Such incidents are usually ignored by the Chinese news media and are difficult to cover for foreign journalists based in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In contrast, Mr. Lu and his girlfriend, Li Tingyu, were able to research and share news of large-scale protests, sometimes more than one each day.

Strikes and other labor unrest were a main focus of their work. But they also documented protests over land confiscation, pollution and local corruption.

They called their work “Not News.” While many of their sites have been taken down, their reporting remains on a Tumblr site with their oft-used handle Wickedonna. The postings show how they used Chinese social media services, particularly Weibo, to collect images of incidents before they were erased by online censors.

The police in Dali detained the couple last year. Ms. Li went to trial in April and was subsequently released, but the verdict in her case was never made public, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a watchdog group. Mr. Lu said she had been given a suspended sentence but offered no details, according to Mr. Wang, the lawyer.

The couple’s work was used by journalists and labor researchers trying to gauge the extent of strikes around China and to learn more about particularly noteworthy incidents. Last year they were awarded a Reporters Without Borders-TV5 Monde Press Freedom Prize.