The police dismissed as “suicide due to pains of love” what relatives believe to be another case of school bullying, and had to repress unusually persistent protests.
by Chen Tao
On January 14, the body of a high school student was found in a river in Guanyun County（灌云县), Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province. The authorities determined that the suicide was the result of pains of love, unrelated to school bullying. On the other hand, family members demanded that those involved be held accountable for what they believed to be bullying. As it happened for other doubtful causes of death, the incident triggered days of online and offline protests, which were suppressed by the authorities through a variety of “stabilization” measures.
On December 9, 2023, Zhang Xinwei (张新伟), a senior in a Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, high school, disappeared after posting a suicide note on the Internet accusing his ex-girlfriend of spreading rumors about him on campus and verbally abusing and threatening him together with her current boyfriend.
On January 14, rescue teams recovered Zhang Xinwei’s body from the river. His parents were not notified by the authorities but learned the news from other relatives and friends. They were also blocked by the police after they arrived at the site where the body was recovered and tried to view Zhang Xinwei’s remains.
Local rumors had it that Zhang Xinwei was beaten to death by his classmates, and even the body was recovered in the water in a standing position, eliciting suspicions that it was kept in a freezer and then thrown into the water. Zhang Xinwei’s father, who continued to voice his suspicions on the Internet, also questioned the incident, pointing out that his son’s body allegedly soaked in the river for many days but did not have the typical bloated appearance of a corpse that has remained in water for long. He suspected a cover-up and requested that an autopsy be performed off-site and the school authorities and bullies held accountable.
On the night of January 19, more than a dozen masked unidentified people smashed through the door, entered into the home of Zhang Xinwei’s parents and threatened them. The cell phones of the relatives were also stolen. On the same day, the Guanyun County police published a statement insisting that it was because of personal love questions that Zhang Xinwei jumped into the river to commit suicide, and he had not been a victim of school bullying.
Since January 20, netizens have been visiting Zhang Xinwei’s home in Zhang Baoshan Village（张宝山村), in Guanyun County, in an attempt to express their sympathy and solidarity to his family. However, they were met by a large number of police officers deployed at the entrance of Zhang Baoshan Village. To enter the village, they had to show their ID cards and driver’s licenses and had to surrender their cell phones. Netizens understood that Zhang’s family members were under the control of the local government.
On January 21, the authorities deployed police forces at the bridge where the suicide allegedly occurred and a large number of people had laid flowers. They told the crowd that this was prohibited, and that night sanitation workers collected the flowers piled up by the river.
On January 24, thousands of people from the surrounding area gathered in Zhang Baoshan Village, waving Chinese flags and chanting slogans such as “Free Zhang Xinwei’s mother,” “Reveal the truth,” and “Give an explanation to the people,” as they tried to break through the police blockade and enter the village to rescue Zhang Xinwei’s parents. During this time, there was pushing and shoving between the demonstrators and the police, who confiscated Chinese flags and broke flagpoles. Although most of the demonstrators were blocked at the entrance to Zhang Baoshan village, a small number of them broke through the police blockade by walking around the path to Zhang Xinwei’s house. However, they did not see Zhang Xinwei’s family and noticed an unknown man hiding in the courtyard of their house.
On January 25, the local police set up a number of checkpoints within a 20-kilometer radius of Zhang Baoshan Village, prohibiting vehicles not belonging to locals from entering the area. A large number of netizens attempting to enter Zhang Baoshan Village were intercepted, and some of those who raised objections were interviewed by the police. Video footage from the area showed that a large number of police officers remained on duty in Zhang Baoshan village until the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, while the whereabouts of Zhang Xinwei’s family were still unknown.
The demonstrations in Zhang Baoshan Village, Jiangsu, were very similar to the large-scale protests in Ningling County, Henan, following the death of a middle school student who was suspected of having been bullied on campus. It was not the first incident of this kind. Family members and many others suspected that the student had been subjected to bullying and violence before his death. They questioned the official claim that the death had been a simple suicide. The protests reflected a lack of trust in the authorities and the brutality with which they dealt with legitimate questions and demands.
Although violence in schools is a problem in many countries around the world, in China the CCP’s opaque and repressive political system hides the truth and makes a serious policy aimed at preventing these incidents impossible. Unusually, public protests for these cases now continue even after the police try to stop them.
Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.
