Chinese graduates’ petitions ask central government to probe case of trafficked woman found in chains
- The petitions by alumni of prestigious Peking and Tsinghua universities are censored on social media, along with individuals’ posts
- They urge central authorities to hold local officials accountable and crack down on trafficking after video of woman prompts national outrage
A hundred alumni of the prestigious Peking University in Beijing have signed an online petition urging the Communist Party and the State Council, the country’s cabinet, to look into the case of the woman, who was seen in the hut in Xuzhou, eastern China, in a video that went viral last month.
“The tragic case and suffering of the Xuzhou woman has aroused widespread compassion, concern … as well as unsettling distress and anger,” said the letter, dated February 15.
06:54
'We need to let the courts hear us': Chinese #MeToo pioneer vows to fight on
Dozens of graduates of another elite institution, Tsinghua University, posted a similar petition on Twitter.
Numerous photographs of people holding messages calling for a top-down investigation were also posted online, only to be wiped from mainland Chinese cyberspace soon afterwards.