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Above Ground: China's Young Feminist Activists and Forty Moments of Transformation (English)
In March 2015, the arrest and detention of five activists in China brought international attention to the feminist movement in that country, which had already been battling gender discrimination, sexual harassment, violence against women, and homophobia for many years. While the West has only recently turned its attention to the “Feminist Five” and their fellow activists, China has a long and deep history of feminist thought and action. This exhibit seeks to make visible the work of recent feminist activists in China, to share their work with a broader audience, and to spark interest in the history and present of feminist activists, advocates, and scholars in China.
This digital exhibit is a faithful representation of a physical exhibit of the same name, which was hosted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender from January through June 2016.
The exhibit (English) consists of 40 images depicting street actions and online campaigns initiated by young feminist activists, raising awareness and demanding government actions around issues of domestic violence, sexual harassment, education and employment equality, rights of sexual minorities and marginalized groups , and so on.
At the opening of the physical exhibit on January 26, 2016, Lü Pin, the curator of the exhibit and a long time feminist activist and researcher, remarked on the creative and subversive strategies of the young feminist activists:
“That’s why this was a story about visibility from the very beginning. First of all, they wanted people to have to notice this issue. Second, they wanted people to have to notice this group of people. ‘Noticing the issue’ was not just about making the issue of women’s rights become well-known, more importantly, it meant that the issue had to be accepted as a public issue that society would acknowledge as something that was very important. This was not something for women, or something private. Next, as we all considered this to be an important matter, the government had to respond. Thus, in this process, communication or media was very crucial, because it could amplify the power of the unknown.”
Using materials from the physical exhibit, this digital exhibit was created by librarians from University of Michigan Liangyu Fu (Chinese Studies) and Meredith Kahn (Women’s Studies), who created additional descriptive information for the images, as well as a bibliography of relevant sources.
Go to Exhibit: https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/aboveground.
Book
Our Stories: Women in COVID-19 in China
This is the fourth issue of the “Our Stories” series published by WeChat public account “We and Equality,”, a compilation of 20 oral narratives from Chinese people who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic firsthand, and a personal reflection by the author of this issue, Qiao Yilin. The editors hope to “document the history of ordinary people, to combat the forgetting that should never have happened, and to present the real experiences, feelings, and voices of all of us–to help us remember what has happened to us.”
The interviewees in this volume are diverse, including those of different ages, educational background, ethnicities, physical and mental status, sexual orientations,marital status, and mobility. They shared their own memories of the pandemic, including facing threats to their survival due to food shortage, not being able to take anti-depression medication due to the lockdown, international students having a hard time returning to China, people with hearing impairments facing various inconveniences, and the discrimination faced by those who had recovered from COVID-19Although primarily focusing on experiences and feelings during the pandemic, many interviewees shared additional personal stories that provided useful background information for readers to understand their situation during the pandemic.
In addition to these personal narratives, “We and Equality” also published a 44-question “Women's Mental Health Questionnaire” on WeChat, asking about respondents’ experience during the pandemic, including their sense of belonging, care/housework commitments, sleep quality, emotional and mental status, feeling about quarantine, lockdown, illness or death of loved ones, and attitudes towards the government’s COVID-19 policies. The questionnaire received a total of 453 valid responses. Based on the responses, “We and Equality” has compiled a bilingual data analysis report.
”We and Equality" is a grass root project started in November 2016. Through the WeChat public account, they publish articles weekly to raise awareness and share knowledge on gender-related issues in China. They also organize in-person activities bi-weekly where people gather for in-depth discussion, and foster a community to promote gender equality.
Book
AB Corps and the Futian Incident
In 1930, a mutiny erupted in the Red Army in the town of Futian. In the ensuring purge, more than 700 officers were executed. After this, the campaign to root out Anti-Bolshevik (AB) groups spread to various parts of China, with 70,000 executed. Occurring just nine years after the founding of the CCP, it is one of the earliest and most significant purges in the party's early history.
The first person to pay attention to the Futian Incident was Professor Dai Xiangqing of the Jiangxi Provincial Party School. Starting in late 1979, he and other colleagues went to southern Jiangxi to collect materials, conduct interviews and investigate, and found that this was an unjust and wrong case, and began to publish articles on the matter.
In the early 1980s, Dai Xiangqing sent his article to a senior general in the PLA, Xiao Ke. After that, the research on the Futian Incident attracted the attention of senior central officials. The CCP's party history research agency sent people to Hunan and Jiangxi to investigate and collect materials. The Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a review team for the Futian Incident and reported the vindication documents to the central government, but even today there is currently no official conclusion on the matter.
This book is an important study of the early history of the Communist Party of China, often mentioned by prominent independent historians, such as Yang Kuisong. As an officially recognized research project, this book does not make ideological breakthroughs, but its detailed historical materials, and its data index make it particularly valuable for understanding this historical event.
This book was published by Henan People's Publishing House in 1994.
Book
Chen Cheng's Memoirs—The War between the Nationalists and Communists
Mr. Chen Cheng (courtesy name Cixiu; alias Shisou) served as the commander of the KMT army, commander-in-chief of the group army, commander-in-chief of the theater of operations, and chief of the general staff of the KMT. After the defeat of the Kuomintang army in Taiwan, Chen Cheng served the Administrative Yuan as Vice President of the Kuomintang. The volumes associated with *Chen Cheng's Memoirs* were published by Taiwan's National Museum of History in 2005. The series is divided into six volumes: *The Northern Expedition and the Chaos* (one volume), *The War between the Nationalists and Communists* (one volume), *The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression* (two volumes), and ***The Construction of Taiwan*** (two volumes). The first volume, *The War between the Nationalists and Communists* includes three parts: *Suppressing the Communists - Memories of the Military*, *Summary of Mr. Chen's Words and Actions*, and *Correspondence and Telegrams*. The book has original historical materials related to the five sieges and the counter-insurgency. In particular, this is the first time that important historical materials regarding the correspondence between Chiang Chung-cheng (courtesy name of Chiang Kai-shek) and Cixiu have been made public.
Book
Collected Papers of Wu Yisan (2)
Writer Wu Yisan is the founder of Hong Kong Five-Seven Society, an organization established in 2007 and dedicated to the collection, research and publishing of everything related to the Anti-Rightist campaign in 1957, to restore and present the truth about a period of history characterized by severe persecution of intellectuals. Over the years, Mr. Wu has devoted himself to compiling *[The Dictionary of Names of 1957 Victims](https://minjian-danganguan.org/collection/1957%E5%B9%B4%E5%8F%97%E9%9A%BE%E8%80%85%E5%A7%93%E5%90%8D%E5%A4%A7%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8)*. As the Chief Editor of The Hong Kong Five-Seven Society Publishing House, he also published *The Biographies of the 1957 Rightists* and *[New Biographies of the 1957 Rightists](https://minjian-danganguan.org/collection/%E2%80%9C%E4%BA%94%E4%B8%83%E2%80%9D%E5%8F%B3%E6%B4%BE%E5%88%97%E4%BC%A0%EF%BC%88%E4%B8%8A%EF%BC%89)*.
This book is a collection of Wu’s political essays, including nearly one hundred of his published and unpublished essays and speeches between 1999 and 2017, including historical and current affairs analyses, with an emphasis on commentaries of persecuted intellectuals and political dissidents. These people are often called "traitors of China (han jian)" by CCP, but Wu Yisan argues that the CCP is the real traitor that betrays the country and its people.
Our archive also hosts another anthology of his, *[Is Chen Yi a Good Comrade](https://minjian-danganguan.org/collection/%E6%AD%A6%E5%AE%9C%E4%B8%89%E6%94%BF%E8%AE%BA%E6%96%87%E9%9B%86%EF%BC%881%EF%BC%89)*?
Book
Free Zhang Zhan
Zhang Zhan, born in 1983, is a Chinese lawyer and a dissident of the Communist Party system. In early February 2020, she rushed from Shanghai to Wuhan, which was under lockdown due to the COVID-19 epidemic, to conduct on-the-spot interviews and released a series of video reports on Wuhan's lockdown. More than three months later, she was arrested by Chinese police for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and taken to Shanghai for detention.
In December 2020, she was sentenced to four years in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Zhang Zhan went on hunger strike in the detention center and prison, and there were reports that he was critically ill several times. Her courage and resistance attracted the attention of the international community.
The book *Free Zhang Zhan* was edited and created by Wang Jianhong, the head of the "Zhang Zhan Concern Group" on the Internet. It brings together Zhang Zhan's articles and self-media posts published on the Internet, as well as interviews of Zhang Zhan before she lost her freedom, and interviews, as well as poems and articles from outsiders supporting Zhang Zhan. The book reviews the course of Zhang Zhan's case, Zhang Zhan's struggle in prison and the repercussions it aroused at home and abroad. It was published on May 13, 2024 when Zhang Zhan was released from prison after serving her sentence.
This book preserves and records the history of Wuhan's lockdown in China due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Nowadays, Zhang Zhan's articles and words of support for her have been censored and blocked in China, which makes the book even more precious.
Article
Historical Examination of the Purge of the "AB" Regiment
More than 70 years ago, a massive wave of revolutionary terror swept through the CCP-led Jiangxi Soviet Union. Thousands of Red Army officers and soldiers, as well as members of the Party and the general public in the base area, were brutally murdered in a purge called the "Purging of the AB Troupe." Gao Hua's article examines why Mao Zedong initiated the "purge of the AB Group" in the Red Army and the base areas. What was Mao's rationale for the Great Purge? What is the relationship between the Great Terror and the establishment of a new society? Why did Mao stop using the "Fighting the AB Groups" as a means of resolving internal conflicts in the Party after he assumed real power in the CCP?
Article
Huang Sha, 2019 National Survey on the Treatment of Detainees in Custodial Facilities
This report focuses on the human rights situation in detention centers in China. Mr. Huang Sha distributed the questionnaire to the practicing lawyers he knew, and then the practicing lawyers took the questionnaire and filled it out in the form of questions and answers when they met detainees in the detention centers. The questionnaires were then collected and counted, resulting in a research report. The span of time for filling out the questionnaire in the detention center is: from July 2, 2019 to November 19, 2019. There were 101 valid questionnaires recovered.
Book
Mao: The Unknown Story
This book presents the dramatic life of Mao Zedong, revealing a wealth of unheard-of facts: why Mao joined the Communist Party, how he came to sit at the top of the Chinese Communist Party, and how he seized China step by step. Writers Jung Chang and her husband Jon Halliday took ten years to complete this book, interviewing hundreds of Mao's relatives and friends, Chinese and foreign informants and witnesses who worked and interacted with Mao as well as dignitaries from various countries.
Purchase link：https://www.amazon.com/Mao-Story-Jung-Chang/dp/0679746323.
Book
My Mother ：Gao Yaojie
Author Eva writes about her relationship with Gao Yaojie, a Chinese doctor. Dr. Gao Yaojie, who was severely repressed by the Chinese government for exposing the mass infection of Chinese farmers in Henan Province, China, by selling their blood, had no choice but to leave China at the age of 78 and go into exile in the United States. The dissemination of her story is strictly forbidden in China. In this book, author Eva describes Gao Yaojie's noble heart, her story, and her experiences.
Film and Video
New Citizens’ Trial
In late January 2014, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, Xu Zhiyong, Zhao Changqing, Ding Jiaxi and other advocates of the New Citizens’ Movement were charged with "gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place." The case was heard for the first time in courts at different levels in Beijing. This film intersperses on-site records with interviews with defense lawyer Zhang Qingfang, scholar Guo Yuhua, entrepreneur Wang Ying, and others to present citizens' understanding of the New Citizens' Movement.
This series of films are in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Film and Video
Not the Foreign Force
During the three years of the "zero-COVID" policy enforced by Xi Jinping's government, the daily life and freedoms of the people were severely limited. A fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, finally ignited public dissatisfaction with the measures. On November 26, 2022, when the people of Shanghai spontaneously gathered in the streets to mourn the victims of the fire, no one expected that this memorial activity would lead to nationwide protests against the pandemic policies. At the scene, Chen Pinlin and his girlfriend, Wang, filmed many protest videos at the protest site on Urumqi Middle Road in Shanghai.
In November 2023, on the anniversary of the White Paper Movement, Chen Pinlin uploaded the documentary to YouTube and other social media platforms, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. Less than a week later, he and his girlfriend were arrested. His girlfriend was released on bail, while Chen Pinlin remained in custody.
<a href=“https://tenchu.org/pocd/public/pocs/3551”>Chen Pinlin introduced the documentary as follows</a>: "I am the director Plato. In November 2022, I personally participated in the protest on the night of November 26 in Shanghai. This was my first involvement in a political event in China, and it was also the first time I expressed my political demands in China. Besides the footage I personally filmed on that day, the film also includes iconic video materials from before and after the protest. I tried to present a complete picture of how the dynamic zero-COVID policy pushed China to the boiling point and prompted people to take to the streets to protest. After the event, the Chinese government distorted the facts and maliciously smeared the protests in Shanghai and the White Paper movement, misleading many people into thinking that the protests were the work of foreign forces. But is this really the case? On the first anniversary of the Shanghai Urumqi Road protest, I created this documentary, “Urumqi Middle Road”, to record my personal experience and feelings of participating in the protest. I want to explore why, when internal contradictions appear in China, foreign forces are always blamed? Everyone knows the answer. The more the government misleads, forgets, and shields the truth, the more we must speak out, remind people, and remember. Remember the White Paper, remember November 26, remember Urumqi Middle Road, remember the Xinjiang fire, remember the Guizhou bus, remember dynamic zero-COVID, remember the 'big white' (the white-suited workers), remember Tiananmen, remember the Cultural Revolution, remember the Three Years of Great Famine. "By remembering the ugliness, we can turn our hearts toward the light. I also hope that China can soon embrace its own brighter future."
At the end of this movie, Chen left this narration: Some people say, what is the point of protesting on the streets? In the end, it's still the same, suppressed, shielded and misinterpreted. But as Churchill said, ‘Courage is the most important human trait, with courage, other human traits can naturally be possessed' We lacked experience and have been cowardly and wavering, but today we have the courage to stand up and to speak out. What we lacked this time, we can do better next time. If I were to do it again, I would still choose to be there. Because a government that is afraid of even a white paper can't defeat the justice in the hearts of the people.
On January 5, 2024, Chen Pinlin was formally arrested on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and detained at Baoshan District Detention Center in Shanghai. On January 6, 2025, Chen Pinlin’s first trial was held in the Third Court of Baoshan District Court, where he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison. His sentence will end on May 27, 2027.
Article
Oral Interviews with Global Feminists
As one of China's foremost feminist activists and thinkers, Ai was interviewed by the Global Feminisms Project at the University of Michigan. In this interview, Ai talks about her upbringing as well as about the current state of feminism in China and its outlook.
Article
Ten Days in Xi'an
Published on January, 2022, “Ten Days in Xi’an” is a log of Chinese independent journalist Jiang Xue’s daily experiences under COVID-19 lockdown, posted onto WeChat’s social media platform. In this piece, Jiang depicts the crises and challenges faced by Xi’an residents under lockdown, such as the lack of access to medical resources. “Ten Days in Xi’an” was viewed by millions of Chinese users on social media platforms when it was posted, and received comments and support from thousands of Chinese citizens. It was later translated into English by Andréa Worden and published on Probe International virtually. You can find the translated article in the PDF below, or through this link: <https://journal.probeinternational.org/2022/08/22/ten-days-in-xian/>.
Film and Video
The Memo
In the spring of 2022, a wave of COVID-19 exploded in Shanghai. Under the policy of “Zero COVID,” 24 million residents were put under forced lockdown. Filmmakers and reporters used their phones, televisions, the internet, and other materials to capture scenes of lockdown and disputes between officials and civilians in Shanghai. Producers of this short film titled <i>The Memo</i> believe that it is necessary to record this historic episode in order to prevent our memories from fading away.
The production team, which was founded in 2020, strives to create works about the lower classes of Chinese society. <i>The Memo</i> was nominated for the Clermont-Féron Short Film Festival.
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.
Article
Toolkit for the Removal of Xi Jinping
Before carrying out the protest, Peng Lifai had published a strategic guide for strikes and boycotts on ResearchGate. This 20-chapter document, spanning 21 pages excluding the cover and table of contents, summarized Peng's personal political ideas and served as an explanation of his actions. Read English summary <a href="https://chinachange.org/2022/10/19/bridge-man-peng-zaizhous-mission-impossible-and-his-toolkit-for-the-removal-of-xi-jinping/">here</a>.
The first chapter, "Strategy for Protesting Against National Traitors," explains that the purpose of strikes and boycotts is to oppose Xi Jinping's unconstitutional re-election and to push China toward democracy, freedom, and prosperity. It also outlines the methods of protest, including decentralization in the early stages, organizing communities and universities into networks, and using information and non-violent means to spread the message rapidly. Proposed methods of protest include honking car horns, strikes, boycotts, hanging banners, distributing leaflets, burning tires, and setting up roadblocks.
In the second chapter, "Opposing Xi," Peng Lifai wrote a humorous poem.
The third chapter, "A Letter to Fellow Countrymen," enumerates the regressions in Chinese society under Xi Jinping's rule, drawing connections to China's history of power transitions, uprisings, and political changes. He criticizes the oppressive nature of the "zero-COVID" policy and calls for resistance from various groups, including soldiers, police, party members, the media, unemployed and bankrupt individuals, entrepreneurs, civil servants, university students, and intellectuals. Peng emphasizes the need for soldiers, police, armed police, and government officials to receive the protest message, hoping for leaders like General Cai E from the Republic of China era, who opposed Yuan Shikai’s imperial ambitions, to rise and help remove the dictator. He writes, "Fellow countrymen, we are the masters of the People's Republic of China. If we remain silent, we will all become slaves to the dictator. For the right to vote, for fairness and justice, for freedom and democracy, for ourselves and our future generations, let us embark on a new national defense movement."
The fourth chapter, "Long Live the Ballot Song," calls for national elections for people's representatives and officials. It includes a cartoon designed by Peng, turning a nucleic acid testing booth into a polling station, with the caption: "We’ve been pretending to vote for three years. Just place a ballot box at the testing site."
The fifth chapter, "Who Are We," lists China's marginalized groups, including migrant workers, lower-class citizens, flexible workers, unemployed graduates, education sector employees, low-income populations, small businesses, and left-behind children. It concludes with Peng’s statement: "We need to be our own masters. We don’t need to live in a cage."
Chapters six and seven discuss Peng’s vision for a Chinese Communist Party Free Election Committee and a National People’s Election Committee, along with the constitutional and party statute bases for these political concepts.
Chapter eight provides an explanation of the relationship between government, state, and citizens. Peng compares the relationship between citizens and the state/government to that of property owners and property management companies. He writes, "I do not owe gratitude to the property management company, because I am the owner who pays the property fee. I am its master, and it is my servant."
Subsequent chapters describe Peng’s vision for a new government and its key policy demands, including ending mandatory nucleic acid testing, implementing "Charter 08" (a manifesto supported by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo), reducing taxes, and reforming state-owned enterprises. He concludes by quoting imprisoned lawyer Xu Zhiyong’s "Letter to Xi Jinping," once again expressing opposition to Xi’s re-appointment as leader. In the copyright statement, he encourages readers to share the guide widely.
Book
Who is the New China
Author Xin Hao Nian tries to analyze the modern history of China since the Xinhai Revolution. He pointsout that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a restoration of the authoritarian system, and the Republic of China (ROC) represents China's road to a republic. The first volume of the book defends and clarifies the history of the Kuomintang (KMT), arguing that the KMT is not a "reactionary faction" as claimed by the CCP. The second volume criticizes the revolution and history of the CCP. The book was first printed in 1999 by Blue Sky Publishing House (USA) and reprinted in June 2012 by Hong Kong's Schaefer International Publishing. It is banned on the mainland.
Article
Wuhan Diary
This collection of diary entries by Wuhan-based filmmaker and activist Ai Xiaoming showcases her life during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, from February to March 2020. In these diary entries, Ai shares the daily challenges which many Chinese people grappled with, as well as their hopes and questions for the government and Chinese society at large. Her diary also examines problems regarding the expanding powers of the Chinese government. The first entry of Ai’s diary was published in English by the New Left Review, which can be found here:
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii122/articles/xiaoming-ai-wuhan-diary.