I try to sound sad and shocked. They arrive a few hours later. I have made sure to cry a little to make it believable. I assumed they would ask me some questions about the illness and when he died but they just ask for his name and SNILS number. I recite them and watch in disbelief as they pick up his body, put it in a bag and leave with only a short sentence: “I’m sorry for your loss.”
If I had known it would be this easy, I would have killed him months ago.
ARTICLE IN THE WASHINGTON POST ON JUNE 30, 2026
“Women at War: The Chinese Civil War Unmasked”
by Maria Ferreira
I wish I could take credit for an extraordinary feat of journalistic talent, and say I painstakingly researched the Chinese Civil War, carefully built up relationships with its key actors and managed to convince one of its rebel leaders to trust me enough to be interviewed.
It didn’t happen like that. Fei Hong, the rebel leader based in Chengdu, e-mailed me. I replied to her e-mail and set up a FaceTime call fully expecting it to be a prank. It wasn’t. What can I tell you, sometimes Chinese rebel commanders make this job really easy.
I can see the accusations that I’m being used as a mouthpiece for a villainous woman, intent on violence, from a mile away. To that, I answer, I might not have had to fight hard for this interview but I’m still a journalist. I have, to the extent possible, researched Fei’s claims and where they are impossible to confirm or rebut, I’ll say so.
When she appears on my screen—the picture startlingly clear—I’m assessed coolly. It’s clear, before Fei Hong has said a word, that she’s a powerful woman.
We exchange brief pleasantries and I ask her the most expansive, first question I can think of. “Why did you want to talk to me?” What follows is an edited transcript of my conversation with Fei.
FEI: You’re the “Plague” journalist. With you, our story will have the most reach.
MARIA: Whose story is this? Who do you refer to when you say “our”？
FEI: I only speak for the United Democratic Alliance of Chengdu. But the Communist Party tries to make it appear to the outside world like there is far more distance between rebel groups than exists. Mostly we have the same goal: democracy.
[Note: Fei refers to the Communist Party, which reports say is now divided and has an increasingly shaky grasp across the country. Technically, the Communist Party still comprises the government of the People’s Republic of China.]
MARIA: Is that your only goal?
FEI: It is the first thing we need to achieve. Everything else will flow from that.
MARIA: What’s your background? How did you end up where you are?
FEI: I studied law at the University of Cambridge. My parents have always been anti-Communist activists. They passed messages on at mahjong meetings. I grew up knowing things had to change. When the Plague started I got home in time. I have been involved in the Chengdu rebellion since the beginning, in January 2026.
MARIA: Why is this rebellion surviving when no previous rebellion has?
FEI: Because the army and the government are formed of men. They died or are dying. The rebellion is only formed of women. Once we know who is immune, men may be able to join, but in the meantime it is just women. We are safe. We can continue to fight. The Plague is burning everything to the ground and we will rebuild it, better, different.
MARIA: What do you say to the allegations of the government that rebel groups across China are engaging in extreme violence?
FEI: They are lies formed by the few men, and women, who remain in government. This is a different kind of civil war than has ever existed. For the first time, rape is not a tool in this war. Guns can’t be used senselessly because there aren’t enough surviving soldiers to fire them, and we stormed military bases overwhelmed by the Plague. Four months ago, I met with nine other rebel leaders. Some of us are fighting with one another but we maintained a brief twenty-four-hour window of peace to agree we would not use violence unless absolutely necessary to defend ourselves. We have seen men wage war since the dawn of time. Nobody wins the wars men fight.