Chang Ping

Chang Ping (simplified Chinese: 长平; traditional Chinese: 長平, born 22 June 1968), whose real name is Zhang Ping, is a Chinese writer[1] and Curator of the June 4th Museum of Memory and Human Rights.[2][3] He won the Human Rights Press Awards in Hong Kong in 2014[4] and the CJFE 2016 International Press Freedom Award in Canada.[5][6]

This article is about the journalist. For other uses, see Changping (disambiguation).

Chang Ping
Native name
长平
BornZhang Ping
(1968-06-22) 22 June 1968
Sichuan, China
OccupationWriter, Journalist and Curator of June 4th Museum of Memory and Human Rights
SubjectDemocracy, media censorship, the failures of government policy and Tibet
Notable awardsHuman Rights Press Awards,International Press Freedom Award

Chang Ping is known for writing about politically sensitive topics, including democracy, media censorship, the failures of government policy and Tibet.[7] His commentaries have appeared in Southern Weekend, South China Morning Post,[8] Apple Daily, Deutsche Welle,[9][10] Süddeutsche Zeitung[11] and the New York Times.[12]

Chang Ping has repeatedly been punished for tackling sensitive issues and was banned from writing columns and publishing books in China. He was removed as news director of Southern Weekend, then a daring weekly that had won readers across the country in 2001. He became deputy editor of Southern Metropolis Weekly but was removed in 2008[13] due to a commentary that carried the headline "Tibet: Nationalist Sentiment and the Truth” enraged Chinese nationalists who supported a crackdown on what the government called separatist activities in Tibet. In 2010, he was fired by the newspaper, with an editor saying his work was “inappropriate.” But he told the New York Times, “I will keep writing, I won’t stop.”[14][15]

Chang Ping joined Hong Kong-based magazine iSun Affairs in 2011 as chief editor but was denied a visa and has not been allowed into Hong Kong. In late 2011, Chang Ping was invited to live in Germany at the former country home of Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll, which has been converted into a refuge for persecuted writers.[16]

In March 2016, Chang Ping alleged that his two younger brothers and a younger sister were "abducted by the Chinese police" after he wrote an article for Deutsche Welle related to a "public letter", which was posted online demanding that Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping resign.[17][18]

Chang Ping was a guest professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, and a senior research fellow at the Southern Metropolis Communication Institute in Guangzhou. In a lecture at Fudan University he said, "We should transform into a civil society rather than wait for a virtuous leader."[19]

On 15 November 2014, Chang Ping lectured at the 33rd anniversary of the PEN International's Day of the Imprisoned Writer to highlight the fate of Tibetan writers imprisoned by Chinese authorities in Dharamsala, India, "Where’s our home? It lies in the words that we speak. How many words have been spoken? That shall determine our emotional connection to home."[20]

Chang Ping has been a longtime observer of the feminist movement and Chinese politics. He wrote a series of articles expressing his worry that the "Chinese Dream" spelled a setback for women's rights.[21][22]

References
  1. "Is Democracy Chinese? An Interview with Journalist Chang Ping". Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  2. "" "六四记忆．人权博物馆"总策展人长平介绍"". 六四纪念馆. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  3. "" 「六四记忆·人权博物馆」今网上开放 即日脱离支联会独立运作"". 中国数字时代. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  4. "Winning Entries of the 18th Annual Human Rights Press Awards". Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  5. "Exiled Chinese journalist continues his fight for free speech". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  6. "'Speech Is Freedom Itself' – Chang Ping's Acceptance Speech for the CJFE 2016 International Press Freedom Award". Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. "Freedom in a Cage: An Interview With Chang Ping, Former News Director of Southern Weekend, Part One". China Change. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  8. "Don't put too much hope in new style of Chinese leadership". 11 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  9. "China's 'freedom' cage". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  10. "A Debate Over Tiananmen Finds Echoes in Germany's Fascist Past". 27 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  11. "Die Unterdrückung geht weiter". Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  12. Ping, Chang (14 April 2016). "Targeting Beyond China". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  13. "The Fate of Press Freedom in China's Era of 'Reform and Opening up': An Interview With Chang Ping". 16 December 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  14. Barboza, David (27 January 2011). "Chinese Journalist Who Defied the Censors and Wrote About Corruption Is Fired". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  15. "China tightens grip on press freedom". TheGuardian.com. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
  16. "Niemand weiß, ob China für Demokratie bereit ist" (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  17. Wong, Edward (28 March 2016). "Chinese Writer in Germany Says 3 Siblings Are Detained Over Xi Letter". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  18. "With Hong Kong booksellers silenced, China now goes after exiled dissidents". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  19. Barboza, David (27 January 2011). "Chinese Journalist Who Defied the Censors and Wrote About Corruption Is Fired". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  20. "TCHRD and PEN Tibetan honor imprisoned Tibetan writers: Event graced by Kirti Rinpoche and Chang Ping". Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  21. "Xi's 'southern tour' speech shows why women's rights must advance". 4 February 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  22. "The tragedy of Gu Kailai". 29 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
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