Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋

When I was a child, CCTV's Lunar New Year Gala was fun to watch. As China grew more powerful in every way, humility, humor and humanity got lost in the way. Now it is just robots...

The CCP: "Sure, people in China have no human rights. Everyone lives in fear of the government, and ethnic minorities are imprisoned en masse. BUT, look at our technologies. Impressive, right? Don't you all envy us?"

They Are in Love but Don’t Speak the Same Language

This is a sweet US-China story (sounds oxymoronic, I know). What is somewhat ominous is that Tencent and Microsoft, two tech giants, possess the transcript of their entire relationship. It's a story emblematic of our time. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/t...

Every day, I find something new in the Trump administration that makes me say to myself, "gosh, this is so CCP."

Instead of calling it quits just because the US under Trump no longer supports a rules-based order, European leaders should step up and shoulder the responsibility. Also, witnessing strong resistance to Trump on the ground, I think it's a mistake for Europe to give up on the US.

So the U.S. under Trump no longer supports the international rules-based order, Europe just simply calls it quits? How about you endeavor to uphold it? Where is the conviction among these world leaders? Have any of these elites actually believed in anything? Ugh.

The CCP's global authoritarian influence/interference is a huge problem, but we need good research and good policy to address it. Otherwise it is just going to provoke xenophobia, erode institutional trust, and ultimately backfire.

The CCP is facing a dilemma: it wants Chinese women to get married (to Chinese men of course) and have babies to reverse population decline. It also wants AI supremacy. But now the AI is getting so good that many Chinese women are choosing AI boyfriends over real men.

What Is Kari Lake Trying to Achieve? The Arizona politician has wasted millions of dollars while blocking U.S. efforts to bring reliable news to repressive countries.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Kari Lake has not only severely damaged America’s international reputation as a champion of freedom of information, but she has also wasted hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. The silver lining is that her incompetence seems to be preventing her from completely destroying things.

Tokens of AI Bias - China Media Project A simple technical test reveals that the Alibaba AI model Qwen has been broadly aligned to give positive messages about China in English.

A thoughtful study, confirming what we all suspected: Chinese government narratives (both about China and other countries) are embedded in Chinese AI models, even in the English-language. The implications of that are huge. chinamediaproject.org/2026/02/09/t...

All I want to say is this: the Chinese Communist Party and its henchmen in Hong Kong, we will pursue you to the end, and we will win. Justice will prevail, and accountability will come to you.

‘I’m Free’: A Muslim Official Who Lost Faith in China Gains a Voice

This is a remarkable story. I wonder how many cadres in China right now are also feeling that all the privileges and status that come with being a CCP official are not worth the daily grinding down of their soul. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/b...

Six years ago today, Dr. Li Wenliang died from Covid. Imagine if he hadn’t been silenced by the Chinese government for speaking out—what a different world we might be living in now.

More than ever, we need investigative reporting on China—work that takes time and resources to produce—not commentaries from YouTubers speculating about imminent economic collapse or elite political infighting in China.

It was fun, thanks for having me. These days, I feel like I should start conversations by saying, "yes, yes, I know the US's human rights record really suck now. BUT that fact does nothing to invalidate criticism of China."

Professors Are Being Watched: ‘We’ve Never Seen This Much Surveillance’

The censorship, surveillance, and student reporting faced by these professors—along with the inevitable self-censorship—feel quintessentially China, but they are occurring in America. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/u...

I often say to journalists and curious laypeople, "I work on human rights issues, what do I know about whether China is going to attack Taiwan/who is fighting who at the top/whether China's economic model is sustainable?"

Ad time: Interested in joining the University of Chicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression as a fellow or visiting scholar? Email the team at thechicagoforum@uchicago.edu. thechicagoforum.uchicago.edu/en

It is encouraging to see a member of Congress taking this approach. I hope liberal democracies around the world are not giving up on the United States. A large segment of American society still wants to be part of the international human rights system, and they need external support and solidarity.

News on China is increasingly crowded out by the daily tantrums of the American presidency. When China does break through, it's either on the economy or elite political infighting. How do we get the world to care about the 1 billion plus repressed people in China ? Tips?

Some friends and I are discussing whether Alex Pretti’s death will matter. I believe it will. Even in China—where the government is far less responsive to public opinion—the death of Sun Zhigang, a migrant worker beaten to death by police, prompted systemic change. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Zhi...

She was Good. He was Pretti. Rest in peace.

I urge leaders of democracies worldwide to step forward and stand with Americans fighting on the ground.

Congrats, Adrian. We need the EU to be the leader on human rights now, I'm so glad they have you.

Hong Kong national security trial of three pro-democracy activists begins Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, who led Tiananmen Square vigils, are accused of inciting subversion

While Trump has sucked up all the air, please take a moment to learn about heroes like Chow Hang-tung and Albert Ho. Don't let the Beijing and Hong Kong governments get away with repression when the world is not looking. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Listen to my former colleague @nateschenkkan.bsky.social. Experts on global authoritarianism are exactly the people we need to weigh in on America -- and how to fight back -- before it is too late.

A German exchange student here at University of Chicago told me he loved his experience at the university, wished he could stay here longer - but not in America. It’s a feeling many of us recognize: loving our cocoons in America, alienated from the country as a whole.

The mistake may have been ours—we projected our hopes onto others. We looked for someone charismatic, like Ai, or something powerful, like the US, to commit to our cause, only to be disappointed. But belief cannot depend on heroes or patrons. We must hold onto it even when we stand alone.

Regarding Ai Weiwei’s sudden pro-Beijing turn - though there were earlier signs - the CCP’s horrific abuses are historical facts that cannot be argued out of existence. A former human rights icon may have fallen, but the struggle for democracy will continue, with or without him.