One Year, One Hundred Arrested, What You Need to Know About China's Labor Crackdown
In recent years, it is commonly said that mainlanders have a slave mentality and dare not resist tyranny. This is not the case. Recen...
Read MoreProfiles of the Activists
List of the Summoned, Arrested and Disappeared Since July 2018
Beginning in July of 2019, China began a massive crackdown on labor activists lasting over a year and affecting over a hundred worker...
Yue Xin
Yue Xin, a 2018 graduate of Peking University, has emerged as a leading voice...
Jul 20, 2019
Yu Juncong
Yu Juncong—the author of the first open letter to Jasic Technology and one of...
Jul 20, 2019
Yang Zhengjun
Mr Yang Zhengjun, nickname ‘Baozi’ on the internet, was born in 1986 in Chong...
Jul 20, 2019All Stories
They built a Chinese boomtown. It left them dying of lung disease with nowhere to turn.
LEIYANG, China — Ill and defeated, Xu Chunlin approached the railing, the limits of a search for justice.Before him was a 30-foot plunge into Shenzhen’s rush-hour traffic. Behind him ...
Dec 19, 2019
UN Working Groups address the Chinese Government on Detention of iLabour Three
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Special Rappo...
Oct 10, 2019
Wei Zhili formally arrested, Yang and Ke status unknown, right to see lawyer denied
This Monday, Wei Zhili’s mother called the police to ask about her son’s conditions. She was notified that Wei’s arrest for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” has been ratified ...
Aug 10, 2019
Statement of '18-19 Chinese Labor Rights Mass Crackdown' from Various Circles in Hong Kong
We are a group of Hong Kong groups from labour rights, social work, religious, media and human rights circles. Since July 2018, the labor rights movement in mainland China has once ag...
Aug 07, 2019
In a letter to Guangdong's Chief Prosecutor, RSF demands release of three Chinese journalists
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demands the release of three journalists dedicated to labour rights in a letter to the Chief Prosecutor of Guangdong Province.Reporters Without Borders...
Aug 02, 2019
A Letter from a Regional OHS Network: Release the iLabour Three
Today a network of regional OHS organizations is calling for the release of Yang Zhengjun, Wei Zhili, and Ke Chengbing, the three iLabour editors and labor activists who were detained...
Aug 02, 2019
CHRD-Statement: China Must Release Detained Labor Rights Advocates
Escalating Repression on Labor Rights Makes a Mockery of China’s Claim to be a “Champion” of Social Economic Rights(Chinese Human Rights Defenders—July 25, 2019) The Chinese governmen...
Jul 25, 2019
This Woman Is Running To Save The Love Of Her Life
Zheng Churan began to run when she had run out of options to save her husband from the police.Over the past month she has covered almost 90 miles, running in circles around the city w...
Jun 07, 2019
Three more people detained as China continues to crack down on labour groups
China’s crackdown on organisations that support migrant workers continued apace this month with the detention of at least three NGO workers in police raids.In separate but apparently ...
May 12, 2019
‘I don’t want people to forget him’: Chinese feminist Zheng Churan campaigns to free husband Wei Zhili, detained for protesting
In a country intolerant of dissent, vocal critics may be living on borrowed time. This proved true for labour rights activist Wei Zhili who, in March, was caught up in Chinese authori...
May 05, 2019
‘They’re not guilty, they have caring hearts’: Chinese workers demand release of labour rights activists
by Pak YiuSome 100 Chinese workers suffering from a work-related disease have signed a petition demanding the release of three prominent activists in southern China amid a crackdown o...
Apr 23, 2019
‘Separated again by a high wall’: The love story of Chinese feminist Zheng Churan and detained labour rights activist Wei Zhili
On 20 March 2019, Wei Zhili, a labour activist and editor of the pro-labour social media group “New Generation” (新生代), was arrested at his home in Guangzhou. Two of his coworkers, Yan...
Apr 21, 2019
Detained Feminists’ Loved Ones Plead for No Charges in China
Zheng Churan, the jailed women’s rights advocate, loved rabbits as a child, earning the nickname “Little Rabbit” from friends and family.So when Ms. Zheng, now 25, grew up, they began...
Apr 03, 2019
Beijing ramps up crackdown on labour activists
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Mar 28, 2019
Chinese labour rights activists detained as authorities try to shut down silicosis campaign
Police in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have intensified their repression of labour activists, detaining at least two campaigners for migrant workers suffering from silic...
Mar 22, 2019
Police detain labour activist Wei Zhili in southern China, wife says
A labour activist has been detained by police in southern China, his wife said Thursday, amid a crackdown on students and activists advocating for worker rights.Wei Zhili, 30, an edit...
Mar 21, 2019
At least five labour rights activists arrested across China
At least five Chinese activists have been arrested by police for allegedly “disturbing public order” in what appears to be a coordinated crackdown on labour activism.Wu Guijun, Zhang ...
Jan 22, 2019
China Using Taped Confessions to Intimidate Young Communists, Students Say
By Javier C. HernándezBEIJING — For months, a group of outspoken young communists has put China’s leaders on edge, organizing a fiery campaign for workers’ rights that has evaded the ...
Jan 21, 2019
Leading Chinese Marxist student taken away by police on Mao's birthday
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police detained a well-known Marxist at a top university on Wednesday, a witness said, on the sensitive anniversary of the 125th birthday of the founder of...
Dec 26, 2018
Two Chinese trade union officials arrested after helping workers
Cover image: Local trade union official Zou LipingBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested two trade union officials after they helped workers try to set up a union, a source ...
Nov 30, 2018
Young Activists Go Missing in China, Raising Fears of Crackdown
Cover image: Zhang ShengyeBy Javier C. HernándezBEIJING — At least a dozen young activists who took part in a national campaign for workers’ rights in China are missing, friends said ...
Nov 11, 2018
Chinese workers say silicosis protest was broken up with beatings and pepper spray
Chinese workers who are terminally ill with silicosis complained of being pepper-sprayed and beaten by police during a demonstration outside Shenzhen government offices on Wednesday n...
Nov 08, 2018
Dying for China’s economic miracle: migrant workers ravaged by lung disease, fighting to pay for their funerals
On a rainy summer day, 52-year-old Wang Zhaogang paused to catch his breath after every four or five steps. He was wrapped up against the elements, since even a common cold could be e...
Oct 10, 2018
China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists
Cover image: Activists in Shenzhen last month protested in support of workers’ rights. Their banners call for the punishment of corrupt police officials and the release of detained fa...
Sep 28, 2018
Student activists disappear in southern China after police raid
SHENZHEN, China/BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in riot gear stormed an apartment in southern China on Friday where about 40 student activists and others supporting factory workers seeking...
Aug 24, 2018
China's student activists cast rare light on brewing labor unrest
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - When Shen Mengyu graduated with a master’s degree from a top Chinese university in 2015, she could have landed a comfortable job in government or at one of...
Aug 15, 2018
Maoist Labor Campaigner 'Kidnapped,' Believed Detained, in China's Guangdong
A Maoist activist who supported a campaign to set up an independent workers’ union in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has been “kidnapped” and is being detained in an unkno...
Aug 13, 2018
Chinese Maoists join students in fight for workers’ rights at Jasic Technology
Cover image: Utopia demonstrators were seen holding posters of former chairman Mao Zedong, which was reminiscent of socialist rallies in the 1960s. Photo: Mimi LauA high-profile inter...
Aug 10, 2018