Zhou Shuguang (), also known as Zuola, is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

ger and

citizen journalist Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...

. He has become known for traveling around China to document injustice done to citizens.

Biography

Zhou was born near

Shaoshan Shaoshan () is a county-level city in Hunan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xiangtan. Qingxi Town is its seat. Located on the mid-eastern Hunan and the mid-north of Xiangtan, Shaoshan is bordered by ...

Hunan Province Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi t ...

. He has been writing a blog documenting many sensitive issues in China, such as freedom of speech,

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

nail house A holdout is a property that did not become part of a larger real estate development, usually because the owner refused to sell their property. There are many examples of holdouts worldwide. Examples Macy's headquarters at Macy's Herald Squa ...

s and government censorship of the media. His blog has attracted a lot of interest in China and as such the authorities have tried to shut it down on several occasions. However, Zhou hosts his blog from servers in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to get around the blocks. "I don’t feel like I’m in danger because what I’m doing is legal", Zhou states. Zhou advocates further reform in China and travels around the country documenting cases of injustice. During a visit to

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 2007, he described it as a "harmonious society". Zhou is mentioned as a prominent blogger in foreign media. He was invited to attend the

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 ...

citizen journalist awards on November 27, 2008, but was prevented from doing so. Since June 4th, 2018, Zhou received Taiwanese nationality.

Activities

2008 Tibetan unrest

During the

2008 Tibetan unrest 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, Zhou posted pictures and translated information from foreign news articles that were not mentioned in the state media and posted them on his website.

2008 Guizhou riot

During the 2008 Guizhou riot, Zhou travelled to the area where interviews with the girls' parents and photos of the riot's aftermath were published on his website. His and other bloggers' work were a major reason that four

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, local government and security officials were eventually fired for misuse of power.

2008 Yang Jia case

Zhou was critical of the impartiality of the court proceedings in the Yang Jia case and, along with others, signed an online petition demanding authorities investigate the causes of Yang Jia's murdering spree.

2008 arrest

On August 14, 2008 Zhou was detained for just over an hour in his hometown in Hunan province. He was able to tweet what was happeningGlobal Voices Online
"Citizen reporter Zhou carted off"
/ref> as he was led out of the house then forced into a vehicle where he was driven back to his hometown of Meitanba. After his release, Zhou's computer was returned, but he was put under town arrest and is not allowed to leave Meitanba.

References

External links

Zuola.com - Zhou Shuguang's blog
(mostly in Chinese)
Zuola's Twitter account
(mostly in Chinese) * Article from th
"Chinese Bloggers Score a Victory Against the Government"
''Wall Street Journal'', 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Shuguang Taiwanese activists Taiwanese bloggers Free speech activists Living people Internet activists Republic of China journalists People from Ningxiang Writers from Changsha Year of birth missing (living people)