Human rights in China

For four months this year, a Chinese makeup artist and influencer known as Yuya was repeatedly beaten by her then-boyfriend. Yuya, whose real name is He Yuhong, said in social media posts that she chose to stay silent until after the fifth and last beating in August, when he challenged her to take him to court, “Feel free to sue me, because you’ll lose.” This week, she revealed her story to the world. Yuya, 28, who also goes by Yuyamika and has more than a million online followers in China, posted security camera footage on Monday that she says showed her desperate attempt to escape a violent assault. The video has provoked outrage and sparked national debate on domestic violence.  Now, her

A famed Chinese beauty blogger has ignited national debate about intimate partner violence after she posted a video purportedly showing herself being victimized.  “I am breaking the silence. I hope no woman will have to live with what I went through,” Yuya, who has about one million followers on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo, wrote in a post on Monday.  Nov. 25 is the Day for the Elimination of Voilence against Women. A 28-year-old online celebrity elaborated a video to reveal violence of her ex-boyfriend, combining solid evidence and testimony of other women. This strong individual action already gets 120 million hits. pic.twitter.com/gqxd27MCvv — FreeChineseFeminists (@FeministChina)

Wang Shuping, a doctor who helped expose a tainted blood scandal in rural China in the 1990s, passed away in Salt Lake City at the age of 59 last month. Family and friends have paid tribute to the whistleblower, who had to leave China in 2001 after being forced to close her lab in the central Chinese province of Henan, the epicenter of the blood selling crisis.   Wang’s life has been immortalized in a play, The King of Hell’s Palace, which had its world premiere at the Hampstead Theatre in London in September, just a week before her death. Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, a Chinese-American playwright, spoke to Inkstone about her creative process and her plans to make the play accessible to a Chinese-

Wang Shuping, a doctor who helped expose a tainted blood scandal in China in the 1990s, has passed away in Salt Lake City at the age of 59. Fellow whistleblower Gao Yaojie, who lives in exile in New York, wrote this essay in her memory. The Chinese “blood plasma economy” spread AIDS like wildfire. Over one million people have been its victims in one way or another. Before the government admitted to the existence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, among the four million workers in the medical field in all of China, only four came forward to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In order of their engaging in the fight, they are Sun Yongde of Hebei province, Wang Shuping of Henan province, myself and Gui Xien of

A Chinese student association at a Canadian university has lost its club status over concerns about its alleged links to the Chinese government. Objections to the Chinese Students and Scholars Association’s (CSSA) official status at McMaster University, near Canada’s largest city Toronto, stemmed from a protest campaign it had spearheaded in February in response to a talk given on campus by Rukiye Turdush, a Uygur activist. More than 1 million Uygurs and other ethnic minority groups are believed to be detained in mass internment camps in China’s northwest and subject to political indoctrination. Beijing describes the facilities as vocational training centers. The association issued an open l

The Chinese billionaire featured in the Netflix documentary American Factory has defended his country’s labor practices by criticizing unions, saying they hurt efficiency.  In China, American Factory prompted a wave of soul-searching about the human costs of the country’s economic success and the rise of super-rich entrepreneurs such as Cao Dewang, who owns factories at home and abroad.   The film, backed by Barack and Michelle Obama, documents what happens at two factories owned by Cao – one in Dayton, Ohio and the other in Fujian, southeastern China. Cao is a main character of the documentary, in which he comes across as a pragmatic Chinese businessman bringing jobs to America’s Rust Belt.

Apple and its Chinese supplier Foxconn have been accused of violating labor laws to produce iPhone 11 on the eve of the new model’s Tuesday launch. New York-based China Labor Watch released a report on Monday detailing a string of alleged violations at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory, in the central province of Henan, mostly relating to the employment conditions of temporary workers. According to the report, temporary workers – recruited through contracted agencies – now make up half or more of the workforce at the Zhengzhou facility, with workers putting in at least 100 overtime hours a month. China’s labor laws stipulate that temporary workers “shall not exceed 10% of the total workforce” and

Aaron Kwok, a Canto-pop and movie superstar in Hong Kong, found himself briefly stranded in his Lamborghini supercar on Sunday night when he ran into a scrum of anti-government protesters. Thousands of demonstrators had gathered near the US consulate to demand American support for their calls for democracy and autonomy before the rally descended into chaos in several neighborhoods. Kwok, known for his love for horses and cars, was caught up in protests in the Causeway Bay district as riot police blanketed streets nearby with tear smoke. Surrounded by masked protesters wearing black T-shirts, Kwok rolled down his car window several times and explained that he was running an errand. “I’m gett

For American audiences, the Netflix documentary American Factory reveals the life of US workers on Chinese-owned production lines.  But for Chinese audiences, the film serves as a reminder of the human costs behind China’s rise as a manufacturing superpower.  The film, backed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company, documents how Chinese auto-glass company Fuyao built a factory near Dayton, Ohio, where thousands of workers were laid off when General Motors closed its plant in the Rust Belt a decade ago.  Fuyao brought not only new jobs to Ohio, but also the high expectations and harsh management that are customary in factories across China. It most notably spent more than $1 m

Over the past week, nationalist fury has enveloped China’s internet, prompting actors, musicians and other public figures in the mainland to criticize the continuing anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Against this backdrop, outspoken Chinese mixed martial arts fighter Xu Xiaodong has bucked the trend by speaking up for Hongkongers on social media. On Sunday, Xu, who has controversially made a name for himself by challenging what he calls “fake” kung fu masters, wrote on Twitter that Hong Kong is a world-class free market with quality higher education and a robust entertainment industry. He condemned some violent clashes between protesters and police as illegal acts that must be punished