Overview
Chinese writer, social activist, and political refugee Wang Qingmin is systematically discriminated against, excluded, and marginalized
I have written hundreds of Chinese articles published in media in the United States, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and I have published two long-form books, along with many blog essays, Twitter commentaries, and a personal memoir.
Since 2023, I have organized and participated in more than one hundred offline events in Germany—joining marches and rallies, holding protest signs, posting banners, distributing flyers—advocating for Chinese human rights, democratization, labor rights, women’s rights, equality for the weak and poor regions, civil liberties, the Anti-Japanese War Against Fascism, and historical memory. I exhausted my body, mind, and money, burning out from dedication—falling from hope into despair.
Human rights organizations, academic and social science institutions, news media, government agencies, and universities in Germany and around the world treat me with cold indifference—read my messages but do not reply—shutting their doors to me. Some people’s suffering is heard and addressed, while the suffering of others is forgotten or even deliberately suppressed. The so-called “diversity,” “inclusion,” “listening,” “support for the vulnerable,” and “love and peace” claimed by various organizations and institutions are hypocritical and selective. At least for me, these are false — they are lies.
I am denied the opportunity to use my abilities, to speak for the people and vulnerable groups. I cannot obtain dignified work, a stable and decent life, a platform to use my potential, or treatment matching my contribution. Instead, I face silent exclusion and deliberate marginalization from multiple sides.
I suffer class discrimination (discrimination based on power, money, social status, and academic background), racial discrimination, and discrimination against my values. Although I am a writer and a social activist, I am also a low-status political refugee—a Chinese person without support or powerful connections, without social status. Because of persecution and suffering, I could not complete university or obtain a degree, and I could not learn foreign languages normally. I lack high-level positions and status, am rejected by elites, despised by public figures, and my career is obstructed.
I criticize the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party and call for democracy in China. I also condemn the brutal war crimes of Japanese fascism in history and Japan’s refusal to repent today. I sympathize with Uyghurs and other minority groups, but I care even more about the ordinary Han civilians and the weak in central and southern China, defending China’s national interests and the well-being of the Chinese people. Because of this, I am rejected by many powerful forces, openly and secretly defamed and sabotaged, suffering exclusion from multiple sides.
In my human rights activism, I am frequently obstructed by security guards, confronted with malicious attitudes from those who disagree, and subjected to various forms of long-arm interference by opposing forces — my resistance is obstructed, and my space for expression is being compressed.
Everywhere I participate or seek help, I am rejected. I am denied entry into academic, literary, and activist circles. I am slandered and harassed. I cannot obtain suitable work or reasonable income. I cannot realize my ideals. I live in poverty under heavy financial pressure. I am isolated and without support, abandoned and helpless, anxious and depressed, suffering physically and mentally.
Under pain and pressure, I have more conflicts with people and moments of behavioral breakdown—hurting others and hurting myself—being further rejected and attacked, deepening conflicts with others and society, trapped in a vicious cycle I cannot escape.
Political ideals, the fate of my nation, and my personal life have all pushed me into despair. I see no hope.
I do not want to die silently. I cry out with all my strength. I testify to my suffering. I ask for attention and help—for China, and for myself.
1. Personal profile, long-term commitment to opposing CCP authoritarianism and to China’s cause of democracy and freedom, speaking out for the rights of China’s vulnerable groups; having lived in Germany for more than two years but living under harsh and continuously worsening conditions while facing the risk of deportation
I am Wang Qingmin, a Chinese writer, human rights activist, and political asylum applicant living in Germany. I have some things that I wish to state here to people in Germany, China, and countries around the world, including news media, human rights organizations, political groups, scholars from various fields, and other people from all sectors.
In January 2023, I came to Germany and applied for political asylum and humanitarian protection. After waiting for two years, in May 2025 I received notification from BAMF (the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees), which rejected my political asylum application and also rejected granting me humanitarian toleration status.
I am now facing the prospect of being deported back to China. Although I have already filed an appeal, I still face deportation if I lose the case. I have already sought help from several human rights organizations, requesting free lawyers and translation services in order to avoid deportation, seek legal defense, and obtain more resources. However, they all refused for various reasons or shifted responsibility to other organizations and institutions (which in turn also shifted responsibility elsewhere), and none provided lawyers, translators, or other important forms of assistance. (By the end of 2025, two organizations helped me find lawyers, but I still did not obtain translators and similar support. Moreover, my relationship with these lawyers has also remained very limited and distant, and I do not expect them to be of much help.)
At the same time, during these two years in Germany, both in my human rights activities and in my daily life, I have also faced many difficulties, obstacles, and unfair treatment, and I have remained in a very painful state for a long time.
I am not an economic refugee. Rather, I am a human rights defender and struggler who has long written articles criticizing China’s authoritarian regime, published a large number of statements opposing authoritarianism and advocating and encouraging revolution in China, continuously and publicly participated in political activities opposing CCP tyranny, and paid attention to and participated in many international human rights issues and conflict-related affairs.
Since coming to Germany in 2023, I have independently organized and participated in more than one hundred advocacy and protest activities in cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Göttingen. These activities included commemorating the June Fourth Incident of 1989, opposing CCP persecution, calling for the release of political prisoners, advocating China’s democratization, commemorating the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and speaking out for vulnerable groups such as workers, women, and people in oppressed regions. There are specific records and photographs of all these activities. I have selectively chosen some of them (because the complete version is too long) and compiled them into a separate document.
My positions, identity, and actions are completely public; my articles, photographs, and social media posts are all publicly visible, and my family members in China have also been questioned by police multiple times. If I am deported, I will inevitably face political persecution and risk losing my freedom or even my life.
2. If I return to China, I will face severe persecution such as deprivation of freedom and various unpredictable dangers; my previous experiences and the cases of others (though because of my harsh situation in Germany, returning to China now does not seem so bad either — both are tragic paths)
I previously suffered severe suppression and persecution in mainland China and Hong Kong. In 2018, while in Hong Kong, because of resistance activities carried out for rights-defense purposes, I was arrested and detained by the police, subjected to humiliation, stigmatization, violent coercive measures, and at one point deprived of my freedom and made to endure great suffering. I was later deported back to mainland China. At that time (2018), in mainland China, although I was not actually arrested by the police during my brief stay and departure, I long faced the risk of surveillance, intimidation, unemployment, and social isolation. Moreover, at that time I had not yet written a large number of articles or engaged extensively in human rights activities against the CCP regime.
Based on my own experiences and the experiences of others, I deeply understand the CCP’s methods of persecuting dissidents, including illegal detention, being sent to detention centers and prisons, “mental illness” stigmatization, being sent to psychiatric hospitals to be deprived of freedom and abused, fabricated charges, secret detention, daily harassment, and so on. If I now return to China from Germany, I would be highly likely to receive a heavy sentence because of my continued written expression abroad (including in Serbia and Germany) over the past several years and my political activities in Germany. I am not facing merely a potential risk; I will almost certainly suffer persecution if I return to China.
Furthermore, based on the circumstances and experiences of many human rights activists, individual rights defenders, political prisoners, human rights lawyers, and others in China, it can similarly be inferred that if I return to China, I will inevitably face situations similar to theirs. Information regarding the arrest, torture, harassment, violence, and other forms of mistreatment against political prisoners and ordinary rights defenders in China can be found on the social media platform “X,” on “Rights Defense Network,” “Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch,” and various platforms mainly in Chinese that focus on human rights in China. Relevant reports can also be found in English-language media such as BBC, The New York Times, and Reuters.
3. I participated in and independently organized more than one hundred China-related human rights activities offline in Germany, published hundreds of articles in media across multiple countries, and long published political statements and encouraged revolution in China on multiple social platforms; returning to China would mean danger and persecution (now I no longer care about returning to China, because I have also fallen into severe difficulties in Germany)
I have publicly engaged in a large number of political activities in Germany. For example, I designed and paid for the printing of a large number of human rights posters and leaflets and distributed them in crowded places. Despite indifference, insults, and obstruction from some people, I still persisted continuously. I wrote hundreds of articles criticizing the Chinese government, exposing the authoritarian system, promoting Chinese human rights and feminism, writing commentaries on issues in Chinese history, and commenting on international relations. These articles were published in many media outlets across the United States, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other places, including Yibao, Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), Institute for China’s Democratic Transition, Lianhe Zaobao, The Storm Media, Up Media, Xin Yusi, Three Strategies Think Tank, and Chinese Times. I have also been interviewed several times by media outlets such as Radio Free Asia (Chinese Service) and Voice of America (Chinese Service), and I was also interviewed and reported on by a contributor from the German media outlet taz. I will also selectively choose some of these article and interview links and submit them as attachments to this document.
In addition to my two main issues—opposing CCP authoritarianism and criticizing Japanese fascism—I have also focused on and promoted Chinese labor rights and workers’ rights, women and feminism, the suffering of farmers and speaking out for them, the rights of people in disadvantaged regions (such as the “Mountain-River Four Provinces” — Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi), anti-racism, climate change and related disasters, school bullying, forced psychiatric hospitalization as a human rights violation, unfair wealth distribution, and other issues. There have been many related activities and articles. It is impossible to list them all one by one, but there are corresponding records, article links, and photographs for all of them.
Each of my articles has received thousands to tens of thousands of views, amounting collectively to tens of millions of views. On platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), I have published tens of thousands of posts related to Chinese politics and human rights, explicitly opposing CCP rule, which have likewise accumulated tens of millions of views. These records are all public and remain on the internet for everyone to see, and the CCP authorities also fully possess this information.
I am not someone who remains silent or resists in secret. My political resistance activities are completely public and my position is clear. If I am deported to China or to another country closely connected with the CCP regime, I would clearly be placed in a dangerous situation and would almost certainly be arrested and sentenced. I would also face house arrest and harassment after release. Some people who have done similar things returned safely, but that was only because they had personal connections with privileged elites or support from factions within the CCP, whereas I do not have such a background or network.
4. Most of the time I could not obtain the translation services, lawyers and other legal assistance, basic services, and human rights protections that refugees should receive; nor did I receive preferential treatment and support as a writer and human rights activist, and I was marginalized
During my asylum application process, I had no support from organizations, no personal connections, and no assistance from Chinese-German bilingual translators (except in a very small number of situations where Chinese translators were available). Under severe communication difficulties caused by language barriers (with translation tools being of limited help) and under tremendous psychological pressure, I had to apply for asylum, undergo questioning, make statements, and file appeals on my own. Likewise, I also printed human rights posters and participated in public events and gatherings alone.
Unlike many well-known individuals and refugees supported by influential forces who receive translation services and resource assistance, I have been systematically marginalized. I have been consciously excluded by some people and social groups with different views or positions, yet I have still continued to persist under difficult circumstances. This persistence comes from my beliefs and conscience rather than material demands. The reason I remain in Germany is also because I hope to continue speaking out for human rights. This would be impossible in China. If I cannot even be understood and accepted in a democratic country, then the Chinese grassroots political dissidents whom I represent will become even more hopeless.
I am also not an ordinary political refugee. I am someone who has written many articles and published them in well-known media outlets, and who has carried out more political activities than those carried out by the overwhelming majority of human rights activists and organizations. I should originally have received preferential and favorable treatment appropriate for a writer and human rights activist, at the very least income, welfare guarantees, and social status comparable to those of many mid-level staff members in human rights organizations and foundations. Yet I have not received such treatment. This is unfair.
5. I faced indifference, rejection, shifting responsibility, and bureaucracy from many human rights organizations (NGOs) and public institutions; as a human rights struggler of Han Chinese identity, I was particularly ignored, receiving much less attention and assistance than Ukrainian refugees, Middle Eastern refugees, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kongers, and I failed to integrate into German society and was unable to participate effectively in public life
During my more than two years in Germany, I was passed around by many human rights organizations, language schools, and refugee assistance institutions. The openly stated or implied reasons included “language barriers,” “not a priority group,” “lack of organizational affiliation or status,” and “differences in values.” In reality, there were many reasons involved, including political positions, values, social status, race, and others. They also passed me from one organization to another, and then another organization would tell me to seek help elsewhere or send me back again. These organizations continuously kept passing responsibility back and forth, with none of them wanting to take responsibility for me and without ever considering my feelings and requests. This reminded me of the highly similar bureaucratic system and indifferent social environment in China.
For example, I went many times to the House of Democracy and Human Rights (Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte, Greifswalder Str. 4, 10405 Berlin), where dozens of human rights organizations are gathered, but in the end not a single one helped me. Most organizations directly rejected me or shifted responsibility elsewhere. A few staff members did provide some information and suggested that I contact other organizations, but this also had no practical effect and remained another form of shifting responsibility. I also lost confidence in organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch because I had already become deeply disappointed with them previously (in 2018 while in Hong Kong, and when contacting their institutions in the United States). Of course, their institutions in Germany were no different.
At the same time, these organizations provide translation services and other resource support to Ukrainian refugees, Arab refugees, Kurdish refugees, and others. Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and Taiwanese from China or related to China also receive comparatively greater assistance. Yet I did not receive such support. Compared with the visibility and exposure received by political refugees from these groups, I also found it difficult to receive attention from German media.
As a political dissident of Han Chinese identity from mainland China, I existed in Germany in a state of severe neglect and an extreme lack of necessary assistance. Many Germans and organizations assumed in advance that Han Chinese from China who were not Uyghurs or Tibetans were economic migrants or workers and did not believe they were political refugees, while I happened to belong to the very small number of genuinely politically active people of Han Chinese identity. This invisible denial and barrier were another form of oppression against my dignity, causing me to continue facing enormous difficulties even after arriving in a developed democratic country.
Many human rights organizations, media outlets, charitable institutions, and even famous social activists speak of humanitarianism, universal love, selflessness, and voluntary support, but in reality they are also utilitarian. They look at whether the other person has value to them, whether that person can bring benefits to themselves and the forces they represent, and whether that person’s values align with theirs (or whether there are conflicts). They help only when there is value to be gained and push people away when there is none. If conflicts exist, they become even more disgusted and exclusionary, even if the person meets ordinary humanitarian standards and should reasonably receive help. These institutions have consistently lacked even the most basic moral principles and objectivity, while instead being filled with discrimination and prejudice.
I must especially explain that the reason I have been unable to study German normally and why my English is also poor is because I experienced political persecution, have long been occupied by human rights activities and writing, constantly face conflicts and disputes in daily life, and was also experiencing anxiety and depression under enormous pressure, leaving me completely unable to concentrate on language learning. Furthermore, I also attempted to contact several language schools and community schools, but they all refused to admit me for various reasons (such as “classes have already started,” “there are no available places,” and similar reasons). Of course, for German language schools that were not intended for complete beginners, I genuinely could not understand the classes. My inability to learn languages normally is itself also a consequence and manifestation of persecution, exclusion, and painful living conditions.
Under such circumstances, government institutions, human rights organizations, media organizations, and schools should provide translators and facilitate my participation, rather than forcing me to learn German and become proficient in English by myself. Moreover, as a writer and human rights activist, I should already receive professional translation services in the same way many well-known scholars do.
6. I have faced discrimination, exclusion, and rejection from many universities, human rights organizations, and foundations. I approached them respectfully and politely, yet was met with indifference and even being driven away. They refused to cooperate with and support my activities, refused to fulfill their necessary responsibilities, prevented me from fully utilizing my strengths and talents, made it impossible for me to better speak for the interests of the Chinese people, indirectly deprived me of my voice and right to speak, seriously affecting China’s cause of democracy and human rights (taking Humboldt University, Free University of Berlin, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Mercator Foundation, PEN Germany, Berlin PEN, etc. as examples). This also caused me to shift from moderation toward extremity and from calmness to becoming increasingly violent and aggressive, leaving me with no choice but to become involved in certain radical incidents
Over the past several years, I have expressed to many German universities, human rights organizations, and media outlets my desire to study and cooperate, such as Humboldt University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin, yet I was repeatedly rejected. Some used language issues as excuses, some simply did not respond at all, and in some cases I was treated with contempt when presenting research plans related to politics and human rights. Even though I often visited and spoke in a respectful and polite manner, they still discriminated against and rejected me because of my low social status, language problems, and my appearance and the way I dressed.
At the admissions department of Humboldt University, I was coldly rejected by staff members, and they even lied to me (ironically, Humboldt University still displays “Refugees Welcome” signs in its admissions office and on its website, while in reality they only welcome Ukrainian refugees). At the Free University of Berlin, I held signs in a public area expressing support for Hong Kong democratic parties and was forcibly stopped by security guards. At the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, I tried to contact foundation staff to seek support, but before I could even meet the foundation’s main personnel, I was coldly driven away by security personnel who looked down on me in an arrogant and contemptuous manner and ignored my requests. At the Mercator Foundation, I faced discrimination and mistreatment, and disputes and intense conflicts also occurred. They were unwilling even to conduct initial communication and refused to listen to me for even five minutes before directly shutting me out.
These staff members of human rights organizations, foundations, media institutions, and similar organizations receive high salaries and work in comfortable environments, yet they remain aloof and do not genuinely care about the suffering of vulnerable groups, despite the many admirable goals and human rights projects publicly listed by their organizations. They occupy positions while enjoying benefits without making corresponding contributions, or serve only specific groups. Yet toward someone like me, who genuinely needs help and actively takes the initiative to communicate with them, they are extremely indifferent and shut me out.
Although I am a refugee, I have always hoped to make use of the platforms and resources of various German organizations and institutions in order to amplify my voice, let more people understand the suffering of the Chinese people, and promote change and progress in China. By shutting me out and refusing to help me, these institutions have also eliminated the possibility for me to further speak out and increase the visibility of Chinese human rights issues. This causes great harm to me personally, to the Chinese people, and to human rights and progress around the world.
If I could receive even the same level of assistance that scholars and public figures of moderate influence receive, I could carry out one hundred times more activities and projects than I do now, write one hundred times more articles and books, and create an immeasurable level of influence. Moreover, compared with those Chinese and foreign individuals who receive high salaries while occupying positions and enjoying benefits without corresponding contributions, as well as various privileged elites and vested-interest groups, I am clearly more qualified to receive a high income and better material conditions.
I also once saw that the Free University of Berlin had programs involving research and assistance concerning refugees’ psychological conditions, including opportunities to report bureaucratic problems faced by refugees. However, after I contacted them and participated in the research activity, during the communication and interview process I strongly felt bureaucracy, formalism, and disrespect in the behavior and language of the organizers and translators. This was extremely ironic. An activity claiming to expose bureaucracy was itself filled with bureaucracy.
As an exiled writer, PEN Berlin and PEN Germany in Darmstadt had an obligation to assist me. However, after initially agreeing on the surface, both institutions cut off contact and refused to provide real support. They also never informed me of any reasons. The people who received me were very polite in person, but in reality they were cold and exclusionary. This difference between what they showed outwardly and what they actually did was highly hypocritical. It was deception toward me, it was lying, and it was very hateful.
I estimate that they may have been influenced by pressure from certain forces and accepted rumors spread by my opponents. However, regardless of the reason, their refusal to help me, agreeing at the beginning and then breaking their promises, and failing to fulfill PEN’s obligation to assist exiled writers is itself shameful. This also placed me in an even more difficult situation.
I also visited many other political parties, media outlets, and human rights organizations, delivering letters in person and sending emails. Although I did not encounter direct conflict or face-to-face discrimination, they all simply received my letters, read them, and never replied; my messages disappeared without result. All of my efforts achieved nothing, or at most had only very limited symbolic significance. They already had an obligation to help me, and in doing so they would also be fulfilling obligations toward Chinese human rights. Yet they all refused to fulfill those obligations.
Many organizations and individuals tacitly discriminated against and excluded me. Most of them had no formal reasons, or their publicly stated reasons were not the real reasons. Because of discrimination based on social status, class prejudice, values, and other factors, they disliked and rejected me but did not state it openly. Instead, they rejected me through silence, through other excuses, or even through obstruction.
Since people do not naturally understand one another, communication and dialogue are extremely important. These famous institutions and individuals constantly speak in their public statements about the importance of communication, dialogue, and listening to different voices. Yet when I sought communication and dialogue with them in reality, they shut me out.
The discrimination and rejection I experienced caused me to become increasingly desperate and emotionally worse, making me more likely to enter into conflicts with others. I changed from my former politeness and patience into becoming filled with aggression and hostility, and other people consequently became even more distant toward me. Thus a vicious cycle emerged and has continued until now.
Under these harsh circumstances, under discrimination and unfair treatment from others, and under enormous psychological pressure and suffering, I also carried out certain radical actions. For example, I made graffiti and damaged windows at the entrances of institutions and individuals who discriminated against me. If I had been treated fairly and received assistance, I would not have done these things.
7. Because of class differences and my low social status, I have been rejected and humiliated by many people and institutions, have not received respect and fair treatment, and have encountered many Chinese and German individuals who were dishonest and broke their promises; their promises were worthless. I have lost my illusions about developed and civilized countries and have learned that human nature is largely similar throughout the world, and that people of different countries and ethnic groups all have ugly and despicable sides
These experiences are not only related to language barriers and ethnic differences, but are also related to my low social status (or to the low status that others believe I have and assign to me). I am not a prominent figure. I do not possess the status of people such as Liu Xia, the wife of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, artist Ai Weiwei, or writer Yan Geling, who also lived in Germany for a long time. Nor have I been able to receive the favor and support given to people such as Liao Yiwu or Gulinisa Erdal.
Although I have carried out more human rights activities and written more articles than they have, I have not been able to receive the preferential treatment from various sectors in Germany that they enjoy, and instead I have been subjected to exclusion and humiliation. German and Chinese elite circles clearly look down upon me. I deeply feel the sense of discrimination and oppression experienced by people of disadvantaged classes and lower social status. These experiences have also made me feel institutional indifference and ideological filtering. I have not been understood, accepted, treated equally, or given equal dialogue, nor have I received the platforms and opportunities that I should have had in order to express my voice.
Furthermore, whether Chinese or Germans, some people initially promised to provide help within their means, but later refused to fulfill those promises and did not provide assistance or support, including reading my messages without replying, pretending not to see them, or explicitly refusing me. These actions caused me great harm.
For example, a Chinese student named Jiang Wei at Humboldt University (who graduated from Peking University in China) initially expressed sympathy for my experiences and admiration for my activities and struggles, and even promised to provide some help and convenience. Later, however, he made disrespectful remarks toward me, failed to understand my suffering and the difficulties behind my situation, and the help he had promised continued to be delayed until our relationship eventually broke down and nothing came of it.
Similar situations also happened with some other people. Even where relationships did not break down, promises were still abandoned. For example, a German man named Roman whom I met at an event once enthusiastically promised to provide me with help. However, when I later contacted him again, he made various excuses and the matter ended without result. In short, I encountered many people who lacked honesty, failed to honor commitments, and showed no respect toward me, including students from prestigious universities, well-known figures, and people with considerable status and position. I will list and mention more examples in later sections.
If they had not made promises from the beginning, I would not have had expectations and would not have suffered after they later changed their minds. Perhaps they never took their promises seriously; perhaps differences in values caused them to dislike and reject me after seeing more of my positions and actions; or perhaps they changed their attitudes and gave up supporting me because of pressure from others. Regardless of the reason, however, these people betrayed their promises and trust and caused me a second layer of harm.
I have not received the treatment and respect that should have been given to me as a writer and human rights activist. I have not received attention, help, and cooperation corresponding to my writing and offline activities. Instead, because of my refugee identity, I have been met with various forms of contempt, discrimination, neglect, and various kinds of humiliation and harm. This has also weakened the influence of my human rights activities, prevented my potential from being realized, and damaged the voice and influence of the Chinese people, especially vulnerable groups.
The reason I occupy a low social position is that special experiences during my youth (family conflicts, school bullying, and other issues) and political persecution damaged my life, interrupted my education, and prevented me from entering prestigious schools and obtaining respectable jobs. The many articles I have written and the various creative political activities I have carried out over these years can themselves prove my abilities and talents. All of this was achieved while I was isolated, unsupported, and living under poor conditions. My knowledge of politics and history and my ability to make judgments, as well as my practical contributions and activism in human rights work, exceed those of many students, scholars, and full-time professionals.
However, many Chinese and German individuals judge me not by my actual contributions, but simply because I am a refugee, lack a formal academic identity, and have poor language abilities outside Chinese, causing them to look down on me in a contemptuous manner. Even those who provided me with some help often did so with an attitude of charity and condescension; the assistance was extremely limited and temporary, barely better than nothing, and fundamentally insufficient for me to continue my activities and maintain even a basic dignified life.
In China, I personally experienced and witnessed much injustice and unfairness, including oppression by privileged people, bureaucratic behavior by officials, people treating others and dealing with matters according to personal relationships rather than reason and standards of right and wrong, social indifference, and the lack of status and mistreatment of vulnerable groups. At that time I had very high expectations of foreign countries, believing that foreign societies generally valued reason, impartiality, equality, civilization, and progress, and that vulnerable groups would receive sufficient care. Reality, however, has proven otherwise. Foreign societies are largely similar, likewise filled with personal relationships and social maneuvering, bureaucracy, double standards, interests placed above principles, and judgments of right and wrong determined by one’s position or standpoint.
8. While opposing CCP authoritarianism, I also commemorate the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, criticize the Japanese right wing, publicize Japanese war crimes, the deeply rooted nature of racism and militarism in present-day Japan, and Japan’s refusal to repent, which has become a very important reason for my being excluded, obstructed, and unable to receive support because of hostility and opposition from pro-Japanese individuals and forces in China and Germany
I not only oppose CCP authoritarianism, but have also long criticized the historical crimes of Japanese militarism and fascism and their remaining influence. In many human rights activities, I have exposed the atrocities committed by the Japanese military during World War II, especially the massacres, sexual slavery, and colonial oppression imposed upon the peoples of China, Korea, and Southeast Asia. I have commemorated the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, the victims of “Unit 731” human experiments and bacteriological warfare, and Chinese laborers forcibly conscripted by Japan. I have also displayed posters and slogans concerning the issue of “comfort women” (women forced by the Japanese military into sexual slavery), and protested against Germany removing several “comfort women” statues under Japanese pressure. I firmly condemn the actions of Japanese right-wing groups in denying history and glorifying aggression, and advocate remembering history and defending justice.
These positions and actions have also caused me to suffer attacks, isolation, and exclusion from various Japan-related and pro-Japanese forces, including pro-Japanese individuals in Germany and pro-Japanese factions among Chinese political opposition circles. Both CCP authoritarianism and Japanese right-wing forces are targets of my firm criticism, and precisely because of this I have faced attacks and covert exclusion from multiple sides simultaneously. For example, when I attended an academic conference at the University of Göttingen and mentioned Japanese war crimes during a question session, I was maliciously attacked by the New York University scholar Rebecca Karl. She not only verbally attacked and harassed me, but also attempted to push me and others with similar criticisms of Japan out of public discourse and academic research, and to intimidate and prevent voices critical of Japan from emerging.
Based on my personal experiences, in Western countries, with Germany as a representative example, criticizing Japan is more difficult and faces greater obstruction than criticizing the CCP. Among the clearly obstructive incidents I encountered in recent years, more than half were related to Japanese issues, whereas activities opposing the CCP encountered comparatively less obstruction. In particular, when security guards in shopping centers saw me displaying posters commemorating the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, they quickly intervened to stop me. This is closely related to Japan’s strong influence in Germany and the West as well as more concealed forms of long-arm interference.
My accusation that Japan engages in long-arm interference through various means, conceals its historical crimes, and suppresses people who criticize Japan is not without basis. The Japanese government and various right-wing individuals in civil society have long obstructed the construction of “comfort women” statues in South Korea and countries around the world, including women from China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and other Asian countries who were forcibly taken by Japan during World War II as sexual slaves for the Japanese military. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and others personally intervening and attempting to block the establishment of “comfort women” statues in Germany are very clear examples of Japan whitewashing history, concealing crimes, and engaging in long-arm interference.
Part of the reason why I have been rejected, denied assistance, and refused funding by many foundations and other organizations is also that they became aware of my critical stance toward Japan and, because of their cooperative relationships with Japan and their own values, chose to stand on Japan’s side and reject and exclude me. This may not necessarily involve direct intervention from the Japanese side. However, even without direct Japanese intervention, the fact that these organizations proactively reject me further demonstrates the extent of Japan’s influence and the seriousness of the risks involved in commemorating the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and criticizing Japan. Of course, most of them would not directly state that they refuse to support me because of the Japan issue, but such conclusions can be inferred through changes in attitude, interests and relationships, and other related factors.
The obstruction I faced in commemorating the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and publicizing Japanese war crimes also intensified my depression related to politics and psychological suffering. Japan’s invasion of China and massacres caused enormous trauma to the Chinese people, and today the obstruction of commemorating resistance against Japan and preserving historical memory represents a second layer of trauma. As a Chinese person, I naturally feel anger and pain about this. Eighty years after World War II and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chinese people still have to face the continuing consequences of war and still remain in a situation of suffering injustice and having their voice and influence deprived and appropriated.
9. During various political and human rights activities, I encountered obstruction and even attacks from security personnel in shopping centers and institutions, people with opposing views, and strangers; I faced suppression-based violence, difficulties, resistance, and even danger, my space for activities was greatly restricted, and repeated frustrations caused great mental and physical distress (taking Potsdamer Platz, Uber Platz, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt Book Fair, and streets as examples)
At locations such as Potsdamer Platz, Uber Platz, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and Goethe University Frankfurt, I repeatedly displayed posters and distributed leaflets concerning criticism of the CCP’s human rights abuses, commemoration of the June Fourth Incident, support for political prisoners, remembrance of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, condemnation of Japanese war crimes, and other topics while carrying out peaceful protests. I was driven away by security guards and attacked by strangers, leading to intense conflicts. I did not violate any laws, nor did I use loudspeakers or aggressive language, yet I was treated as a “troublemaker” and excluded. These security personnel may also have received complaints or instructions from interested parties (Japanese individuals or pro-Japanese individuals, or supporters of the CCP).
I also encountered provocation and attacks from some people while holding advocacy posters and putting up posters on the streets. This included supporters of the CCP (because I criticized the CCP), opponents of the CCP (because I promoted China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression), and also people who used rough methods to stop me from putting up posters, claiming that posters were not allowed on the streets. I did not deliberately intend to violate laws or public regulations regarding posters, but various sectors of society did not provide me with formal platforms such as exhibition halls or art galleries, forcing me to adopt other methods of publicity such as putting posters on utility poles. This also demonstrates my lack of platforms and channels for expression, my forced marginalization, and my being forced to adopt marginalized methods of expression.
In a highly developed democratic country that appears highly free, such as Germany, I came to deeply realize that the boundaries of political expression are much narrower than the appearance of tolerance suggests, and that some people and forces opposing me use various open or underhanded methods to prevent my expression. An individual dissident without organizational backing and resources can hardly obtain legitimate space for expression. These obstacles, difficulties, and attacks have seriously damaged my mental and psychological condition and threatened my personal safety.
Germany appears peaceful and tolerant, but in reality various security personnel, police officers, municipal personnel, and even some ordinary people often exert pressure on me in order to prevent my political expression and human rights advocacy. These are not forms of bloody violence, but they use coercive force to compel me to abandon activities or leave certain areas or environments. Security personnel, police, and various individuals have also subjected me to systematic exclusion and oppression backed by force. This is not an exaggeration, because their obstruction and pressure have indeed greatly restricted the scope of my activities and weakened my influence.
10. Under extremely difficult circumstances and without help from others, I paid out of my own pocket to print advocacy materials and exhaust myself traveling around in order to speak for the Chinese people, consuming money, material resources, and mental energy while also having to deal with numerous trivial matters, difficulties, and unexpected situations such as illness and treatment, exhaustion from walking while carrying advocacy materials, housing deposit problems, sexual harassment in youth hostels, train delays, getting lost, severe cold and heat, and other issues; I paid a heavy price and endured enormous pressure, and although already exhausted to the point of collapse, I still continue with difficulty
I personally financed the production of a large amount of advocacy materials, including posters, leaflets, and other human-rights-themed materials covering opposition to CCP authoritarianism, commemoration of June Fourth, support for human rights strugglers and victims, condemnation of Japanese war crimes, anti-fascism, and related issues. I distributed and displayed these materials in multiple German cities, took photographs, and uploaded them to social media in the hope that people would pay attention to these historical and present realities and understand the suffering and struggles of the Chinese people.
The design, printing, and organization of these materials were all completed independently by myself, entirely at my own expense and with considerable expenditure of time and energy. Many receipts, delivery documents, and physical posters can serve as evidence. The total cost exceeded 5,000 euros, second only to travel and accommodation expenses related to my activities. For someone in my difficult financial situation, this was an enormous expense. I also translated the content into German and English myself.
During my human rights activities, I also had to face numerous trivial matters, difficulties, and unexpected situations. For example, I needed to find accommodation that was both suitable and affordable, which was not easy. Youth hostels were cheaper but noisy, poor for sleep, and not very safe. I also experienced sexual harassment from a homosexual man. When renting accommodation from Chinese international students, not only was it difficult to find inexpensive places, but I also had to accommodate suitable timing and occasionally encountered people who withheld my deposits and used excuses to refuse returning them. Sometimes, in order to save money or because I could not find suitable accommodation, I had no choice but to sleep rough at train stations and similar places, and on return trips I often spent nights at train transfer stations. This fatigue and discomfort caused considerable damage to both my physical and mental well-being.
When conducting human rights activities, I often had to face Germany’s cold winter weather. During the summer, there was sometimes humid and rainy weather, which was also uncomfortable. I also had to drag advocacy materials and luggage while constantly traveling around, and many places required walking on foot for long distances. In addition, Deutsche Bahn trains were often delayed, delaying my journeys and affecting my participation in important activities. Sometimes in Germany I could not find addresses and became lost, had difficulty locating places, or took incorrect bus routes, wasting time and delaying important matters while also forcing me to walk even more. These uncertainties also caused me considerable distress.
All of this not only consumed large amounts of time and money, but also exhausted my mental energy and imposed tremendous pressure on me. I bore everything alone and received almost no financial support from others (except for very limited support from a very small number of people, which was far from sufficient). The reason I continued despite all of this was my hope of speaking for Chinese civilians and vulnerable groups, for Han Chinese and other oppressed ethnic groups, and for oppressed and vulnerable people around the world.
Yet while speaking for the Chinese people, not only did I fail to receive support from Chinese people and people from other countries, I was also frequently harmed by both compatriots and foreigners. For example, the unreasonable withholding of my deposit was carried out by a Chinese landlord together with her German boyfriend. I also frequently encountered problems while staying at Airbnb accommodations and youth hostels. No one helped me because I carried out human rights activities; instead, people created trouble and burdens for me both subjectively and objectively, increasing my difficulties and burdens.
11.In political activism and daily life, from managing bank accounts to purchasing food, I face numerous concrete difficulties and troubles that seriously obstruct normal living, cause physical and psychological suffering, and turn everyday problems into the “last straw” that breaks one’s spirit; my status and circumstances also prevent me from carrying out activities in more countries and on a broader scale, greatly weakening my voice and influence and preventing me from speaking for the Chinese people through a “third voice” (distinct from both the CCP authorities and the political opposition)
During these three years, under tremendous mental and physical suffering and pressure, I repeatedly came close to collapse and, under certain specific triggers, carried out intense actions. Sometimes this was because of the rigidity and indifference of the German system; sometimes because of exclusion and attacks from dissident groups; and at other times because of complete despair regarding my future, as well as practical issues such as financial difficulties and disputes in daily life.
I have severe symptoms of anxiety and depression, yet because of the lack of translators and related services, I have encountered great difficulties in seeking medical treatment. I once applied for psychological counseling through a refugee institution and was delayed for several months. Eventually an appointment with a doctor was arranged, but because the doctor required a translator to be present and no translator was available, the consultation ultimately could not take place.
In my daily life I also face many difficulties. For example, language barriers and my inability to communicate and recognize things normally have led to errors in bank transfer operations and account freezes, difficulties with internet installation and payments, and situations such as accidentally buying broken rice instead of regular rice. Although these matters may appear trivial, they make my already difficult situation even worse, further worsen my state of mind, and increase my psychological suffering. They also genuinely affect my life and create practical difficulties and problems. Moreover, I should originally not have been spending time dealing with such trivial matters in the first place; I should have been writing and engaging in human rights activities full-time. However, I do not have the means to hire others, and therefore have no choice but to waste large amounts of time dealing with these matters myself.
This is similar to the Chinese television series The Long Night (《沉默的真相》), in which the protagonist Jiang Yang is framed and loses his work as a prosecutor, loses his family and becomes separated from his wife and child, and in despair experiences the loss of his wallet and identity card, which become “the last straw” that crushes him psychologically, causing him to suffer a psychological breakdown and cry out. The extreme suffering and psychological collapse I experience from daily difficulties work in the same way.
In Germany, I have also encountered some subtle but important problems — because the government recently changed refugee assistance that had originally been issued as cash into shopping cards (SocialCard), many platforms and services (such as booking youth hostels and purchasing daily necessities online) cannot accept these cards for payment. Furthermore, because of the special format of my identification documents (a three-page paper document rather than a photo identification card), I often cannot complete online identity verification, causing me to fall into countless practical difficulties in daily life. These technical and institutional arrangements themselves constitute another invisible set of shackles placed upon rejected asylum applicants like me, trapping people in various forms of limitation. In addition, my residence is far from public transportation stops, and there are no buses on weekends, making travel very inconvenient. These small but important matters also create tremendous difficulties for me.
Moreover, according to regulations, my current status and documents as an asylum applicant do not permit me to leave Germany. In addition, my financial circumstances are difficult and make it hard for me to afford long-distance travel expenses. This prevents me from going to countries such as France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain to conduct human rights advocacy and seriously restricts the scope and influence of my efforts to speak for the Chinese people.
If I return to China, I face imprisonment and the loss of various rights and freedoms, but I have also experienced the harshness of reality in Germany. I once came to the democratic world and developed countries full of confidence, believing that I would receive asylum, understanding, humane treatment, and various forms of necessary assistance. Yet the reality has been isolation, misunderstanding, and my voice being blocked. I write these words not to beg for sympathy, but merely to explain facts and express my indignation. I am a Chinese dissident who has made sacrifices for human rights and justice, yet in Germany I remain isolated and helpless, facing setbacks everywhere. The world is vast, yet there is no place where I can freely speak and live calmly and with dignity.
12.I have been maliciously excluded, distanced, marginalized, and even harassed and provoked by other Chinese political opposition figures because of differences in political positions and values, as well as class and status discrimination, clique culture, and factional favoritism and exclusion. This has greatly restricted the scope and influence of my activities within Chinese and Chinese-speaking communities, created more direct obstacles for me, and has been a key reason for the deterioration of my situation (examples include Yan Geling, Su Yutong, Zhou Fengsuo, Gu Yi(Sulaiman Gu), Teng Biao,Wang Tiancheng,Wu Zuolai,Annie Jieping Zhang, etc)
I have also been subjected to rejection, attacks, and harassment by some Chinese political opposition members or dissenting individuals engaged in China-related research. For example, Gu Yi (Sulaiman Gu), a PhD student in chemistry at the University of Georgia in the United States, long active in Chinese opposition circles and a leader of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS), once used “dog-whistle” methods on social platforms and in groups I was in, invoking historical events such as the Nanjing Massacre, even making remarks that whitewashed the atrocities of the invading Japanese army and mocked the victims. He intended through this method to insult me, provoke my national feelings, and inflict deep psychological pain.
These acts were not genuine historical debates but rather the use of historical trauma as a tool to strike at dissidents on psychological and political levels. Gu Yi also colluded with other allies and group administrators to repeatedly harass and personally attack me. Gu Yi’s (Sulaiman Gu’s) “dog-whistle remarks” and harassment not only directly harmed me but also deliberately aimed to exclude me from the Chinese opposition circle and obstruct my human rights activities and advocacy.
Other active Chinese opposition figures, such as Su Yutong and Zhou Fengsuo, also held exclusionary and disparaging attitudes towards me, leaving me isolated and marginalized even within the exile community. Key members of Human Rights Watch’s China division, such as Wang Yaqiu, as well as opposition writer Murong Xuecun (real name Hao Qun), expressed impatience with my human rights advocacy, refused my dissemination and presentations, and many others showed similar attitudes. Even people I once admired, such as Professor Zhou Baosong of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, became indifferent and rejecting after contact.
As far as I know, all this is because of specific political differences. Even though I, like them, oppose authoritarianism, they could not accept certain concrete differences, such as views on nationalism. Most of them hold positions of hating China, hating the Han people, and being anti-CCP while also being anti-China, whereas I oppose CCP authoritarianism but love my country and nation. This created fundamental differences and opposition between us, which led them, for this and other reasons, to reject me. Of course, regarding some who are extremely excessive, whose views differ too much, or who violate basic humanitarian bottom lines (such as Su Yutong), I also actively cut ties and refuse contact.
There are also well-known Chinese writers such as Yan Geling, who once promised to help me but reneged due to slanders against me or pressure from others, breaking her word and leaving me in despair after giving me hope. Likewise, human rights lawyer Teng Biao initially praised me highly but quickly distanced himself once he found my views differed from his. Another example is Zhou Jing, a Chinese writer living in Germany: I merely met him once at a gathering and never even spoke to him, yet he blocked me on Twitter, clearly out of dissatisfaction with my values learned from others.There are also dissidents in Germany, such as Liao Tianqi. Even though I was introduced to her by one of her friends, she still refused to provide me with any substantive or dignified assistance, and instead offered all kinds of confusing and disrespectful “advice” regarding my work.
In Germany I have also encountered rejection from multiple organizations and individuals from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. For example, I went to the Taipei Representative Office in Germany to watch a human rights film but was refused entry. I support the freedom of Hong Kong and Taiwan, but because I do not aggressively support Hong Kong or Taiwan independence and oppose indiscriminate violence against mainlanders, I was excluded by these Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and pro-Taiwan mainland opposition figures.
In addition, I was previously invited to serve as an editor for the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) website, where I could upload articles written by myself and by many others. During the roughly two years in which I worked as an administrator, I published hundreds of articles—my own as well as those of other writers—covering major issues related to human rights in China, current political affairs, and international relations. These contributions were of significant value. However, several individuals whose values differed from mine— including Wu Zuolai, the chairman of the Independent Chinese PEN Center—deliberately marginalized me and removed me from my editorial position, making it impossible for me to continue publishing articles. ICPC president Ma Jian and vice president Tseng Chien-yuan also tacitly, or even secretly, supported this exclusion.
From 2018 to 2021, I was interviewed more than ten times by Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. Later, they stopped interviewing me, which was related not to matters of right or wrong, but to perceived differences between my views and theirs. Even though I also support democracy, oppose authoritarianism, and speak out for human rights in China, they nevertheless ceased contact simply because my positions on certain specific issues (such as Taiwan and Hong Kong) differed from theirs. This amounted to a form of soft blacklisting. Similarly, platforms such as the “Institute for China’s Democratic Transition” initially accepted my submissions but later stopped responding altogether. The reasons for these changes are largely the same as with the other individuals and institutions: they disregard truth and principle, look only at political alignment, and are willing to exclude or boycott me in order to serve the interests of their donors or friends.
In addition, Annie Jieping Zhang, the founder of the two platforms Initium Media and Matters, where I had previously been subjected to severe online harassment, also became a major source of obstacles for me. After I publicly pointed out at an event in Germany her inadequate handling of that online harassment, as well as the cold treatment I received when I visited Initium Media, and after a conflict arose, she used her influence to prevent me from participating in a number of Chinese-language activities organized by various organizations and institutions. Owing to her extensive network and her influence within China’s liberal circles and the Chinese-language media community, she created great difficulties and obstacles for me, seriously hindering my human rights advocacy and my efforts to build connections and coordinate activities among different individuals and organizations.
The above are only examples; there are many more cases I cannot list one by one. Most other Chinese liberals are also indifferent, distant, and subtly excluding. Even those who support me have not provided substantive or effective assistance. Some individuals and organizations once published my articles or interviewed me, but later stopped contacting or publishing me, obviously because they gradually discovered my political positions differ from theirs.
These situations reflect that even within the overseas Chinese democracy community, I have not received support and respect, but instead, because of political positions, values, and identity, I have been unfairly treated, maliciously excluded, and marginalized.
13. During political struggle, historical remembrance, and human rights advocacy in Germany, I encountered both open and hidden obstruction everywhere, faced structural oppression, did not receive the same friendly treatment and active assistance given to other ethnic groups and dissidents of higher social class, was systematically deprived of my voice and ability to influence public discourse, was denied respect and reasonable treatment, and to a great extent was excluded from public spaces and platforms of public opinion, deeply experiencing unfairness, discrimination, and isolation
During the political, human rights, and historical struggle activities I carried out in Germany, I repeatedly encountered obstruction and suppression from security personnel and institutional staff. For example, at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, when I attempted to display banners and posters criticizing Japanese fascism, I was stopped by on-site security personnel belonging to the commercial security company APLEONA; at the Free University of Berlin, when I displayed posters supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy groups in public areas, I was also asked by security personnel (belonging to “We Watch”) to leave; at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, I encountered security personnel who refused me entry with attitudes of contempt and even hostility; near Hanover Central Station, I was prevented by municipal personnel from putting up posters commemorating John Rabe, who helped save Chinese people; at Humboldt University in Berlin, admissions-related staff refused to arrange studies for me, citing reasons such as “language barriers” and “not meeting requirements,” and also lied to me on certain matters.
Although these obstacles outwardly operated under the banner of procedures and regulations and were presented with grand and respectable-sounding reasons, what they reflected beneath the surface was deeply rooted discrimination and exclusion toward a Chinese political dissident in exile. I also discovered that developed countries and regions, including Germany, beneath their appearance of civilization, are filled with various “schemes,” complex rules, and procedures that obstruct my ability to speak out and obtain resources.
I also know that many writers, artists, dissidents, and political refugees from other ethnic groups and fields have received comparatively greater assistance and support. Many Chinese or ethnic Chinese public figures have likewise received considerable support and assistance. Yet with the same things, the same logic, and the same situations, I have not received the same treatment. This is extremely unfair. There were also people who once promised assistance but later changed their minds, or simply stopped replying and left matters without any further response. These people lacked honesty and were morally corrupt, causing psychological trauma to me.
I do not ask for special privileges. I only hope to be treated like other dissidents — to be treated like a dissident with dignity, to do reasonable and justified things without obstruction and humiliation, and to receive necessary guarantees and support. Yet I have not even received being treated with basic respect and the freedoms that I should have had.
14. During the political asylum application and social integration process, I encountered bureaucracy and indifference, failed to receive important services and rights support that I should have received, and was unable to properly and effectively apply for asylum and communicate and defend my case (since April 2026, I have received some help from some caring social workers; although limited and many problems remain unresolved, the situation has indeed improved, and I am especially grateful)
During my process of seeking asylum in Germany, I sought help dozens of times from various human rights organizations, assistance institutions, asylum information centers, language schools, and refugee legal aid organizations. The result was almost always bureaucratic buck-passing. Some institutions told me to go to other organizations, while those organizations redirected me elsewhere again; some never responded at all, and some showed distrust or indifference directly in front of me after I explained my personal circumstances.
Language barriers are one reason, but more fundamentally the problem lies in structural neglect and misunderstanding toward Chinese exiles. I did not come to Germany to work or to fraudulently obtain welfare benefits; my writings and public records are clear and transparent. As someone who sincerely speaks out for Chinese human rights and believes in fairness and justice, I have felt deeply disheartened by the reality of encountering indifference everywhere and running into obstacles everywhere. How hypocritical, selective, and full of double standards many human rights systems, public organizations, and assistance structures are.
Since April 2026, because of various factors, I have received some caring help from social workers in refugee organizations. Although most of my problems and requests still remain unresolved, speaking only about this matter, their treatment toward me has indeed improved. Even when they are unable to help me, I can still understand because their own capacities are limited. Toward those who sincerely help me and show friendly attitudes, I am sincerely grateful.
15. Although I have received basic income and housing, the expenses of political struggle activities and related costs have left me unable to make ends meet, and I have not received treatment corresponding to my sacrifices and contributions; this has seriously restricted my human rights activities, caused my life to become extremely difficult and impoverished, prevented me from living with dignity, left me despairing about the future, and I have already seen the darkness of the rest of my life and the ending of my life
During my asylum application period in Germany, I also received minimum subsistence benefits and free accommodation provided by the German government. I am very grateful for this. If it were purely a matter of daily eating and clothing, it would be sufficient, and I do not enjoy luxury or extravagance. However, my political activities and constant travel to different places involve enormous expenses that exceed my income. The small amount of payments I receive for my articles is also far from enough to compensate for these costs. Furthermore, no one has provided me with free accommodation in places such as Berlin, nor has anyone given me financial support. As a refugee, my welfare support is enough to guarantee basic food needs; as a human rights activist, however, the resources I receive are far from enough.
At times I have had no choice but to sleep rough on the streets in order to save money. Even when staying in youth hostels, I frequently encountered noisy and unsafe living conditions that seriously affected my rest and peace of mind, and also affected my human rights advocacy activities. Temporary accommodation during my travels also frequently brought difficulties. In my daily life I also have to economize on food and other necessities, leaving me without a decent and dignified life and instead in a condition of poverty and hardship. I do not ask for a luxurious life, but now even my most basic needs of food, clothing, housing, and transportation are extremely inadequate.
These difficulties have also greatly restricted my human rights activities. Because of limitations in my circumstances and the burden of many trivial problems, I have been unable to carry out activities smoothly, on a larger scale, and with greater influence. Without these difficulties and restrictions, I could completely achieve dozens of times more human rights activities and hundreds of times greater influence than I do now.
I need to explain that the political struggle, human rights advocacy, writing, and expression that I engage in are also forms of difficult labor involving hardship and sacrifice. I have not worked illegally in Germany, nor have I simply lived off others without doing anything. Rather, I have used all my strength in continuing to speak out on the streets, on paper, on the internet, and in public spaces. I have invested time, energy, money, and emotion. Many times I completed those posters, tweets, articles, speeches, and translations while in extremely poor mental condition, while also facing various uncertain questioning and conflicts.
I have not gained anything without effort, but instead carried out heavy intellectual and physical labor. If labor is measured only according to economic value while ignoring mental, intellectual, and social struggle-related sacrifices, that is extremely unfair. The value of my various human rights activities far exceeds the total amount of all my income and has exhausted my already limited savings. What I have given is far greater than what I have received. I am in severe financial hardship, yet no one has truly extended a helping hand to me (although there has occasionally been very small support from a very small number of people, it has been completely insufficient). I should have received more income and other material and non-material support.
Because my strengths lie in writing, political advocacy, and human rights activities, combined with my physical and psychological condition and living circumstances, I am not suitable for other forms of labor. I also should not have had to engage in work that would interfere with doing more important things, and there are practical obstacles to engaging in other work as well (language, transportation, and similar issues). Furthermore, people such as Liu Xia, Ai Weiwei, and Yan Geling, whom I mentioned earlier, did not have to undertake difficult physical labor that damages dignity and can easily lead to trivial troubles. I should also receive similar treatment.
I fully understand that not only I myself, but many human rights activists and victims throughout the world live in poverty and isolation, while privileged elites and vested-interest groups who defended authoritarian systems, invaders, colonizers, and their descendants continue to enjoy privilege and happiness. Such a reality is extremely unfair.
Even without discussing my contributions to human rights struggles and writing achievements, simply because I come from an ordinary Chinese family background and have suffered many injustices and hardships, I should receive necessary compensation. Although this compensation should be borne by those more directly responsible for my circumstances, such as CCP elites and beneficiaries of Japanese aggression and war, many people throughout the world in fact should also bear a share of responsibility. Of course, this is not only about me. All Chinese people who have suffered have the right to receive necessary compensation and basic guarantees.
I have wandered, remained stranded, and been trapped across China, Eastern Europe, and Germany. Time has passed quickly, and I have grown older. I went from being in my twenties and still having hope to already being in my thirties while my circumstances became worse and worse. Not only have my ideals become difficult to realize, but even my personal life has become full of difficulties. I feel deeply hopeless about my life. Even if I live for several more decades, I will not have a good fate. I have already seen the darkness of the rest of my life ahead.
16. From Enthusiastic Support for Progressivism, Liberalism, the Establishment, and Opposition to Populism, to Disillusionment with Mainstream Establishment Progressive Narratives and Human Rights Systems, Discovering the Ugliness of Class Discrimination and Clique Culture, Understanding the Complexity and Hypocrisy of Reality, Their Selective Double Standards in Sympathy and Assistance, and Lamenting My Marginalization and Silencing, the Harsh and Terrible Situation of Myself and Chinese People, and the Responsibility of Everyone in the World (Especially Those of the Upper-Middle and Upper Classes)
Facing all of this, I have also become quite doubtful and gradually disillusioned regarding my former optimism toward human rights in developed countries and my support for vulnerable groups. I once strongly supported the Western establishment and highly admired progressive and liberal ideas, and I firmly opposed populism and far-right xenophobic tendencies. For example, I had long fiercely criticized Trump in the United States and the right-wing populist forces represented by him.
However, various experiences in recent years have gradually made me feel that even within democratic societies and establishment systems, those proclaimed values of “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “progress” often do not actually include individuals like me, whose positions are unusual and who do not belong to the same social class as them. Various forms of helping the vulnerable, sympathy, and care are often full of selectivity, double standards, inconsistency between words and actions, and saying one thing while doing another. Establishments and establishment systems in various countries are indeed full of hypocrisy and bureaucracy, and I have partly come to understand why populists support anti-establishment forces on the far left or far right.
The establishment, progressives, and elite classes in various countries indeed often do not distinguish, discriminate against, or exclude people on the basis of race, skin color, nationality, and so on, but instead discriminate against and exclude people through class, educational background, profession, social networks, ideology, political positions, and similar factors. There are all kinds of invisible distinctions and barriers. Circles and networks also distribute benefits and determine who has a voice on the basis of these relationships and degrees of closeness, quietly excluding dissidents and vulnerable people from the mainstream public discourse and networks of interest distribution under their control.
I once wrote articles criticizing Trump for shutting down USAID and ending support for various human rights organizations. But now I have discovered that, at least among the human rights organizations I have encountered, quite a number indeed are people who occupy positions while doing little or nothing and merely enjoying the benefits of those positions, deeply bureaucratic, selectively offering support and sympathy, and placing political positions above right and wrong. Criticisms of human rights institutions by Trump and Musk are not entirely baseless (although their motives are not necessarily well-intentioned); at the very least, these organizations did not help me. The American right-wing government’s ending of funding for these human rights organizations and individuals is also unfavorable to me. However, considering the discrimination and rejection I previously experienced from these organizations and individuals, my feeling some schadenfreude toward this is also understandable.
I belong neither to China’s establishment system and supporters of the regime, nor to mainstream exile organizations. I am neither a welcomed cultural or artistic figure nor an easily usable symbolic figure. I am not an ethnic minority, yet I also do not possess the status and power of mainstream groups. I increasingly understand that those shouting about justice, and social elites as well, often close their doors to others who do not suit their tastes. They appear to sympathize with vulnerable groups, but in reality they also possess strong class discrimination and treat people differently according to their identities and social positions. I am someone trapped in the cracks between the Chinese Communist system, Chinese dissident circles, and mainstream global society. I am also someone who wholeheartedly longed for progressive elites only to repeatedly have my enthusiasm met with cold indifference. I do not expect to defeat these forces; I only wish to leave my own traces in this world, even if even this itself is difficult.
I increasingly understand that speaking about suffering, promoting stories, and displaying humanity also require power, discourse rights, and support from particular forces in order to be achieved. People who suffer in similar ways, if they have no powerful backing or are not considered useful by powerful people, no matter how much suffering they endure or how moving and complicated their experiences may be, will not be listened to and certainly will not be promoted. They can only silently endure suffering and injustice. Whether in China or Germany, East or West, this is the same; the whole world is like this.
As Giorgio Agamben said:
“Modern totalitarianism… can eliminate not only political opponents, but also groups of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system.”
“One day humanity will play with law just as children play with discarded objects.”
“Memory restores the possibilities of the past, makes what has happened incomplete, and makes what never happened complete.”
This situation does not occur only in authoritarian societies and authoritarian conditions. Democratic societies and establishment systems can also be like this, only in a more concealed way, covered with many splendid outer garments and hidden beneath beautiful rhetoric. I have deeply experienced what Agamben described: living in a democratic, free, and pluralistic society while having no platform or discourse power of my own and being systematically excluded and systematically silenced. Some individuals and groups receive attention, obtain platforms to speak, and achieve effective results in their struggles, making the unfairness toward me personally and toward the group to which I belong appear even more pronounced.
And for my current condition, the even worse circumstances that may await me in the future, and the despair and helplessness of many Chinese people suffering similarly, everyone in this world, especially various elites and beneficiaries of existing interests, all bear responsibility.
17. Continuing to struggle even in despair, continuing to live with difficulty amid pain, unwilling to die silently and unnoticed, looking back on my own suffering and the historical suffering and present difficulties of my country and nation, becoming even more sorrowful and despairing, and sending out a hopeless cry
Although I have faced many difficulties, including the rejection of my refugee status, institutional indifference, social discrimination, and exclusion from circles of Chinese political dissidents, I still continue to record, speak out, write, and run about calling out for Chinese human rights, the rights of vulnerable groups, and issues of historical memory. I also continue to participate in various activities held in Germany to commemorate the June Fourth Incident, oppose the CCP and various forms of authoritarian rule, call for freedom and democracy, and speak for vulnerable groups, firmly defending historical truth and universal values. I am not perfect, nor do I come from a background of power and influence, but I have never abandoned what I believe to be my moral responsibility as a Chinese person, nor my love and concern for my fellow people as a Han Chinese.
The Chinese people, especially Han Chinese of the middle and lower classes, have experienced Japanese invasion and massacres as well as CCP authoritarian rule and tyranny, and have long lived in poverty and in conditions of lost rights and dignity. They suffer oppression within China and discrimination and bullying abroad, living under multiple forms of suffering. These are not merely matters of history. The damage and suffering caused by the tragedies of historical internal oppression and external invasions continue to affect Chinese people to this day. The international community, various elites, and developed countries have responsibilities and obligations to provide necessary assistance to me and other Chinese victims and activists, including material support, platforms for expression, spiritual support, and public-opinion support.
In reality, however, China’s human rights problems and livelihood issues, and the suffering of Chinese people — especially Han Chinese in central and southern China — have been seriously neglected by the world and have not received attention and support comparable to places such as Ukraine and Gaza. Han Chinese who support freedom and democracy, as well as Han Chinese exiles, have also not received the treatment and assistance they deserve. I also sympathize with Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Tibetans and support the freedom, liberation, and national self-determination of Uyghur and Tibetan peoples. However, I and the majority of Han Chinese who have not participated in wrongdoing, who are more oppressed, and who likewise resist authoritarianism, have not received necessary attention and support, but instead have been ignored, misunderstood, and forgotten by the world.
The reason I personally have remained in a state of pain and depression for such a long time is also that I carry the historical wounds of my country and nation. The destiny of my nation and my own destiny are one, and historical and present problems are intertwined, together creating this tragedy of my life. The humiliation of my nation is also my humiliation, and the downfall of my country has further intensified my personal suffering. I feel profound despair regarding China, the Han nation, and my own life.
However, I do not wish to move quickly toward death. I still hope to use all my strength to speak out, to leave traces in this world, and to let people see and hear the suffering of myself and of my country and nation. I deeply hope to speak for oppressed and neglected people in China and around the world and tell their stories, their truths, and their appeals. Yet I have been obstructed by various means described above and have been unable to speak effectively, finding myself in a country with freedom of speech while in reality being deprived of my right to speak.
No matter what my future fate may be, I still need to state these facts and send out my weak voice, even though, because of my weak and marginalized position, most people cannot see my struggle or hear my voice. Perhaps these are my final words; perhaps not. I am insignificant and my words carry little weight, and this letter will most likely receive no response, just like many previous open letters and letters of request that I wrote. But at least I have spoken these words rather than enduring suffering and dying in silence like many other Chinese people, including both those living in mainland China and overseas Chinese.
Wang Qingmin
2025.7.12 (First Draft)
2025–2026 (Revised and Expanded Multiple Times)
(This is an open letter and may be forwarded to anyone.)
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