Wang Yu graduated from the China University of Political Science and Law in 1994 and started practising law in 2004. At first she was a commercial lawyer. However, in 2008, she was assaulted by several unidentified men at Tianjin train station after staff prevented her from taking a train despite having a ticket. She lodged a complaint to the police after the incident. Yet, seven months later, she was detained by the police for “intentional assault” and sentenced to prison until 2011.

It marked a watershed moment in her legal career. After being released and relicensed to practice, she started taking on human rights cases, from disability discrimination, religious freedom and land rights, to illegal restriction of personal freedom and freedom of expression. In 2013, two of her cases were selected as “Top Ten Public Interest Cases” by a group of Chinese legal organisations.

Wang persisted in taking on sensitive cases despite great risk of retaliation, representing several prominent activists in China including: Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur scholar and activist who was charged with secession because of advocating regional autonomy in Xinjiang; Cao Shuli, an activist advocating the engagement in the UN human rights mechanism before her death during detention in 2014; and Falun Gong petitioners around the country. Working on human rights cases has never been easy for lawyers in China as most of them become a target of the authorities and are subjected to different forms of harassment, hindrance and intimidation.