FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 9, 2019

Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr@rfa.org

RFA Publishes Rebel Pepper e-Book with Hong Kong, Uyghur Focus

WASHINGTON – Radio Free Asia (RFA) has released its second e-book featuring the artwork of Wang Liming, RFA’s award-winning resident political cartoonist, known to many by his pen name “Rebel Pepper.” The 60 illustrations, caricatures, and cartoons included in the latest volume, titled “Eyes on China: A Cartoonist’s Take on Hong Kong, the Uyghurs, and More,” display Wang’s knack for commenting on complex newsworthy topics through wit and humor. This edition homes in on the ongoing human rights abuses in China’s Uyghur Region and the months-long pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong -- two unfolding sagas covered closely by RFA’s journalists and language services. The e-book is available free to download on iTunes, Google Play, and on RFA’s e-book shelf.

“Rebel Pepper uses his trademark brand of political and social satire to focus on the pressing issues of the day for Radio Free Asia’s audiences,” said RFA President Bay Fang. “This new volume spotlights Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests and China’s mass oppression of the Uyghurs, bringing an incisive, artistic perspective to two of the most critical stories that RFA has covered extensively.”

Wang grew up in China, where he began producing artwork on the many “sensitive” subjects deemed taboo by the ruling Communist Party. The severe restrictions on freedom to discuss certain political topics stifled his creativity, and his cartoons drew the ire of party officials. Wang was forced to leave his native China for Japan in 2014, before moving to Washington, D.C., where he started working for RFA in 2017.

“As a political cartoonist in the United States, I am able to express myself in ways that are off-limits to people in China,” said Wang. “It’s my hope that through my work in this e-book more people can learn about the hugely significant issues that the Chinese government, and other repressive governments in Asia, try so hard to keep hidden.”

RFA previously published another e-book featuring Wang’s artwork, “Drawing Fire: The Political Cartoons of Rebel Pepper,” in December 2017, for which Wang was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award. Wang’s cartoons have also been featured in the Japanese edition of Newsweek, Index of Censorship and China Digital Times.

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Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media.  RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the United States Agency for Global Media.

Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Vice President of Communications & External Relations

mahajanr@rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021