China's silenced feminist: How Sophia Huang Xueqin went missing

Originally published at BBC World Service on May 18, 2022.

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In this documentary, BBC Eye investigates the disappearance of Sophia Huang Xueqin, a high-profile feminist journalist who kick-started China’s #MeToo movement.

In the summer of 2021, Sophia was awarded a prestigious Chevening scholarship funded by the British government to pursue gender studies at the University of Sussex. But in September, on the way to the airport to catch her flight to the United Kingdom, Sophia and fellow activist Wang Jianbing “vanished.”

Sophia and Jianbing are among tens of thousands in China being rounded up and detained in a wider state crackdown on activists in recent years.

Now, as the two are expected to face trial for “inciting subversion of state power,” BBC Eye investigates how Sophia’s story is being erased, how China’s censors are carrying out a disinformation campaign against her and why in the UK, there’s been silence surrounding her case.

Reporter: Jessie Lau

Producers: Riddhi Jha, Jessie Lau, and Manisha Ganguly

Executive producers: Daisy Ayliffe and Mustafa Khalili