Gao Yu (; born 23 February 1944) is a Chinese

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

who has been repeatedly imprisoned.

Early life

Gao was born in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

. She attended the Language and Literature Department at the

Renmin University of China The Renmin University of China (RUC; ) is a national key public research university in Beijing, China. The university is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. RUC ...

, where she majored in

Literary Theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...

Career

Gao began her journalism career in 1979, as a reporter for the

China News Service China News Service (CNS; ) is the second largest state news agency in China, after Xinhua News Agency. China News Service was formerly run by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which was absorbed into the United Front Work Department of the Ch ...

.Michael Kudlak
IPI World Press Freedom Heroes: Gao Yu
''IPI Report'', June 2000 In 1988, she became deputy chief editor of ''Economics Weekly'', edited by dissident intellectuals. She also worked as a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

for different newspapers in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. In November 1988, she published an article in Hong Kong's ''Mirror Monthly'', which was described by

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

's Mayor

Chen Xitong Chen Xitong (; June 10, 1930 – June 2, 2013) was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and the Mayor of Beijing until he was removed from office on charges of corruption in 1995. Early life Chen was born on June 10, 1930, ...

as a "political program for turmoil and rebellion". He branded her as a "people's enemy". She was arrested in 1989, after the

Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, and released 15 months later because of health problems. Gao was arrested again in October 1993, and in November 1994 was sentenced to six years, accused of having "published state secrets". In February 1999, she was given parole in poor health. In 2014, Gao was arrested again a few weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The detention of the outspoken 70-year-old journalist was just one of several detentions of government critics over the previous days ahead of the politically sensitive 4 June anniversary. In April 2015, Beijing's high court convicted Gao of leaking state secrets and sentenced her to seven years in prison. According to

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

, the authorities accused Gao of sending "

Document Number Nine Document Number Nine (or Document No. 9), more properly the Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere (also translated as the Briefing on the Current Situation in the Ideological Realm), is a Internal media of the Chinese Communi ...

" to a foreign news organization, although the document had already been posted online. Following an appeal, her sentence was reduced to five years on 26 November 2015. Hours later, Chinese state media announced she has been released on medical parole, however the conviction for leaking state secrets was not overturned. As of 2016, she is serving a five-year sentence under house arrest. German president

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician and civil rights activist who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in E ...

, on his first state visit to China in March 2016, raised the plight of Gao with the Chinese government. Gao once wrote for the German broadcaster

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

. Days after Gauck's comments on Gao, Beijing municipal authorities and police raided her home, demolishing her study which they claimed was an illegal structure, and ransacking the rest of her home. Gao put up a fight but collapsed due to apparent high blood pressure. Gao stated that the raid was illegal and the authorities gave no advance notice. Sources claimed that the raid was conducted in retaliation for the German president's comments. Gao's home has been ransacked by the police before, when they came to arrest her in 2014. In April 2015, Gao was sentenced to prison for 7 years. Gao appealed and in November 2015, her sentenced length being reduced to 5 years. Gao was released from prison on April 23, 2019.

Awards

While incarcerated, Gao Yu received the

WAN-IFRA The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper ex ...

(World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers)

Golden Pen of Freedom The Golden Pen of Freedom Award is an annual international journalism award established in 1961, given by the World Association of Newspapers to individuals or organisations. The stated purpose of the award is "to recognise the outstanding action, i ...

and the

IWMF The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...

(International Women's Media Foundation) ''Courage in Journalism Award'' in 1995. In March 1999, she became the first journalist to receive the

UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, created in 1997, honours a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially whe ...

. In 2000 she was named one of

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

's 50

World Press Freedom Heroes International Press Institute World Press Freedom Heroes are individuals who have been recognized by the Vienna-based International Press Institute for "significant contributions to the maintenance of press freedom and freedom of expression" and "i ...

of the 20th century.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gao, Yu Chinese dissidents People's Republic of China journalists 1944 births Charter 08 signatories Living people Writers from Chongqing Chinese women journalists Renmin University of China alumni 20th-century Chinese women writers 20th-century Chinese writers Chinese non-fiction writers Women human rights activists