An increasing number of China’s intellectual elites are finding refuge in Japan as China’s social environment becomes increasingly oppressive under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule. Many intellectuals are fleeing the country.
The CCP, under the rule of Xi Jinping, has virtually no room for free thinking. China’s intellectual elite, including scholars, human rights lawyers, journalists, documentary filmmakers, publishers, and artists, have left China and flocked to Japan. They frequently hold lectures, open bookstores, and have dialogue around freedom, all prohibited under the CCP.
Censored in China
Tokyo is now home to a large number of expats. Among them is Chinese historian Qin Hui. After retiring from China’s Tsinghua University in August 2018, he became a visiting professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Now, he is a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, organizing various academic activities and lectures.In a lecture at Kobe University, the organizers introduced him as “China’s most famous historian” and “an active voice for pro-democracy intellectuals” with significant influence in Chinese society. Various renowned Chinese scholars and writers attended the lecture.
Mr. Qin has made many academic contributions, such as his “Huangzongi’s Law,” which attracted the attention of then-Premier Wen Jiabao and led to the abolition of China’s agricultural tax in 2006.
He once said: “[If] you advocate a government with a huge amount of responsibilities and power, I [would] advocate a government with little power and responsibility. We want a limited government with appropriate powers and responsibilities, and we cannot accept a government with so much power that it is not subject to any constraints but has so little responsibility that it cannot be held accountable.”
In 2015, Mr. Qin published the book “Moving Away from the Imperial Regime,” which led to a strong reaction in China. The book was soon censored by the CCP after its publication and was removed from bookstores and online because it was considered to have insinuated criticism of the CCP’s leader.
Another Chinese writer who is well-versed in modern history, Fu Guochong, also lives in Japan.
On Oct. 10, 2011, Mr. Fu published an article on the collapse of China’s imperial Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic in 1911. His article garnered significant attention since many viewed his comments as subtle jabs at the CCP’s leaders.
Currently, he is giving a series of lectures in Tokyo titled “Reinventing China in Tokyo,” a reference to past Chinese thinkers who went to Japan at the end of the Qing Dynasty. In Tokyo, Chinese cultural and intellectual elites often organize such discussions and forums on topics quickly censored in China.
Free Thinking and Dialogue
In recent years, several Chinese bookstores have opened in Tokyo. Among them, the “One Way Street Tokyo” opening in August 2023 in Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza district excited many of China’s intellectual elites as it became a hub for free thinking and dialogue.The “One Way Street” bookstore was founded in Beijing in 2006 by Chinese writer Xu Zhiyuan and others. In addition to selling books, the bookstore organized forums and discussions on cultural and social issues.
Mr. Xu said that since 2000, China’s intellectuals have lost their influence. In the past decade, the CCP has tightened the control of speech, and the space for free speech has been rapidly shrinking. The quality of Chinese universities deteriorated due to the rigidity of the education system, and serious discussions on social issues were phased out in China’s academia. Therefore, independent bookstores have become more important for intellectuals.
A young documentary filmmaker who moved from Beijing to Tokyo in 2023 revealed that the documentary film industry in China has become increasingly difficult since Xi came to power. By 2020 all documentary film festivals were canceled. Therefore, he lost hope for the future of China and decided to move to Japan to protect his films, which were made in China.
Famous Chinese writer Jia Jia also moved to Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. He once disappeared from the public after calling for the resignation of CCP leader Xi Jinping.
Understanding the CCP
China and Japan have had frequent contact throughout history. Before the Meiji Restoration in 1868, most Japanese went to China to learn Chinese culture, but after the Meiji Restoration, more Chinese elites went to Japan to learn Japanese and Western culture. The Meiji Restoration was an era of Westernization and modernization in Japan.At the end of China’s imperial Qing Dynasty in the late 19th century and early 20th century, many Chinese thinkers and scholars went to Japan to study Western culture and thought. Sun Yat-sen and others set up the “Tongmenghui of China” in Tokyo, aiming to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish a new Chinese republic.
Mr. Sato commented, “People who were once imprisoned will become advocates for freedom once they move to a free environment. However, if these people do not have a deep understanding of the CCP and do not reflect on it, then it will not be very meaningful in the future. They cannot only oppose the CCP within the CCP’s framework. The intellectual elites [of China] are the backbone of their society, and their behavior will naturally deal a blow to the CCP.”
