“Free The Campaigners”
In March 2015 a group of five random women (amongst others) were detained the day before International Women’s Day in the Chinese capital of Beijing. Busted for the intent of passing out stickers on public transportation regarding sexual harassment. Li Maizi (whose birth name is Li Tingting), Wei Tingting, Zheng Churan, Wu Rongrong, and Wang Man were the girls names which quickly became known due to the response of the government itself. In interrogation, they pressed Li Maizi for being a spy for foreign forces, referring to the United States: “What? I work on gender equality—now you’re calling me a spy?” Li said. Acknowledging the political environment pressures, Li suggests new methods for pushing feminist movements in China, already having made an impact.
It is said that the girl’s activities probably would have slid under the radar, but with the resistance of government, “the Chinese government itself provided the spark for the creation of a powerful new symbol of feminist dissent against a patriarchal, authoritarian state: China’s “Feminist Five.”” This feminist movement challenged the Communist Party’s idea (and reliance) on the traditional and feminine roles of women, providing a major threat to the paternalistic state. Another one of the five girls, Zheng, now works on building solidarity between middle-class feminists and working-class women. She highlights consumerism and elite women as the most acceptable form of feminism. who is now working on ways to build solidarity between middle-class feminists and working-class women. In this kind of political environment, the most acceptable form of feminism revolves around consumerism and elite women. This is politically safer and draws a path goal oriented at doing something for the less educated.
By 2012 around 100 university-educated feminists were regularly participating in performance art and activism across the country to denounce growing gender inequality driven by market reforms. Areas they focused on were not overly politically sensitive, but debate worthy: domestic violence (China had no law regarding this until 2016), sexual harassment, sex discrimination in the work/school place, and insufficient toilets for women (Occupy Toilet movement). Persistence steered some of the women to relocate to New York to continue the movement with less interferance from the Chinese Government. One of the girls, Lu Pin, reflects on how the feminist movement needs an established presence outside of China, thus the creation of the first ever Chinese women’s rights group ran out of the United States. Pin expresses the goal and vision of the group (Transnational allies), consisting of three of the five girls, wanting to raise money for feminist causes as well as be a reliable resource for Chinese-language information regarding women’s rights in China.
In current times, Lu Pin still holds close friendships with a substantial amount of China’s core feminist activists. Quoting Virginia Woolf, Lu Pin says, “As a woman I have no country.” She believes that Chinese feminists—whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere—can form alliances that cross national boundaries. “If we don’t set up this group in the U.S., China’s feminist movement will become too passive. The position of our core activists is extremely fragile and we don’t know when the police will come and arrest someone again—it could be today or tomorrow,” she says. Simply put, the fight continues, stronger than ever with it’s introspective mindset following transnational feminism’s.
Li Maizi (left) protesting against domestic violence in Bejing in 2012- Captured by Media Monitor for Women Network