Defending Rights in Contemporary China (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780415694308)

Defending Rights in Contemporary China offers the first comprehensive analysis of the emergence and development of notions of rights defence, or weiquan, in China. Further, it shows that rights defence campaigns reflect the changing lives and priorities of Chinese citizens, both urban and rural, and the changing distribution of power in China. In this book, Jonathan Benney argues that the idea of rights defence has gone from being a tool of the government to being a tool to attack the party-state, and explores the consequences of this controversial activist movement.