The wives of four of China's most prominent rights lawyers and activists have shaved their heads in protest over what they called the "persecution" of their husbands by the government.
The women gathered in the central park of a Beijing apartment complex and cut off their hair in front of neighbours and a small group of invited foreign journalists.
They took turns shaving each other's heads, placing the hair in see-through plastic boxes alongside pictures of them with their husbands.
They later headed to China's Supreme People's Court to petition over their husbands' treatment.
Li Wenzu poses for the media before shaving her head to protest the detention of her husband and Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang. Source: AFP
Li Wenzu, who says she has been unable to visit her husband, rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, since he went missing in the 2015 crackdown, told reporters that the act was to protest against the way her husband's case was being handled.
Li said judges in Wang's trial had unlawfully delayed proceedings and prevented her from appointing a lawyer of her choosing.
"We can go hairless, but you cannot be lawless," they chanted, a pun in Chinese, as the words for "hair" and "law" sound similar.
Since taking office in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen a crackdown on dissent, with hundreds of rights lawyers and activists being detained, arrested and jailed.
