The term “designated residence” is used, and in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, it seems to carry the rough feeling of the 1990s.
Yesterday (June 10), this rough feeling finally fell upon the investigative journalists.
An open letter titled “Follow-up to the Liu Donglin Case, Who Died Due to Torture: People Who Helped the Family Were Subjected to ‘Designated Residence,’ Journalists Were Summoned, and Lawyers Were Investigated” circulated online.
The letter was written by Liu Anzhong, a 74-year-old farmer from Sichuan.
Another identity of his is the father of Liu Donglin, who died mysteriously six years ago during “designated residential surveillance” in Shijiazhuang.
This letter was written to the Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Ying Yong, but in between the lines, it reads more like a plea for help and a letter of despair to everyone.
The letter says that just yesterday (June 10):
A famous investigative journalist from the Beijing Youth Daily was summoned by the Shijiazhuang police.
He only had time to send a message to his colleagues, and then he disappeared:
Completely out of contact.
In the letter, Liu Anzhong said that the reason why this journalist “went in” was because he had interviewed the Liu family for official duties, but the report was ultimately not published due to:
Interference from the Hebei official forces.
A report that could not be published eventually sent the journalist himself to the place that should have been reported and exposed.
This is probably the blackest humor in the journalism world in 2025.
The fuse of this incident has already been ignited.
According to the open letter from Liu’s father, the Shijiazhuang police not only summoned the journalist, but also established a “5.11” special task force, with the goal of:
Investigating, monitoring, and labeling as suspects the case’s lawyers, four journalists who were concerned about the case, and two righteous people (father and son) from Shijiazhuang who helped us, to turn these people into a “criminal group.”
The center of the storm is the death of Liu Donglin.
According to a report published by the media “New Yellow River” on May 12 of this year, “The ‘Private Settlement’ of a Murder Case: The Mystery of Death in ‘Designated Residence’,” 40-year-old Liu Donglin was taken away from his home by the Shijiazhuang police on October 1, 2019, and subjected to “designated residential surveillance,” at the Yinhe Hotel next to the Shijiazhuang First Detention Center.
This place is internally known as the “Shijiazhuang Municipal Public Security Bureau Law Enforcement Case Handling Center.”
On October 8, 2019, Liu Donglin died in this case handling center:
Just a week later.
The death certificate issued by the police stated that the cause of death was:
Pulmonary embolism.
No autopsy, no investigation. Liu Donglin’s body was directly cremated.
Under the coordination of a lawyer named Li Moufeng, a “Hebei Provincial Political and Legal Committee Special Expert,” the family signed a “no objection” agreement with an unknown public security organ and received a sum of 450,000 yuan:
“Relief funds.”
The agreement promised not to pursue further action.
The New Yellow River’s report cited the complaints of a fellow worker who was also subjected to “designated residence” with Liu Donglin.
They said that in the Yinhe Hotel, they were subjected to beatings, rolling their legs with rolling pins, and even:
Electric shock torture from a hand-cranked generator.
One of the fellow workers recalled that on the morning of Liu Donglin’s death, he heard him being taken out of the room, followed by a scream.
After that, everything fell silent.
It wasn’t until five years later, on May 12, 2024, that the report by New Yellow River journalist Liu Chengwei brought this “privately settled” murder case back into the public eye.
Liu Anzhong, Liu Donglin’s father, said that after the report came out, they saw hope.
On May 21, the staff of the Supreme Procuratorate met with their lawyer, listened to their opinions, and stated that:
Procurator General Ying Yong was very concerned about the case.
However, things quickly slid in a direction that they found “unbelievable and terrifying.”
In the open letter, Liu’s father revealed the thunderous methods of the Shijiazhuang police, and the timeline was chilling:
On May 11, the day before the New Yellow River report was published, a righteous person from Shijiazhuang who had helped the family:
Was subjected to “designated residence” by the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
On May 22, another righteous person who had helped the family find witnesses:
Was subjected to “designated residence” by the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau on the charge of “obstructing testimony.”
Liu’s father questioned: The case has been reviewed by the procuratorate for nearly a year, and no case has been filed. How can there be “obstructing testimony”?
On June 10, the aforementioned journalist from the Beijing Youth Daily went missing after being summoned.
In the letter, Liu’s father wrote in despair that his son, Liu Donglin, died during the period of “designated residence.”
He dared not imagine what kind of coercion and fear the two righteous people who helped them would face now that they were also subjected to “designated residence.”
And the relevant personnel of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau they accused:
Are still safe and sound.
What makes the Liu family feel the coldest is the change in the official attitude.
The Supreme Procuratorate, which was “very concerned” about the case a few days ago, has now become a perfunctory response of “not under its jurisdiction” on the phone.
The family’s core appeal—to “transfer jurisdiction” of the case to be handled outside of Hebei Province—has also sunk without a trace.
Liu’s father’s logic is simple and powerful:
How can the local procuratorate handle the local public security? … Once the case is transferred out, without any vested interests, the case will inevitably be handled fairly, and the public security personnel who caused the murder will also pay the price they deserve.
This seems to have hit the nail on the head.
In response, the righteous people who helped them, the journalists who reported the case, and the lawyers who represented the case were all packed into the special case pocket of “criminal group.”
An unpublished manuscript eventually resulted in a missing summons.
The snowball of the Liu Donglin case is getting bigger and bigger, and what it involves has long exceeded the tragedy of an ordinary family. It is crushing everyone who tries to get close to the truth.
Written on June 11, 2025
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