Thirteen-year-old dropout, turned farmer, went on adventures at 16, saved money from odd jobs to start a business, but lost everything due to the pandemic lockdown… Now in the United States, Wang Mingyi reflects on his misfortunes and pays closer attention to the future trajectory of Chinese society.
Wang noticed the current hardships faced by the Chinese people, yet many mainland media outlets glamorize their hard work as some sort of romance. “The dumpling stall at 5 a.m., the barbecue stall at 3 a.m., and the roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes on the cold roadside are all romantic human fireworks,” he said.
In his circle of friends, he wrote: All that is human suffering! As long as the poor are alive, they must work hard for a living, which is what we call the aroma of fireworks. Those who toil in life can console themselves with the word “aroma of fireworks.”
Recently, mainland China’s top internet celebrity, Li Ziqi, made a comeback, getting popular again for her videos showcasing the idyllic countryside life, seemingly portraying a peaceful scene.
However, Wang Mingyi believes that Li Ziqi is backed by China Central Television (CCTV) and has become a propaganda tool for the Communist Party. Her seemingly distressed facial expressions are like “poppy flowers” grown in alkali lands, designed to numb the public with entertainment. It is crucial to stay away from the illusion of “peaceful times,” as they are themselves a part of the disaster.
Hailing from Hubei, Wang Mingyi grew up in a rural area where he dropped out at 13 due to poverty. Being the eldest in the family, he worked alongside his parents in strenuous agricultural labor.
Describing his life in the countryside, he said, “Our home was in the mountains, and we had to carry the dung of our livestock on our backs to a high hill. We couldn’t even carry a few baskets in a morning. We had to carry wheat, corn, back home ourselves, which was very difficult. Weeding, sowing were all manual tasks, and there were no machines at that time; it was all on the hill. Sometimes heavy rain, bad weather, resulted in poor harvests, barely making a living. Every year, there were no surplus crops, no wheat.”
He recalled traveling to the town for school, walking for hours, often crossing rivers and steep shores. “Without a car, we had to walk and cross a river using a wooden boat from our own home. I started living in a boarding school since elementary school, going home only once a week. The riverbank was very steep, and one misstep could land you in the river; I’ve had such experiences as a child.”
As he grew older, like most people in his village, Wang Mingyi chose to work outside. He was sixteen at the time.
His first job was working in a coal mine in Linfen, Shanxi, for two years. He later worked in Wuhan, Hubei, Shantou in Guangdong, Nanjing in Jiangsu, Qingdao in Shandong, and Sanya in Hainan… Working in various light industrial factories and electronic factories nationwide, mostly in manual labor, making shoes, clothes, and toys.
“The income from working barely supported personal expenses; it was impossible to support a family. The maximum monthly salary was only three thousand yuan. Twelve hours a day, with two rest days a month; had to apply for leave for anything important.”
“Because I couldn’t find a suitable ideal job, I kept exploring new work environments, feeling hopeless about the employment conditions in various industries in China, all filled with various exploitation and oppression. The rights of the lower-class nationals are continuously violated, and the government’s labor department is virtually non-existent, with no normal channels for the workers to file complaints about being deprived of their rights, leading to numbness and apathy towards their rights being infringed upon.”
While he had been buying medical insurance for many years, Wang Mingyi dared not get sick and be hospitalized. He said, because some critical medicines were not reimbursed, and the prices of reimbursable drugs were raised, he ended up paying out of pocket. “The government is totally oppressing and swindling the common people, turning the government into a rogue department.”
Around 2005, the land in Wang Mingyi’s rural hometown was requisitioned by the local government to be converted into forests and trees, with his family being compensated a few hundred yuan annually. He mentioned hearing that they would need to convert the land back to farming soon, uprooting the trees to replant crops.
However, the land had been contracted out by the town, essentially not belonging to the farmers.
After working for over a decade, Wang Mingyi saved tens of thousands of yuan. In 2020, he opened a small restaurant in a town in the Daxing’an Mountains, Heilongjiang. Just as the place was renovated, it was shut down due to the pandemic lockdown. He mentioned that the closure lasted for about a year or two, not being allowed to operate. Even after reopening, there was hardly any business, and all the investments and materials put into the renovation were wasted.
He expressed that with his savings depleted, he could barely make ends meet. However, the government did not compensate businesses; various taxes on the storefront were always collected in full, and tax officers would come for collection if a few months’ payments were delayed. Besides paying for the rented storefront, commercial land tax was also to be paid.
In early 2023, when the pandemic lockdown was lifted, Wang Mingyi had already lost all hope, feeling that there was no future for his life. He believed that his ordeal was a common phenomenon and saw no signs of improvement.
“In China, I would definitely be a ‘lying flat’ youth, that is, a day’s work and three days of rest. With my savings gone, now the factories only hire young people. As I grow older, it becomes increasingly difficult to find suitable work. Living day by day feels like almost being dead, such a degree of hopelessness.” He stated, “For the past three years of the pandemic, the pressure the Chinese (Communist) government has imposed on ordinary people is tremendous.”
In despair, Wang Mingyi came across a way to come to the United States – through the border route, and quickly acted upon it. In May last year, he set out from Hong Kong and arrived in the United States by July.
The journey through the border route was perilous; Wang Mingyi was robbed in Colombia and nearly kidnapped. He said, “There were about ten of us, and we were careless at the time, thinking that with so many people, no one would dare to kidnap us in broad daylight. We got into a black car and drove to a secluded area; he asked us to enter the house, claiming to be waiting for friends. Thankfully, having heard of such incidents, we were alert.”
“I said we wouldn’t go in and quickly called our friends behind, who said they had reached the station. We hurriedly prepared to leave; they tried to block us, and our luggage was not taken off, locked in the car, and our two cell phones were taken. We lost a lot of valuable belongings, incurring significant losses. Fortunately, our bank cards were kept separately, so we still had funds.”
He mentioned facing difficulties even in Mexico. “Gangs and corrupt police robbed us; the gangs robbed us along the way, and the police searched us at the stations, along with the Mexican immigration authorities. These three forces took turns extorting us. As we neared the US border, the immigration authorities directly sent us back, causing back and forth disturbances. It was pure luck that we made it to this side.”
Upon arriving in the US, Wang Mingyi quickly settled into a regular work life and actively engaged in various frontline activities advocating democracy.
“Once in the United States, I learned more about the evil of the Communist Party and woke up completely. I realized that this regime had begun massive killings even before establishing its power, relying on lies, deception, and slaughter to create such a demonic regime. Up to now, those in power still lack the determination to change, and recent policies have reverted to that era of the past few years.”
“As Chinese people, we should also reflect on why China has ended up in such a situation being controlled by the evil party? We also bear responsibility and must have the spirit of self-reflection. For so many years, the Communist Party has persecuted us, yet few have come out to protest the evil of the Communist Party, leading to this situation because of everyone’s tolerance.”
Recently, there have been numerous cases of social retaliation in China. Wang Mingyi believes that in China, there is no normal channel to seek justice. He hopes that the cowards who only know to drive into children learn from the likes of Yang Jia. People like Yang Jia are worthy of being recorded in history.
In September this year, Wang Mingyi was baptized and became a Christian. He believes that having reverence for God establishes boundaries in actions. He believes in a universal ruler and hopes that faith might change some of China’s current situations.
“Due to the lack of faith, Chinese people believe in money and power, making them life goals, even resorting to evil means for such desires. If you continue this way, you will be trapped in the vicious circle of the Communist evil reigning over generations. With faith, one will no longer have excessive pursuits for money and power, and life will require a sense of awe to change oneself.”