China: 2 YouTube vloggers 'disappear' after they mock President Xi Jinping

At least two Chinese video producers were reported ‘missing’ on Tuesday on the eve of Lunar New Year over allegations of mocking Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Head of popular YouTube channel Qiang Guo Wa Ha that specialized in ‘Ru Bao’ a Mandarin term that implies humour against the Chinese President told state press that the chairperson and the manager of the controversial YouTube channel disappeared last Tuesday and there was no information that could be traced back to her whereabouts. Sources of Apple Daily newspaper and Radio Free Asia disclosed, that Ru Mo Lian She had been referring to Xi as ‘Bao Zi’ which refers to a ‘steam bun’ in Mandarin, for which, she was heavily criticized. She coined the term following her visit to a restaurant in Beijing where she ordered bun in December 2013. Then the concept of dark humour was tweaked and adopted by several YouTube channels. 

Several videos, over the last few years that mocked the communist leader as ‘Ru Bao’ portraying him as a version of Winnie The Pooh were taken down by Youtube over copyright infringement of Shanghai Hode Information Technology Co Ltd. President Xi Jinping’s regime, over the last several years, has made arbitrary detention against the pro-democracy activities and those that condemned his government under charges of ‘subversion of state power’. Many prominent businessmen, including Alibaba’s CEO, have mysteriously disappeared in the past after they turned into critics of Xi Jinping's Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

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‘Ink girl’ video creator 'missing'

In December 2020, another Chinese activist Dong Yaoqiong, who berated China’s communist regime and tweeted footage titled ‘ink girl’ that showed defaced Xi Jinping poster was held by the Chinese authorities in Zhuzhou city in Hunan province. A supporter of Yaogiong, Ou Biaofeng, was also held by the police under administrative detention. Yaogoing’s family, that criticised the Communist Party for “thought control”, accused the CCP of intense surveillance and violation of human rights after his wife was restricted from freedom of movement and freedom to contact other people. Dong’s video and tweets were deleted and he had been missing since. 

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