On September 20, 2025, In the Wild magazine staff members Ma Qun, He Yu, and Zeng Qunlan gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, raising banners and copies of the magazine to voice their support for 22-year-old student Zhang Yadi.
Zhang Yadi once worked as an editor for the “Chinese Youth for Tibet” association. In July of this year, while returning to China to visit her family, she was arrested by Chinese police and subsequently went missing — a deeply distressing event. Even more shocking, 709 human-rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong was also detained and disappeared after attempting to provide legal assistance to Zhang Yadi’s mother.
Zhang Yadi is merely a young student, yet she has been harshly persecuted for her pursuit of freedom and democracy. The renewed arrest of lawyer Jiang Tianyong further exposes the Chinese authorities’ ongoing repression of the rule of law and human rights.
Our action today in Los Angeles is a call to the international community to pay close attention to the plight of Zhang Yadi and Jiang Tianyong. We want to tell the world:
Freedom is not a crime! Democracy is not a crime!We strongly demand that the Chinese Communist regime immediately release Zhang Yadi and Jiang Tianyong, and restore their freedom and dignity.
Zhang Yadi is innocent! Jiang Tianyong is innocent!Release all those persecuted for their faith and their pursuit of democracy and freedom!
Ma Qun (left), He Yu (center), and Zeng Qunlan (right)
Editor: Gloria Wang executive: Luo Zhifei Translator: Fang Liu proofreader: Jie Li
Abstract: The CCP’s two primary tools for seizing and maintaining power are lies and violence. This article exposes some of the CCP’s deceptions to the world, conveying the truth so that more people may recognize the CCP’s insidious and evil nature.
The greatest lie is communism itself. Under the banner of public ownership and collective control, it seeks to eliminate private property, exploitation, and class divisions through revolution and planned economies. The truth is that utopian communists incite the poor to “legitimately” seize private property in the name of public ownership. The plundered assets ultimately end up in the hands of a privileged few with distribution authority, leaving the masses with nothing but poverty and suffering. At the First International Congress in 1872, Bakunin challenged Marx: “If the proletariat establishes a dictatorship through revolution, how will this new regime avoid becoming a new oppressive class and tool of exploitation? Once revolutionaries seize power, they will inevitably detach from the masses to form a new privileged class. Even under the proletarian banner, they will continue oppressing the people to protect their own interests.” An enraged Marx expelled Bakunin and his followers from the First International. Hayek argued that communism’s distribution according to need is hell. The road to utopian paradise may be paved with flowers, but it leads to slavery. Since its inception, communism has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds of millions, and its specter continues to poison the world.
CPC Propaganda Lie: Dazhao Li was a patriotic martyr murdered by the reactionary warlord Zhang Zuolin. Truth: Li Dazhao was a high-ranking Soviet spy stationed in China who betrayed Chinese interests to serve the Soviet Union. Zhang Zuolin seized substantial evidence of Li’s pro-Soviet treason within the Soviet embassy.
CPC Lie: The Land Revolution aimed to target landlords, redistribute land, and abolish feudal exploitation. The truth is that the Communist Party sought to establish a Chinese Soviet regime in China, armed to defend the Soviet Union—an act of blatant treason and betrayal of national interests. Funding for the CPC revolution came partly from the Soviet Union and partly from robbery, kidnapping, fraud, and murder. Long He, Pai Peng, and Zhimin Fang were leading figures in these criminal activities.
CPC Lie: The Red Army’s Long March was to advance northward against Japanese aggression. The CPC was the mainstay of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The truth is that the Nationalist government’s forces encircled and suppressed the Red Army, forcing its retreat northwestward. The objective was to reach the northern border and link up with the Soviet Union, using Soviet backing to split China. As for resisting Japan, it was actually “one part compliance, two parts propaganda, seven parts expansion.”
CPC Lie: The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region held democratic elections with one person, one vote, and equality between officers and soldiers. The CCP claimed it would establish a democratic, free, and independent nation. This deceived countless patriots into sacrificing their lives to help the CCP win the civil war. In hindsight, those people sacrificed themselves in vain for the CCP. This false propaganda deceived vast numbers of Chinese people, including the U.S. Army mission to Yan’an. Countless idealistic youths flocked to Yan’an, and the Truman administration halted military aid to the Nationalist government. The truth is that Yan’an’s elections were merely a formality, with all results predetermined. When CCP member Wang Shiwei exposed the Party’s “three-tiered clothing system and five-tiered food rationing,” he published an article criticizing the CCP’s hypocrisy and was secretly executed. Meanwhile, CCP troops cultivated opium in Nanmiwan to fund their military operations, poisoning the Chinese people.
CCP Lie: The Communist forces swept through the Nationalist defenses with overwhelming force during the civil war. Truth: Continuous Soviet arms supplies and the U.S. halting aid to the Nationalists. After Japan’s surrender, numerous Japanese technical officers were directly integrated into Communist units for the civil war. In pivotal early battles, the CCP forces inhumanely used civilians as human shields and bargaining chips to secure victories, gradually shifting the strategic balance. For instance, during the Battle of Menglianggu in East China, landlords and wealthy peasants were forced to lead the charge. Nationalist officers and soldiers, unwilling to shoot civilians, abandoned combat. In the siege of Changchun in Northeast China, to prevent Nationalist defenders disguised as civilians from escaping, the CCP ordered the execution of anyone leaving the city. This directive led to the starvation deaths of 600,000 civilians trapped within Changchun.
CPC Lie: “Resist America, Aid Korea; Defend the Motherland.” Truth: Kim Il-sung first ordered North Korean forces to cross the 38th Parallel North and invade South Korea. UN forces subsequently entered the Korean Peninsula to drive North Korean troops back to the China-North Korean border, with no intention of invading China. At this point, Stalin, fearing a third world war, refused to send troops to Korea. Mao Zedong, seeking to become the leader of the Communist International and to eliminate large numbers of former Nationalist officers who had surrendered during the civil war by using others as tools, dispatched the Volunteer Army to fight in Korea. The UN forces held air superiority and possessed comprehensive advantages in equipment and logistics. Their attacks on the Volunteer Army during the Korean War amounted to a dimension-lowering strike, resulting in a massive disparity in casualties. Every battle left mountains of Volunteer Army corpses. It was not the bravery of the volunteers nor the superior tactical genius of Zedong Mao and Dehuai Peng that forced the UN forces, led by the United States, to cease hostilities. Rather, it was the surging anti-war sentiment within the United States that compelled the American government to end the war.
CCP Lie: The People’s Army is loyal to the Party. Truth: The Chinese military does not belong to the people. A People’s Army should be loyal to the people and the nation. An army loyal to the Party should be called the Party’s Guard, not the People’s Army.
CCP Lie: The slogan “Serving the People.” The truth is the Communist Party serves only the privileged elite. The people are the providers; the privileged are the ones served.
CCP Lie: Western anti-China forces harbor relentless intentions to destroy us. The truth is the West opposes the dictatorial CCP, not the Chinese people. The Chinese people are not synonymous with the CCP; the CCP is not synonymous with China. The “us” in this statement refers to the CCP’s privileged class, not the Chinese people.
In education, the CCP propagates the lie: “Everything for the children, fostering their moral, intellectual, and physical development.” The truth is that children from ordinary families undergo CCP-brainwashed exam-oriented education starting in kindergarten. These children learn to love the CCP, obey orders, conform to the collective, suppress individuality, and reject questioning voices. Under heavy academic pressure, they lose childhood joy, personal identity, and innovative spirit. Masses of university graduates face unemployment upon graduation. Meanwhile, the offspring of privileged families receive Western-style education from childhood, study abroad in Europe and America upon reaching adulthood, and return to China to take over their parents’ positions.
In healthcare, the CCP’s propaganda lie is that “the Chinese government cares for every citizen’s life, with people’s lives above all political or private interests.” The truth is that ordinary people facing serious illnesses are driven to financial ruin and family collapse by medical costs. Patients without money are cut off from treatment and expelled from hospitals, left to either wait for death or jump to their deaths immediately. So-called medical insurance merely plays a game of first raising prices and then reimbursing a small portion, offering no real guarantee for the healthcare needs of the impoverished masses. Meanwhile, senior CCP cadres reside in VIP wards enjoying free medical care, even brazenly harvesting organs from ordinary people for transplants to extend their own lives. Most China’s healthcare expenditures are spent on these high-ranking officials.
In the realm of pensions, the CCP propagates the lie: “Family planning is good, the government will provide for your old age, everyone is equal, and distribution is based on work.” The truth is that after deceiving families with only one child for decades, the CCP discarded its original promises, leaving them to solve their own retirement problems. Generations of Chinese farmers paid decades of taxes to support the CCP regime, only to receive a monthly pension of over 100 yuan—barely enough to buy rice. Most urban workers receive pensions of just over 1,000 yuan after contributing to social security for fifteen years. Meanwhile, CCP officials enjoy absurdly high pensions, with higher ranks equating to higher benefits. The majority of annual social security expenditures go to a tiny minority of high-ranking officials. Now that the social security fund is running a deficit, the authorities have once again extended the retirement age and increased the contribution period to 25 years—an act of ruthless exploitation, boundless greed, and utter shamelessness.
The propaganda in the field of the rule of law claims that China is “governed according to law.” In reality, the entire Constitution is nothing more than a façade. Fundamental rights of the people—such as freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom of the press and association, and the right to assembly and demonstration—exist only on paper and have all been stripped away in practice. The outcome of every court case is secretly decided by local party officials at various levels. In China, the so-called “rule of law” is actually ruled by the Party’s will: major cases are judged by political considerations, medium cases by their social impact, and minor cases by personal connections.
The Tiananmen student unrest, the promise of Hong Kong’s return, the promise of joining the WTO, donations for the Wenchuan earthquake, the Belt and Road Initiative, COVID-19 lockdowns, policies toward Taiwan, a thousand reasons to maintain good China-US relations, 9.6 million square kilometers of national territory with no inch to spare, equal pay for equal work, diligence leading to prosperity, a moderately prosperous society for all, voluntary blood donation, organ donation and transplantation, the united front of ethnic groups, political consultation and participation by democratic parties, the news media, mixed-ownership reform of enterprises, investigating the loss of state assets over the past 30 years—all of these are lies and fraud! Lies make the rich believe that the money is theirs, and the poor believe that the country belongs to them. To prevent the spread of truth, the CCP built a cyber firewall early on to block international internet access to China. Today, the enslaved people, long subjected to CCP brainwashing, remain in the dark, completely unaware.
President Abraham Lincoln of the United States said: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time! All the forces in the world that love freedom, peace, and justice, unite to expose the lies of the Chinese Communist Party, spread the truth, overthrow the CCP dictatorship, rebuild a constitutional republic, restore freedom to the Chinese people, and bring peace to the peoples of the world!
Nearly a hundred rights defenders were denied access to the court hearing of Zou Wei’s case. One of the defenders was illegally detained in the courtroom for nearly four hours.
Author: Jiang Ge Editor: Zhang Zhijun Responsible Editor: Li Congling Proofreader: Xiong Bian Translator: tomorrow
The staff of the Gongshu District Court refused to allow rights defenders to attend the trial as observers, claiming that the application process for observation had ended. Everyone questioned the court authorities as to why they did not give advance notice and even the mother of Zou Wei did not receive an observation pass. The authorities had no response. Shang Guoying from Chaoshan Village, Tangxi Town, Yuhang District, requested that a television be set up in the hall to live broadcast the trial, but was instead taken to a large courtroom next door and guarded by five bailiffs until after 1 p.m. Shang Guoying said that she discovered a big secret at the court: when she went to the toilet, she found that it was only about one square meter in size and had leg irons on the seat, just like the solitary confinement cells in detention centers and prisons. There were about ten such toilets in a row. She said she had never heard of such toilets before and this was a real eye-opener for her.
Although Zou Wei’s 85-year-old mother didn’t have a credential to attend the trial, she was able to attend with the help of human rights activists. The judge refused to allow Zou’s mother to speak and threatened to expel her if she said anything. Zou’s mother felt deeply distressed but also proud of her son. She said Zou Wei had lost a lot of weight, but looked energetic and presented a coherent defense in court.The lawyers argued for Zou Wei’s innocence, arguing on two key points: first, whether Zou Wei’s interview constituted “spreading false information through online platforms.” They argued that interviews are passive behaviors, with the interviewee answering questions based on their own information, with the responsibility for editing and selecting information residing solely with the interviewer. This is a common practice in Chinese news reporting; second, whether the information Zou Wei provided was false. The prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to prove Zou Wei’s claims were false. On the contrary, many of the individuals involved in the information testified to the truth of Zou Wei’s statements. Zou Wei’s mother praised the two lawyers, calling them excellent.
The day before the trial, Zou Wei filed a petition with the Gongshu District Court requesting a public trial and live webcast. He argued that since the indictment found him guilty of “spreading false information through online platforms like Radio Free Asia, an overseas media outlet, and suspected of provoking trouble,” his case should be open to the public and live webcast. Because Radio Free Asia is a news organization funded by the US Congress and has a wide global influence, its live broadcast should be conducted in accordance with the law.
Zou Wei also argued that his father and mother were too old, and his sister was out of the country, to attend the trial. However, he grew up in Hangzhou and had many friends there. Therefore, he hoped his friends could attend the trial. He requested that the court “strictly adhere to the principle of open criminal court hearings when my friends come to court, not hinder their attendance, and ensure sufficient seating for the public.”
Not only did the court fail to approve Zou Wei’s request, but it also went the other way, illegally detaining Shang Guoying, who had requested a live televised broadcast, for four hours, rendering the courtroom a prison.
Author: Zhang Shancheng Executive: Wang Mengmeng Editor: Li Congling Translated:Lyu Feng
A heavy night presses upon the Nine Provinces,The iron curtain towers like a mountain—blood still unstaunched.
The people’s cries of sorrow have not ceased,The ghosts of the Red Calamity bear ancient hate.
When walls are torn down, hearts unite,Rage burns and surges like the sea.To overthrow tyranny is everyone’s duty,To judge the despot is a task without rest.
Through darkest hours breaks the faintest dawn,Freedom’s light spreads across the divine land.Justice endures through the ages of history,And truth shall one day strike down the demon.
On this mournful Eleventh, mountains and rivers weep,Blood cries out to honor the nation’s wounds.Though tyranny rages in brutal strength,Freedom alone shall live forever.
Abstract:In the early morning of September 18, 2022, a bus transporting close contacts of COVID-19 cases in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, overturned, killing 27 people. Behind this tragedy lay the deeper cause—the “zero-COVID” policy.
In the early hours of September 18, 2022, a bus carrying quarantined close contacts in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, overturned, resulting in 27 deaths at the scene. Three years later, this tragedy continues to pain the public’s conscience.
This was by no means a mere “traffic accident.” Its roots lay in the utterly absurd “zero-COVID policy.” To conceal the truth, the authorities forced the bus to depart in the middle of the night; to carry out orders, the driver—exhausted and clad in protective gear—was made to drive through the darkness. In the name of “social-level zero cases,” living human beings were treated as objects to be moved and disposed of at will. The result was that twenty-seven lives, which should never have been lost, were crushed beneath the wheels of policy.
The government’s so-called apology was not a gesture of respect for life, but an act of self-protection for the system. They said there had been “work deficiencies” and that next time things would be done “more carefully.” Those words mean only that the bureaucratic machine will continue to turn coldly, and that sacrifices will go on being consumed. To call a tragedy born of policy merely a “safety accident” is to insult the dead all over again.
What is truly terrifying is not the overturned bus, but the obedience and helplessness of the people. “Sigh… let’s just follow the arrangements,” became their final words. That blind trust and forced submission are precisely the numbness the system cultivates. But this time, it led straight to death.
Three years later, we must speak plainly: this was the crime of the zero-COVID policy, the price of an inhuman system. Those twenty-seven were not unlucky—they were driven to their deaths. To remember them is to keep asking: how many more lives must be lost before such madness ends?
