Veteran journalist Xiao Shu explains why he organized a signature campaign to call on China to ratify international human rights treaties.

Is China’s new president, Xi Jinping, a reformer? The same question was once asked of his predecessor, Hu Jintao. Now Xi Jinping’s former PhD advisor, Sun Liping (left), a leading scholar, has characterized Hu’s ten-year term as a “failure of power.”

The news recently from a Guangdong village hailed last year as a bold experiment in democracy has been discouraging.

In an open letter circulating on Chinese social media today, prominent individuals call on China’s government to immediately ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The letter is a major (constructive) challenge to the incoming leadership.

Attempts to contain a book tour by prominent social critic Li Chengpeng show the limitations of control in the era of social media.

China’s new boss, Xi Jinping, has hinted that state media need to be more relevant and accessible. But isn’t that what Hu Jintao said ten years ago?

The ongoing controversy over the censorship of Southern Weekly’s New Year’s edition is not just about broader notions of press freedom, it’s about Party encroachment on the limited space Chinese media have long had.

Xi Jinping has promised to change the way China’s ruling Party works and talks. But is his new approach to Chinese politics really all so new?

Former CMP fellow Wu Si describes freedom of expression in China as a property having five levels.

This is the first CCP congress of the social media era in China. What are Chinese talking about?