Yesterday, police in Xi’an announced the arrest of a 33-year-old woman for rumor mongering. Her crime? Posting a video claiming that it was snowing in Xi’an, when in fact it was not. In a notice posted to WeChat, local police...
The first sentencing under Hong Kong’s new Article 23 national security law (officially called the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance) occurred this week, as a man was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for wearing a...
Chinese internet regulators are purportedly considering new methods to safeguard users’ personal information online. Their solution, however, involves giving the government greater control over user data. The proposal has...
There are mounting concerns over the well-being and whereabouts of Zhang Zhan, the former lawyer-turned-citizen-journalist whose reporting from Wuhan in early 2020 was essential to lifting the lid on the emerging COVID pandemic....
On Chinese social media, the phrase “weak spot” (软肋, ruǎn lèi) is often used metaphorically to refer to family members—particularly children—used as leverage by public security, state security, or government authorities to...
Many entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens welcomed the news that provincial prosecutors in Guizhou are investigating a local government for arresting businesswoman Ma Yijiayi and her lawyers and accusing them of “picking...
A set of reports published this week provide more detail about the brutality of repression against Uyghur women and the pervasiveness of forced labor in Xinjiang that taints global supply chains. Accompanying these revelations...
Current affairs blogger Xiang Dongliang has had his Weibo account banned for reporting Hu Xijin, a nationalist blogger and retired editor-in-chief of the Global Times, for using a VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall of China...
In a darkly ironic but all too familiar twist, WeChat censored an essay explaining that there is no law forbidding citizens to discuss politics. “When ‘Not Talking About ——–’ Becomes A Societal Norm,” ...
As of June 7, the Twitter account belonging to Bei Zhenying, wife of well-known blogger program-think (whose real name is Ruan Xiaohuan), appears to have been deleted. The abrupt deletion of her relatively new account...
Word(s) of the Week: Forge Exemplary Conduct, Fight to Win (作风优良，能打胜仗 zuòfēng yōuliáng, néngdǎ shèngzhàng) On Saturday at the Century Theater in Beijing, a stand up comic joked that his dogs’ pursuit of squirrels brought to mind...
May 10, 2023 marked the second anniversary of the detention of program-think (Biānchéng suíxiǎng, 编程随想), an incisive and influential blogger who for twelve years managed to maintain his anonymity while maintaining a prolific...
On April 10, civil rights lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in prison, respectively, on charges of “subversion of state power” after closed door trials in Linshu County, Shandong. The charges...
In a rare instance of a legal challenge to restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights, two Tsinghua University students filed a lawsuit last week against the Chinese Ministry of Education for refusing to consider their appeal against...
There have been renewed calls for the release of journalist and feminist activist Huang Xueqin and labor-rights activist Wang Jianbing, who have now spent over 500 days in detention without trial. Since being detained in...
On Saturday, a Hong Kong court sentenced pro-democracy figure and former Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai to almost six years in prison on fraud charges related to a contractual dispute. Lai’s co-defendant and administrative director...
Space for free expression in Hong Kong continues to shrink. On Wednesday, a judge convicted five speech therapists of sedition after they published a series of illustrated children’s books. On Saturday, the judge sentenced each...
Ex-journalist Luo Changping has been sentenced to seven months in prison for a Weibo post that questioned the wisdom of Chinese military strategy during the Korean War and mocked troops that froze to death. Luo was detained in...
Click on the image to download Firefly for circumvention
CDT is a non-profit media site, and we need your support. Your contribution will help us provide more translations, breaking news, and other content you love.
