Dong Yuyu

Dong was born in April of 1962 in Fushun.[1] He graduated from Peking University law school in 1987.[2][1]

Dong began working for the Guangming Daily, a Communist Party newspaper, in 1987 after graduating from law school.[2][1] He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and served a year of hard labor, after which he resumed work at the paper.[3][1]

In 2006 he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship.[2][3] In the period preceding his acceptance of the fellowship, he was aware he was under state surveillance, according to his family.[1] In 2010 he was a visiting fellow at Keio University and in 2014 a visiting professor at Hokkaido University, both in Japan.[2][3] At the time of his arrest he was deputy head of Guangming Daily's editorial department.[1]

Dong's writing was generally considered to advocate progressive reform in China.[4]

In February of 2022, Dong was detained by Chinese authorities while lunching with a Japanese diplomat at the Novotel Xin Qiao hotel in downtown Beijing.[2][3][5][6] He was formally arrested six months later and in March of 2023 was indicted on charges of espionage.[2] His family did not release news of his detention until April 24, 2023, as they were concerned it might negatively affect his chances of being released uncharged.[3][7]

The arrest was criticized by the National Press Club, press advocacy groups, academics, and journalists.[1][4]

Dong is not a member of the Communist Party.[3]

• Cheng Lei
• Yang Hengjun