Monsoon Micro-Reading Circle | Give me freedom to go abroad, let me embrace my children

I returned to Shanghai from the United States on January 12, 2022, to care for my sick mother. Afterwards, I was locked down at home due to the pandemic. After the lockdown was lifted, I planned to return to the United States on August 1st, in time for my twin daughters’ senior year of high school, my son’s graduate school, and my husband’s university. However, I was stopped at the border inspection at Pudong Airport, and told that I had violated a certain article of entry and exit management, endangering national security. Since then, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau has spoken to me several times, asking if my husband, Yu Miao, had published or uploaded any articles under a pseudonym in the United States in the first half of 2022. I had never heard of these situations. But every time I was interviewed, I actively cooperated and relayed messages to my husband as requested by the police. I immediately forwarded his replies to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. He completely denied these suspicions against him.

I know nothing about my husband’s affairs, nor do I participate in them. During the many years he ran the Monsoon Bookstore in Shanghai (which was later forcibly closed), I never inquired about or participated in the bookstore’s activities. I have always respected my husband’s personal independence and given him the greatest freedom. He is a staunch patriot, and I trust him!

You clearly told me: I am innocent, and as long as my husband returns to China to be investigated, I can regain my freedom to leave the country. But my husband is the sole guardian of our two minor daughters abroad, how can he leave without thinking? If he leaves the children and returns to China, and then faces the situation where both husband and wife are restricted, wouldn’t our family collapse? Guilt by association or hostage-taking are both despised by modern civilized society, and no one wants their family to suffer this misfortune one day. Once this rule arises, no one can escape.

I have direct guardianship responsibilities for my three children. Now is the most critical period for my daughters to apply to universities, and then there will be graduation ceremonies. It is wrong to deprive me of the opportunity to be with my children. Teenagers who lose their mother’s love will cause lifelong regret.

For more than five months, I have been missing my three children and my loving husband every day. I have missed our silver wedding anniversary, New Year’s Day, and will soon miss my daughters’ birthdays in January and the Spring Festival. Depriving an innocent person of their freedom to travel, breaking up a loving couple, and obstructing a mother’s care for her children, what kind of example does this set for building a community with a shared future for mankind? It is easy to provoke hatred, but it is much more difficult, yet incredibly important, to create a friendly society and a country of universal love. The greatest power is love, not violence. If you love your wives, then you will definitely empathize with my desire to reunite with my husband; if you love your children, then you should give me freedom and let me embrace my children.

I believe that your department is composed of people with flesh and blood and emotions. When I was young, I aspired to protect fairness and justice, and to protect the weak, which is why I chose the public security, procuratorate, and judiciary. I respect such people and such ideals. I implore your department to restore my freedom as soon as possible, so that I can reunite with my family. If your department intends to continue to restrict my right to leave the country, please also provide formal legal documents and law enforcement basis, so that I have grounds to appeal through legal and other means.

January 2023