{"id":517448,"date":"2022-11-28T19:04:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T16:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/people-must-be-able-to-speak-freely-without-fear\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T19:04:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T16:04:58","slug":"people-must-be-able-to-speak-freely-without-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/people-must-be-able-to-speak-freely-without-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u201cPeople must be able to speak freely, without fear\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3ab7214803d\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3ab7214803d\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/people-must-be-able-to-speak-freely-without-fear\/#%E2%80%9C%E2%80%9CPeople_must_be_able_to_speak_freely_without_fear%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;\u201cPeople must be able to speak freely, without fear\u201d&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9C%E2%80%9CPeople_must_be_able_to_speak_freely_without_fear%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;\u201cPeople must be able to speak freely, without fear\u201d&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                            My dad was jailed at Tiananmen Square. Now in Canada, I\u2019m protesting Chinese oppression.\n                        <\/div>\n<div>\n                                                                        <em>Yihan is a 23-year-old receptionist who grew up in China, first under Hu Jintao and then Xi Jinping. To protect her and her family, we\u2019ve agreed not to reveal her surname.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I was a child living in Beijing when my dad told me that when he was young, he\u2019d protested at Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was arrested during the demonstrations, and at just 24 years old, he spent six months in jail. He wasn\u2019t given enough to eat and wasn\u2019t allowed to shower. He was bound so tightly that he wondered if the open wounds on his hands would even heal.<\/p>\n<p>He wasn\u2019t the only one: for several months, thousands of students protested in Beijing against the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, calling for democracy, freedom of speech and a free press. On June 4, 1989, the government sent in troops, who opened fire at students. It\u2019s estimated that hundreds to thousands were killed and almost 10,000 were arrested. I didn\u2019t really hear much else about Tiananmen Square growing up. My dad doesn\u2019t talk about it\u2014aside from snippets here and there, he\u2019s never told me exactly what he witnessed or went through.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after my dad was released, he met my mom in Beijing. I was born several years later in the northwestern province of Gansu, and after my parents had my little sister, they settled down in Beijing. We had a comfortable childhood, with my dad working in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> and my mom staying home to take care of us.<\/p>\n<p>From discussions I heard as a child, I could tell my parents were pessimistic about China\u2019s future. Many people in China are secretly critical of the government but they fear getting a call from police, being fined or going to jail, so they censor themselves. Chinese people are good at ignoring what the government is doing, but it doesn\u2019t mean they agree with Xi\u2019s actions, including mass surveillance, online censorship and arresting and profiling dissidents.<\/p>\n<p>In China, schoolchildren are expected to work hard. I went to school at 7 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m. each day. I didn\u2019t have many hobbies because I spent most of my free time doing schoolwork, which furthered government propaganda. I had a \u201csociety and politics\u201d class in grade seven where I learned about Marxism and Chinese communism. My parents, and especially my dad, weren\u2019t h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>y about this. It might seem theoretical, but these lessons indirectly taught us to trust the CCP\u2014we didn\u2019t learn anything that might cause us to question the government or its actions. The Tiananmen Square Massacre, for example, is never mentioned in our history textbooks.<\/p>\n<p>When I was in high school, my parents encouraged me to complete my secondary education in Canada. At first, I was optimistic: I was excited to have less homework to do after school. But I didn\u2019t realize how hard it would be to live without my family. I landed in Toronto on a cool evening in August of 2014, and my first few months were tough. I stayed with a host family near the high school I was attending in Mississauga. It was a rural area with no public transportation, so I was often bored and homesick. I stayed up late, reading or watching YouTube: it was better than lying in bed awake, missing my family.<\/p>\n<p>After high school, I went to the University of Toronto to study philosophy and German. In 2019, I became more politically aware of the situation I\u2019d left behind in China, during a Russian history class. I asked my professor questions about communism, and through my discussions with him, I realized how repressive and undemocratic the Chinese government is, particularly its censorship and human rights abuses. I stumbled across <em>Doctor Zhivago<\/em>, the 1957 novel by the Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, which explores anti-authoritarianism and life under Soviet communist rule. I started to relate the themes in the book to my growing knowledge of the Chinese government.<\/p>\n<p>I also became involved in activism for the Hong Kong protests that year. I\u2019ve spoken out for human rights in China since then. Protesting the communist regime in China was scary at first: that fear left me only after I attended a handful of events.<\/p>\n<p>This past summer, I helped host a commemoration event for the victims of June Fourth in Toronto. Thousands of people attended. People wore black as a sign of mourning. When the sun went down, the flames of lit candles glowed. It was an emotional moment. I\u2019m also a member of the Federation for a Democratic China. We work with other groups to organize rallies and other events, and put together our own.<\/p>\n<p>Because of my political activism, I can\u2019t go back home to visit my parents and sister. My mom came to visit me two years ago, and I haven\u2019t seen my dad in over three years. After the memorial event for the victims of the June Fourth Tiananmen Square Massacre this summer, my dad got an anonymous call from someone. They were polite and didn\u2019t say anything explicitly threatening, but they did tell him his family members living overseas should not engage in activities that might harm China\u2019s reputation. We still don\u2019t know who it was. I\u2019m afraid that if I go back, I\u2019ll be greeted at the airport by the police. If there\u2019s a security list, I might be on it. But I am the child of a protester at Tiananmen Square\u2014 I can\u2019t stop working toward the collapse of the CCP. People must be able to speak freely, without fear.<\/p>\n<p>I haven\u2019t told my dad the complete truth about my activism. I know it would get him in trouble: families of overseas dissidents are often intimidated, imprisoned or harassed by police in China. It\u2019s why Chinese in the diaspora are so hesitant to protest the Xi regime. There\u2019s so much fear for the safety of our families back home.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever I speak to my dad, we exchange pleasantries\u2014I wouldn\u2019t dare share pictures I\u2019ve taken at protests or rallies. It\u2019s an invisible barrier between us. My dad isn\u2019t a political person anymore; he\u2019s just an average person living his life. As a father, he would be concerned. But I know he would be proud of me, too.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As told to Leila El Shennawy<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/society\/chinese-oppression-tiananmen-protest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;\u201cPeople must be able to speak freely, without fear\u201d&#8221; My dad was jailed at Tiananmen Square. Now in Canada, I\u2019m protesting Chinese oppression. Yihan is a 23-year-old receptionist who grew up in China, first under Hu Jintao and then Xi Jinping. To protect her and her family, we\u2019ve agreed not to reveal her surname. I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":517449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_9287-1-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4973],"class_list":["post-517448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}