As the Chinese traditional New Year approaches, many friends at home and abroad are conveying blessings to their loved ones in the motherland through postcards. However, Shanghai petitioner Ma Yalian was intercepted and threatened by the police when receiving postcards from overseas friends, turning a simple holiday greeting into a situation that made the Chinese Communist Party feel threatened.
Ma Yalian told Epoch Times that on the evening of February 6, police from the Ximen Police Station in the Huangpu District of Shanghai visited her temporary residence in a hostel, questioning whether she had received overseas postcards and filming the interaction while threatening that she must turn them over if received. Ma Yalian believed that the police violated her legal rights and refused to cooperate.
Ma Yalian stated that she had not yet received the New Year card, suspecting that it had been intercepted by the authorities. “The actions of the police are definitely illegal and ridiculous. To even fear receiving a New Year card. Their real intention is to use such means to threaten us and prevent us from contacting the outside world.”
Ma Yalian has been under surveillance for a long time, and the authorities also demanded that the hostel where she resides closely monitor her incoming and outgoing mail.
Back in 2006, Ma Yalian, along with other Chinese human rights defenders, received the Housing Rights Defender Award from the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). After local police intercepted their calls, they went to a courier company to seize mail related to the award.
Ma Yalian expressed that a government that makes citizens fear and interferes even with cards sent from overseas shows the lack of intelligence and moral standards of those in power.
Ma Yalian’s social media accounts and communication channels are restricted, making it impossible for her to have normal contact with the outside world. Even the friend who helped her forward this message had their WeChat account blocked. She said, “All domestic websites, whether it’s WeChat or TikTok, we can’t make our voices heard. Now only Epoch Times media can help us convey these voices, and I am very grateful.”
Ma Yalian believes that officials are only focused on maintaining stability. “By threatening me with these means, I am not afraid. When you force the common people to a dead end, with no way out, the only option left is to resist.”
Ma Yalian’s house was demolished in 1998, and the temporary resettlement housing approved by the high court was forcibly occupied by hired thugs. Since then, Ma Yalian has been homeless, living in a hotel with her octogenarian parents. Due to constant surveillance and harassment, her mother’s health deteriorated rapidly from distress and had to be hospitalized.
“I am in a desperate situation. The more control and suppression you exert on the people, the stronger the backlash will be. The more severe the repression, the stronger I believe the people’s protests will become,” Ma Yalian said.