Dong Yuyu

Dong Yuyu (董郁玉) is a Chinese journalist and editor for the Guangming Daily. In 2022 he was detained by the Chinese authorities and in 2023 indicted on charges of espionage.

Early life and education
Dong was born in April 1962 in Fushun. He graduated from Peking University law school in 1987.

Career
Dong began working for the Guangming Daily, a Communist Party newspaper, in 1987 after graduating from law school. He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and served a year of hard labor, after which he resumed work at the paper.

In 2006 he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship. In the period preceding his acceptance of the fellowship, he was aware he was under state surveillance, according to his family. In 2010 he was a visiting fellow at Keio University and in 2014 a visiting professor at Hokkaido University, both in Japan. At the time of his arrest he was deputy head of Guangming Daily 's editorial department.

Dong's writing was generally considered to advocate progressive reform in China.

Arrest
In February 2022, Dong was detained by Chinese authorities while lunching with a Japanese diplomat at the Novotel Xin Qiao hotel in downtown Beijing. He was formally arrested six months later and in March 2023 was indicted on charges of espionage. His family did not release news of his detention until April 24, 2023, as they were concerned it might negatively affect his chances of being released uncharged.

The arrest was criticized by the National Press Club, press advocacy groups, academics, and journalists.

Personal life
Dong is not a member of the Communist Party.