In early September, in the dead of night, 65-year-old Chinese human rights entrepreneur Shen Qijia dragged his exhausted body through a rugged mountain on the border of Croatia.
Surrounded by cliffs in the pitch-black unfamiliar terrain, he navigated through half a meter thick fallen leaves covering the mountain path. A misstep caused him to plummet five to six meters, narrowly avoiding falling off the cliff. His waist was injured, and his legs suffered extensive cuts from trees.
As he approached the final 200 meters before entering the Slovenian border, his stamina was severely depleted. Unable to stand on his legs, he crawled on all fours after multiple falls, finally entering Slovenia.
Upon reaching the refugee camp, Shen Qijia did not feel joy but rather a wave of sadness. “The Communist Party has driven the people to such despair, leading to this tragic escape.”
Twenty-six years ago, private entrepreneur Shen Qijia (online alias Thunder) accused authorities of seizing millions in assets, persisted in petitioning for rights, made over 300 trips to Beijing, and was detained for 118 days. His social media accounts on platforms such as Weibo, Kwai, and TikTok, where he criticized the authorities, led to the banning of these accounts with a large following. Police repeatedly threatened him at his home to silence him.
On the night of August 26, upon learning that authorities were about to arrest him, he hastily left his residence within 20 minutes without saying goodbye to his family. He traveled hundreds of kilometers through the night, heading straight for the border.
To his surprise, he smoothly exited the country. “Very strange, very miraculous, and very fortunate,” he remarked. With a sense of relief, he thought, “Once out of China, it’s like escaping to heaven; finally breaking free from the Communist Party’s prison.”
After exiting, Shen Qijia did not dare to linger, eventually reaching the Bosnian city of Bihac, on the border with Croatia, as he prepared to enter Slovenia. It was where his first attempt failed.
The route Shen Qijia chose required crossing through Croatia, including scaling a mountain with an altitude of approximately 1000 meters at a steep incline. Carrying dozens of pounds of water and supplies, even young people found it challenging. “Almost unable to stand, my body suffered significant damage, legs were almost unrecognizably injured, and my waist was bruised.”
After finally crossing the mountain, Shen Qijia encountered Croatian police on Highway 1. Surrounded by four officers and two police dogs, they aggressively charged at him with dogs wearing muzzles from a distance, knocking him down twice and injuring his waist.
Subsequently, they had no choice but to return to the starting point. “The first failure dealt a heavy blow to my body and mind,” he recounted.
Undeterred, Shen Qijia did not look back. After gathering himself, he made a second attempt to climb the mountain again and successfully crossed Highway 1, finally reaching Slovenia.
“In the deep mountains, there was also despair. During the climbing process, I fell five or six meters, injuring my waist as if it were broken. I walked and crawled because it was night, surrounded by cliffs. I almost fell into the abyss several times.”