Rights activist Yang Caiying, who resides in Japan, recently received information from authorities in Jiangsu, China, luring her back to the country under the guise of resolving her family’s housing demolition issue. At the same time, her mother, Xu Dongqing, was summoned and threatened with arson to burn down her house.
Xu Dongqing has been petitioning for the unresolved housing demolition issue and has been repeatedly hindered and abducted by the authorities every time she travels to Beijing for medical treatment for her heart condition.
In response to this, starting from April of last year, Yang Caiying began wearing a prison uniform outside the Chinese Consulate in Nagoya, protesting and distributing flyers at Nagoya Station to advocate for her family’s rights. Recently, she also posted online the names, photos, work units of officials who have persecuted her family, along with the details of how her family members were tortured.
Yang Caiying told a reporter that, “At around 9 o’clock on May 9th Beijing time, Sun Zhijun, the Director of the Construction Bureau of Xicheng Street, Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, contacted me via WeChat, claiming to solve the housing relocation problem and asked me to return to China for a meeting. I made it clear that Deputy District Mayor Yao Xiang of Jintan District was out to get me and demanded to discuss through WeChat. Sun Zhijun, seeing that his deception failed, ambiguously suggested that I should think carefully.”
However, almost simultaneously, Xu Dongqing had already been summoned to the local Binhu Police Station on the grounds of “disturbing public order.” That afternoon, Yang Li, Yang Caiying’s sister, received a notification from the police station stating that their mother had been taken to the station for “disturbing public order.” After that, there was no further communication.
On the afternoon of May 10th, Xu Dongqing was escorted back home. During this period, for some unknown reason, Xu Dongqing had a sudden illness and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. The authorities concealed this situation from the family.
“Around 5 o’clock on May 10th, someone came to my house and said, ‘Don’t fight against the government, they (the government) will cut off the power and set fire to the house’,” she said.
Yang Caiying expressed, “Because my mother went to Beijing to file a complaint, the Jiangsu government left us no choice but to seek redress in Beijing. Even though they are all birds of a feather, we cannot just sit and wait for death.”
A reporter from the Epoch Times called Sun Zhijun, Director of the Construction Bureau of Xicheng Street, Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, to verify the situation but the call could not be connected.
In May 2023, the Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Letters and Visits Bureau, Tian Hong, along with officials, visited Yang’s home, claiming to solve the housing demolition issue but avoided discussing the petition problem. In September of the same year, Lu Qiuming, Secretary of the Jintan District Committee, informed Yang Caiying that Tian Hong, Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Letters and Visits Bureau (now Minister of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Social Work), and Chen JInhu, Secretary of the Changzhou Municipal Committee, ordered that Yang Li and Xu Dongqing not be allowed to receive medical treatment in Beijing. Subsequently, Xu Dongqing was forcibly taken back to Jiangsu from the hospital bed and Yang Li was detained in Jiangsu.
Yang Caiying repeatedly requested through WeChat for Wang Chunming, Director of the Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Letters and Visits Bureau, and Wang Ying, Deputy Director of the Changzhou Municipal Letters and Visits Bureau, to convey the messages of seeking medical treatment freely and resolving the petition issue according to the law to the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Xin Changxing, Governor Xu Kunlin, Secretary of the Changzhou Municipal Committee Chen Jinhu, and Mayor Han Lei, but the two officials of the Letters and Visits Bureau refused to respond.
On April 17, 2024, Xu Dongqing’s condition worsened, and she was rushed to the emergency medical treatment. When Jin Tan District People’s Hospital claimed they could not provide treatment, she went to Peking University First Hospital for medical treatment but was intercepted by the Jiangsu Provincial Office in Beijing. The mother and daughter went to the Fuyou Street Police Station to request protection of their medical rights and were then sent to the Jiujingzhuang Relief Service Center. At that center, both mother and daughter were beaten to the point of calling for help by Jiangsu police stationed in Beijing. That night, Yang Li was taken back to Jiangsu and subjected to interrogation and detention for 10 days by instructor Hua Aoqing of the local Binhu Police Station.