On the eve of International Women’s Day in March 2015, five female activists were arrested in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou. The actions began on March 6 that year when Wu Rongrong (武荣荣), Wei Tingting (韦婷婷), Wang Man (王曼), Zheng Churan (郑楚然), also known as “Datu,” and Li Tingting (李婷婷), also known as “Li Maizi” (李麦子), were detained without charges. The women, collectively known as the “Feminist Five” (女权五姐妹), were reportedly taken in because of planned activism corresponding to International Women’s Day, including the distribution of anti-sexual harassment stickers. But it was widely known that the women were targeted because they represented a growing community of feminist activists in China — and were perceived as a threat by the authorities.
By March 2015, the women already had a history going back several years of peaceful actions against gender discrimination and domestic violence. These included the 2012 “Occupy Men’s Toilets” demonstrations in the southern city of Guangzhou and in the capital Beijing, during which demonstrators temporarily occupied men’s toilets to draw attention to the relative lack of proper facilities for women. Significantly, these actions received coverage at the time even from state-run media, including the Global Times and China Daily (though most reports were published in English only). Up to 2015, in fact, the Chinese media covered issues of women and gender in ways that seem surprising today. For example, in a 2012 report by China Consumer News about controversial pre-employment physical examinations for female civil servants, Wu Rongrong, then a gender equality specialist at the grassroots Beijing Yirenping Center (北京益仁平中心), argued that non-medical gynecological examinations could damage women’s dignity and intensify their fear during job hunting. She emphasized that women have the right to keep information about their bodies private from others unless for personal healthcare purposes.
The detention of the “Feminist Five” was an unfortunate turning point for feminist activism in China and for coverage and public discussion of related issues. As the crackdown on feminist activism and Chinese civil society more broadly was underway in 2015, the only coverage in domestic media voiced support for repressive actions. A Chinese-language report from the Global Times defended the detention of the “Feminist Five” activists ahead of International Women’s Day and dismissed Western criticism of the judicial process as unwarranted interference. The piece argued that “female rights in China are not a sensitive topic” while drawing a critical distinction between legitimate advocacy and what it called “unlawful rallies intended to upset social order” (用非法抗议来挑战社会秩序) — demonstrating how the Party frames even peaceful protest as a threat to stability.
But the legacy of the “Feminist Five” remains strong, as they continue to participate in the Chinese feminist movement, often through online forums. The Feminist Five inspired a shift in Chinese activism, driving a more diverse and inclusive feminist movement. If you want to know more about the “Feminist Five,” their activism, and what it means to be a feminist activist in China, here are three great interviews with Li Maizi on China’s feminist movement and her personal experiences:
Dalia Parete
Researcher
