INTERSECTIONS/ February 27, 2025
A rundown of issues, analysis, and must-read stories about marginalized communities in the Sinophone landscape.
Dear subscribers,
Welcome to Intersections — our monthly Lingua Sinica bulletin highlighting the stories of marginalized communities in the Chinese-language media space: from women’s issues and feminism to queer perspectives, the struggles of disabled people, and much more.
It has been a long week here in Taipei, where RightsCon 2025 has brought thousands of rights advocates to the city. The event has been a great opportunity to learn more about pressing topics like transnational repression and how it affects women in particular. It is also clear that much more action needs to be taken on these issues, and we’d love for Intersections and Lingua Sinica to help by sharing stories, offering analysis, and providing a platform for meaningful discussion.
With that in mind, I’ll say again what I always say — I’d love to make this a conversation, so please reach out. We want to hear about new outlets, stories, perspectives, or contributions from any of you. While we’ve focussed primarily on women’s issues in past bulletins, we hope that Intersections can truly live up to its name and cover all groups and individuals facing discrimination. If we’re skipping over something you think demands our attention, we want to hear about it!
Dalia Parete
CMP Researcher
dalia@chinamediaproject.org
IN MOTION
Born to Shine
First off, some recommendations for our readers currently in Taipei — where National Geographic magazine’s first women-focused photo exhibit opened late last year. Running until April 6 at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區), “Women: Born to Shine” features 100 outstanding photographs documenting female strength, beauty, and resilience throughout 136 years of history. Organizer Firenze Cultural Exchange says that 90 percent of the images, pulled from NatGeo’s library of over a million pictures, are being displayed in Taiwan for the first time.
Visitors are guaranteed to recognize Steve McCurry's iconic "Afghan Girl,” whose gaze attracted global attention to Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis in the 1980s. But there’s plenty more to discover: here’s a small sample of other photos on display, taken by myself during a recent visit.
Breaking the Chains of Stigma
Last week, a new exhibition on HIV stigma and discrimination also opened at the 200–year–old Bopiliao Historical Block in Taipei’s storied Wanhua district. Running until March 2, "Hi, V — Gay Men and AIDS Over the Years" (Hi, V — 男同志與愛滋的那些年) shares the personal stories of those affected by HIV and AIDS, highlighting decades of community activism as well as ongoing challenges.
The event is hosted by the Taiwan Tongzhi LGBTQ+ Hotline Association, and marks 20 years since the group began its work to raise awareness and reduce stigma around the disease. Hotline’s Secretary-General, Sean Tu Sih-cheng (杜思誠), emphasized at the exhibition’s opening ceremony how many gay men still face stigma and HIV-related fears — whether they are infected or not. “In an era where HIV infection is a manageable chronic condition,” he said, “we must rethink the impact of stigma and move toward a more friendly and equal society."
The venue will also host interactive events such as safe sex training and discussions with HIV activists and medical professionals. Check out Hotline’s website for more information.
HERSTORY
I Am Not Okay
When Chinese starlet Zhao Lusi (赵露思) opened up publicly about her struggles with depression and the pressures of fame, it divided opinion among her online fanbase.
The 26-year-old celebrity, beloved for her roles in popular dramas like "The Long Ballad" (长歌行) and "Love Like the Galaxy" (星汉灿烂·月升沧海), revealed in an emotional Weibo post last month that China’s toxic entertainment industry had taken a toll on her mental health.
“When I first experienced feelings of depression in 2019,” Zhao wrote, “people would tell me not to make a big deal of it and just think positively… I also thought I was being too sensitive and didn’t take my mental health seriously.” She goes on to describe how her physical health also suffered due to professional stressors and losses in the family, manifesting in a host of ailments.
Soon after sharing her story, though, Zhao was met with skepticism rather than sympathy. Many commenters insinuated that her confession was just a cynical marketing ploy to keep herself in the limelight. Zhao responded to these accusations by arguing that raising awareness through social media was necessary to combat the stigma around depression. She said that she sought to grab the attention of others in order to help them identify depression and seek treatment.
“Is all of this marketing?” Zhao asked her followers. “Sure, you’re right. We need marketing to dispel misconceptions about depression… My ‘marketing’ will make the severity of the illness known to everyone. People need to understand that it is pain and suffering, not just moaning.”
REGIONAL ECHOES
Reading Between the Lines
When news emerged earlier this month of an operation trafficking around 100 Thai women to Georgia to illegally harvest their eggs, the story made headlines around the world. With high-profile kidnappings by scam rings already getting top billing in media throughout the region, Chinese-language outlets closely covered the Thai women’s sad and shocking ordeal.
There was just one little detail missing from mainland PRC reporting on the scheme: the central role that Chinese criminal organizations played in pulling it off.
Shandong’s Luzhong Morning News (鲁中晨报) hyper-focused on the intricate mechanics of the operation instead. Their report relates how the women were promised up to 600,000 Thai baht (US$17,000) to act as surrogates before being “forced to undergo monthly ovulation stimulation and egg harvesting.” As for who was behind this, however, we get only hints about shadowy “criminal groups”(犯罪集團) and "human trafficking organizations” (人口贩运组织) of indeterminate provenance. Readers must follow these breadcrumbs to find out the rest.
Compare that with the coverage in Taiwan. Even the United Daily News (聯合報), a newspaper associated with the traditionally pro-China “pan-blue” camp in Taiwanese politics, did not shy away from pointing the finger at “Chinese criminal gangs” (中國犯罪集團). UDN’s coverage highlighted the relationships between this case and the region-made "scam industry” (詐騙產業) run by Chinese gangs that have now shifted from online scams to healthcare exploitation.
Vision Thai（看見泰國), a digital news outfit founded in 2014 by Chinese husband-and-wife duo Chit Lee (李致德) and Angel Chen (陳韋如), also brought attention to the story’s Chinese connection. Their headline read: “Chinese Crime Syndicate’s ‘Egg Farm’! Hundreds of Thai Women Cheated and Imprisoned for Egg Harvesting.” Like UDN, they also reported on what they called a “horrifying transnational crime" (駭人聽聞的跨國犯罪) without deflecting about the role of Chinese criminals.
But that’s not to say all Chinese reporting on the issue has been poor. Earlier this month, we translated a deeply reported investigation published through the WeChat-based outlet Positive Connections (正面连接). In it, journalist Wu Qin (伍勤) provides rare insight into the cyber scam industry that has ensnared thousands along the Myanmar-Thailand border. Read our partial translation of Wu’s piece, which was based on months of on-the-ground reporting, here.
PRIORITY GAPS
One Man, One Woman — One Country, One System
Hong Kong legislator Junius Ho (何君堯) has earned notoriety for both his hardline political stances and his opposition to LGBTQ+ rights. In 2019, he turned up to shake hands with a violent mob attacking pro-democracy demonstrators. And with his pro-democracy rivals now behind bars, he has refocused his attention on attacking the city's LGBTQ+ community, demanding the cancellation of the 2023 Gay Games and urging the central government to roll back advances for equality, arguing that same-sex couples pose a "national security threat."
Earlier this month, Ho introduced a non-binding motion to the Legislative Council urging Beijing to overrule the territory’s Court of Final Appeal, which in 2023 ruled that the government has an obligation to provide a legal framework that recognizes same-sex relationships. The motion passed unopposed in the territory’s opposition-free, “patriots-only” legislature. Even Regina Ip, who has positioned herself as an LGBT ally in the pro-Beijing camp, abstained from the vote — suggesting that doing so would have been to stand in the way of the central government.
The 2023 ruling Ho is trying to overturn was in a case lodged by activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), the subject of a recent feature by the Singapore-based digital news outlet Initium Media (端傳媒). Sham, one of 47 local politicians sentenced under the national security law late last year for participating in an unofficial primary election, is almost the mirror image of Ho: a grassroots community organizer as celebrated for his pro-democracy politics as his LGBT activism. Elected to local council in the democrats’ 2019 sweep, he was also a leading member of the League of Social Democrats and the Civil Human Rights Front that led some of that year’s biggest protests.
Sham married his partner in the United States in 2014, and since then has been campaigning for his marriage and that of other same-sex couples to be recognized in Hong Kong. Initium looks at the ongoing struggle for equality in Hong Kong, noting how same-sex couples are routinely denied hospital visitation rights. The continuing national security crackdown has also further complicated matters, emboldening and empowering conservative nationalists like Junius Ho while putting the LGBTQ+ community’s biggest champions like Jimmy Sham behind bars.
LGBTQ+ rights face significant barriers in the territory, with a study from the Chinese University of Hong Kong showing that 18 percent of people in same-sex relationships have been denied the right to hospital visitation. "Advocating for same-sex marriage doesn't mean opposing 'one husband, one wife' — they're not mutually exclusive,” one activist told Initium. “Same-sex couples simply deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples.”
THE EYEROLL
Naming and Shaming
Earlier this month, a couple’s divorce became one of the hottest trending topics on Weibo. But it wasn’t a celebrity pairing splitting over salacious rumors — it was an anonymous couple in Shanghai, at loggerheads over their children’s surnames. While their firstborn took the father’s surname, their second child took the mother’s. According to various reports online, the father found this so unacceptable that he was willing to tear the young family apart.
A post to the web portal NetEase (網易) recounts that the two wed in 2018, and fissures over the surname issue began to show when their first child was born a year later. They “argued every day” over the issue and ultimately decided to live separately, both children staying with their mother. During court hearings for their divorce in 2023, the father sought custody of their firstborn daughter — who bears his surname — and not her younger brother, who uses his mother’s surname instead. In the end, the mother was granted sole custody of both children.
Many commenters on Weibo challenged the patrilineal norm that children have to adopt their father’s surname. "Does the surname matter?” one asked, “I don't think it's that important — it’s having a harmonious relationship that matters." Another also criticized "how much some men value their surnames," quipping that "some men's minds are as narrow as a needle's eye."
Divorce rates in China are on the rise. At the same time, fewer young people are tying the knot. The issue of declining marriage rates has become so sensitive that it was one of the topics covered by the Cyberspace Administration of China’s latest digital crackdown during the Spring Festival holiday. As discussions like this show, however, traditional family values are still being challenged and reevaluated by younger people. It is a trend that seems unlikely to reverse.
THE EXPERT VOICE
Feminists Without Borders
At a time when digital activism is transforming feminist movements worldwide, Jinyan Zeng’s co-edited book Feminist Activism in the Post-2010s Sinosphere provides valuable insights into how feminist groups have evolved and transformed across Chinese-speaking society, particularly since Xi Jinping’s rise to power and crackdown on civil society has pushed activism from offline organizing to digital contestation.
I recently sat down with Zeng, a lecturer at Sweden’s Lund University, to explore how feminist movements have evolved across the "Sinosphere" — her term for "the multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic, multi-locational, and multi-directional flows of Chinese culture." Her approach challenges Han-centric perspectives and recognizes the significant contributions of young scholars studying and working outside the PRC.
To find out more, read the full interview here!