Wei Tingting (; born 1989) is a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
LGBTI+ and feminist activist, writer and documentary filmmaker. She is one of the
Feminist Five
The Feminist Five is a group of five Chinese feminists who were arrested in Beijing on March 6, 2015 for planning a protest against sexual harassment on public transportation. The quintet is composed of Li Maizi (birth name Li Tingting), Wu Ron ...
.
Early life and career
Wei was born in
Hechi
Hechi () is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, bordering Guizhou to the north. In June 2002 it gained city status.
Geography and climate
Hechi is located in northwestern ...
in the southern region of
Guangxi in
China.
In 2009, Wei received a
LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
from
Wuhan University
Wuhan University (WHU; ) is a public research university in Wuhan, Hubei. The university is sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Wuhan university was founded as one of the four elite universities in the early republican period of China and i ...
. In 2011, Wei received a
LL.M. in
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
from
Wuhan University
Wuhan University (WHU; ) is a public research university in Wuhan, Hubei. The university is sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Wuhan university was founded as one of the four elite universities in the early republican period of China and i ...
.
Career
While in college, Wei became active in the women's and LGBT rights movements. In 2007 and 2009, Wei assisted in coordinating and staging productions of ''
The Vagina Monologues
''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run in at Westside Theatre. The play explores c ...
''. She joined the Wuhan Rainbow, an LGBT organization.
Wei also served as director of Ji’ande, an
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
rights organization in
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 ...
.
Wei co-founded the National Bisexual Network in China.
From 2011 to 2016, Wei worked as a project manager at the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute, a national agency centered around sexuality and sexual health, raising awareness about gender inequities and sexual diversity.
Part of her work included helping to organize an annual
AIDS Walk
AIDS Walk is a walkathon fundraiser that raises money to combat the AIDS epidemic. Since 1985, AIDS Walk Los Angeles has drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters to walk, and millions more to donate, raising more than $90 million to combat HIV ...
on the
Great Wall
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups ...
, the China AIDS Walk, the first large-scale HIV/AIDS public fundraising project in mainland China, coordinating the Mainstream Media Awards for good LGBT community reporting, and coordinating the organization's Rights and Advocacy program & annual National LGBT conference in China. Wei co-hosted China's first non-profit LGBT webcast called "Queer Comrades", was a member of the China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong-based network Queer Lala Times, and attended women's conferences in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
.
In 2012, Wei Tingting and Li Tingting participated in a Valentine's Day protest against
domestic violence in Beijing.
From 2012 to 2014, Wei was a project manager at Chinese Lala Alliance.
From 2013 to 2014, Wei was a contributor to ''
Les+ Magazine'' and coordinated a project called “View Beijing+20 from Lesbian perspective”.
From 2015 to 2017, Wei was a coordinator at
LGBT Rights Advocacy China, where she worked with victims of LGBT conversion therapies to help them bring legal cases, and also support lawsuits against homophobic teaching materials.
From 2016 to 2019, Wei was the founder and director of the Guangzhou Gender and Sexuality Education Center (GGSEC), a
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
,
China. The organization conducts gender and sexuality education, training and advocacy activities.
Wei collected material for the first Chinese documentary film about
bisexuality in China, which was called ''Bi China'' and was released in 2017.
In 2018, Wei founded the Guangzhou Nalisha Education Consulting Co., Ltd., a company that conducts gender and sexuality research, education, training and advocacy activities, offering mental health support and consulting support for victims in gender and sexuality field to against discrimination to women and LGBTI community.
Feminist Five
In 2015, she and four other activists (
Zheng Churan
Zheng Churan () is a Chinese women's rights activist and feminist. Together with four other activists, she was detained, in March 2015, shortly before events planned for International Women's Day. They are collectively known as the Feminist ...
, Wang Man,
Wu Rongrong
Wu Rongrong (; born 1985) is a Chinese feminist and a women's rights activist. She is a member of one of the larger feminist collectives in China known as " Feminist Five" or the "Gang of Five."
Early life and career
Wu Rongrong was born in ...
, and
Li Tingting
Li Tingting (; born 1989), known professionally as Li Maizi (), is a Chinese campaigner and activist for gender equality, sexual harassment awareness, and sexuality. She was detained by police on the eve of International Women's Day in 2015, ...
, collectively known as the "
Feminist Five
The Feminist Five is a group of five Chinese feminists who were arrested in Beijing on March 6, 2015 for planning a protest against sexual harassment on public transportation. The quintet is composed of Li Maizi (birth name Li Tingting), Wu Ron ...
")
were detained by the Chinese government just prior to
International Women's Day, the day they planned to execute a campaign against sexual harassment on public transportation.
All five women were released on bail after 37 days of detention.
Had they been convicted, the women could have faced up to three years in prison for "creating a disturbance".
Since being released, Wei has said she will continue to fight for gender equality. She said:
I have read so many reports and articles about our arrest and they are so touching and encouraging. I had started to feel despondent and thought this incident would be the end for us young, female activists. But the reaction has started an era of magnificent, new activists. They cannot catch all of us and block us all.
Honors
* 2015: ''
Bustle
A bustle is a padded undergarment used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging. ...
'', 14 Women's Rights Activists Around the World Who Will Inspire You
* 2015: ''
Ms. Magazine'', 10 of the Most Inspiring Feminists of 2015
* 2015: Asia LGBT Milestone Awards (ALMAs), Hero of the Year, nominee
* 2018: Troy Perry Medal of Pride
Selected works and publications
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Filmography
* 2015: ''We Are Here'' – producer
* 2017: ''Bi China'' – director
See also
*
LGBT rights in China
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the People's Republic of China face legal and social challenges that are not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex couples are unable to marry or adopt, and households headed by su ...
*
List of feminists
This list of feminists catalogues individuals who identify or have been identified as proponents of feminist political, economic, social, and personal principles for gender equality.
Early feminists
Born before 1499.
16th-century feminist ...
*
List of LGBT rights activists
A list of notable LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance LGBT rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically.
Argentina
* Claudia Castrosín Verdú, she and her partner were the first les ...
*
List of women's rights activists
This article is a list of notable women's rights activists, arranged alphabetically by modern country names and by the names of the persons listed.
Afghanistan
* Amina Azimi – disabled women's rights advocate
* Hasina Jalal – women's empowerm ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Tingting
1989 births
Living people
Chinese activists
Chinese feminists
Chinese LGBT rights activists
Chinese women activists
Chinese women's rights activists
Women civil rights activists
Wuhan University alumni