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Speech on the 8th China Human Rights Lawyers Day
Yaxue Cao, July 3, 2024, London In the course of hundreds of interrogations of the 709 lawyers, an interrogator once said that the aim of the 709 case was to create a “hot stove effect” for the lawyers across China: they should know that the stove is burning hot, and they should not try to touch it. The irony there is that the tormentors were letting out the truth. The arrests and imprisonment of the 709 lawyers were always intended as a means of terror, a means to suppress lawyers who were inclined to fight for the proper application of law, inside or outside the court. To make the lawyers submit and admit guilt for crimes that they didn’t commit, police employed horrendous torture unthinkable […]
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Reports
  • 709: Nine Years on

    709: Nine Years on

    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，六位律师（周世锋，王全璋，王宇，江天勇，谢燕益，李金星）和三位709律师家属（陈桂秋，李文足，王峭岭）描述他们的现状，表达他们的心声。 16 minutes. Chinese and English subtitles.
  • The 9th Anniversary of 709 Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders: Ten Notable Events Over the Past Year

    The 9th Anniversary of 709 Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders: Ten Notable Events Over the Past Year

    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 relatives, including young children. At the same …
  • A Year On: Remembering Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the Truth-Teller Who Saved Lives

    A Year On: Remembering Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the Truth-Teller Who Saved Lives

    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 …
  • Shanghai Halloween 2023

    Shanghai Halloween 2023

    November 11, 2023 This year, a phenomenal Halloween party occurred in the streets of Shanghai, of all places. It interests us because it offers a unique window to observe the young people in China. The themes are eclectic, some political and social. The fact that such a crowd was able to amass is extraordinary, given the Chinese authorities’ perennial fear …
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Analysis and Opinions
  • A Beautiful China – Nine – The Citizens’ Alliance, or Gongmeng, Part Three

    A Beautiful China – Nine – The Citizens’ Alliance, or Gongmeng, Part Three

    Xu Zhiyong, translated by Joshua Rosenzweig and Leo Timm, June 27, 2024 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before …
  • A Beautiful China – Nine – The Citizens’ Alliance, or Gongmeng, Part Two

    A Beautiful China – Nine – The Citizens’ Alliance, or Gongmeng, Part Two

    Xu Zhiyong, translated by Joshua Rosenzweig and Leo Timm, June 25, 2024 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before …
  • A Beautiful China – Nine – The Citizens’ Alliance, or Gongmeng, Part 1

    A Beautiful China – Nine – The Citizens’ Alliance, or Gongmeng, Part 1

    Xu Zhiyong, translated by Joshua Rosenzweig and Leo Timm, June 25, 2024 Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before …
  • How the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre Shaped China’s Approach to International Human Rights

    How the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre Shaped China’s Approach to International Human Rights

    Geoffrey Roberts, June 11, 2024 The Chinese government’s brutal massacre of protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 3-4 June 1989 marked a major turning point in China’s relationship with human rights and international human rights advocates. Tiananmen resulted in widespread international condemnation, the imposition of economic and diplomatic sanctions, and increased global scrutiny of China’s human rights record. In the …
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Interviews and profiles
  • An Interview With Ai Weiwei, Part Three: China, the World, and Freedom of Expression

    An Interview With Ai Weiwei, Part Three: China, the World, and Freedom of Expression

    China Change, July 6, 2023 (Continued from Part One: The Year 2008 and Part Two: Ruins. Rebars. Water Lilies.) China, the World, and Freedom of Expression YC: Throughout your work, what really astonishes me, and what seems to me incomprehensible, is the scale: one hundred million sunflower seeds, 1001 Chinese people going to Germany, 90 tons of rebar… AWW: Nearly 200 tons, …
  • An Interview With Ai Weiwei, Part Two: Ruins. Rebars. Water Lilies.

    An Interview With Ai Weiwei, Part Two: Ruins. Rebars. Water Lilies.

    China Change, June 30, 2023 (Continued from Part One: The Year 2008) Ruins. Rebars. Water Lilies. YC: Many details have left a deep impression on me from reading your autobiography. I want to bring up two ruins in front of which you stood. One is the ruins of schools that collapsed in the Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, where you …
  • An Interview With Ai Weiwei, Part One: The Year 2008

    An Interview With Ai Weiwei, Part One: The Year 2008

    China Change, June 29, 2023 I interviewed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei in May in Portugal. It was my first meeting with him, and as many Chinese activists do, I called him by his nickname “Aunt Ai” (“艾婶儿”). Out of the hundreds of interviews with Ai Weiwei, I hope readers find this one worthwhile. The interview will be posted …
  • Taiwan Interview Series (2): Lin Ping-yu, Member of New Taipei City Council

    Taiwan Interview Series (2): Lin Ping-yu, Member of New Taipei City Council

    Lin studied Taiwan-PRC relations, focusing on the CCP's United Front Work in Taiwan. He worked as an aide to Democratic Progressive Party council members in Taipei and New Taipei City prior to running office. He served in the Special Forces of Taiwan's army before as part of the country’s compulsory active duty military service for men. We spoke about China, …
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