Following the October 11 announcement of the 2012 Nobel Literature Prize for Mo Yan (莫言) , two other Chinese authors received international recognition for their work: Liao Yiwu (廖亦武) was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and Yu Jie (余杰) was awarded the 2012 Civil Courage Prize by...

18th Party Congress Watch (11) Gao Wenqian, HRIC Senior Policy Advisor In this new segment of the HRIC’s “18th Party Congress Watch” commentary series, Gao Wenqian provides his view on the meaning of Wang Lijun’s 15-year sentence and its implication for how the Party will deal with Bo Xilai’s case...

Li Wangyang with friend, Daxiang District Hospital, Shaoyang, Hunan Province, July 23, 2011 Tang Jingling (唐荆陵) , a Guangdong lawyer retained by the family of the late labor activist Li Wangyang (李旺阳) , was detained for six days, from September 5 to September 10 in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, and in...

In an open letter to the United Nations, Wang Xifeng ( 王喜凤 ) , a teacher from Shanxi Province, details the abuses that she and husband Qin Yongmin ( 秦永敏 ) have suffered over the past several months at the hands of various government authorities. She and Qin, a well-known democracy activist based in...