Mar 3, 2023

Why I'm running from China

An essay from a Chinese dissident.

Dear readers,

Today, we’re doing something rare for Tangle: We're publishing a guest post from someone outside of our team.

We’ve only done this twice in the more than three years since we started Tangle, but I think it is engaging to add other voices to the mix every now and again — especially when we have an opportunity to do something unique. Today’s writer fits the bill.

Below is an essay from a Chinese student who recently fled to the United States. Given the treatment of dissidents during the current political repression in China, we've decided to keep both their name and the circumstances of how they came to Tangle private. I am honored and humbled that they have chosen to risk sharing these words by publishing with us, and hope you find them as moving as I did.

Of course, I also want to make it clear that the writing below represents one perspective from one person who has spent their life in China. Surely, you could find counterpoints to what follows, and of course varied opinions from on the ground in China. But I do think it is a valuable and enlightening perspective to read, and I hope you will too.

Enjoy.

— Isaac Saul