Skip to main content
China Unofficial
  • About us
  • Explore
  • Map
  • Creators
  • Newsletter
  • Contact us
  • Resources
  • En
  • Zh
  • About us
  • Explore
  • Map
  • Creators
  • Newsletter
  • Contact us
  • Resources

Explore the collection

Showing 24 items in the collection

Use these filters to explore the collection

  • Theme

    • Oral and Personal Accounts (161)
    • History of the Chinese Communist Party (138)
    • Civil Society (92)
    • History of Unofficial Thought (87)
    • The Cultural Revolution (65)
    • The Great Leap Forward/The Great Famine (57)
    • Intellectuals (55)
    • Communist Party Political System (47)
    • Freedom of Speech and Press (46)
    • Famine (45)
    • Advocacy of Democratic Rights (45)
    • The Anti-Rightist Campaign (44)
    • Mao Zedong (39)
    • 1989 Tiananmen Protests and Suppression (37)
    • Women and Feminism (31)
    • Justice and Human Rights (25)
    • Farmers' Rights and Rural Issues (24)
    • Early Communist Party (23)
    • Intra-Party Conflict and Purges (19)
    • Public Health (18)
    • Everyday Life in China (18)
    • COVID-19 (11)
    • Economic System and Reform (11)
    • Faith-Based Crackdown and Persecution (9)
    • Ethnic Minorities (8)
    • Labor (8)
    • Religion and Faith (7)
    • Gender and Sexuality (6)
    • Chinese Petitioning System (5)
    • Natural Disasters (5)
    • White Paper Movement (4)
    • Education (4)
    • Land Reform (1947-1953) (3)
    • Disability (3)
    • Liberalism (2)
    • The Three Gorges Dam Project (2)
    • Demolition and Displacement (1)
    • Environment (1)

  • Type

    • Book (161)
    • Film and Video (103)
    • Article (39)
    • Official Documents (6)
    • Periodicals (5)
    • Exhibits (1)
    • 图书 (1)

  • Creator

    • Tiger Temple (61)
    • Ai Xiaoming (20)
    • Hu Jie (18)
    • The General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists (6)
    • Eva (4)
    • Gao Hua (4)
    • Xiang Chengjian (4)
    • Hu Ping (3)
    • Jiang Xue (3)
    • Li Rui (3)
    • Lin Zhao (3)
    • Wu Yisan (3)
    • Xu Youyu (3)
    • Yang Jisheng (3)
    • Bao Pu (2)
    • Chen Yung-fa (2)
    • Cui Weiping (2)
    • Dai Qing (2)
    • Ding Shu (2)
    • Feng Yuan (2)
    • Gan Cui (2)
    • He Qinglian (2)
    • Jin Hui (2)
    • Li Jianglin (2)
    • Liao Yiwu (2)
    • Liu Wenzhong (2)
    • Liu Xiaobo (2)
    • Shen Yuan (2)
    • Song Yongyi (2)
    • Wang Lixiong (2)
    • Wang Nianyi (2)
    • Wang Ruoshui (2)
    • Wang Xiaolin (2)
    • Wu Renhua (2)
    • Wu Wenjun (2)
    • Yang Kuisong (2)
    • Yang Xianhui (2)
    • Yang Xiaokai (2)
    • #MeToo in China Archives volunteers (1)
    • Book (1)
    • Bu Weihua (1)
    • Canadian Embassy in China (1)
    • Chang, Jung (1)
    • Chen Bin (1)
    • Chen Cheng (1)
    • Chen Feng (1)
    • Chen Pinlin (1)
    • Chen Xiaoya (1)
    • Cheng Nien (1)
    • Choi Suk Fong (1)

  • Era

    • Reform Era (1978-2012) (155)
    • Maoist Era (1949-1978) (128)
    • The Cultural Revolution Period (1966-1976) (66)
    • The Great Leap Forward/Great Famine Period (1958-1962) (51)
    • The Anti-Rightist Campaign Period (1957-1958) (47)
    • Xi Jinping Era (2013 —) (31)
    • Republic of China Period (1912-1949) (29)
    • Yan’an Period (1935-1948) (11)
    • The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) (8)
    • Chinese Soviet Republic Period/ (1928-1937) (7)
    • The First Kuomintang-Communist Civil War (1927-1937) (5)
    • The Second Kuomintang-Communist Civil War (1945-1949) (5)

24 items

Book

A Non-governmental White Paper on the June Fourth Massacre

At the turn of the spring and summer of 1989, democratic protests broke out in Beijing and other cities in China. In the early hours of June 4, the Chinese government dispatched troops to suppress the movement. In 2009, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the June 4th Incident in 2009, some participants in the movement jointly released the "Unofficial White Paper on the June 4th Incident". The book has 48 pages and a large number of illustrations.  This white paper attempts to provide a complete political background and legal analysis of the events based on reports from Chinese newspapers, radio and television stations at the time, as well as memoirs and interviews that have been published over the past 20 years. Participants in this book believe that the Chinese government has not conducted a comprehensive investigation and objective evaluation of the June 4th Incident, and has long blocked relevant information and prohibited private investigation and discussion of the matter. The report is called a "white paper" to emphasize its rigor and normative nature. Participants in this book include Hu Ping, Yan Jiaqi, Wang Juntao, Wang Dan, Yang Jianli and others. The book was written by Li Jinjin, a doctor of law.
Film and Video

Enemy of the State

On February 9, 2010, Tan Zuoren was tried in the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court for the crime of inciting subversion against the state. Ai Xiaoming and her team recorded the three days before and after the verdict, the mindsets of Tan Zuoren’s friends and relatives, and how the lawyers carried out their work. This film is in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Book

Gan Cui: The Soul of Peking University-From Lin Zhao to the 1989 Democracy Movement

This book was originally published in the series *Micro Traces of the Past* - Documentary Volume - No. 6, edited by Huang Heqing, founded in 2007. Gan Cui, a student at Renmin University of China, was classified as a rightist in 1957. He became lovers with Lin Zhao, a rightist student who came from Peking University to work in the data room. Gan Cui was later sent to Xinjiang. When he returned, he learned that Lin Zhao had been killed. This book, 140,000 characters in total, is a manuscript of Gan Cui's memories of Lin Zhao in the context of the 1989 pro-democracy movement.
Film and Video

Garden of Paradise

The year 2003 was known as the birth of the Weiquan—the rights defense–movement, which was marked by the Sun Zhigang incident in Guangzhou. At the same time, a campaign began to get justice for Huang Jing, a teacher from Hunan who was sexually assaulted and killed by her boyfriend. The campaign involved the victim’s family, netizens, feminist scholars and activists, and lasted for several years. This documentary records the process of Huang Jing’s case from filing to post-judgement, and analyzes the broader issue of sexual violence against women in China. The films in this series are in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Film and Video

Let the Sunshine Reach the Earth

Wang Lihong is a Beijing netizen, civilian journalist, and public service volunteer. Wang was accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for supporting three netizens in Fujian. On August 12, 2011, the case was heard for the first time in the Wenyuhe Court of the People's Court of Chaoyang District, Beijing. This film includes interviews with Wang Lihong's relatives, friends, defense lawyers and netizens, and records the historical scene of onlookers in the courts. Ai Xiaoming’s film “Postcard,” also released in 2011, elaborates Wang Lihong’s activism in broader strokes, while “Let the Sunshine Reach the Earth” focuses on the process of her trial. This film is in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Book

Lin Zhao: No Longer Forgotten

This book contains a number of articles in memory of Lin Zhao. It concerns the death of Lin Zhao as well as Lin Zhao's love, pursuits, and disillusionment. This book was published by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House in 2000.
Book

Liu Xiaobo Memorial Anthology

This book is a collection of essays in memory of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. It was edited by Cai Chu following his death.
Book

Pastor Wang Yi's Anthology: Carrying the Cross - A History of Chinese Family Churches

Wang Yi, of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is a well-known Chinese intellectual who later became a pastor. The Early Rain Reformed Church that he led was one of the most famous unregistered churches in China. The church occupied the floor of an office building in Chengdu and had its own bookstore, seminary, and pre-school. It regularly had services of hundreds of people. Later, the church had internal conflicts, while at the same time Wang became more outspoken in his criticism of the government. In 2018, he criticized Xi Jinping for abolishing term limits and allowing himself to become ruler of China for life. Pastor Wang was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2019. This book is based on the recordings of Pastor Wang's classes at Early Rain in 2018. The first five chapters were reviewed by Pastor Wang himself, but he was arrested before he could complete the review of the last five chapters. The essays cover key issues that concerned Wang, including the role of the church in China as a city on the hill, the role of the Reform church in China, and the history of unregistered churches in China.
Film and Video

Petition

The domestically-released version of "Petition" consists of three parts: “The Masses,” “Mother and Daughter” and “Beijing South Railway Station.” Part one, “The Masses,” brings together the stories of petitioners of various backgrounds, who all for different reasons, ended up walking the same path. “The Masses” gives a comprehensive account of what is petitioning and and follows the process. Part two, "Mother and Daughter," follows the story of Huaying, who brought her daughter Xiaojuan alongside her from the countryside of Jiangsu to Beijing to petition when Xiaojuan was only four years old. Over the next twelve years, they lived a wandering life. "Mother and Daughter" spans the longest period among all the parts of Petition, from 1996 to 2008. It witnesses the growth of Xiaojuan over ten years of petitioning, not only describing the sorrow of Chinese petitioners, but also revealing how long-lasting petitions cases affect the fate of the next generation. In official reports, petitioners lack a voice and appear to be even more marginalized under the media’s tactics. It also raises the issue of forced psychiatric confinement of individuals the Chinese government deems difficult. “Beijing South Railway Station" surveys the "petitioner village," a residential area near the station that was once home to tens of thousands of people from all over the country. It was eventually demolished by authorities in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. The film captures bungalows being knocked down, shacks being flattened, and security police chasing after residents, the latter not given the time to grab any necessities. Zhao Liang recalls dressing like the interceptors when filming interceptors, and dressing like a petitioner while filming petitioners. “I had several outfits, and tried to stay low key, using the smallest cameras possible.” The film went on to win the Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Documentary Film at the 29th Hawaii International Film Festival, and a Humanitarian Award for Documentaries at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Film and Video

Postcard

After retiring from her job as a cadre, Wang Lihong fulfilled what she saw as her civic responsibility to become more active in women’s rights in China, especially the protection of their legal rights. In 2009-2010, she became involved in the “Fujian Netizen Case,” which resulted in the arrest of three human rights activists, who all sought to investigate the death of a 25-year-old women believed to have been murdered in a gang rape by men associated with the local police. Wang Lihong wrote letters to the General Secretary of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China every day for nine consecutive days, calling on the authorities to let them go home for the New Year. For this reason, she was criminally detained by the authorities in March 2011 on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." The case was heard by the Beijing, Chaoyang District People's Court on August 12; nearly a month later, on September 9, the court issued a guilty verdict and sentenced Wang Lihong to nine months in prison. The film documents her case, and raises questions about the accountability of the local government and police. Another one of Ai Xiaoming’s films, “Let the Sunshine Reach the Earth,” documents Wang Lihong’s trial process in more detail. This film is in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Film and Video

Remembering Lin Zhao

Independent director Tiger Temple began shooting this film in 2010 and completed it in 2012, with subsequent revisions. The film features interviews with Lin Zhao's former lover Gan Cui as well as interviews with several independent scholars such as Qian Liqun and Cui Weiping. It is a powerful addition to Lin Zhao's memory. This film was selected as one of the top 20 finalists in the 2012 Sunshine Chinese Documentary Awards.
Film and Video

South Side Street

South side Street near Tiananmen Square in Beijing has long been a gathering place for some homeless people as well as petitioners. The director became involved in the homeless relief charity in 2007, and continued to follow the film, which the director finished editing eight years later. The film was selected for the 12th China Independent Film Festival Documentary Competition.
Film and Video

Taishi Village

In the fall of 2005, residents of Taishi Village became increasingly frustrated and angered by the sale of land by village officials; hundreds of villagers signed a petition calling for the removal of the village chief. The villagers occupied the village committee’s financial office and expressed their demands through sit-ins and other forms of protests. The government dispatched the police to arrest village activists, but the villagers insisted on starting a formal recall process. The government finally sent a team to the village to verify the signatures for the petition.  <i>The Taishi Village</i> recall incident generated attention from Chinese and foreign media, and caused uneasiness among local government officials. On September 12, 2005,  police arrested dozens of villagers who were participating in a sit-in in the village committee room. Despite the pressure, villagers elected a committee to remove the village committee director. The government then dispatched more men to exert pressure, forcing elected members to withdraw one by one. Hired patrol teams eventually drove lawyers and reporters out of the village. This documentary records the protest scenes and tragic ending of Taishi village’s movement for autonomy, and presents the surging rights consciousness in rural areas in Guangdong. This incident demonstrates villagers’ ability to exercise their right to vote and the government’s inertial approach to grassroots democracy movements.  This documentary is in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Book

The Collected Works of He Jiadong

He Jiadong is a Chinese publisher. He joined the Chinese Communist Party at an early age. After 1949, he founded the Workers' Publishing House, one of the propaganda mouthpieces of the CCP. In 1957, he was designated as a rightist and later labeled as an anti-Party element. In 1965, Kang Sheng criticized him. He was sent down to Chengwu County in Shandong Province, where he was put under local control for 14 years. During the Cultural Revolution, he was taken back to Beijing and criticized, which affected his family and led to the unnatural death of his mother and two sons. In 1979, after the rightist was corrected and completely rehabilitated, he became the executive vice-president and deputy editor-in-chief of the Workers' Publishing House; in 1983, he founded the monthly <i>Rensheng (Life)</i>. In 1984, he founded <i>Kaituo (Pioneering)</i> magazine. He was investigated for publishing Liu Binyan's <i>The Second Kind of Loyalty</i>, and resigned from his post in 1985. The above weekly newspapers, bimonthly magazines and websites were all suspended and closed by the authorities. He has written a large number of articles exploring China's development path from the end of authoritarianism to constitutional democracy. He himself had a 60-year career as a "red publisher" but never had the freedom to publish. Even his own collection of essays was never published. Until the end of his life, he never saw a printed volume of his essays—the printed books were seized and confiscated by the Chinese authorities. The book can be purchased <a href="https://www.fellowspress.com/shop1/p/-4"> link</a>.
Book

The Goddess of Freedom of the Chinese Nation -- An Anthology of Essays in Honor of Lin Zhao 40 Years After Her Death

Lin Zhao, formerly known as Peng Lingzhao, a native of Suzhou, was admitted to the journalism department of Peking University in 1954, but was classified as a Rightist in 1957. She was arrested and imprisoned in October 1960 because of her involvement with the underground magazine <i>Spark</i>. In 1965, Lin Zhao was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for "counter-revolutionary crimes." On April 29, 1968, she was sentenced to death and executed on the same day at the age of 36. This book is a collection of more than sixty articles written in memory of Lin Zhao.
Film and Video

The Gulag Book

This movie records how Zhang Xianzhi went from being a soldier to a prisoner and then to an independent writer. His experience and thought process is compared with that of the Russian writer Solzhenitsyn. The title of the film is taken from the title of Zhang Xianzhi's book <i>Anecdotes from the Gulag</i>, which takes the viewer on a journey to China's Gulag Archipelago, a labor camp in Sichuan. The extreme conditions and little-known tragic history of the camp are presented. The movie is 42 minutes long and was filmed in 2012.
Film and Video

Three Days in Wukan

Wukan is a village in Luwei City, under the jurisdiction of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province. From 2011 to 2016, Wukan villagers have continued to fight to protect their land and fight for villagers' rights. Facing strong pressure from the government, some even paid with their lives. In the process, the villagers had elected their own villagers' committee by one person, one vote to practice their democratic rights. Although the protests were eventually suppressed, the impact was far-reaching. Ai Xiaoming rushed to the scene at the beginning of the Wukan incident and left this precious record.
Film and Video

Tribute to Gao Hua

Gao Hua was a renowned Chinese historian who died of liver cancer in Nanjing in 2011 at the age of 57. During his lifetime, Prof. Gao Hua focused on modern Chinese history. He was an expert in the history of the CCP and Mao Zedong. Several of his books were published overseas, and his book “The Revolutionary Years” was the only one published on the mainland. His masterpiece, “How the Red Sun Rises - The Ins and Outs of the Yan'an Rectification Movement”, was considered a classic work on CCP history when it was published in Hong Kong, but it soon became a banned book. Through this documentary, director Hu Jie records Gao Hua's voice and laughter during his lifetime, expressing the deep feelings of people mourning and commemorating Gao Hua.
Book

What Else Did Zhao Ziyang Say - Du Daozheng's Diary

*What Else Did Zhao Ziyang Say - Du zheng's Diary* was published simultaneously in Hong Kong and Taiwan on January 17, 2010 (Hong Kong Tiandi Book Co., Ltd. and Taiwan Printing Literature and Life Magazine Publishing Co). The book is the first to publicize more than 30 unpublished conversations in Zhao Ziyang's recorded oral transcripts, covering a number of major issues. The book is illustrated with a selection of more than 40 rare photographs taken by the author. The book is divided into three parts: upper, middle and lower. It records Zhao Ziyang's exhaustive expressions on topics such as anti-corruption, the nascent bureaucratic capitalist class, federalism, punishment by words, media management, political system reform, and the new leftist trend of thinking.
Film and Video

Why Are Flowers So Red

This film follows the stories of environmental activist Tan Zuoren and artist Ai Weiwei. In July 2009, Tan Zuoren was charged with the crime of “Inciting subversion of state power,” and his trial was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Ai Weiwei was invited by Tan’s lawyer to testify in court, but the night before the trial, he was assaulted by the police and detained in a hotel. To everyone’s surprise, Ai turned on the tape recorder before the police entered his residence and managed to record the incident. Later, Ai and his colleagues released a documentary about this incident, titled “Disturbing the Peace” (or “Laoma Tihua”). This film interviews the people behind the scenes of “Disturbing the Peace,” including the director, photographers, editors, and audiences of the film, who discuss the relationship between citizens and government authority. This series of films are in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Displaying results 1–20 of 24
  • «
  • 1(current)
  • 2
  • »
  • About us
  • Explore
  • Map
  • Creators
  • Newsletter
  • Contact us
  • Resources
© China Unofficial Archive