Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

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Astros-Mariners game:

In the Sept. 6 Sports section,

a recap of Thursday’s base-

ball game between the Seat-

tle Mariners and Houston

Astros said that Kyle Seager

became the first player in

Houston history to hit at

least 20 home runs in eight

straight seasons. Seager be-

came the first player for Se-

attle to accomplish the feat.

FOR THE

RECORD

BEIJING — Lu ducked
into a KFC bathroom,
locked the door and scrib-
bled on a piece of blank pa-
per that he would soon raise
while in a crowd of pro-
testers: “I came from the
mainland. Thank you, Hong
Kongers! Don’t give up, fight
for freedom!”
It was July 7, a month into
Hong Kong’s protest move-
ment against an extradition
bill that, even after its with-
drawal last week, continues
to serve as a symbol of un-
wanted control by Beijing.
Hundreds of thousands
were marching in a shopping
district of Hong Kong fre-
quented by mainland tour-
ists, chanting in Mandarin to
raise awareness of their fight
for autonomy, government
accountability and demo-
cratic reforms.
The 25-year-old, who
asked to use the name “Free-
dom Lu” to protect his fam-
ily, had crossed into Hong
Kong from the mainland city
of Shenzhen to join the pro-

test against the bill that

would have allowed extradi-

tion of criminal suspects to

China for trial.

After returning home, Lu

was detained and held for 10

days on charges of “picking

quarrels and provoking

trouble,” a frequently used

accusation against activists

and civil society leaders.

Lu is one of at least a doz-

en mainlanders who have

been held or threatened by

authorities after having par-

ticipated in the Hong Kong

demonstrations or shared

information online that de-

viates from the government

line concerning the semiau-

tonomous territory.

Public sentiment is diffi-

cult to gauge in China, be-

cause government surveil-

lance is pervasive, public

polling nonexistent and the

internet and media strictly

controlled.

But with the Hong Kong

protests viewed as a direct

challenge to Beijing’s au-

thority, the Chinese govern-

ment has not been shy about

trying to control the narra-

tive by broadcasting nation-

alistic propaganda, accus-

ing protesters of U.S.-funded

“terrorism,” and claiming to

speak for all Chinese people.

China also has sought to

intimidate protesters by

tracking them down and

locking them up, human

rights advocates say.

During the early July pro-

test, as light rain drizzled, Lu

shivered in the sea of hu-

manity, terrified he would be

discovered and punished.

But he was also moved by

the Hong Kong residents

who stopped to thank and

encourage him.

“Even if all I did was just

one tiny insignificant thing,

they gave me such strong

and genuine gratitude. This

made me really ashamed as

a mainlander,” he said.

After returning to Shen-

zhen, Lu used a virtual pri-

vate network to bypass the

firewall that blocks most

mainland Chinese from ac-

cessing the open internet.

He posted essays on

Medium and Twitter, ex-

plaining the Hong Kong pro-

tests in simplified Chinese

and challenging fellow main-

landers to rethink their ide-

as about patriotism (“Why

do we have to love a country

that doesn’t love us?”) and

state-society relations

(“Country, government and

party should be three sepa-

rate ideas. Government

should serve the people”).

“I think it’s human nature

not to want to be fooled, but

many people don’t know

that they’ve been deceived,”

Lu told The Times via an en-

crypted messaging app.

He said he had grown up

believing government prop-

aganda himself, but several

Hong Kong professors’ blogs

on Weibo, a Chinese social

media platform, had

changed his mind. When au-

thorities shut down those

blogs a few years ago, Lu fol-

lowed them to Twitter.

“The Communist Party is

using a firewall to conceal

the truth and brainwash

people,” he said. “But if we

tell people that life can be

different, can be more digni-

fied and more free, we shake

their foundations.”

Lu said police called him

in Aug. 22, telling him some-

one had reported him. They

interrogated him for over 12

hours about his Twitter ac-

tivity, searched his phone,

made him strip naked, for-

bade him to use a phone or

see family, and forced him to

sing “There is no New China

without the Communist

Party.”

He was held in a room of

30 to 40 men, he said, and

slept on the floor. The others

accused him of being a

traitor to the Han Chinese

race and threatened to beat

him to death for supporting

“violent rioters,” he said.

“I couldn’t bear this kind

of humiliation and pain. I

was looking for a way to kill

myself every day. I tried to

suffocate myself until my

whole body was shaking, but

couldn’t succeed,” Lu said.

After his release Sept. 1,

he fled to Southeast Asia.

In June, Zhejiang activist

Wei Xiaobing was reportedly

detained for 15 days after

sharing one Facebook post

and retweeting two tweets

about Hong Kong, including

one that simply said, “Add

oil,” a commonly used exhor-

tation in China.

On July 25, Beijing police

reportedly detained activist

Quan Shixin, also for “pick-

ing quarrels.” In August,

Dongguan resident Hu

Haibo was reportedly de-

tained for 15 days on charges

of drug use after returning

from Hong Kong protests.

Shandong activist Ba

Luning was also reportedly

detained last month for sup-

porting Hong Kong protests

in a WeChat group. And

Guangzhou police report-

edly broke into the home of

activist Lai Rifu, forcing him

to delete tweets and sign a

guarantee that he would

stop posting about Hong

Kong.

Police also pressured

Chen Qiushi, a mainland

lawyer who livestreamed

Hong Kong’s protests to

more than 770,000 followers

on Chinese social media, to

stop making videos and re-

turn to Beijing.

The Network of Chinese

Human Rights Defenders, a

Washington-based coalition

of nongovernmental organi-

zations supporting human

rights in China, said other

activists have been invited

for “tea” with police and held

until they sign guarantees

that they will stop dis-

cussing Hong Kong.

“The Chinese govern-

ment is working overtime to

threaten and detain main-

landers from sharing and

commenting on the protests

in Hong Kong for fear of

what it may spark back

home,” said Frances Eve,

the network’s deputy direc-

tor of research.

Pressure is rising as the

70th anniversary of the Peo-

ple’s Republic of China on

Oct. 1 approaches, she add-

ed.

In 2014, more than 100

mainlanders were detained

for supporting the pro-

democracy Umbrella Move-

ment in Hong Kong.

Several mainlanders who

disagree with the govern-

ment line on Hong Kong told

The Times that they fear for

their families’ safety, even as

they argue with other Chi-

nese social media users.

Mary, 31, a mainlander

working for a Hong Kong

newspaper, said she stays up

until 3 or 4 a.m. explaining

Hong Kong protests to her

Weibo followers. She’s been

flooded by comments curs-

ing her family and calling her

a separatist, she said.

“I’m just reading com-

ments and sometimes I feel

so pissed off, my chest aches.

I’m so angry about Chinese

state media distorting the

truth,” she said. “But I still

have hope. Those 6,000 fol-

lowers want to know what is

happening. If I can open only

a small window for them, it’s

still a good thing.”

Lu said he’d met a doctor

in detention who was held

for 24 hours for sharing a vi-

deo of the protests. Lu was

held longer because his in-

volvement was more in-

tense, he said.

Before detention, he’d

gone to a small beach at

Shenzhen Bay, just across

the water from the rural sub-

urbs of Hong Kong, and

scrawled in the sand: “Hong

Kong, add oil. No rioters,

only tyranny. Fight for free-

dom, don’t give up.”

Lu’s tweets of his beach-

front protest have since been

deleted, along with every-

thing else he tweeted about

Hong Kong. He posted one

last statement before clear-

ing the account.

“I’m now afraid to see

people, afraid of the phone,

afraid of a knock on the door

or sounds in the hallway. I

couldn’t help crying after

calling a friend this after-

noon, sitting all alone in a

room. I’m really so timid, so

scared. Why did our society

become the way it is today?

All I wanted was to speak a

few normal words.”

China cracks down on protest’s allies

Mainlanders run a risk

in voicing support

for the Hong Kong

demonstrations.

By Alice Su

PROTESTERS ADJUSTtheir face masks to chant during a rally Sept. 2 in Hong Kong. At least a dozen peo-

ple in mainland China have been held or threatened for failing to toe the government line on the protests.

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