In the Press - Chinese Human Rights DefendersChinese Human Rights Defenders

China Holds Activist Who Posted Umbrella Selfie on Tiananmen Square on June 4

July 6, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Radio Free Asia on June 9, 2015 Authorities in the Chinese capital are holding an activist on public order charges after he raised a black umbrella on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on the student-led democracy movement, activists said. Du (read more…)

Dissidents imprisoned on 26th anniversary of Tiananmen Square

July 6, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by The Washington Free Beacon on June 5, 2015 Original participants in China’s pro-democracy movement in 1989 are back in prison on the 26th anniversary of the government’s brutal suppression of those protests, a stark reminder that the ruling Communist Party continues to repress dissidents, activists say. On June 4, (read more…)

Tausende erinnern in Hongkong an Tiananmen-Massaker

June 11, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Deutsche Welle on June 4, 2015 Etwa 135.000 Menschen kamen im Victoria Park im Zentrum Hongkongs zusammen, um schweigend der Opfer des Massakers auf dem Tiananmen, dem “Platz des Himmlischen Friedens”, in Peking zugedenken. Der Park wurde zu einem Meer aus Kerzen. Die frühere britische Kronkolonie Hongkong, (read more…)

Chinese artist who posted funny image of President Xi Jinping facing five years in prison as authorities crackdown on dissent in the arts

June 11, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by The Independent on May 28, 2015 A Shanghai-based artist has been detained for depicting President Xi Jinping pulling a funny face and sporting a large moustache, seemingly the latest episode in Chinese authorities’ crackdown on dissent in the arts. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), the advocacy group, said (read more…)

Shanghai Artist Dai Jianyong Arrested for Posting Comical Photos of President Xi

June 11, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by China Topix on May 31, 2015 A Shanghai artist faces up to five years in jail if he is found guilty of “creating a disturbance” for posting a photo online which depicts the comically altered face of Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to The Independent. The beleaguered artist (read more…)

China detains artist for mocking Xi Jinping

June 11, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by AFP on May 30, 2015 SHANGHAI — Chinese police have detained an artist for creating an image of Communist leader Xi Jinping with a crinkled face and a moustache, according to a human rights group. Shanghai police held artist and photographer Dai Jianyong, who posted the image online, (read more…)

Shanghai artist detained after depicting Xi Jinping as Hitler

June 11, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Shanghaiist on May 28, 2015 A Shanghai-based artist was detained on criminal charges yesterday after publishing an image that some speculate was meant to compare Chinese President Xi Jinping to Adolf Hitler. The photo, which artist Dai Jianyong slapped across t-shirts and Coca-Cola cans, depicts Xi Dada sporting (read more…)

Chinese president gets moustache, Chinese artist gets arrested

June 11, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Big News Network on May 28, 2015 Shanghai artist Dai Jianyong has been detained after publishing a humorous image of Chinese President Xi Jinping sporting a moustache, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD). Dai is a photographer known for creating a series of images of what he (read more…)

China detains artist who posted humorous photo of president

May 29, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by USA Today on May 28, 2015 BEIJING (AP) — Authorities have detained an obscure Chinese artist after he posted online a humorous portrait of President Xi Jinping, his wife said Thursday. Judy Zhu said police accused her husband, Dai Jianyong, of “creating a disturbance” after detaining him Tuesday near (read more…)

A Shanghai artist has been detained for comparing China’s president to Hitler

May 29, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Quartz on May 27, 2015 A Shanghai artist has been detained for comparing Chinese president Xi Jinping to Adolf Hitler as well as an anus. Dai Jianyong, a street photographer best known for making what he calls a “chrysanthemum face“—the flower is a slang term in Chinese for (read more…)

China’s military has declared war on Western thought on the internet

May 26, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Quartz on May 21, 2015 China’s military says the internet has become its main ideological battlefield and that it should build a “Great Wall” online to protect the country’s citizens from “hostile Western forces.” A strongly worded editorial (link in Chinese) published in the People’s Liberation Army Daily on May said: “If we don’t (read more…)

Human rights groups attack China draft security law

May 26, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by The Financial Times on May 24, 2015 International human rights groups have slammed China’s new draft national security law for criminalising free speech and religious practices while granting the ruling Communist party sweeping powers to punish peaceful critics and dissenters. The vaguely worded draft law “includes a broad and (read more…)