“Everything is fine”

This year marks the hundreth anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, an event which is portrayed by the CCP as being a step on the revolutionary ladder towards communism. In reality, however, it signalled the advent of Chinese nationalism. The May Fourth Movement was a series of protests, beginning in Beijing and spreading across the […]

Snakeheads

“Today is always here […] Tomorrow, never.” Toni Morrison. In late February 2019, Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, was arrested in a strip mall in Florida and charged, along with almost 300 other patrons, with soliciting prostitution. Kraft was arrested in the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, one of the nondescript massage […]

A Happy Life

“The greatest human right is the people’s right to a happy life […] Chinese people are willing to work with people from every country to establish a global human rights governance that is fairer, more reasonable, and more inclusive.” Xi Jinping, in a 10 December 2018 letter commemorating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Xinhua/CCDI. […]

The Widening Gyre

It is well-known outside China that, on 4 June 1989, tanks and soldiers of the Chinese military moved in to crush the student-led protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The protest leaders were arrested and scores of protesters – possibly numbering in the thousands – were killed as clashes developed around the city. It may […]

An Endangered Species

The harassment and detention of human rights lawyers in China continues at an alarming rate. Most notable in recent months has been the arbitrary detentions of Chen Jiangang and that of his former client Xie Yang, who is himself a rights lawyer. Xie was accused of ‘subverting state power’, and claimed to have been detained […]

Spilled Water

覆水难收