China’s Feminist Five

Unlike the state-sanctioned All-China Women's Federation, which urges women to be loyal to the government, China's younger generation of feminist activists is outside the control of the Communist Party. Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has intensified efforts to wipe out many kinds of dissent—including carrying out an unprecedented crackdown on hundreds of human rights lawyers. But the feminist movement's message of resistance to the traditional, feminine roles of wife and mother poses a unique threat to the Communist Party's vision of a patriarchal family at the core of a strong, paternalistic state.