On September 11th, mainland Chinese actor Yu Menglong fell to his death in a residential area in Beijing. The police quickly ruled out any criminal involvement, but there were many doubts surrounding the incident. Various insider information and videos were leaked, implicating high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials. The authorities continuously suppressed related information. Netizens used various methods to demand the truth from the authorities, continuously commenting on CCTV’s commentary, and bombarding police phone lines.
On September 19th, a user account named “News Investigation” posted a screenshot online indicating that a large number of netizens were risking commenting on CCTV to demand the truth about the Yu Menglong incident. Under the CCTV video report, there were 683,000 comments. On an overseas platform, as of 2:19 pm on September 18th, it had been viewed 91,000 times.
The term “commenting on CCTV” began to be used to describe netizens’ actions against the censorship departments behind the Great Firewall, gradually evolving to mean risking significant consequences to defy the authorities.
A screenshot showed that fans of Yu Menglong rushed to the Beijing Wenlv comment section of CCTV to comment, with over 600,000 comments, which have now been deleted. On an overseas platform, as of 10:30 am on September 19th, it had been viewed 554,000 times.
Another post that day showed that a large number of netizens in China demanded that the police open a case on the Yu Menglong incident, with many people calling the police and leaving comments. On a platform, as of 9:02 am on September 19th, it had been viewed 62,000 times.
An audio recording revealed the police repeatedly responding with “not convenient to answer.” On a platform, as of 9:40 am on September 19th, it had been viewed 2,334 times.
The account “Today Australia” posted: “In the early hours of September 20, Yu Menglong fans flooded the comments section of the CCTV TikTok account, almost unanimously calling for an investigation into the Yu Menglong falling incident.” It received 4,500 comments. On an overseas platform, as of 9:07 am on September 19th, it had been viewed 14,000 times.
Many netizens left comments below related screenshots and videos on the platform, with many appearing to be Chinese netizens who had circumvented the Great Firewall, declaring themselves as mere bystanders, not fans of Yu Menglong:
“Let’s all shout together: Investigate the case on 911! 911!”
“We are not fans, just among the millions who survive…”
“Not fans, most of us only got to know him in the past few days.”
“He is not really popular, doesn’t have that star power, just ordinary people.”
“I am purely a bystander, my parents love watching TV dramas, and know of him, most speaking up for him this time are just passersby.”
“It’s indeed very sensitive, I have never been shut down before, not even when criticizing, this time I got silenced without saying much.”
“I’ve seen his roles but didn’t know it was him, later found out he died so tragically, seemingly murdered, and because of the power above, nobody cares, sparking a public anti-Communist revolutionary sentiment.”
“The fan circle is truly a powerful force, keep it up.”
“It seems the bigwigs behind it have strong red connections.”
“China has gone rotten, the elites play with human lives, officials protect each other, no bottom line, ordinary people have no place.”
“When they find there’s no place inside the wall to speak reasonably, the number of people circumventing the Great Firewall increases by tens of thousands. Dictatorship creates various privileges, privileges lead to oppression, oppression inevitably leads to resistance. This is the inherent logic of the downfall of all authoritarian regimes.”
“Commenting on CCTV comes with risks, but the crappy Communist Party should’ve been swept away long ago.”
At 37, Chinese actor Yu Menglong, known for his roles in popular dramas such as “The Princess Weiyoung” and “Eternal Love,” was well-known to audiences. On September 11, news of his death in a fall shocked everyone. Local police quickly concluded within 12 hours that it was not a criminal case, citing it as a “drunken accidental fall.” However, online information suggests he was murdered for defying the unwritten rules within the industry.
On the evening of September 16, Yu Menglong’s studio released a statement again, confirming in his mother’s voice that he died in an accidental fall after drinking, hoping to put an end to speculation. Instead of calming angry netizens, the statement only fueled more doubts.
Recent leaked videos online, including one showing Yu Menglong allegedly hanging upside down outside a building’s balcony before falling, and a monitor footage of him begging, “I have a fear of heights, let me go back!” The guest list from the gathering on the night of Yu Menglong’s fall leaked, with rumors that the key figure in the gathering, director Xin Qi, is the illegitimate son of China’s Central Committee Political Commissar Cai Qi, a distant relative of Xi Jinping, the party leader. There are also claims that Cai Qi and Xin Qi actually have a grandfather-grandson relationship.
While the related information cannot be verified, the authorities refuse to respond and have deleted all comments from netizens demanding the truth, leading to more skepticism.