The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China invites you to check out the Center for Human Rights website at humanrights.catholic.edu There you can find our latest episodes, articles about human rights in China, important events, and information about our annual essay contest for students. Go to humanrights.catholic.edu.
Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello, Will. Hello, everyone. I’m glad to see you here again today.
W: And just a quick disclaimer for folks who are uncomfortable with animal cruelty and all, just a quick disclaimer that we’re going to be discussing that topic in today’s episode. Guangcheng, can you let us know what’s happening in China?
G: Okay, yeah, they are currently protesting in Chongqing City. It is one of the biggest cities. The reason is because [of] the bad guy whose name is Li Meng. The bad guy is very famous on [the] internet. He is an influencer. In Mainland China, you know, in the supermarket, they would like to have more customers. Sometimes they will give some food or some vegetables, or some juice to let the people sample. And Li Meng would go [to] be there. And the problem is he would video himself taking so much food all the time.
W: Okay, just to get attention, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, he did a lot of that, you know, because the service in the supermarket knows him.
And told him to stop taking so much food.
W: Right, but he was doing it for his audience, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, and he would video himself getting angry and throwing the food at people in the market. And someone, you know, took the video [of] what he did and shared it online. So that made him popular. But this protest is because, in China, if the government doesn’t want a family in the city to own a dog, they will make them give it up for adoption.
W: Okay.
Yeah. So he, you know, Li Meng, found the opportunity online to contact the dog owner and said, “Oh, I so want [to] have a dog. If you cannot have the dog, please give it to me, blah,” like that. So a family believed him and gave the dog to him. And later, the netizens found he tortured the dog at his house.
W: How did they find out?
G: Because, you know, he tortured the dog on his deck. So his neighbors heard the dog crying. And sometimes, he threw the dog from the building to the ground. Then, you know, some people, they love the animal and they come there to check on the dog. You know, they saw the dog without its tail and a lot of bones broken. And without teeth. And then they reported [it] to the police.
So when the netizens shared the information online, the people who love animals went to his area and protested outside his house.
W: Right, because he was a popular influencer.
G: Yeah, yes. And so many people protested that the CCP got worried and ordered the police there to watch the protesters. And more and more people came there. On June 9th, the police arrested 12 protesters. And beat a lot of protesters there, too. So the protesters shared the videos and said, “Today you beat 500 people here, tomorrow we’ll have 5,000 people come here to protest.” So the CCP ordered more and more police there. And June 11th, around 4 AM,
the CCP kicked the protesters out and closed that area.
And the protesters just asked the CCP to punish the bad guy, and asked them to rescue the dog.
W: Yeah. Guangcheng, why did the CCP arrest the protesters instead of this guy who was obviously committing animal cruelty?
G: Because in mainland China, the CCP doesn’t care about the reason. They will always arrest protesters.
W: Right. Because this didn’t even… This wasn’t even concerning the Communist Party, right?
G: Yeah. Yeah. If the people [are] coming together, the CCP is so worried they will ask for more, demand political rights. Yeah. So the protesters just asked the CCP to punish the bad guy and create animal rights laws.
W: Yeah, Guangcheng, what are animal rights laws like in China? Do those even exist?
G: No. In mainland China, the CCP only has a law to protect some wild animals if the animal is endangered. Yeah, just that law. They never have the law to protect animals like dogs, like cats.
W: Why don’t they, Guangcheng?
G: In mainland China, you know, the people don’t have the rights, the human rights. If they created the law to protect dogs’ rights or cats’ rights, that will make the people think, “Oh, the CCP has the law to protect the animals. What about our rights?”
W: Wow. Yeah.
G: So the CCP is scared that that will make the people think about that. So they just ignore the people’s demands. So now the people still surround that area and they print flyers and share it in different cities. And yeah, and this action got a lot of support. Some restaurants prepared the food and gave it to the protesters for free. So yeah, that made the CCP more worried.
W: The CCP seems determined to squash any kind of protest at all, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yes, yes. The CCP did not arrest the bad guy and instead arrested the protesters. And the police threatened them, “If you do not go home, we will not release the protesters we already arrested.”
W: Wow. So it’s like holding them hostage.
G: Yeah, yeah, that is [the] CCP: always stand with bad guy. Always stand with evil, right?
W: Yeah. Well, we’ll continue following this situation as well as any kind of protests that erupt across China. Guangcheng, thank you very much for all this information, and our followers can keep up with the latest news in human rights across China at humanrights.catholic.edu.
Thank you, Guangcheng.
G: Thank you, Will. Thank you, everyone.
The Center for Human Rights has published countless articles and reports on issues facing China, the U.S., and the world. Reports from late 2022 revealed the existence of secret Chinese police stations operating around the world, including in the United States, raising serious concerns about foreign intimidation. A detailed analysis from the Center for Human Rights examines documented cases in Europe and the U.S. and reviews the legal frameworks that could help address this growing challenge. To read this report, go to our research and analysis page on humanrights.catholic.edu.