A Chinese #MeToo journalist and an activist spent 2 years in detention. Their trial starts this week

By KEN MORITSUGU
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese journalist active in the #MeToo movement will go on trial this week, along with a labor rights activist who was also detained with her in 2021. One of their supporters said a pretrial hearing was held on Tuesday and a trial was set for Friday. China often silences activists by holding them incommunicado for a long time and then sentencing them to prison. Independent journalist Huang Xueqin helped spark China’s first #MeToo case in 2018 when she helped a graduate student go public with accusations against her Ph.D. supervisor. Activist Wang Jianbing is more known for his labor rights activity but also helped women report sexual harassment.