In a recent interview, democracy activist Le Kai’an expressed his wish for China to become a normal country. Due to his support for the Hong Kong anti-extradition movement, he faced persecution from the authorities and was forced to leave the university campus. Despite facing resistance, he continued his activism and was sentenced for commemorating the June Fourth Incident, also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and was detained multiple times in psychiatric hospitals.
The truth about the June Fourth Incident remains a topic many young people cannot ignore. In high school, when history teachers downplayed the events of June Fourth as a “political disturbance in Beijing in the Spring and Summer of 1989,” Le Kai’an’s curiosity was piqued. He began to research and explore beyond the Great Firewall, although at that time, internet signals were unstable, and he could only occasionally glimpse the outside world.
After graduating from a landscape architecture program in June 2019, Le Kai’an transferred to Guangling College at Yangzhou University. During that period, the Hong Kong anti-extradition movement erupted. Disagreeing with the portrayal of Hong Kong students as rioters in domestic reports, Le Kai’an turned to the foreign internet for information. He learned about the peaceful protests of Hong Kong citizens, the massive marches, and the increasing number of attacks on students, as the police brutality escalated.
Le Kai’an believed that Hong Kong’s sovereignty had already returned, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should not have resorted to such tactics. He expressed that if the CCP truly believed that Western systems were unfavorable, they could have experimented with democracy in Hong Kong to see if it would lead to chaos. However, in reality, they did not even have the courage to attempt it.
On the eve of International Human Rights Day on December 9, Le Kai’an wrote public letters urging citizens to listen to the voices of the people of Hong Kong and support their “five demands.” He distributed dozens of flyers around the campus and surrounding streets.
The next night, two burly plainclothes officers showed up at his dormitory, overturned his bedding, restrained him, searched all his belongings, and took him to the Hanjiang District Shahu River Police Station. In the police station, the lights were bright, and Le Kai’an did not sleep all night. He was documented, and his fingerprints, saliva, DNA, voice patterns, iris scans, and palm prints were collected. The following day, at a meeting room in the school’s administrative building, the school authorities interrogated him, asking if anyone had instructed him and what his intentions were. He was also warned not to engage in such activities again and was subtly hinted at for expulsion.
“China’s surveillance system in the Yangzhou area leaves no blind spots. At that time, my political understanding was not profound. I did not say ‘down with the CCP.’ It may not have been that serious. I just expressed my thoughts, but I did not expect them to react so harshly,” Le Kai’an said.
He was later escorted back home by his father. A few days later, due to the school’s lack of a direct response, Le Kai’an bought a train ticket back to Yangzhou, feeling a connection with the Hong Kong people’s plight and empathizing with them. That night, he printed another batch of flyers and handwrote a message supporting the United States’ Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
The following morning, while taking a bus to have lunch in downtown Yangzhou, the police stopped the bus as it passed the Shahu River Police Station. A group of people forcibly removed him from the bus and took him to the police station.
“It was probably through phone tracking,” Le Kai’an said. “A Deputy Chief with the surname Du came to intimidate me, stating that supporting Hong Kong is essentially no different from being anti-CCP and is a serious offense. The district leaders also came to handle the situation.”
Le Kai’an was confined in a holding room’s iron cage, as the police continuously intimidated him, repeatedly documenting the proceedings. After daybreak, he was taken back to the school. That evening, the school arranged for dormitory supervisors to conduct daily checks and had his roommates monitor his movements.
“People have their tempers. Initially, I wasn’t fully supportive of Hong Kong’s autonomy. Perhaps I still had a strong belief in Greater China. In 2014, the Hong Kong independence movement was not as intense as it is now; they were merely calling for democracy and freedom, which the CCP had violated,” Le Kai’an shared.
Le Kai’an bought several oil pens at the school and late on the 17th, while everyone was asleep, he wrote “support Hong Kong independence” in 108 places within the dormitory building. Following morning, he was detained in his dormitory by the class committee secretary until the police arrived to take him to the police station for investigation.
The next day, the school and public security dispatched two vehicles with five to six personnel who forcibly took him back to his hometown of Changshu and verbally informed his father of his forced withdrawal from school. On December 22, when he attempted to return to the school for an exam, security personnel identified him, and his homeroom teacher drove him forcefully to the Yangzhou Bus Terminal, resulting in his missing all examinations.
In late December, the Yangzhou police suddenly called him, inquiring about his thoughts and arranging a psychiatric evaluation. The police in Yangzhou also pressured his parents through the local government in Changshu, affecting his parents’ work and business.
In January 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and cities across the country were locked down, schools resorted to online classes. However, whenever Le Kai’an tried to enter the online classroom, he would be immediately kicked out. The restrictions continued until March when he underwent a criminal psychiatric evaluation at the Wutai Mountain Hospital in Yangzhou. Days later, he received the evaluation results: 1. His mental state at the time of the incident and current state were normal, and 2. He had full criminal responsibility.
Le Kai’an believed that the police had him undergo a psychiatric evaluation to have him confined in a psychiatric hospital. “From an operational perspective, it’s easier to handle than detention. Psychiatric institutions can confine individuals indefinitely, unlike detention centers which have set time limits. Initially, my case was framed as causing disturbances, and later, it was altered to intentionally damaging the company’s finances,” he remarked.
In May 2020, as the pandemic wreaked havoc, Le Kai’an witnessed the continuous cover-ups by the CCP regarding the outbreak. He criticized the government’s inadequate response and self-serving agendas, emphasizing that they were not being accountable to the people. He printed a new set of public letters and distributed them in the central district of Nanjing, containing his political views on China.
The demands in his letters emphasized: freedom of the press as the first point; judicial justice and independence as the second point; the release of Ren Zhiqiang as the third point; the commemoration of the June Fourth incident as the fourth point; questioning the lifetime tenure of leading cadres as problematic; and calling for the disclosure of officials’ assets.
In early June, Le Kai’an arrived in Beijing, intending to protest at the Xinhua Gate, imitating the actions of the 90s youth activist Qi Yiyuan. However, the roads around the Xinhua Gate within the Xicheng district, leading to the vicinity of the Zhongnanhai, were blocked that day. He decided to relocate to Wangfujing Street in Dongcheng District near the east side of Tiananmen Square, staging a commemoration for the June Fourth Incident and protesting for democracy.
According to the criminal judgment from the Daxing District Court in Beijing and Le Kai’an’s account, around 11 a.m. on June 4, he wore a white T-shirt inscribed with the slogans “Oppose Xi’s policy of restricting evaluations and oppose one-party rule,” while holding up a sign that read “Remember June Fourth, end the dictatorship.” “Many onlookers were present that day; they were all shocked, but patrol officers quickly rushed over, pressed me against the police car, confiscated everything, and forced me to undress. The entire process lasted for about three to four minutes, and their response was very swift,” Le Kai’an recalled.
He was taken to the Dongcheng District Wangfujing Police Station, where in a dimly lit interrogation room, the police employed similar investigative techniques as before, informing him on the spot of his criminal detention. Subsequently, he was sentenced to two years in prison for the charge of causing disturbances.
Recalling his time in custody, Le Kai’an shared that after being criminally detained, the police cited unsuitability for interrogation at the detention center as a reason for transferring him to a designated surveillance residence. He resided in a room at a guesthouse for 14 days, which was considered as seven days of sentence reduction, with two days counted as one, before being reincarcerated for criminal detention. The conditions at the designated residence were as severe as a prison, even worse at times. He endured torture during his time there, including slaps, exhausting interrogations, and hunger interrogations.
“They (police) said a sentence that stuck with me – in a place like Beijing, your case is taken more seriously than murder or arson,” Le Kai’an remembered. Initially held at the Daxing Detention Center, he was later shifted to the Beijing No. 6 Detention Center in August 2020 for being uncooperative during interrogation. This facility was also known as the Guardianship Medical Center, where inmates, including those convicted of serious crimes such as murder, and individuals with mental illnesses were held together. Le Kai’an was handcuffed with leg irons and observed violent executions being conducted.
“At the No. 6 Detention Center, some mentally ill inmates were physically restrained to their beds, water was forcibly poured into their mouths, they were slapped, and continuously asked, ‘Do you submit?'” he revealed.
Two months later, Le Kai’an began experiencing anxiety and depression, eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. “They administered medication forcibly, making me lie down on the bed and injecting medication into me. What kind of drugs they used? They never disclosed that. They would grind the medication into a powder, dissolve it in water, and spray it into my mouth via a syringe. Since I resisted, they resorted to a sedative injection, which left me feeling like I had taken drugs, leading to a hazy feeling and confusion. Resistance was futile, so I eventually complied and took the medication, resigning myself to the situation,” he shared.
Due to the CCP’s 100th anniversary, Le Kai’an’s case was postponed, and it wasn’t until July 22, 2021, that his trial, deemed sensitive due to involvement with national interests, was conducted behind closed doors. His family-appointed lawyer was not allowed to defend him, and a lawyer appointed by the court represented him. Following the verdict, in October 2021, Le Kai’an was transferred to the Mulin Education Correctional Facility in Beijing, a prison for short-term convicts, as he had less than a year remaining on his sentence.
Le Kai’an received an expulsion notice from the school upon his incarceration.
On the day of his release on June 9, 2022, his father arranged a flight to pick him up, but the police instructed him to return the ticket. He was first handed over to the Political Security Protection Bureau in Beijing before being transferred to the national security and judiciary personnel in Changshu, who forcibly repatriated him via car.
The local judicial office declared him as a focal rehabilitated individual upon completing his sentence and mandated that he report to the judicial office every three months for interrogation. Additionally, he was required to have his photo taken at the police station each month and was listed as a key stability maintenance figure by the provincial government. Unable to pursue his studies or work normally, he was subjected to constant surveillance by plainclothes agents whenever significant events or meetings took place.
In January 2023, Le Kai’an attempted to escape and was caught by the Guangxi police while trying to leave the country via illegal immigration. He was detained for five days at a toll booth near the border by the Qianjiang Police Station in Hepu County. Upon being returned by the Changshu police, he was under soft detention for five more months.
Five months later, the Political Security Protection Bureau seized his phone to discover draft articles containing democratic views. They forcefully detained him at the Changshu City Third People’s Hospital for a month and a half.
He recalled, “There were about 80 people in the ward, and they locked me with psychiatric patients and mentally disabled individuals. These were individuals who had been abandoned by their families or committed serious offenses – a truly insane asylum.” However, due to the excessive sedation he had received in Beijing, leading to liver damage, the hospital reduced his medication this time.
Subsequently, during the Hangzhou Asian and Para Games, including the China International Big Data Industry Expo in November, he was detained for 55 days.
In January 2024, coinciding with the local two sessions, he was brought to the Changshu City Third People’s Hospital for non-voluntary hospitalization, lasting 25 days.
At the end of February, the police warned him at home to behave during the “two sessions” period, or they would take direct measures. Enraged, he responded, “You’re the ones breaking the law. If you continue like this, I will go to Beijing to petition and reason with Xi Jinping…” Consequently, he was confined to a psychiatric hospital for the fourth time, spending 23 days there.
“Every time, they made my family pay a fee themselves because if you don’t settle the bill at the psychiatric hospital, they won’t release you. They found dealing with expenses troublesome and passed the burden onto my family – a very despicable act. As a result, when they wanted to detain me, I had to foot the bill,” Le Kai’an lamented.
By the end of March, he took up a part-time job at a nearby restaurant but was fired within a few days after the local police raided the place to monitor his activities via surveillance equipment.
In July, the local police attempted to bring criminal charges against him for creating “ideological crimes” after searching his home and confiscating all electronic devices. However, the lack of evidence led to the case being closed. This time, he was confined in the Guangji Hospital in Suzhou until his release in October, undergoing another psychiatric evaluation during his stay. The evaluation reaffirmed that he was in normal mental condition at the time of the incidents and was fully criminally responsible.
In January 2025, Le Kai’an was fortunate to escape the control of the Chinese regime, fleeing to Southeast Asia before flying to New Zealand.
“Arriving in New Zealand on New Year’s Eve, I had possessed the passport for many years,” Le Kai’an shared. After enduring over five years of inhuman torment, he expressed that the CCP is an evil party that rules the country through lies and violence. He emphasized that the issue at present is not just about democracy but about the fundamental right to freedom of speech because freedom of expression forms the cornerstone of all rights.
Le Kai’an’s ancestors had faced persecution under the CCP. His grandmother’s father was a military officer in the Nationalist Party who later rebelled against the CCP during political movements, resulting in over a decade of imprisonment, followed by a post-Cultural Revolution rehabilitation. Her brother, a student majoring in Russian at East China Normal University, was designated as a rightist during the Anti-Rightist Campaign.
As a young individual, Le Kai’an hopes for China’s transition into a normal country, envisioning it as a positive wish. However, he pointed out that the realization of this vision depends on everyone’s actions.
“After arriving in New Zealand, I felt more relaxed. Because truly, I couldn’t bear it in my home country. The authorities would call every day, asking where you were, trailing you wherever you went, even at home. It’s a kind of humiliation that normal people cannot endure,” he expressed. “Thank you to the Epoch Times for shedding light on what is happening in China, allowing people to understand the ongoing events.”