A Chinese woman has been allegedly taken to a psychiatric hospital after she splashed ink on a poster of President Xi Jinping.
Dong Yaoqiong, a 29-year-old Chinese woman from Hunan Province, hit the headlines on July 4 after she live-streamed herself splashing ink on a poster of the country's leader in Shanghai. In the video, which she posted on Twitter and soon went viral, she said that she opposed Xi Jinping's despotic one-man rule and the Communist Party's oppressive mind control.
Another tweet sent later that day from her account showed three police officers, two uniformed and one in plainclothes, standing outside her home. Dong subsequently disappeared, and her Twitter account under the handle @feefeefly was deactivated. In the meantime her account has been reactivated, but only the posts prior to the ink-spraying video are visible.
On July 18 authorities in China's Guangdong Province detained artist and political activist He Guokuang after he said that he would create an artwork based on Ms. Dong's defacing of Xi Jinping's portrait.
In a series of YouTube videos, Ms. Dong's father, Dong Jianbiao, urged the police to explain what crimes his daughter had committed and to disclose whether she was in detention. On July 13 the police interrupted one of his live broadcasts and questioned him as well as outspoken artist Hua Yong, who was live-streaming the video.
According to Apple Daily, on July 16 the Shanghai police handed Ms. Dong over to the authorities of her native You County, in Hunan Province. The local police allegedly allowed Ms. Dong to see her mother and her 18-year-old brother.
Activist Ou Biaofeng told Apple Daily that some human rights activists had contacted Ms. Dong's mother, identified as Zhou Lianjiao. She told them that her daughter has been taken to a psychiatric hospital.
Ms. Dong's ex-husband as well as her father said that she has never shown any sign of mental illness. According to a 2016 report by The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese government uses psychiatric institutions to silence dissent.
Dong Jianbiao stated that two police officers questioned him after his daughter was detained. They asked him about his job and his family history of mental illness. He denied that members of his family ever suffered from mental issues.
Mr. Dong said in a video that 10 years ago he was arrested for stealing copper items worth 3000 Renminbi from the coal mine where he worked in order to pay for his daughter's education. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison. During his jail term Ms. Dong dropped out of school and found a job.
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