Dong Yuyu ( zh, 董郁玉;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: Dǒng Yùyù) is a former Chinese journalist and editor for the ''

Guangming Daily The ''Guangming Daily'', also known as the ''Enlightenment Daily'', is a national Chinese-language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1949 as the official paper of the China Democratic League. S ...

.'' He was detained by the Chinese authorities in 2022 and indicted on charges of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

the next year. He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in 2024.

Early life and education

Dong was born in April 1962 in

Fushun Fushun ( zh, s=, t=, p=Fǔshùn, historically Fuxi ()) is a prefecture level city in Liaoning province, China, about east of Shenyang, with a total area of , of which is the city proper. Situated on the Hun River ("muddy river"), it is one o ...

. He graduated from

Peking University Law School Peking University Law School () is a law school of Peking University, a Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. Founded in 1904 as the law department of Peking University, it is the oldest law school in China. From 2015 t ...

with an M.L. degree in 1987. Dong has a son, Dong Yifu, who graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

degree in history in 2017 and works as a journalist.

Career

In 1987 after graduating from law school, Dong began working for the ''

'', a

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

newspaper He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and served a year of hard labor, after which he resumed work at the paper. In 2006 he was awarded a

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Fellowship is a fellowship from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. It awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman ...

. In the period preceding his acceptance of the fellowship, he was aware he was under state surveillance, according to his family. In 2010 he was a visiting fellow at

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

and in 2014 a visiting professor at

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

, both in Japan. At the time of his arrest he was deputy head of ''Guangming Daily'''s editorial department. Dong has never been a Communist member, and his writing was generally considered to advocate progressive reform in China.

Arrest and imprisonment

In February 2022, Dong was detained by Chinese authorities while lunching with a Japanese diplomat at the Novotel Xin Qiao hotel in downtown

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. He was formally arrested six months later and in March 2023 was indicted on charges of espionage. His family did not release news of his detention until April 24, 2023, as they were concerned it might negatively affect his chances of being released uncharged. On 29 November 2024, Dong's family said that he had been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for espionage. Dong's arrest and imprisonment were criticized by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

, press advocacy groups, academics, and others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dong, Yuyu Living people 1962 births Chinese journalists Prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China People from Fushun Peking University alumni Chinese expatriates in Japan Enforced disappearances in China Missing Chinese people

Early life and education

Career

Arrest and imprisonment

See also

References