Chinese student who spoke out on Tibet goes missing during holiday back home
Friends report that Zhang Yadi, 22, has been missing since 30 July, a few weeks before she was supposed to start an MA in anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London. She had founded “Chinese Youths Stand for Tibet”, a pro-Tibet group based outside of China. In Changsha, lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who was making inquiries about her case, was also arrested. Beijing is increasingly cracking down on criticism, even among Chinese communities abroad.
Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A 22-year-old Chinese student in France, who was supposed to be starting a master's degree in anthropology at the prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, has not returned from a summer visit to her family in Changsha, China.
Zhang Yadi has been missing while in Shangri-La, Yunnan, since 30 July. Several sources report that police officers took her away on charges of “endangering national security” after they discovered that she was @TaraFreesoul, one of the promoters of CYS4T – Chinese Youths Stand for Tibet, a group of students who took up Tibet's cause abroad beginning in May 2024, exposing its "hidden truth" in Chinese diaspora communities.
Zhang is one of the new faces of China’s dissident community, a member of the white sheet generation, a protest movement that came out in the open with anger over the extremely strict zero COVID-19 policy imposed during the pandemic.
She is also a sad confirmation of how widespread is the control imposed by Xi Jinping in the name of the "great renewal of the Chinese nation” even outside China, among young people studying and working in the West.
Those who know her say that in France, Zhang Yadi was actively involved in academic and social issues, dedicating herself to promoting dialogue between different ethnic groups. She courageously worked to promote mutual understanding between ethnic Han Chinese and Tibetans through research and writing.
Just a few days ago, @Tarafreesoul posted the following on her X profile:
“The history of the ethnic groups of southwestern China is a bloody history of colonisation, brainwashing, slavery, intermarriage, and assimilation of the indigenous population by the Han people.
“Behind the slogan ‘building a strong Chinese national community’ lies the blood and tears of various ethnic groups. Their culture has been repressed and disappeared, their native language has been silenced and disappeared, and their history cannot be written by their own people.
“Everything is lightly masked by the four characters of 'Chinese nation,' as if nothing had happened, as if this land had been part of the Chinese Empire since ancient times.”
On 5 July, Zhang returned to Changsha to visit her family. Before she went missing on 30 July, she had been in close contact with friends and family, but then all communication abruptly ceased.
Conflicting statements posted by her mother on WeChat raised concerns about Zhang's personal freedom and her family’s safety.
For this reason, some friends called on human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, one of the lawyers targeted by the authorities ten years ago in the 7 July 2015 crackdown, the first serious clampdown on freedoms in China under Xi Jinping.
On Tuesday afternoon, lawyer Jiang Tianyong travelled to Changsha to meet with Ms Zhou, Zhang's mother.
At 4:45 pm, just as he was meeting the woman at the Guangdian Time City café, he was forcibly removed by three unidentified men. It is believed that he was taken to the Yuehu Police Station in Kaifu District (Changsha), but his current whereabouts remain unknown.
Friends are urging human rights organisations outside China to take action to demand Zhang Yadi's immediate and unconditional release and the opportunity for lawyer Jiang Tianyong to provide legal assistance to the young woman’s mother.
Amnesty International has called the incident "deeply disturbing" and has called for Zhang to be granted immediate access to a lawyer of her own choosing.
In a report released a few months ago, the human rights group how the Chinese government's efforts to silence criticism abroad are one of the main trends in the current wave of repression.
“We call on all states,” Amnesty International tweeted, “to take measures to monitor complaints and provide support to victims.”
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