<p>"As someone who is very committed to unearthing the histories of Black working-class and working-poor women, I have had to move beyond the traditional archive."</p>
In this extended Q&A from
The Fifth Draft the National Fellows Program newsletter Yi-Ling Liu (2021 ASU Future Security Fellow) answers five questions about her upcoming book on the online “wall dancers” in China pushing for change and internet freedom from within the boundaries of its nationwide firewall. Sign up for
The Fifth Draft to hear how the world s best storytellers find ideas that change the world.
Your Fellows project will be a book about wall dancers, individuals in China who are navigating the boundaries of the Chinese internet. What drew you to writing about this subject?
Most narratives I read about China are reductive and simplistic. They fail to capture the society that I live in in all its complexity. Chinese cyberspace rich with innovation, and yet constrained by a unique form of repressive governance can feel like a free-wheeling carnival and a barren cage all at once. In this context, I found myself gravitating to the individuals who embodied these cont