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Will Deatherage: Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deathridge, the producer. Joining me as always is Cheng Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello everyone. Hello Will. I’m glad to see you here again today.
W: Yeah. And today we have a rather remarkable story coming out of [the] Communist Party. I should preface it by saying that, you know, the podcast and the Center for Human Rights don’t condone acts of violence, but it’s important to report on what’s going on. Guangcheng, what’s happening?
G: Yeah, today, Will, I will tell the story. The person’s name is Xia Fugang
W: Okay. Who is he?
G: Yeah. Xia Fugang is just a farmer in Henan Province, Xiping County, and Tandian Town. Because, you know the CCP has local representatives, they call their representatives “secretaries.” And because, you know, there are no checks and balances in China, all the CCP’s officials, especially CCP’s secretaries, can do whatever they want.
W: Okay.
G: Yeah. So this secretary in Tandian village always gives his villagers problems. He was very corrupt. Of course, you know, in mainland China every secretary is corrupt, right? And in July 2026, the farmer Xia Fugang attacked his village’s secretary.
W: Okay.
G: And we don’t know the real information, but some news said he killed the secretary and injured his family.
W: Okay.
G: And after that, Xia Fugang, you know, the farmer, ran into the corn fields.
W: Okay.
G: And since July 30th, the CCP ordered a lot of police and even used the military, and they also put a bounty on him.
W: Okay.
G: Yeah. From the video you can see the CCP prepared a lot of people and cars there, and they used a lot of helicopters to fly in the sky over the corn field looking for him. But so far, as of today, they cannot find him. And usually the CCPN can arrest a person in 48 hours, right? But this time [is] different. As of today [it] has been more than one week.
Yeah. And a lot of people commented online, and a lot of farmers drove their cars to Henan to Tandian village. They bought a lot of food, water, and meat. And they threw the food in the cornfield to feed him and help him escape. A lot of people did that. And some people even parked their cars and left the key [inside] so Xia Fugang can drive away if they found the car. Yeah.
W: Wow.
G: So yeah, you can see now no one supports the CCP. Yeah. And the people said, “If he fights the corrupt CCP officials, [he] will become my hero. So I will support the heroes. I will not support the corrupt officials. Yeah. So now the CCP is worried about that. And the CCP, you know, ordered a lot of military and now they cut down the corn, even though [it] isn’t ripe to try and find him. That [is] making farmers angry.
So yeah, now from this case we can see the CCP lost the people’s belief.
W: Yeah. Yeah. It’s a shame that it’s come to this point where people feel like they need to resort to violence, but it sounds like a lot of people are very desperate, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah. Yeah. No, if the officials give you trouble, there is no justice anywhere. The police will support officials. The court will support CCPs. So [there’s] no way to get justice. Usually, you know, in mainland China, usually the people are very peaceful. Usually, they just talk, talk, talk. They will not use violence. Right? Yeah. But maybe you know… Yeah. I hope we will get more news. The CCP don’t want the people [to] know the truth, right?
Why Xia Fugang did that. They don’t want the people [to] know the details. Maybe the details [are] not good for [the] CCP even.
W: Yeah. So, well, we’ll continue reporting on this, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, yeah.
W: So, just an update. We’re recording this about a week after we recorded the last part of this podcast. There’s been a pretty important update to this case. It appears that Xia Fuang has been found. Guangcheng, can you tell us what happened?
G: Yeah. Yeah. This is the big news now online. A lot of people focus on it. August 8th, the CCP said they captured Xia Fugang. Someone reported him. The old man who reported him lives in Luhua.
W: And why did he report him, Guangcheng?.
G: I think, first, he didn’t understand this person [is] not a bad person, you know. And another thing is, you know, his son’s in the hospital, and there was a reward for finding him.
W: Gotcha. Okay.
G: Yeah. So later, you know, his daughter’s husband mentioned this information and [he] apologized. But [that] doesn’t work; the netizens saw that the old man is a pear farmer from Luhua. So now a lot of people in Mainland China wrote something, and recorded video and shared it online to boycott the old man.
They said, “This year we will not eat any pears and we will refuse to buy anything from the town of Luhua.”
W: Okay.
G: Yeah. So people are sharing that; they are throwing away food from Luhua. In fact, not just food and fruit, anything.
W: Anything, okay. Wow.
G: Even truckers are refusing to transport produce from Luhua.
And another thing that you can see, you know, when the manager comes to somewhere and said, “Okay you come from Luhua, right?” He said, “Yes.”
“Okay take all your things, I fire you now.”
W: Wow.
G: Yeah, “Because you come from Luhua we will not give you the job.”
W: Wow.
G: This happens a lot in Mainland China now.
W: Wow it’s pretty amazing to see people on the grassroots to mobilize like this. Guangcheng, now that he’s been captured, I’m guessing they’ll probably send him to prison, right?
G: Yeah, of course. Maybe, I believe the CCP will kill him. Yeah. So, the CCP will hide all the truth. There will be no fair trial. So, this is why a lot of netizens criticize the old man.
Yeah. The people said, “Okay, you don’t know how evil the CCP’s officials [are], and you need money. Some people saw him but they didn’t report him. Why [did] you report him?” So yeah, all the people don’t like the CCP’s officials, don’t like the CCP’s government, don’t like the party.
W: Right. Right. Well, it sounds like this case is probably closed. But it is very interesting to hear about the people’s reaction to this man being imprisoned, and we’ll continue to follow if this reaction continues and if there are any similar cases coming from China, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yes. Yeah, we will keep following this and update the news.
W: Yeah, absolutely. Alrighty. Thank you very much, Guangcheng. Thank you. Well, thank you everyone.
The Center for Human Rights has published countless articles and reports on issues facing China, the US, and the world. In a 2023 report, Emily Burton examines the continuing influence of Confucius Institutes in American universities, exposing how many have rebranded rather than truly severing ties with the Chinese Communist Party. To read her report, go to our research and analysis page on humanrights.catholic.edu.