Civil Society

All news and posts of our editorial team on the topic

Self-criticism after university lecture
The Hefei Normal University in the Anhui Province has suspended an associate professor after a suspected pro-Western lecture at a middle school. This was reported by the Chinese news portal The Paper (澎湃新闻).The professor, Chen Hongyou, told the portal he felt guilty because some of his statements about ethnicities and genders had been misunderstood. The […] continue reading →
Christian Goebel – tracking protests in China with Big Data
When talking to Christian Goebel, things quickly become technical, because the sinology professor with a focus on social sciences at the University of Vienna is not only an expert on Chinese protest movements and regime stability, but also programs custom machine learning algorithms for his research.Christian Goebel originally studied English and political science until a […] continue reading →
Haifen Nan – journalist and researcher
Making an effort and standing up for her cause is something Haifen Nan learned at an early age. She grew up in a small village near the southern Chinese city of Wenzhou; her parents had spent their own childhood in severe poverty and wanted their children to have it better. “My father always said, ‘Everything […] continue reading →
China trivializes crimes against humanity
China has admitted human rights inadequacies in its own country. “China still faces multiple problems and challenges in promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights,” delegation head Chen Xu told the UN Social Affairs Committee in Geneva on Thursday.However, Chen attempted to downplay the crimes against humanity identified by the UN in Xinjiang, by […] continue reading →
EU and China resume human rights talks
China and the EU will resume their human rights dialogue this week, which has been suspended for several years. A meeting as part of the dialogue is scheduled for this Friday, a spokeswoman for the EU Commission confirmed to China.Table on Tuesday. The EU expects the resumption to allow for “focused discussions on a broad […] continue reading →
Qian Sun – sight in all directions
Qian Sun’s work is a balancing act. After all, the native of northern China works as an investigative journalist in Berlin and for Chinese television. For Phoenix TV, a majority state-owned television station from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, she explains the broad lines of German politics to the Chinese. Things get more nuanced when Sun […] continue reading →
Strong opposition to Xinjiang governor’s Europe trip
The US-sanctioned governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz, is traveling to Europe. Probably to try and downplay the human rights crimes committed by his government against the Uyghurs. This move is met with disapproval by politicians and human rights activists. continue reading →
Criticism of China’s boarding school system
The chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee in the German Bundestag, Renata Alt, has condemned the boarding school system in Tibet “in the strongest possible terms”. The liberal FDP politician accuses the Chinese government of systematically eradicating Tibetan culture. “China is trying to systematically eradicate the Tibetan minority through inhumane measures such as forced assimilation […] continue reading →
Trial against 47 activists begins in Hong Kong
The biggest trial to date since the controversial National Security Act came into force has started in Hong Kong. 47 democracy activists are accused of “conspiracy to subvert state power“. They allegedly organized unofficial primaries before the general election.The trial is considered a test of how independent the justice system in the Special Administrative Region […] continue reading →
Canada votes to take in Uyghur refugees
Canada’s parliament has unanimously voted in favor of accepting up to 10,000 exiled Uyghurs with Chinese citizenship. The MPs passed a motion to this effect by Sameer Zuberi, an MP of Uyghur origin, by 322 votes to 0. The vote is not legally binding for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, but the unanimous support of […] continue reading →
Tibet’s children forget their language
The sinicisation of Tibet's children and youth continues. To estrange them from their own culture, Chinese authorities force them into boarding schools far from their families. The students only see their families during the holidays. They speak their mother tongue less and less. continue reading →
‘People disappear under force’
Luo Shengchun's husband, the well-known human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, was arrested and tortured at the end of 2019. Since then, she has been campaigning for his release. He faces a life sentence. Western governments can do more to counter dictators like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, says Luo in conversation with Marcel Grzanna. continue reading →
Dozens still detained
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), dozens of protesters are still detained across the country after the protest in November against zero-Covid and for political freedoms. Some of them have no contact with family members and are being held in unknown locations, the US-based human rights organization said.HRW demanded that the leadership in Beijing immediately […] continue reading →
Muslims criticize Xinjiang delegation
The well-known Bosnian imam Mustafa Cerić has come under criticism for a visit to Xinjiang with other representatives of the World Council of Muslim Communities (TWMCC). Uyghur activists and Muslim associations accused the TWMCC and Cerić of accepting the Chinese government’s actions in the region with the trip. In early January, a delegation of more […] continue reading →
Patten predicts end of dictatorship
Hong Kong’s last governor, Chris Patten, had some words of encouragement for the city’s residents in a New Year’s Greetings. In his video message, the politician predicted the end of the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party. “What always happens to dictatorships and the things they do is they disappear sooner or later into the […] continue reading →
Liu Hongqiao – deciphering the climate issue
Climate sinner or model student? The question is not that easy to answer, says Liu Hongqiao. “China is turning its head – that is a positive trend,” explains the political advisor on climate issues. The important thing for her is the significance of this transformation: “China going net-zero by 2060 could prevent a further 0.2-0.3C […] continue reading →
Uyghurs suffer defeat at British court
The Munich-based World Uyghur Congress and the non-governmental organization Global Legal Action Network have failed in their attempt to stop the import of cotton from the Xinjiang region in the UK, according to the AP news agency. The activists accused the British government of allowing the import of cotton products from Xinjiang even though the […] continue reading →
Wolfgang Hirn – Insatiable interest in China
Wolfgang Hirn has started learning Chinese about twenty times – and stopped just as often. The journalist and book author has been traveling to China regularly since the 1980s and has written several bestsellers about the country and its continent. “Again and again, I resolve to keep my eye on the ball this time, but […] continue reading →