This is a two-part story; please go here for Part 2
From living in fear of anti-communist sentiment, to more fully understanding the workings of the Chinese Communist Party, to finally openly defying and taking a stand against it, Wei Yihan has gone through a gradual process of coming to see the Chinese Communist Party for what it truly is — a party made up of bullying and lies.
Originally from Beijing, Wei Yihan first moved abroad to study while in high school and then graduated from a university in Canada not long ago. After being exposed to life outside of China and the control of the Chinese Communist Party, she has come to understand things in a new light.
Wei Yihan recently protested before the Chinese consulate in Toronto to support the Chinese people’s “White Paper Movement.” With a loudspeaker in hand, she joined hundreds of other international students as they chanted: “Step down Communist Party!” According to Wei Yihan: “This has been a process of justice overcoming fear, and a process of legal citizens fighting for their legitimate rights.”
Awakening from the Hong Kong ‘Anti-Extradition Movement’
Wei Yihan was born into an ordinary family in Beijing to parents who were not Chinese Communist Party officials. It was in such a family atmosphere that she was able to enlighten the workings of the Chinese Communist Party. However, hearing and seeing various stories about the Party’s actions made her angry and confused. She wondered: “Why are there so many unjust and unrighteous things?”
After starting middle school, Wei Yihan disliked the Party’s high-handed, fill-in-the-blank approach to education and began questioning things even more. “Why does everyone have to study so rigorously? Why can’t students have a life of their own?”
After moving to Canada for high school, Wei Yihan saw the vast differences between the two countries. Returning to China every summer to visit her family highlighted the differences in education systems, the social and political environments, and the humanistic environments in the two countries.
In the summer of 2019, while Wei Yihan was on summer vacation in China, the “Anti-Extradition Movement” broke out in Hong Kong. Domestic news reports portrayed the movement as a plot by overseas anti-China forces to overthrow the Chinese government, and those protesting were described as thugs and destabilizers of peace.
It was not until September, when she returned to school in Canada, that Wei Yihan discovered that the movement was not as the Chinese media portrayed it. On the contrary, it was an attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to deprive the people of Hong Kong of their freedom and turn Hong Kong into a city like the mainland.
The movement completely awakened Wei Yihan. She realized: “The Communist Party is a bully that lies. It is authoritarian, violent, and a scourge on humanity.”
Under the Chinese Communist Party, there is no benevolence left
Wei Yihan has seen that: “The CCP can do anything. It doesn’t care about people or treat them as citizens — it treats them as a resource to be squeezed.”
The term “human mine” has recently become popular, and it sums up the current situation in Chinese people’s lives. The education system first squeezes the Chinese: They go to school from childhood, then take exams desperately, and they must compete and conspire against each other to get ahead even a little.
After they go to work, they are squeezed by the state system. It tries to get everything it can out of people while teaching people to lie and struggle against one another. Then, after they get old, they are squeezed by the medical system while dealing with health problems. And after they die, they are packed by the funeral system.
Chinese people’s lives are lives of constantly being squeezed. Yet, faced with such substantial social oppression, control, and injustice, the people cannot resist.
According to Chinese thought, Wei Yihan stated that people have seven emotions and six desires. They have various needs and desires, emotional and intellectual pursuits, and want to express themselves freely. But while growing up, Wei Yihan found that human nature is comprehensively suppressed in Chinese society, and individuals have no room to resist.
“One of the scary things about the Communist Party is that it wants to take away the goodness that exists in human nature.” She said: “In a society like China, there is no way you can be a good person, and the result of you trying to be a good person is being oppressed, bullied, and squeezed by others of all kinds.”
Wei Yihan has experienced agents and business owners cheating and squeezing job seekers for all they can. Under the recruitment banner, these companies make job seekers pay 300 yuan. Then, they keep tricking people into it, keep collecting money, and in the end, the people end up with nothing.”
“Every time I return to China, I feel there is no way you can be a good person there. Being a good person only gets you further bullying, oppression, and intensified exploitation from others.”
Wei Yihan said: “Under the influence of the Communist Party, Chinese people will do anything for money; there is nothing they won’t do V they lie, harm people, and make all kinds of falsifications. But there is no law to rule them. This is the society ruled by the Communist Party.”
Wei Yihan has seen that: “The Chinese Communist Party rules by lies.” But she said the propaganda of the CCP is no longer working.
In the streets and alleys of China, all kinds of slogans about democracy, wealth, and freedom are painted on the walls. But in reality, the Chinese Communist Party is just trying to tell a good story, using its red slogans to fool people. So what do Chinese people believe? Wei Yihan said not many people think about what the Party says anymore. But on the other hand, its lies are deeply rooted in society and act as brainwashing for some people.
Wei Yihan said the Chinese Communist Party controls people’s freedom of speech and thought. It engages in a lot of censorship so that people cannot see the truth, and it completely deprives people of their human rights, stifling humanity. “Sometimes I feel sorry for the Chinese people, who have no right to be angry and grieve; when there are major casualties, the CCP does not even allow people to mourn publicly.”
Wei Yihan read Taiwanese writer Lung Yingtai’s article Chinese People, Why Don’t You Get Angry when it was published. She said she was incredibly touched after reading it and became more angry and concerned about the injustices. But, she said “We are not entitled to be silent. We must do something to change it.”
June 4, 2021, marked a first for Wei Yihan — she joined in a protest for the June 4 commemoration of the Beijing students movement at the University of Toronto. At the time, she wore a mask throughout the event, her heart woven with fear and anxiety that her actions would negatively affect her loved ones in China.
Later, Wei Yihan decided there was no need to be afraid: “I was doing the right thing, so why should I be afraid? I am a legal citizen of a country, so why should I be worried? Why can’t I express my thoughts legally and reasonably? This is my legitimate right.”
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