SYDNEY — After building a career explaining China to the outside world, Australian journalist Cheng Lei found herself known only as inmate 21003. She was imprisoned at the No. 47 Dahongmen Nanlu detention center in Beijing, where she had to follow a strict set of rules, primary among them was a ban on any criticism of the ruling Communist Party.
“I was gagged all that time. There were so many things I couldn’t ask, couldn’t talk about; I didn’t have a pen,” Cheng told Nikkei Asia.
