Lu Yuegang

Lu Yuegang (; born 1958) is a Chinese journalist and writer of reportage. A native of Ya'an, Sichuan, he worked at China Youth Daily, where he held several editorial posts and served as deputy editor of the weekly supplement Freezing Point . His reporting and nonfiction have addressed social inequality, abuses of local power, the Three Gorges Dam, and the effects of China's economic transformation on ordinary people. He is the author of several Chinese-language works of reportage, including Big Country, Small People, The Three Gorges of the Yangtze: China's Epic, and Zhao Ziyang: The Life of a Failed Reformer; these English titles are descriptive translations.

Lu drew wide attention in 2004 after circulating a letter criticizing political interference in the editorial work of China Youth Daily. In 2006, after Freezing Point was suspended for publishing an essay critical of Chinese history textbooks, Lu and editor Li Datong were removed from their editorial posts and transferred to the newspaper's research department.

Early life and career

Lu was born in 1958 and is a native of Ya'an, Sichuan. In 1975, he was sent to work in the countryside near Ya'an. He enlisted in the military in 1980 and worked in news-related posts at divisional and regimental level. After leaving the military, he worked for the Beijing Urban Construction Engineering Company. He graduated from the staff journalism college of the All-China Journalists Association in 1987. He served in positions including deputy director of the economic department, head of a roving reporting team, deputy director of the news editing center, deputy director of the features department, and deputy editor of Freezing Point. The China Media Project has described Lu's literary journalism as documenting the struggles of workers and the social problems accompanying China's emergence as an economic power.

In 2002, Lu published the Chinese-language book The Oriental Carriage: From Peking University to New Oriental , a work about the development of the education company New Oriental.

2004 letter on editorial interference

On 24 May 2004, Zhao Yong, then a secretary of the Communist Youth League of China, addressed middle-ranking staff at China Youth Daily and stressed the League's authority over the newspaper and the need for political discipline. Lu later posted a lengthy response on the newspaper's internal computer network. The letter was leaked and circulated outside the newspaper, becoming an international news story.

Suspension of Freezing Point

Freezing Point, a weekly supplement of China Youth Daily, became known for investigative reporting and commentary on sensitive social and political subjects. On 24 January 2006, propaganda authorities suspended it after it published historian Yuan Weishi's essay "Modernization and History Textbooks", which criticized nationalist distortions in accounts of modern Chinese history.

The authorities allowed the supplement to resume publication on 1 March 2006, but removed Li Datong and Lu from their positions and transferred them to the newspaper's News Research Institute. The relaunched supplement was also required to publish an article rebutting Yuan's essay. Lu and Li issued a joint statement protesting both the suspension and their removal. They argued that the reopened publication was no longer the Freezing Point they had edited.

The Washington Post called Lu a prominent investigative reporter and described Freezing Point under Li and Lu as one of the boldest publications in Chinese journalism.

Later writing and recognition

In 2019, Lu published the three-volume Chinese-language work Zhao Ziyang: The Life of a Failed Reformer in Taiwan. The work traces the life and political career of former Chinese premier and Communist Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang.

Lu's works have received reportage awards from literary journals including Chinese Writers, Contemporary, Selected Chinese Literature, and Youth Literature.

Selected works

The works listed below were published in Chinese. The English titles are descriptive translations; they do not indicate that authorized English-language editions have been published.

Reportage and nonfiction Absurd Genesis Beyond the Century: Sexual Art in China The Xinwei Flood Disaster The Three Gorges of the Yangtze: China's Epic In the Name of the People Demanding an “Explanation” , a sequel to In the Name of the People A Myth in Spring Eight Rural Sketches At the Bottom Where the God of Wine Wanders Restless Bodies Big Country, Small People , China Film Press, 1998 The Oriental Carriage: From Peking University to New Oriental , Guangming Daily Press, 2002 The Three Gorges of the Yangtze: Half a Century of Debate Zhao Ziyang: The Life of a Failed Reformer , three volumes, Ink Literary Monthly Publishing, 2019

Novels Tidal Land Realm of Mist