracy And Human Rights
China is visibly evolving toward liberal republican governance. Ten years, rather than life, tenure for its leaders is a major step.
In China, Self-Immolations Continue as Party Congress Opens
As China launched its 18th ...
Silencing a Voice for Justice
I have been recently seeking to use the rule of law to achieve social justice. This isn’t easy in a country where legal vagueness and arbitrary enforcement make advocacy a constant uphill battle. But in my career, I’ve encountered few cases as...