Recently, the bullying case at Jiangyou campus that shocked both domestic and international audiences has brought to light not just the misconduct of three teenage girls towards their peers, but also the deeper issues of injustice within the authoritarian system and the restrictions on public expression. The doubts raised by the public over the lenient sentencing and cover-ups, the rare scene of spontaneous protests, and the subsequent violent crackdown by authorities have revealed a critical state of tension in Chinese society between oppression and eruption.
While the heat surrounding the Jiangyou incident has gradually subsided due to domestic suppression, observers like Li Yingzhi, a Chinese living in the United States who experienced the events of June 4th, believe that the case is far from over. He told Dajiyuan, “Without a just outcome and the truth uncovered, we should not forget.” He advocates for ongoing support from overseas and for holding the perpetrators of violence and the police accountable.
The bullying incident in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, filmed in a video that went viral, took place on July 22nd when a 14-year-old girl was repeatedly slapped, kicked, and even forced to kneel down by three girls aged only 13 to 15. The entire assault was filmed by the perpetrators and circulated online on August 2nd.
In the video, the victim expressed her intention to report to the police, to which one of the bullies coldly replied, “Do you think we’re afraid of you? We’ve been inside before.” Another bragged, “We’ve been inside more than ten times, and we’re out within twenty minutes.” These statements not only expose the contempt underage individuals have towards legal consequences but also aggravate the societal nerves regarding campus violence and judicial injustice.
According to the investigation by Jiangxi TV’s “Hot News” program, the victim’s mother is deaf and mute, having long fought for justice to no avail, even kneeling to officials in vain. In addition, reports claim that the girl had previous experiences of bullying, with the perpetrators’ parents displaying arrogant and unapologetic attitudes.
On August 4th, the Jiangyou police issued a report stating that the victim only suffered “minor injuries,” with the 14 and 15-year-old assailants receiving only administrative penalties and being sent to a “special school for corrective education.” The 13-year-old perpetrator and onlookers were subjected to criticism and parental supervision orders. This handling of the case was widely viewed as “too lenient,” sparking speculation about possible internal connections and cover-ups.
Li Yingzhi, who has been involved in human rights activism for a long time, believes that the police’s “clearly lenient” handling is not just a matter of judicial concern but a systemic issue – the Chinese Communist Party’s long-standing monopoly on power has created a social logic of “top-down effects”: where power can oppress dissent at will, and the weak dare not speak up or fight back, leading to violence and tyranny becoming replicable behavioral patterns.
He analyzed that one of the reasons the Jiangyou incident has sparked rare mass protests recently is due to the accumulated discontent among the population finding an outlet, carrying on the public anger seen in various events since the early 2022 “Iron Chain Girl” case. Such events include the mutilation and burial of classmate by three middle school students in Handan, Hebei Province last year, the mysterious death of transplant intern Luo Shuaiyu in a fall, and the suicide of a 17-year-old vocational school student in Pucheng County, Shaanxi Province in January this year.
On the afternoon of the 4th, following the Jiangyou police’s report, thousands of citizens spontaneously gathered in front of the local government to protest, with a poignant rallying cry circulating among participants – “The girl’s mother can’t speak out, so we will speak out for her” – becoming the most touching remark in this case. Some protesters even called for “the Communist Party to step down” and “Xi Jinping to step down.”
Throughout the day until late at night, over a thousand people remained, prompting the police to start dispersing the crowd late into the night using batons and electric shock rods. Some citizens were taken away in police vans, and reports surfaced of reinforcements from outside authorities rushing to the scene. Multiple videos showed the police dragging and beating demonstrators, creating a chaotic and bloody scene.
The collective anger sparked by the Jiangyou incident is not an isolated case. Li Yingzhi urges continuous scrutiny from overseas and presents four demands: releasing arrested protesters, harsher punishment for the perpetrators, investigating the backgrounds of the perpetrators’ families, and holding the police accountable for their violent enforcement during the dispersal.
“Silence must not be maintained,” Li Yingzhi reiterated this viewpoint several times during interviews. He emphasized that silence is the most easily exploited soil in a totalitarian society, where once the majority chooses to be bystanders, those who dare to stand up will be swiftly suppressed, isolated, or even sacrificed.
He pointed out that during the protests on August 4th and 5th in Jiangyou, some citizens, although not shouting radical slogans, boldly expressed the minimum demand for “fair treatment according to the law and severe punishment.” This low-risk collective action also carries significant power.
He observed that among China’s 1.4 billion inhabitants, the number of people willing to take action is extremely limited, to the point of being negligible, making it difficult for any protest movement to sustain long-term collective pressure. In light of this, he urges Chinese citizens to at least “make a statement at the lowest bottom line” – one does not necessarily need to call for the overthrow of the regime but can use means such as open letters, peaceful assemblies, legal complaints, etc., to force further exposure and accountability for events.
In his view, the Jiangyou incident serves as a reminder to the world that although the space for free speech in China may have dwindled, silence will only lead to more injustices, asserting that “even a flicker of light is better than complete silence in the dark.”
Li emphasized that the way forward may not lie in the success or failure of a single protest but in more people choosing not to remain silent, starting from grassroots, low-risk actions to gradually drive change.
Since his involvement in democracy movements after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, Li Yingzhi has faced detention, forced relocation, surveillance, and economic pressures over the past 36 years. He recalled walking 40 kilometers to Hunan to engage in activism in 1993 and even studying historical experiences of military uprisings like the Wuchang Uprising. From 2012 onwards, he became more deeply involved in human rights issues, interacting with petitioners, intervening in cases, and being detained in detention centers multiple times.
He stated that these experiences have given him a painful understanding of the essence of authoritarian systems, where methods like forced evictions, economic blockades, and preventing children from attending school are commonly used by the CCP to oppress dissidents.
In 2023, under multiple pressures, he left China for overseas, citing the special education needs of his child, the financial burden of high tuition fees, and the constant police surveillance and harassment he faced monthly in China, which had severely restricted his living space.
He admitted that his longstanding persistence in remaining in China was rooted in the belief that “change in China must rely on internal forces.” However, reality forced him to acknowledge that overseas could also be a battlefield for promoting democracy – one where international alliances could be formed, and overseas Chinese could continue to monitor human rights in the country.
After leaving China, Li Yingzhi gained a clearer perspective overseas – the CCP system is eroding social morals and destroying integrity and beliefs. He still emphasizes that his core belief is to “love this nation and its people” and calls for a clear distinction between the CCP and China.
Li insists that the CCP regime will eventually be eliminated by history, and the only way forward for China is towards freedom and democracy because “people have the right to freedom, it’s a natural and divine mandate.”