【Epoch Times News, November 20, 2025】Ms. Zhu from Guangxi and “Gao Hongbo” from Beijing were summoned across provinces by the police of Shimen County, Hunan Province for forwarding an article in a WeChat group, causing serious impact on their work and reputation. Currently, Ms. Zhu has initiated an administrative review to demand an explanation.
According to reports from the mainland media Da Feng News, Ms. Zhu works in a unit in Qingxiu District, Nanning City, Guangxi, with her hometown in Shimen County, Changde City, Hunan Province. In October 2022, Ms. Zhu’s daughter transferred from Nanning to a school in Shimen County to attend the third year of junior high school, and in July 2023, she was admitted to a high school in Shimen County as a freshman.
Ms. Zhu stated that her daughter had conflicts with the head teacher later on, faced injustice at school, and was diagnosed with severe depression. She reported this issue with her real name, leading to an investigation by a department in Shimen County, which concluded that her report was not factual. Ms. Zhu continued to report with her real name as the investigation is ongoing.
During this time, an online blog post involving the head teacher of Ms. Zhu’s daughter and a leader from a department in the county caused a stir locally. The author of the blog claimed to be a former colleague of the head teacher and had been reporting the leader with their real identity.
Then, in mid-September 2025, Ms. Zhu added a netizen named “Gao Hongbo” into a WeChat group. After seeing the blog post in the group, “Gao Hongbo,” who is a resident of Yuncheng City, Shanxi, working in Haidian District, Beijing, forwarded it. It was reported that “Gao Hongbo” was unfamiliar with Ms. Zhu, but found the reported blog post interesting and forwarded it to other WeChat groups. Unexpectedly, on the morning of September 22 at 9 a.m., several individuals claiming to be police officers from Shimen County Public Security Bureau in Hunan province arrived at his workplace alleging defamation and slander, requiring him to cooperate with the investigation and taking him to a location in Haidian District for questioning.
Legal documents from the Shimen County police showed that they had received complaints from two individuals alleging online insults and defamation, leading to the formation of a special task force to conduct a thorough investigation.
“Gao Hongbo” mentioned that the authorities questioned him in detail about the incident, collected information from his phone, and only returned it to him a week later.
Subsequently, on September 28, while attending a meeting at her workplace, Ms. Zhu was also summoned across provinces by the police from Shimen County, Hunan. Ms. Zhu stated that several police officers came to her home, with one man in black claiming to be from the special task force of Shimen County Public Security Bureau in Hunan. The officers presented a summons indicating that Ms. Zhu was accused of defamation and requested her to appear at the police station in Qingxiu District for questioning.
Ms. Zhu mentioned that she was questioned from around 11 a.m. until about 3 p.m., during which they asked her about her acquaintance with “Gao Hongbo,” the head teacher of her daughter, and the leader of a department in Shimen County.
During the forced summoning process, the officers checked her phone, conducted a body search, forced her to wear a yellow prisoner’s suit, made her sit on the interrogation chair like a criminal, and restricted any physical movements (even asking for permission to drink water), which left Ms. Zhu indignant. She questioned, “They claimed I insulted and defamed these two individuals, but I didn’t write that blog post in the first place, nor did I forward it. How am I being accused of defamation?” She simply added “Gao Hongbo” to the WeChat group without asking him to forward it. She wondered if she was related to the incident at all.
On October 13, Ms. Zhu disagreed with the summons and filed an administrative review with the Shimen County government.
On November 16 and 18, Ms. Zhu and “Gao Hongbo” separately received the “Decision of Non-Punishment” from the Shimen County Public Security Bureau of Hunan, stating that the “illegal facts were not established” and no punishment was imposed.
“They took me away from my workplace initially, causing significant impact on my job,” commented “Gao Hongbo,” who hoped for a reasonable explanation from the authorities.
Ms. Zhu also expressed that the police in Shimen abused their power, resulting in damage to her mental and physical well-being, and a decrease in social reputation. She demanded an apology from the relevant personnel of Shimen County Public Security Bureau and accountability for their unlawful actions of harassment, threats, intimidation, and insulting her.
Currently, the administrative review has been accepted.