In Jiangxi Province, the mysterious death of Hu Xinyu, a student at Zhiyuan Middle School, has sparked various questions, anger, and psychological trauma, even though more than two years have passed under the strong suppression of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Local parents of students expressed that, regardless of whether their children are in primary or high school, they no longer dare to let their children walk home alone after school.
Xiao Lingyan, a parent of two children, lives half an hour’s drive from Zhiyuan Middle School. At the time, her two children were attending kindergarten and elementary school. After the incident involving Hu Xinyu, fearing a similar tragedy befalling her family, she closely monitored the progress of the case. Until one day she suddenly realized, under the CCP’s rule, parents are so powerless in protecting their children, as they are facing not just the hidden hands waiting to harm their children in the shadows.
Last year in October, Xiao Lingyan flew directly from Hong Kong to Los Angeles with her two children. As they walked out of the airport, she held her children tightly and said, “We are finally safe!”
During an interview with Da Ji Yuan on the 19th (Wednesday), Xiao Lingyan reflected on the helplessness, pain, and anger she experienced with local parents following the Hu Xinyu incident.
On October 14, 2022, Hu Xinyu, a high school freshman at Zhiyuan Middle School, mysteriously disappeared during class. His family searched both inside and outside the campus but could not find him. They requested to view surveillance video from the school, but the school refused to cooperate. The incident spread on social media, leading to protests by parents.
Due to concerns about the safety of children within the school, on October 28, Xiao Lingyan also joined the protest in front of Zhiyuan Middle School. The protesting parents were violently beaten and expelled by the CCP police. Xiao Lingyan tried to record the scene with her phone and was also dragged and beaten by the police before being handcuffed and taken to the police station.
“I was locked up on the 28th. They threw me into a room where there were seven or eight people. My phone was confiscated, and they forced me to reveal the password,” Xiao Lingyan said. After a long wait, two policemen came to question her, asking why she was causing trouble and demanded a written guarantee that she would apologize and promise not to participate in protests again.
Xiao Lingyan refused to apologize. “I don’t think it’s causing trouble; it’s something every mother, every Chinese person should do.” Before she could finish her statement, one of the questioning officers slapped her repeatedly, causing a buzzing sound in her ears and stars in her eyes. In pain and fear, she was kicked down by the police.
“Why are you hitting me? You have no right to hit me!” Xiao Lingyan recalled the scene, “The police said, ‘Since you are causing trouble, we can hit you as much as we want, and you are still defiant!'” Another officer joined in with punches and kicks. Handcuffed and weak, she tried to get up, but the police prevented her from rising. “One stepped on my head, the other kicked my stomach, and they used their shoes to stomp on my hands, causing excruciating pain,” she said. In both pain and fear, she lost consciousness. When she came to, the two officers were gone.
Because she refused to admit wrongdoing, she was beaten by the police three times, passing out twice. On the third occasion, two officers threatened her, saying, “Your husband has a job. If you continue like this, your child won’t be able to go to school, and your husband will be fired.” Xiao Lingyan still refused to apologize, stating, “My husband has nothing to do with this. Why should he be implicated? He did nothing wrong, and he wasn’t involved in this. It was me.”
On October 30, she was suddenly released. During the two days of confinement, she neither ate nor drank nor slept.
“When I got home and looked in the mirror, I found bumps on my head, swollen eyes, and bruises all over,” Xiao Lingyan said. Due to her hands being stomped on by shoes, she couldn’t hold anything for a long time. She wanted to see a doctor, but on that same day, the local government declared a lockdown due to concerns of protesters regathering, imposing a 12-day home quarantine.
Unprepared, their food at home was depleted. Her husband found some ointment to apply to her injuries.
Upon returning home, Xiao Lingyan grew increasingly angry. She shared her experience of being beaten by the police on social media, only to have it promptly deleted, followed by a call from the police.
The caller claimed to be from the police station. “He said, ‘Do you not want to live? Are you tired of living? We just let you out not long ago, and you’re causing trouble again!'” What chilled Xiao Lingyan the most was when the caller uttered, “If you continue this, your child will be next!”
“I was truly scared at that moment,” Xiao Lingyan said. “When I was almost beaten to death in the police station, I wasn’t as terrified. And yet they used my child to threaten me.” She couldn’t help but imagine a scene similar to Hu Xinyu’s disappearance: “My child is gone, the police ignore me, the surveillance didn’t show anything, and I can’t find my child.”
“My mental state was highly stressed, and I began having insomnia at night,” she said. The police didn’t make just one phone call but called every few days, warning her, “You have to be careful. If you continue this way, your husband, your child, your family, all of you need to be careful.” Shortly after, her husband’s passport was confiscated by his workplace.
Only through a face-to-face interview and flying with her two children to Los Angeles did Xiao Lingyan finally feel safe. “I couldn’t help but cry. I hugged my son and said, ‘We don’t have to be afraid anymore. Mom doesn’t have to worry about you disappearing, and no one can threaten you again.’ ” She recalled, “I felt at that moment, even the air was sweet. Finally, I escaped the clutches of the Communist Party.”
As the interview neared the end, Xiao Lingyan declared her withdrawal from the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers organizations she passively joined in her youth.
“I hope that those still lost in the lies of the Communist Party in China will use their own thoughts to analyze and approach the various phenomena in Chinese society. Eventually, they will wake up and understand what the Communist Party truly is. Don’t wait until you are persecuted to awaken,” Xiao Lingyan said.