What China Does to People Who Speak Out against Them

China police broke into the home of Sun Wenguang, a retired professor who is critical of China's human rights record.

“The Chinese Communist Party has long sought to suppress ideas that could undermine the sweeping authority it has over its 1.4 billion citizens--and the state can go to extreme lengths to maintain its grip. In just the past few years, the government has attempted to muzzle critics by making them disappear without a trace, ordering people to physically barge into their houses, or locking up those close to critics as a kind of blackmail. Even leaving China isn't always enough. The state has continued to clamp down on dissent by harassing and threatening family members who remain in the country. Consider what China can do to people who criticize it: 1. Make you disappear. Wang Quanzhang, a human rights lawyer who defended political activists in the past, has not been seen since he was taken into detention three years ago. ... 2. Physically drag you away so you can’t speak to the media. ... 3. Put your family under house arrest, even if they haven’t been accused of a crime. ... 4. Threaten to kill your family and forbid them from leaving China. Even when dissidents leave China, they are not safe. Many Chinese expats and exiles have seen family members who remained in China pay the price for their protest. One example is Chinese-Canadian actress Anastasia Lin, who repeatedly speaks out to criticize China's human rights record. ... 5. Take down your social media posts. ... 6. Remove your posts from the Internet--and reportedly throw you in a psychiatric ward. ... In July, Dong Yaoqiong live-streamed herself pouring black ink over a poster of Xi Jinping in Shanghai, while criticizing the Communist Party's ‘oppressive brain control’ over the country. Hours later, she reported seeing police officers at her door and the video was removed from her social media account. She has not been seen in public since, although Voice of America and Radio Free Asia reported that she was being held at a psychiatric hospital in her home province of Hunan, citing local activists. 7. Barge into your house to force you off the airwaves. Sun Wenguang, a prominent critic of the Chinese government, was forced off air during a live phone interview with Voice of America in early August. The 83-year-old former economics professor had been arguing that Xi Jinping had his economic priorities wrong, when up to eight policemen barged into his home, and forced him off the line. ... 8. Trap you in your house, and detain people who come to see you. ... 9. Forbid you from leaving the country. ... 10. Intercept your protests before they even begin.”

“Barging into Your Home,” Business Insider, Aug. 19, 2018

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