Cheng Lei's years in detention in China, on trumped-up espionage charges, go from cruel and isolating, to absurd and romantic when she gets moved into a cell with three other women.

The Chinese-Australian journalist was held in detention in China for more than three years, accused of selling state secrets to foreign people and powers.

In episode one of this two-part series, Lei explained how the charges hinged on a document that was read out publicly on television, and how she survived the cruelty of interrogations and being kept in isolation.

In this episode, Lei's details how her experience of detention changed as she moved out of solitary confinement, but still under lock and key with three other women.

In cell 112, Lei and the other women sang songs when the guards weren't watching, they fought, they bonded and they communicated secretly with the prisoners in a cell next door.

The knocking, for which Lei was punished, climaxed in a covert proposal.

Eventually, Lei saw sunlight again.

With the help of the Australian Government, she was released and flown back home to Melbourne, where she was reunited with her children (now teenagers), rebuilt her life and can be publicly critical of the paranoid and image-conscious state security system that locked her behind bars for years.

Further information

Listen to the first part of Richard's extraordinary conversation with Cheng Lei here.

Cheng Lei: A Memoir of Freedom is published by HarperCollins.

Cheng Lei: My Story is a documentary made by Sky News Australia. It is available to stream at SkyNews.com.au.

Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris.

Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

This episode of Conversations explores CCP, Covid, propaganda, communism, paranoia, Marise Payne, Scott Morrison, family separation, career changes, jail, justice system, Chinese Communist Party, embassy, diplomatic relations, CCTV, state broadcaster, media, television, news anchor, single mothers, trade, tariffs, books, writing, motherhood, parenting, Tiananmen Square, personal stories, origin.

Ting Guo, "Religion, Secularism, and Love As a Political Discourse in Modern China" (Amsterdam UP, 2025)