I am Hua Yong, 48 years old, an artist who grew up in China.
On June 4, 2012, after performing behaviour art “Memory Cycle” about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Jinshuiqiao, Beijing, I was arrested and reeducated through labor for a year and three months.
After being released from jail, each June, or when Beijing is going to host important meetings, I lose my freedom. I was forced to travel, treated with caution, locked in detention center, or threatened and expelled from Beijing.
At present, I am persecuted because I recorded and reported that Beijing government expelled low-end population after the fire disaster in Xihongmen Town, Daxing District, Beijing. The police went to my friend’s house to arrest me. I could not use ID to live in a hotel and take a train or plane. I dare not see my sick father and three-year-old daughter.
Here I would like to appeal to the people who love freedom and peace all over the world : pay attention to China and other non-free countries, pay attention to people who have been convicted for free speech, ask the Chinese government and other authoritarian governments to release political prisoners and stop persecute the people who are pursuing freedom.
I am currently in exile in my own country and hide all around. However, I do not want to leave my native country. Even if I am arrested or remanded to imprisonment, I also want to struggle for human rights and dignity of a citizen in my own country.
As Chinese ancient saying goes: “They can set fires on streets, but they do not allow the people to light their lights.” Today, I read a sentence online: “When the poor’s lamps go out, the rich’s sky will surely go dark.”
I want to tell all the people in countries without free speech: “Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty. ”
I hope friends in free countries care about the suffering people in a non-free country. I also hope the people in non-free countries stand up bravely to strive for their dignity and human rights to make the world more peaceful, harmonious, free and beautiful!
Hua Yong, fleeing hastily, PM 9:30, December 8, 2017
Resource from Hua Yong’ facebook
Free Copyright Declaration from Hua Yong
Huayong Appeal
