Yu Jianrong has spent years advocating the rights of China's rural poor and denouncing lawless officials, but five months ago he took a step that expanded the reach of that campaign exponentially.Since opening a Twitter-like microblog account in October, the outspoken professor has emerged as a trail-blazer in harnessing the medium -- which barely existed here a year ago -- as an avenue for public expression.
And as the country's docile parliament meets this week in Beijing, online voices like Yu's are increasingly stirring the real public debate -- and they are voices the ruling Communist Party will have to listen to, experts say.
A professor of rural issues at a top state think-tank in Beijing, Yu, 48, has deftly walked a fine line to highlight perhaps China's hottest political issue today -- the depredations suffered by the country's lower classes.
"Current technology has altered the social environment. Everyone has a microphone. Everyone is a news headquarters," Yu, a former lawyer, said of microblogging in a recent Chinese media interview.
From his digital soapbox, Yu, who is invited to address officials across the country on proper governance, has publicised his lecturing of authorities who mistreat or suppress the populace.
