The theme for 2025 International Women’s Day is “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” The emphasis on the word “ALL” immediately brings to mind the inclusion of women who are marginalized, disappeared, or otherwise deprived of “Rights, Equality, and Empowerment.” It’s thus a perfect day (but certainly not the only day) to remember Peng Shuai, the disappeared … Continue reading Missing Peng Shuai, No. 4 (3/8/25)
Tennis
Missing Peng Shuai, No. 3 (9/2/24)
August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared, slipped by, and Peng Shuai remains disappeared. What follows are a few musings on the plight of the Chinese tennis star, offered in furtherance of the necessity of memory, and the importance of saying her name, in order to prevent her total erasure. We must continue asking: … Continue reading Missing Peng Shuai, No. 3 (9/2/24)
Missing Peng Shuai 彭帅 (No. 1)
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” –– Milan Kundera Welcome to the first installment of what will be a series of occasional posts about the unfree and silenced Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Despite the rhetorical pleas of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and its CEO and Chair, Steve Simon, that Peng … Continue reading Missing Peng Shuai 彭帅 (No. 1)
Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe: The Ongoing Peng Shuai Situation (Nov. 1, 2022)
What does the 20th Party Congress Mean for Peng Shuai and the Future of the WTA in China?
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals will be played for the first time in Fort Worth, Texas, starting on Monday, October 31. The year-end tournament was among those the WTA relocated from China in the aftermath of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s (彭帅) sexual assault allegations against retired Chinese Communist Party official, Zhang Gaoli (张高丽), and her … Continue reading What does the 20th Party Congress Mean for Peng Shuai and the Future of the WTA in China?
Where is Peng Shuai, and Where Will the Hologic WTA Tour Go in October in Place of China?
By Andréa Worden, March 29, 2022 Originally published on the China Change website In sharp contrast with the beginning of the 2022 tennis season, we haven’t heard much from players or fans with respect to Peng Shuai’s plight. The “Where is Peng Shuai?” t-shirt campaign at the Australian Open in January, which drew global attention … Continue reading Where is Peng Shuai, and Where Will the Hologic WTA Tour Go in October in Place of China?
Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe (Jan. 21, 2022)
Human rights activist Andréa Worden joins Patrick McEnroe to discuss Peng Shuai and the upcoming Olympic Games (1/21/2022) https://www.buzzsprout.com/989119/9929091
Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe (Dec. 16, 2021)
Human rights advocate Andréa Worden talks about the Peng Shuai situation with Patrick on Holding Court (12/16/2021) https://www.buzzsprout.com/989119/9736445
Changsha 1989: Of Tennis, Transcendence and Tiananmen
Protest outside the Hunan provincial government compound in Changsha, 18 May 1989 (Photo credit: Andréa Worden) This essay originally appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Issue 44, June/July 2019) for the feature "Tiananmen Thirty Years On." https://www.asiancha.com/wp/article/andrea-worden/ by Andréa Worden As my two-year teaching fellowship with the Yale-China Association in Changsha was winding down in the … Continue reading Changsha 1989: Of Tennis, Transcendence and Tiananmen
Andréa J. Worden's Words 