Will the death of China’s best-known pro-democracy activist in state custody embolden the country’s dissident movement despite efforts to erase his memory?
China: Novelists against the state
Writers can help the world adjust to impossible facts and injured societies to heal but, for Chinese writers, censorship makes exploring “the fate of humanistic values in post-Mao society” problematic. How can authors be candid and avoid punishment?
Lawsuit over banned memoir asks China to explain censorship
A lawsuit filed by the daughter of retired Communist Party official, Li Rui, challenges the legality of airport seizures in China after a book by her father — an unvarnished account of his experiences in the leadership — was confiscated by customs officials. The country’s border controls have sharpened dramatically in recent years, making it much riskier to bring banned books to mainland China, say publishers and authors. The New York Times reports.
“Under the Dome” finds its limits
A smog documentary that went viral in China over the weekend and riveted the nation with its TED Talks meets Al Gore blend of compelling data and engaging instruction, managed to both survive China’s censors and get “the chop”.
Is China’s Internet becoming an intranet?
China’s ban on virtual private networks (VPN) prompts this ChinaFile conversation between global experts on the potential outfall from Beijing’s latest pullback on citizens’ online access. According to award-winning journalist George Chen: “These days, the government is keen to regulate everything it hates and promote everything it likes with new legislation or renewed enforcement. That’s what the rule of law Chinese-style is all about.”
Beijing social think-tank shut down amid crackdown
(July 20, 2013) On the heels of anti-graft campaigner Xu Zhiyong’s detention, authorities continue to get tough on rights activists as they endure another wallop of repression, shutting down a Beijing-based think tank. The move is seen as payback for activists who have called on government leaders to declare their assets, and on lawyers who defend “sensitive” cases.
Ai Weiwei ‘speaks out’ – in writing
Even a gag order can’t silence dissident artist Ai Weiwei on the dark subject of human rights in China.
Dai Qing barred from writers’ meeting
(July 23, 2011) Dai Qing was among several writers blocked from attending a discussion on free expression held by the international writers’ group, PEN, in Beijing.
Ai Weiwei: The Sunflower Revolutionary
(April 14, 2011) Three decades after China’s “opening,” the country’s oppressive style of leadership continues. Fearing a public uprising, the government has begun silencing critical elements – the high profile artist Ai Weiwei detained on a trumped up charge in early April has not been heard from since. Independent thinkers, such as Probe International Fellow and outspoken journalist Dai Qing, may be targeted next. Renowned Chinese fiction author Ma Jian writes about the significance of the Ai Weiwei arrest.
Zeng Jinyan: Salt panic highlights a crisis of confidence in China
(April 12, 2011) In this first in a series, Voices From China, Chinese blogger Zeng Jinyan writes that the panicked response of Chinese citizens to the Japanese nuclear crisis betrays a fundamental distrust of the Chinese Government and official media.
Canadian journalist detained in China
(April 11, 2011) Toronto Star journalist Bill Schiller was detained and questioned today by Chinese officials for documenting the persecution of Chinese Christians.
China makes a mockery of the rule of law
(June 30, 2011) The Chinese Government may have released artist Ai Weiwei from his nearly three months in detention, but the terms of his bail gag him.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
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