China's Cai Xia: former party insider who dared criticise Xi Jinping

Prominent dissident explains how she came to doubt her fervent beliefs in party orthodoxy

In the mid-1990s, Cai Xia, a devout believer in Chinese communist doctrine, experienced her first moment of doubt.

She was a teacher at the central party school for training cadres when a friend called with some questions. Cai, an expert in Marxism and Chinese communist party theory, enthusiastically answered.