When Chinese activist and blogger Lu Yuyu crossed the mountainous border into Laos last year, he was taking a risky gamble on freedom. After years of relentlessly documenting civil unrest in China, Lu had become a target of the very government he sought to expose. His daring escape from suffocating surveillance was driven by an unshakable determination to continue his vital work – even if it meant leaving everything behind.
Giving Voice to China’s Discontent
Lu Yuyu never set out to be a dissident. In 2012, he was simply a curious blogger who noticed something missing from China’s tightly controlled media landscape: honest reporting on the numerous protests happening across the country. At a time when the government had stopped publishing statistics on “mass incidents,” Lu took it upon himself to fill the void.
Through his blog “Not the News,” Lu meticulously scoured social media for firsthand accounts of unrest, compiling a rare glimpse into the simmering discontent in China. His work quickly caught the attention of researchers and China watchers worldwide, who saw it as an invaluable resource amid increasing censorship.
The Price of Truth
But shining a light on dissent came with consequences. In 2016, Lu was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for the Orwellian crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – an charge often used to silence activists in China. Lu was unsurprised by his predicament, fully aware of the risks that came with challenging the “true colors” of the Chinese Communist Party.
“I know the true colours of the CCP regime. So I anticipated they would come for me,” Lu recalls of his imprisonment.
Upon his release in 2020, Lu was determined to resume his work exposing injustice. However, he found himself under suffocating surveillance, stalked by minders at every turn. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic only intensified the authorities’ stranglehold, making his blogging activities nearly impossible.
The Desperate Escape
Pushed to his limit, Lu made the heart-wrenching decision to flee China in May 2023. With no passport and the country’s borders still tightly restricted, he embarked on a dangerous overland journey to neighboring Laos. Guided by smugglers through treacherous mountain passes, Lu left behind his beloved cat and any semblance of stability for an uncertain future in exile.
“I was very lucky to get out of China,” Lu says of his narrow escape, knowing that other dissidents have been less fortunate.
From Laos, Lu made his way to Thailand, where he sought asylum through the UN refugee agency. In a stroke of fortune, he was granted refuge in Canada, where he was finally reunited with his wife – and his intrepid cat, Anthony.
Carrying On the Fight
Now safe in Calgary, Lu is slowly piecing his life back together. But his mission to document dissent in China continues, even as the government’s censorship apparatus grows ever more sophisticated. Where Lu once tallied nearly 100 protests per day, he estimates the number may have dropped to around 70 – though it remains unclear whether this reflects a true decline or simply the effectiveness of state suppression.
“There is still dissatisfaction in society,” Lu notes. “The CCP can only stop mass protests, but on a smaller scale, the CCP can’t eradicate them. It’s a balance.”
For Lu Yuyu, this balance is one he will continue to observe and report on, even from half a world away. His story stands as a sobering reminder of the immense challenges facing those who dare to speak truth to power in China – and the unshakable resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression.
