After 30 years of relentless growth and capitalism, a new trend has emerged in China. The search for a simpler, calmer life is leading some Chinese people to seek a life abroad. The trend is so popular that it’s gained its own internet buzzword: the “run philosophy."
This video popped up in my feed andabout 2 and a half minutes in they start talking to a former policeman turned artist name Ye Fu. His story is that after Tiananmen Square he renounced his job, and then was sent to prison after being framed by a friend. After he was released he left the country and eventually settled in Thailand and runs a place for Chinese people fleeing China, basically wealthy chinese liberals.
He claims that before Tiananmen square people were full of hope, and that now people are miserable and desperate, etc. Says everyone is miserable and the economy is about to collapse. The usual.
So I looked him up and his name is Zheng Shiping, and his pen name is Ye Fu.
His grandpa was a direct male-line descendant of chieftain (土司), his grandfather, Liu Jilu, who had graduated from Huangpu Military Academy, was a general and Chiang Kai-shek’s bodyguard. After 1949, Yefu’s parents stayed in Mainland China. They were cast as rightists, and suffered political persecution. Yefu’s grandfather was brought to be persecuted. His grandfather and two aunts committed suicide due to such tough and hopeless life conditions.
His wiki page also links to conversation with Xiong Zhaozheng, the friend who betrayed him, and seems to indicate they were involved with an “overseas democracy” group (coughCIAfrontcough) that was under surveillence at the time of June 4th.
(auto translated by google)I’m sorry, Brother Yefu, no matter what you are like, I have always regarded you as my most chivalrous friend and brother. I’m sorry, I’m not as strong as you, I confessed everything after three days in prison. I apologize for the suffering you have endured, etc.
You have many doubts about that case, and I have many doubts too, the reasons for which I cannot explain to you now. I will explain the truth when I am old and buried in the earth.
People from the Overseas Chinese Alliance did come, but I never admitted it to the police, so they had to release me in the end. I don’t know why you were sentenced. I did go to Guangzhou to contact them a few times, and once at the airport, Liu Fudao [a leader of the Hubei Writers Association and a famous writer] and his men forcibly took me back. The police later showed me photos of my meeting with you and everyone else, indicating that all my actions were under surveillance.
And I found another interview that seems to confirm their involvment with an oversees “pro-democracy” group.
03:29 Chai: The thing that he [Ye Fu] cannot wrap his head around is that he went to Guangzhou on your behalf to send a document that you told him an overseas democracy activist would pick up. Later, when the procuratorate brought forth the charges, your name wasn’t mentioned, nor was the name of the overseas democracy activist—even though [the procuratorate] had all the documents. This perplexed him. I’m sure you can understand his feelings, right? Why weren’t you charged with a crime while he was sent to prison?
Does the state department act as publicists for these people, so whenever a journalist wants an interview they are funneled towards people like Ye Fu?