Chinese male star Yu Menglong fell to his death in September, and female star Sun Lin has been speaking up for him multiple times. Recently, she posted a hidden message poem on social media, urging for justice for Yu Menglong, but the post was deleted shortly after. She couldn’t help but question, “What are they afraid of?”
Sun Lin recently shared a photo on Weibo with a caption that reads, “I’m just a poet, the photo is not mine, don’t say anything.” In the photo, she circled the first letter of each line in red, which spelled out “Yu Menglong is unjust, please file a case”.
However, the post was quickly deleted by the authorities, leaving Sun Lin quite dissatisfied. On October 2nd, she posted again, questioning, “What are they so afraid of? Post on Weibo and it gets deleted, post it’s gone.”
On October 3rd, she posted again, stating, “Not only are my Weibo posts deleted now, even the fan groups are gone!” In the comments section, she bluntly said, “Just delete me next time, don’t delete Weibo.”
Netizens expressed their support, saying, “Why is no one speaking in the group anymore?” “Sister, take care of yourself.” “The dark forces are too arrogant.” “They must be feeling guilty.”
Since Yu Menglong’s passing, Sun Lin has spoken up for him multiple times, saying, “Don’t worry! None of us will forget you.” “Rest assured, your fans will help you find justice! Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent.” As a result, she has received threatening messages and was injured when a flowerpot was thrown at her while she was receiving a delivery, leading her to be hospitalized.
In the early hours of September 11th, Yu Menglong mysteriously fell to his death in the Sun East District of Beijing, with authorities hastily concluding it as an “accidental fall after drinking alcohol,” sparking doubts among netizens. Various speculations quickly spread on social media platforms, with rumors suggesting that he was killed for resisting unwritten rules in the entertainment industry, or that he held evidence against a crime syndicate and was cruelly murdered. Despite efforts to suppress information by reviewing authorities, rumors continued to circulate online.
In response to this, an article by Kevin Fan Hsu, a lecturer at Stanford University in the United States, published on the website “Foreign Policy,” stated that after Yu Menglong’s passing, the authorities’ excessive censorship has raised doubts among netizens. Coupled with the lack of genuinely independent media in China, fans have resorted to various scattered investigations to fill the gaps.
The article pointed out that in the case of Yu Menglong, transparency from the authorities from the beginning would have been helpful, but this goes against the nature of the Communist Party’s control, particularly when the truth of an event could be damaging. Hsu mentioned in the article’s conclusion that while the state’s censorship machine may ultimately prevail, each of these incidents exposes some of the authoritarian facade of the Communist Party and sows seeds of distrust among Chinese citizens, ultimately weakening the legitimacy of the Party’s rule.