I've been following this case from the beginning, and actually still have a draft of a new thread about it on the forum. But I decided to leave it and just wait and watch, because there was a lot of charged and conflicting information, while some of it was dismissed as fake. It is also possible to see that there is an agenda in spreading this kind of information, so better to approach with caution. Here are my thoughts.
I don't think you seem to grasp the situation here.
It is the government (someone very powerful in or close to the government) who is burying the whole case, bribing police and other officials, tampering/erasing evidence, and censoring everyone online under penalty of, at the best, your online account gets shut down, at the worst, it's jail time.
Yes, the official police report said that it was a suicide and there was no criminal component, and the case is closed at the moment.
Also 10 days later the police detained 3 women who were spreading false allegations online.
The 37-year-old Chinese artiste fell from a residential building in Beijing on Sept 11 after consuming alcohol. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.
www.straitstimes.com
The data they shared was picked up by the Western "anti-China" bloggers, and only some of them made their own research and proved the data to be fake. It includes voice and video recordings.
And it's true that Chinese officials were scraping a lot of data like this and deleting conversations. It could be a proof of censoring. Censoring is a very real thing in China, no point denying it, but sometimes it's important to understand the intent.
It could be hiding the truth, but it could also be preventing an intentional spreading of false information in order to instigate an unrest. Remember what the C's said about Chinese response during covid times. The measures were undeniably draconian, but they had a real reason behind them.
From what I found out, in China, there is no such thing as independent artists. The law requires them to be signed by an agency that manages their career. There are very few exceptions to this. One such exception is actor/signer Bai JingTing: he opened up his own talent agency and hired himself...
Yes, it's true. And in many cases artists and actors really suffer. There are no unions, and the entertainment world in China resembles old times Hollywood, where you are a sort of a slave to the agency if you want to become a star. There are all kind of situations, really. Some are better, some are worse.
If you want to learn more about this, look into Zhao Lusi and how her agency treated her. She is considered to be one of the leading actresses in China, but she had a breakdown due to being overworked (probably even a stroke).
It's also true that there are exceptions. For example, Liu Yuning is not tied up with any agency and still manages. He is considered a unicorn in Chinese ET world. Probably because of his background. He doesn't come from "showbiz" environment. If you are interested, you can watch a video, starting from
this particular time stamp. This lady worked in China ET business, so she knows how it works from inside. She explains how the actors world and education in China work, and why Liu Yuning is unique and is able to hold his own.
Back to Yu Menlong: this young man was an actor who signed up with a talent agency named Tianyu Media in 2013. He was 25 years old back then. That particular agency seems to be run by shady, evil people (snakes in suits), so young aspiring artists don't have a clue about what's awaiting them. And as Huila quoted in her post, there is this cultural thing about finding a sponsor and being "submissive/obedient"...
Yes, things like this definitely happen. I saw a video where a Chinese young starting male actor described things similar to what many actors described about how things worked in Hollywood.
Let's be clear on 2 things
- Even if those sources are questionable, the facts remain the same: the video of him being tortured is real, his voice has been identified, and this murder is by no means an anti-China propaganda made-up story; it is quite real.
It's important to note that social media in China is like a jungle, especially when it comes to all kind of celebrity news, and all kind of hidden camera videos, or any sort of data. Absolutely everything can be faked, AI generated in a very skilled way. There are constantly all kind of scandals going on, or paparazzi images shared, or pictures taken by crazy fans. Not to mention fan fiction about celebrities that can be presented in a very convincing way.
So it's not possible to say for sure that these videos are real. As I mentioned above, I looked into it for awhile and saw videos that explained that various recordings were dismissed as fakes, because later they were proven to be recordings of some other event from the covid times, and another video was dismissed because the time stamp on it didn't correspond to the "timeline" that was made by the Chinese or other "netizens", and then shared everywhere.
I stopped following it closely because I saw that various English speaking channels were repeating all kind of information, including the info that was proven as fake, so there was no point looking into it, since it is apparent that they didn't do their own independent research. And I didn't have time to find the ones who actually make an effort and their own research.
It would be so awesome if we had someone who spoke Chinese, who could actually spend time looking at the original discussions to see what they really said and shared. But then it would also take a lot of time. It would be a colossal effort by now.
- People reporting on negative things happening in China doesn't automatically equal Western propaganda: there are quite a lot of negative or dark things happening down there.
This is very true. It is actually true to every country and every corner on this planet. There is no country on this planet that has no negative and dark things happening there. I think it is very important to remember. Yes, it's important to expose it, just like it's important to expose what Israel is doing, for example.
But considering my own personal perspective based on where I come from (in this case Russia), I am weary of the so called "opposition fighters" or "truth spreader" YT channels, because they could be funded by someone from the West, just like in case of Navalny in Russia. And they are the ones who create and share myriad of "justice to Yu Menglong" videos.
Navalny and co. often shared somewhat accurate information, but with their own slant. Or they took information that could be interpreted in different ways, and chose to interpret it in their own way. What they said rang true because there IS corruption in Russia, and a lot of things ARE happening, no doubt about it. But their INTENT was to subvert and prepare the ground for color revolution. That's why they got funds from their masters.
I'm sorry, but this case has nothing to do with geopolitics, and geopolitics are not needed in the context either, at least not initially.
Personally I wouldn't dismiss geopolitics. You spent a lot of time at compiling various data and was able to present that there are supposed connections to other killings/murders/accidents. But only now these events are being shared and are gaining momentum. And it's possible to see that in the West they are being heavily promoted by the "anti-China" English speaking bloggers.
I saw videos that even mentioned supposed connection between Kirk assassination and CCP in relation to Yu Menglong murder. The same bloggers say that this scandal is China's 9/11, and it could be the final straw to topple the CCP. It's like they are firing in all directions and hope that some of them will hit.
There are a lot of things happening now related to China, so it's not impossible to presume that certain parties would take one event and would run with it and use it to present a certain idea, optics, etc. In Russia it is called "loosen a screw". As in, sooner or later it would fall.
My final thoughts are that I really hope that this case of a horrible abuse and torture is a fabrication. It is still very sad if it is a "simple" suicide case. Because it is still a tragedy. Maybe that's why I prefer to be cautious for now, because the alternative is so disturbing and so dark, it really bothers me. It's also very possible that there were some shady things going on. That it isn't a simple suicide. That he was "helped" in some way. I am not questioning any of that.
What I find questionable is the intent behind sharing all this information in the way it is being shared on all the "opposition" YT channels. The information that is being shared is so horrific that most of the comments are very emotional (naturally). It's a normal emotional response. But considering how things work in our world, especially online, it's best to consider that it could be intentional in order to illicit strong emotional response that could be modified/manipulated to fit whatever purposes .
There is no doubt that such things are happening in our world all the time. But there are also a lot of questionable things happening, so better to keep this in mind. Maybe it's worth asking the C's about, don't know.