While some countries, such as the United States, have constitutions that give discontent citizens the power to make changes in laws and policies, other countries, such as China, have created the opposite environment for their citizens. In early March, the Chinese government sanctioned the imprisonment of 10 women’s rights activists who were protesting the domestic violence and sexual harassment. Chinese officials fiercely interrogated the women, whose actions ranged from shaving their heads to marching down through tourist districts in “blood”-spattered bridal gowns while holding anti-violence signs. China released five of them after determining they were not central to the planning and execution of the protests but Li Tingting (25), Wu Rongrong (30), Zheng Churan (25), Wei Tingting (26), and Wang Man (33) (the Feminist Five) remained in custody until April 13th. Though the women are free, they remain under the harsh scrutiny of the Chinese government. China is a country known for its unfavorable opinion of political dissent. On the one hand, the wariness is understandable; China does not want to be host to the same uproarious, out-of-hand protests present in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland. On the other hand, China has proven it isn’t entirely scornful towards critics: the government allowed Chai Jing’s documentary, “Under the Dome” to remain online for a week and garner millions of views before deciding to take it down. The Chinese government (or rather, Xi Jinping) is particularly aggressive to those who take to the streets, especially those that are capable of gathering crowds. None of this information - neither dislike of protests nor the arrests - is surprising. However, the arrests are inherently problematic. In a country where the one-child policy precipitated a male-heavy society, any attempts to address the inequalities between men and women create controversy. It’s very likely that China jailed the Feminist Five not only to prevent a larger, nation-wide protest, but also to hush the grumblings of abused and shortchanged women. This alternative explanation for the arrests is particularly apparent in the relative lack of coverage of the arrests in the Chinese media. Again, the missing news can be explained away by assuming the government is erring on the side of caution; China doesn’t want to air too much information about the protests because it doesn’t want to give its citizens ideas. Yet, another look at the lack of coverage reveals the ulterior motive: prevent citizens from realizing there is anything wrong with the current situation of women in China. Even those directly involved in the protest are not entirely sure why they were arrested. Xiao Meili, one of the women drawing attention to sexual violence said, “We don’t understand what we did wrong…” Perhaps their assemblies incited the anger of the government, or perhaps their subject matter was to blame for the arrests. It doesn’t seem, though, that arrests (of the Feminist Five or of other dissidents) halt the forward momentum of activists. Whenever a word or phrase is banned, Chinese people come up with a new way to say the same thing, often relying on the homophones that are characteristic of the Chinese language. Hopefully, this creativity will find its way into China’s women’s rights movement, propelling the nation towards a more egalitarian future. This article was written by Sarabi Eventide. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Huffington Post