Migrant worker detained in China over song about man being beaten by officials
- Huang Ming spent two weeks in custody after he posted lyrics on WeChat and said he wanted to find a singer and make a video about the incident
- He wrote that his county was ‘so full of corruption I can’t bear it any longer’
A migrant worker in Guangdong was detained in Yunnan province for two weeks for song lyrics he posted on social media two years ago describing the beating of a man by government officials.
Huang Ming was taken from his dormitory at a factory in Heyuan, Guangdong, by two officers who had travelled more than 1,000km from Yunnan’s Zhenxiong county early this month, the Yunnan.cn news portal reports.
Huang, who is from Zhenxiong, was put into custody in the county on a charge of picking a quarrel and making trouble, the report cited an official from the local Public Security Bureau as saying.
A document issued by county police said Huang broke the law by writing song lyrics based on the incident in 2017 and posting them on the WeChat social media platform in July of that year.
An article on Huang’s WeChat account said he wanted to find a singer for the song. He also said he was planning to make a video including the lyrics and footage of the incident, in which government officials beat a county resident.
“Shovels and hoes, government officials picked them up to hit Long Anyou,” the lyrics read. “Long Anyou got his ribs broken and head bleeding. Officials are like bandits and just left in a car after the attack.