Li Zhaoxiu
Li Zhaoxiu is a volunteer for 64 Tianwang, a platform for collecting and disseminating information about human rights violations in China. Following the November 2016 arrest of Tianwang founder Huang Qi, Li Zhaoxiu took up a dedicated advocacy campaign in person and through social media to advocate for his release. Li Zhaoxiu is also a farmer and has supported many other farmers in her home province of Sichuan to defend their land from government appropriation and to participate in local elections.
Chinese human rights defenders work across a wide spectrum of issues, engaging with rights violators on numerous levels. Many of China’s most prominent and most stringently prosecuted defenders have worked to protect the health and well-being of victims of physically harmful government and corporate practice, including forced abortion, food health scandals, environmental pollution, and corrupt or negligent government action leading to preventable loss of life. Other Chinese HRDs work to protect the economic rights of Chinese citizens, advocating for victims of property appropriation, forced demolition, and violation of labour contracts. Still others take on cases of freedom of expression for China’s ethnic and religious minorities.
