As China censors homegrown feminism, a feminist scholar from Japan is on its bestseller lists

By KANIS LEUNG
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — A 75-year-old Japanese feminist scholar who’s not married and does not have children is not the kind of person you’d expect to get famous in China. But Chizuko Ueno, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, is a phenomenon. Her books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the last year, and fans say she’s changed how they see feminism and how they feel about relationships. Activists and experts say the Ueno boom is keeping feminist ideas in mainstream, “lawful” conversations years after most Chinese activists were silenced.