How to Make Ying Great Again
This is the "WE…WEI…WHAT?" column past Manya Koetse, original publication in German by Goethe Institut Communist china, visit Yi Magazin: WE…WEI…WHAT? Manya Koetse erklärt das chinesische Internet.
It was December 6th of 2021 when a teenage boy posted a short video on Chinese social media. With a straight back, clear voice, and serious face, he looked direct into the camera and said:
"How-do-you-do everyone, I am Liu Xuezhou and I am looking for my biological parents. I was born in between 2004 and 2006 and effectually the age of three months old, I was bought by my parents, my adoptive parents, in Datong in Shanxi. I am good for you. I don't have any congenital physical defects or diseases; I don't accept any obvious birthmarks or scars. At the age of four, my adoptive parents passed away due to an accident. I am now living in Nangong, Xingtai, in Hebei Province. I study in Shijiazhuang. I wish I'd establish my biological parents sooner, to make up for what I missed. I hope you tin can help me spread my message so that those who suspect they might be my parents can run into it."
This video would be the start of a story followed by millions of Chinese netizens. Information technology is the story of Liu Xuezhou (刘学州). The search for his parents and his death became one of the biggest topics on China'south social media of the past months.
Why did the tragic story of one teenage boy capture the entire nation? There are multiple reasons. Past posting his call for assistance in finding his biological parents, Liu involved Chinese netizens in his journey from the start, allowing them to follow his story in real-fourth dimension through his social media and news reports. Another aspect of Liu's story is the resilience he showed despite his tough life, something that many admired near him.
But more importantly, Liu's story is part of a recent broader involvement in the stories behind the widespread problem of trafficking in women and children in China, with more than people raising sensation on the tragedies acquired by these practices and enervating justice for the victims.
Besides Liu's story, the story of a Xuzhou mother-of-eight being tied up and living in abominable weather in a shed also dominated online discussions for weeks on finish.
Liu's Story: Sold, Orphaned, Abandoned
After Liu Xuezhou posted the same video on Douyin, the Chinese version of the popular TikTok curt video platform, it soon went viral and various Chinese news sites started reporting on Liu's search for his biological family unit.
Liu'due south resilience was impressive. In interviews, he said that his story did non define him and that he was determined to make something of his life. Since 2018, the immature Liu was working to earn money while also going to school. His plan was to be admitted to university.
Liu Xuezhou, moving picture posted on his Weibo business relationship.
After his adoptive parents died in a firework explosion, Liu was raised by his grandparents and was sent to boarding school. Liu's childhood was not a happy one. Being and then young without parents, he was a target of schoolhouse bullies and had to modify schools at to the lowest degree 4 times until, by grade six, he had finally found a school where he could thrive.
Many people supported Liu and wanted to help the teenage boy, who was thought to take been kidnapped as a baby and and so bought past his adoptive parents through an intermediary at a Datong hotel for thirty,000 yuan ($4735).
Although Liu's nativity certificate said he was built-in in September of 2005, nobody was sure how old Liu actually was, and his grandparents did non remember the details surrounding his adoption. By tardily 2021, as a 16-something-year-quondam, Liu felt it was time to become some answers and find his biological parents. How did he end upwardly being adopted? Was he abducted? Were his parents nevertheless out in that location searching for him?
Through his own efforts – sped up by finding his vaccination records – and with some aid of the police force, Liu was able to trace down his biological parents. On the evening of December fifteen, Liu sent a message to a journalist reporting on the case: "I found my mum and dad."
His parents' story, however, was non what Liu had expected at all. Later DNA tests confirmed that they were in fact his biological parents, Liu was fix to come across them. Merely what was supposed to be a happy reunion turned out to be a bitter disappointment.
Liu's biological parents, who were living in Datong, were not together anymore. Liu soon learned that he had non been abducted as a child, but that he had been sold on purpose by his father. His parents were unmarried when they had him, and Liu's male parent turned out to accept used the coin they earned past selling their babe to ally Liu's birth mother. They married and had another son, but then concluded up divorcing. Both remarried once more, and Liu's father even got divorced two more times after that.
Although some of the unhappy circumstances surrounding Liu's reunion with his parents came out through his posts on social media throughout January of this year, most of the details surrounding his situation only became articulate when Liu posted a farewell letter on his Weibo account on January 24th, simply a few minutes past midnight.
Liu Xuezhou's last Weibo post including a adieu letter of the alphabet.
Titled "Born with piddling, render with zippo," Liu posted a lengthy letter explaining his state of affairs.
In this alphabetic character, Liu said that besides being sold equally a child and becoming an orphan at the age of 4, he was besides severely bullied by classmates and molested by a teacher at school. His aunt, whom he loved as a mother, besides left him behind subsequently she moved away due to a broken marriage.
As he spiraled into low, Liu felt a spark of hope when he saw the news near Lord's day Zhuo (孙卓), whose story became 1 of the major trending news stories of 2021. In 2007, when Sun was only four, he was stolen off the street by a human trafficker. His biological parents never gave up hope they would find their son again and sacrificed everything to be able to fund their search efforts. The Chinese film Beloved (亲爱的) was partly based on their story.
After a years-long search, Lord's day was found in 2021 due to the help of authorities and face up recognition technology that helped trace the person suspected of abducting him. In an unexpected twist, Sun stated that he would prefer to stay with his adoptive parents, who had raised him for a decade. The story triggered many online discussions and raised more awareness on the outcome of the trafficking of children in China in times of the state's i-child policy. Dominicus's biological father spoke to the media saying: "For 2022, my biggest wish is that all the abducted children can finally be found."
Image of the reunion of Sun Zhuo with his parents, who never stopped searching for him (image via Sohu).
It was Sunday Zhuo's story that inspired Liu to search for his own parents, and it was also Sun Zhuo'southward story that brought more attention for Liu'south initial video, which struck a chord with many who hoped that he could likewise be reunited with his parents and actually stay with them.
Liu described how his biological father did not seem happy when Liu first contacted him, and seemed reluctant to meet. His biological father eventually did come up to see him, simply their communication after was not smoothen. When his father told Liu that he was sold equally a baby and then that he could pay for the bride price to marry Liu'due south mother, Liu was heartbroken and could not sleep for several days: he was not kidnapped, and his parents never searched for him.
Liu and his biological begetter on Dec 26, 2021.
His female parent also was not elated that her biological son had found his style back to her. Liu felt unwanted, again, and was also searching for a home to alive and was not certain who to turn to anymore. Subsequently he asked his biological father for help in buying or renting a place to alive, he was blocked on WeChat. Liu so decided to accept his parents to courtroom.
Sharing screenshots on social media of the developments between him and his parents, Liu was condemned and bullied by netizens, who defendant him of simply wanting to find his biological parents for financial gains.
It was all too much for the teenage male child. In his farewell letter, he expressed the promise that the traffickers and biological parents would be punished for their deeds. Liu was later establish to take committed suicide at a beach in the urban center of Sanya, and could no longer exist rescued. Liu passed away inside a calendar month after meeting his biological parents at the age of merely 15 years old.
By at present, Liu'south adieu letter of the alphabet has been shared approximately 174,000 times on Weibo, it was 'liked' over two,4 1000000 times and has received thousands of comments.
The topic of Liu'south death exploded on social media and led to national outrage. Many people sympathized with the male child and were angry at all who failed him: "Poor child, abandoned and sold off by his parents, bullied and humiliated by his schoolmates, molested and discriminated by his instructor, cyberbullied by keyboard warriors. At present he'southward expressionless!"
The injustice of Liu's situation – starting with how he was sold as a kid – is what angered people well-nigh. China Digital Times recently described how on the Weibo page of Dr. Li Wenliang, i of the doctors who raised the warning about the coronavirus outbreak, many people as well mention Liu Xuezhou. Dr. Li Wenliang was one of the 8 and so-called 'whistleblowers' who tried to warn his colleagues nigh the Wuhan virus outbreak in late 2019, but was censored and reprimanded by local police for making "false comments." He later became infected with the virus himself while working at the Wuhan Central Hospital and passed away on February 7th of 2020, sparking a wave of acrimony and sadness on social media.
Analogy that went viral on social media at the time of Dr. Li'due south expiry (read more than hither).
Over the past two years, Dr. Li's Weibo page has become a digital Wailing Wall where people send little messages to call back Dr. Li, tell about their own anxieties and worries, only also address social injustices. As recorded by China Digital Times, one among thousands of comments said:
"Two years agone today, I had a sleepless nighttime considering of you, and my Weibo account once got close down because I posted something about yous. Over the past two years, I've oftentimes wondered: will this world go a better place? Only between the Liu Xuezhou incident and the woman in Xuzhou with eight kids, I've been disappointed time and time again. If you happen to run across Liu Xuezhou, please be skilful to him."
Looking at Dr. Li's Weibo account today, information technology is non just Liu Xuezhou who is brought up by commenters; 'the woman in Xuzhou' is too mentioned by dozens of people as someone experiencing injustice. But who is she?
The Chained-Up Mother in Xuzhou
In late January of 2022, right around the aforementioned time when Liu Xuezhou was 1 of the biggest topics on Chinese social media, a TikTok video showing a woman chained up in a shed went viral online and triggered massive outrage with thousands of people enervating answers about the woman's circumstances.
The video, filmed by a local vlogger in the village of Huankou in Xuzhou, showed how the woman was kept in a dingy hut without a door in the freezing common cold. She did not fifty-fifty wear a coat, and she seemed confused and unable to limited herself.
To requite the total story, here is the original video that caused the social media storm, which is still ongoing today (tw distressing content, not sure why the lock is blurred, as if that is the most shocking matter about this video..) pic.twitter.com/UOA5zrfeQ4
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) Jan 30, 2022
Other TikTok videos that came out around the same fourth dimension showed how the woman's husband, a man past the proper noun of Dong Zhimin (董志民), was playing and talking with their eight children in the family dwelling right next to the hut where the mother was confined.
The video caused a storm on social media. Many netizens worried about the woman's circumstances. Why was she chained upwards? Was she a victim of human trafficking? Was she being abused? How could she take had eight babies? Was she forced to have so many children? While netizens were speculating well-nigh the case and venting their anger, Weibo shut down some of the hashtags dedicated to this topic, only the topic soon popped up everywhere, and people started making artworks and writing essays in light of the example.
Following public demands, local government started looking into the example. An initial statement past Feng Canton, where the village of Huankou is located, was issued on January 28 and it said that the woman, named Yang (杨), married her married man in 1998 and that in that location was no indication that she was a victim of human trafficking.
The adult female was dealing with mental problems and would display sudden violent outbursts, beating children and older people. The family unit allegedly thought it was best to separate her from the family domicile during these episodes, letting her stay chained upwards in a modest hut next to the house.
The kickoff statement raised more questions than it answered and more than people, including influential Weibo bloggers and media insiders, started investigating the case. Meanwhile, information technology became clear that husband Dong Zhimin was giving interviews to other vloggers flocking to Huankou. Besides talking about his eight children (7 sons, i daughter) equally future providers for the family unit, he also used his newly-acquired 'fame' to brand money through social media. This just led to more online anger about Dong exploiting his wife and children.
Screenshots from the original Douyin (TikTok) video.
As the social media storm intensified, more official statements ensued. On Jan 30, Feng County local officials responded to the controversy in a second statement, in which the Xuzhou mother was identified as Yang *Xia (杨某侠) who allegedly in one case was "a beggar on the streets" in the summer of 1998 when she was taken in by Dong family and concluded upwards marrying their thirty-something son Dong Zhimin.
Local officials did non properly check and verify Yang's identity data when registering the marriage certificate and the local family planning department as well made errors in implementing birth control measures and post-obit upward with the family. The argument said that Yang had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was now receiving treatment.
A third, fourth, and even fifth statement issued by government on February 7th, 10th, and 23rd confirmed what many on Weibo had suspected all along, namely that Yang had indeed been a victim of man trafficking. Xuzhou authorities said their investigation had brought them to the village of Yagu in Yunnan, a place that was mentioned on Yang's marriage document.
Yang was identified every bit Xiaohuamei (小花梅), born and raised in Yagu. Yang'southward DNA had been compared to that of the family unit of Xiaohuamei, and the Dna lucifer confirmed that Yang was indeed Xiaohuamei. According to the statements, Xiaohuamei married and moved to another metropolis in 1994, simply she divorced and returned to her hamlet two years later, which is when she allegedly likewise showed signs of mental affliction.
Her parents, now deceased, then allegedly ordered a female fellow villager to take their daughter to Jiangsu to get married there. According to the adult female, she took Xiaohuamei with her on a train from Yunnan to Jiangsu's Donghai, but she allegedly 'went missing' shortly after arrival. The woman never reported her as missing to the police and she never notified the family.
That woman, along with another human being and Dong Zhimin, are now held criminally responsible for illegal detainment and human trafficking. Xiaohuamei was reportedly sold to a man in Donghai for five,000 yuan ($790) in 1998. Though Xiaohuamei managed to escape, she was sold twice over again, eventually ending up with the Dong family.
One of the many images shared on Chinese social media to raise awareness of the case of the Xuzhou mother and other women like her.
While details surrounding the example of the 'chained Xuzhou mother of eight' are still being discussed on Chinese social media, information technology has become clear that past now, 'Yang' has come to represent many more women like her. Over the by few weeks, the stories of other women who also might exist a victim of human trafficking have surfaced, and the public outcry demanding justice for trafficked women is ongoing.
I Social Media Spark Starting a Wildfire
Both in the example of Liu Xuezhou and the Xuzhou mother, it should exist noted that their stories initially did non grab the public'due south attention because official news media reported them, simply because of first-hand videos being posted on TikTok (Douyin) and and so being picked up and shared past bigger accounts.
Both Liu's video and the short video featuring the mother of eight were posted on accounts that were not necessarily very popular: starting as a small spark in an online environment with over 900 one thousand thousand social media users, they were shared, commented on, so spread like wildfire.
Both stories developed in existent-time while netizens were following the case, both stories eventually became besides large for Chinese country media to ignore, and both Liu and Yang highlighted bigger social bug in contemporary China, mainly those relating to human being trafficking.
Since these cases went viral, at that place has been a heightened focus on the problem of human trafficking, which by and large occurs in China's poorer areas with weak governance. The trafficking of especially women and children has diverse purposes, including forced wedlock and illegal adoption in areas where there is a shortage of women (along with a preference for babe boys).
Communist china Daily recently reported that lawmakers and advisers are at present pushing for heavier penalty for human trafficking crimes, suggesting that the electric current penalties imposed on the buyers of women and children are likewise weak; the maximum prison sentence for those who buy abducted women and children is three years.
In the case of the Xuzhou mother, there has been online censorship simply the ongoing intense public outrage eventually did pb to college-level research into the case. The mother was rescued from her terrible state of affairs, the human traffickers involved are existence held responsible, so are 17 officials, who will be punished by government for their wrongdoings in the instance.
As for Liu Xuezhou, his adoptive family members have recently filed a request at the Sanya Public Security Bureau to launch another investigation into his example. Their request was accustomed on February 23rd, with multiple people existence suspected of criminal offenses, eventually leading to his death. On Weibo, many people are now demanding punishment for Liu'south biological parents.
In late Jan of this twelvemonth, following the tragic ending to Liu's story, Chinese country mediai emphasized how the widespread attention for these kinds of stories in the social media era is also changing how government agencies should interact with the public.
According to Dr. Liu Leming, associate professor at East People's republic of china University's Political Science faculty, regime agencies need to follow upward and reply more than quickly to social incidents like these in the internet era: "When public bug sally, people who are involved in social problems or incidents want to know, more than anything, whether their requests have been seen and who will handle their concerns."
In light of these recent stories, the public is happy that actions have been taken, but they are non satisfied with how these cases were handled. Many fence that government have failed in being transparent, that local governments have not washed enough to prevent these cases from happening, and that Mainland china should exercise more to put an end to human being trafficking.
And so, they are still posting the stories of children like Liu and women like Xiaohuamei to keep raising sensation and to keep pressuring local government and lawmakers to take more action to eradicate these practices.
Every bit Liu is no longer alive and Xiaohuamei, still hospitalized, cannot defend herself, Chinese netizens continue raising their voices for them. In doing and then, they have not merely impacted how authorities dealt with these specific cases, just they are also irresolute how cases such as these volition be handled in the time to come.
One Weibo user discussing Liu and the Xuzhou mother wrote: "We demand to get to the lesser of these kinds of stories: who is to blame, who made mistakes, and where practise we go from here?"
In the meantime, online posts, videos, and artworks honor both Liu and Xiaohuamei, so that their stories volition not be forgotten. "Dearest little one, springtime has come," i amidst thousands of messages still flooding Liu Xuezhou's Weibo folio says: "You lot have endured too many things that you lot should have never experienced. It should have been us, the adults, taking care of these things for you. You delight get and rest at present, nosotros will finish the remainder for you."
By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo
For data and support on mental wellness and suicide, international helplines can be establish at www.befrienders.org.
ane Cao Yin and Li Yang. 2022. "Policymakers, Lawmakers Respond to Opinion Voiced Online." China Daily Hong Kong, January 28, Page i-2.
Featured epitome by Ama for Yi Magazin.
This text was written for Goethe-Institut China nether a CC-Past-NC-ND-iv.0-DE license (Creative Commons) every bit part of a monthly column in collaboration with What's On Weibo.
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