A Chinese student named Chris Ma, who studied for 7 years in the United States for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, recently shared his story in an interview. He talked about his journey from supporting the Chinese Communist Party’s “zero-Covid policy” and choosing to return to China, to being taken away by the Chinese authorities for his expressions. He said that these personal experiences made him see the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party and ultimately made him decide to “break the silence”.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Ma chose to return to China from the US. He recalled that he saw the poor epidemic control measures in the US and believed that China’s zero-Covid policy was a “small sacrifice for great safety”. “At that time, I thought it was the right thing, so I decided to go back,” he said.
With this judgment in mind, he returned to China and worked as an engineer in a factory. However, reality quickly made him realize, “I paid the price myself.”
In September 2022, due to a confirmed case in the area, the entire region was locked down, and he was trapped in the company. Until 2 a.m., he couldn’t go home. “That was the first time I truly felt the intensity of this policy.”
At the same time, a scene deeply pierced him, “An elderly person was dragged off a bus because they didn’t have a health code.” He began to question himself, “Is this price really as small as I thought before?”
By November 2022, the area was locked down again. This time, he bypassed the firewall and saw “blank paper protests” across China. He suggested in the group of his colleagues, “If this happens again, let’s all raise white paper.”
He said his motivation at the time was simple, “I just wanted to express that I had enough, I didn’t want to stay silent anymore.” However, the reaction from reality was swift and strong – the group chat was quickly shut down, and the police visited that night.
Faced with police questioning, he could only deny and pretend to be unaware, “I could only play dumb and try to get through it.” Although he was not taken away at the time, he had already made a clear judgment in his heart, “WeChat is not safe, it will sell you out.” Since then, he turned to platforms outside of China and continued to speak out on Twitter.
In April 2025, he posted a comment with suggestive connotations on “Zhihu” and his account was quickly suspended. He didn’t think much of it at the time, even openly mocking by posting the account suspension notice on Twitter, “I’ve been suspended before, so I thought it would be the same this time.”
But this time was different.
One afternoon, while he was resting at the company, a colleague asked him to go to the laboratory saying someone was looking for him. “As soon as I entered, I saw three strangers who directly asked me to hand over my phone.” He refused on the spot, “I was clear that once I handed it over, everything I had done in these years would become evidence.”
Subsequently, five police officers took him away in front of all his colleagues. Inside the police station, the whole process revolved almost entirely around one thing – his phone.
“They kept asking for my phone, my password, insinuating they would leave a record, threatening my future, and even mentioning family members.”
But he continued to refuse to cooperate. The police later presented a document accusing him of “provoking trouble,” asking him to sign, and attempting to forcibly unlock his phone, even considering using facial recognition to unlock it. He said, “I closed my eyes directly. I knew that once I opened them, I was done for.”
After a long standoff, they changed their strategy, saying he could leave as long as he unlocked and cooperated with the operation. He was ultimately forced to agree.
“As soon as I unlocked the phone, I quickly deleted Twitter and VPN apps from it.” However, the screenshots he had posted on Twitter were still in the possession of the police. Subsequently, the police asked him to log into his account using a police phone, delete all content, and even deactivate the account.
Before being released, he was required to declare his loyalty, “They forced me to pledge allegiance to the Communist Party, not to have any opinions against the Communist Party, I felt like I had eaten a piece of sh*t.” he said.
At the same time, the police warned him that this was the second time, “If it happens again, it won’t be a warning.” He recalled, “At that moment, I realized this was not a warning, this was the bottom line.”
Reflecting on the whole experience, he admitted that he had overestimated his courage, “I thought I wasn’t afraid before, I even thought it wouldn’t matter if I was detained for a month or two.” But in reality, “Being locked up for a few hours, time dragged on, every minute, every second was difficult, you start to miss home, start to feel scared. People often feel brave when they are in a situation of safety and freedom.”
Ma decided to return to the United States for his future development, saying, “I want to break my silence.”
Currently, Ma has reestablished his social media accounts and started operating a YouTube channel. He said, “They tried to silence me, suffocate me, but I won’t stay silent for the rest of my life, I will speak out about all of this.”
He said he believed in the lie of China’s zero-Covid policy and paid the price for it. “I finally realized – I am thoroughly disappointed in the current system in China, this kind of system needs to be abandoned, the Chinese people deserve a better system – one that guarantees human rights, protects people’s freedom, and the Chinese people deserve a better China.”