Chen Xitong
Gao began her journalism career in 1979, as a reporter for the China News Service. In 1988, she became deputy chief editor of "Economics Weekly", edited by dissident intellectuals. She also worked as a freelance journalist for different newspapers in China and in Hong Kong. In November 1988, she published an article in Hong Kong's "Mirror Monthly", which was described by Beijing's Mayor Chen Xitong as a "political program for turmoil and rebellion". He even branded her as a "people's enemy". She was arrested in 1989, after the Tiananmen Square protests, and released 15 months later because of health problems.