Source: NYT (6/12/25)
Chinese Labor Rights Group Led by Former Tiananmen Protest Leader Closes
The China Labor Bulletin, founded by Han Dongfang, tracked factory closures and worker protests in China. It cited financial difficulties for its dissolution.
By Alexandra Stevenson, Reporting from Hong Kong
Han Dongfang, the founder of China Labor Bulletin, in his Hong Kong office in 2024. The group, which tracked worker unrest in China, announced on Thursday that it was ceasing operation. Credit…Anthony Kwan for The New York Times
China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based group that tracked worker unrest in China and was started by a former pro-democracy protest leader, said on Thursday that it was shutting down because of financial difficulties. The group had also faced increased scrutiny in recent years amid a broader crackdown and silencing of civil society in Hong Kong.
The group said that because of “financial difficulties and debt issues,” it could no longer maintain operations and had “decided to dissolve.” It said it would stop updating content on its website and social media platforms.
The group was founded by Han Dongfang, one of the last remaining labor rights activists not in hiding in Chinese territory. The group continued to operate in Hong Kong, even as other China-focused civil society groups started closing or leaving from 2020, when Beijing imposed a national security law that has dismantled civil rights protections that gave the city its semiautonomous status.
China Labor Bulletin, a resource for journalists and academics about worker unrest in China, was founded in 1994 by Mr. Han, who had been one of the leaders of pro-democracy protests around Tiananmen Square in 1989. Over the years, the organization closely monitored some of China’s biggest labor disputes and secured compensation for workers with grievances against their companies. It regularly updated a map of labor strikes across the country, and published reports on companies and industries with known labor concerns.
But in recent years, as the space for civil society in China narrowed and labor activists were monitored and harassed, Mr. Han directed his employees to focus on cases of labor unrest that involved foreign companies subject to foreign laws.
Mr. Han was not available by phone or email on Friday. A guard in the lobby of the building where China Labor Bulletin had its office in Hong Kong said the group had moved out a month ago. The organization’s sign had been taken down.
In an interview last year, Mr. Han told The New York Times that he was certain China’s state security and local national security police were surveilling his offices. But, he added, “I prefer to be open rather than to hide.”
Academics have warned that China Labor Bulletin, and Mr. Han, could become a target of Beijing’s tightening grip on Hong Kong under the guise of national security because it is funded in part by a charity registered in the United States.
Hong Kong and Beijing authorities have increasingly leaned on new national security legislation to arrest and charge activists, often citing links to foreign funding and organizations overseas as grounds for the arrests.
Hours before China Labor Bulletin’s announcement, on Thursday night, Beijing national security authorities operating in Hong Kong raided the homes of six people and the office of an organization that the government said it suspected of committing “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.” The authorities did not name the individuals or the organization.
Alexandra Stevenson is the Shanghai bureau chief for The Times, reporting on China’s economy and society.