China mainland’s youngest dissident, 15-year-old Hebei boy Zhang Qiyuan, releases a video seeking help, says he was once confined to a psychiatric hospital by the CCP
(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On June 17, 2026, this outlet learned that today, 15-year-old Zhang Qiyuan from Baoding, Hebei, released a video seeking help through an overseas blogger. He said that during the period when he went missing after publicly questioning Xi Jinping on July 10, 2025, CCP authorities successively forcibly detained him for months at a Grade III, Class A psychiatric specialty hospital—Hebei Province’s Sixth People’s Hospital (Hebei Mental Health Center, located at 572 Dongfeng East Road, Lianchi District, Baoding), and subsequently transferred him to Baoding Chunyu School, which specifically houses and rehabilitates students with behavioral problems, where his personal freedom was illegally restricted. He revealed that during his detention, he was frequently threatened and intimidated by police wielding wooden sticks studded with nails. The abusive police officer’s badge number: FJ0141.
Zhang Qiyuan is currently missing again.
Profile of Zhang Qiyuan: Born on November 4, 2010, he is a boy from Baoding, Hebei, China, who attracted widespread attention after publicly expressing political dissent online and openly questioning CCP leader Xi Jinping by real name. He is one of the youngest known “awakened” individuals in mainland China to have been punished for speech.
On July 10, 2025, 14-year-old Zhang Qiyuan publicly asked on a Bilibili blogger’s livestream whether Xi Jinping was a “dictator.” He was subsequently summoned by the Dongfeng Police Station in Baoding. Before going to the police station, he recorded a video seeking help from the outside world and made a public statement in the video, stressing that he “would not compromise and would absolutely not commit suicide.” He also expressly stated that if any form of “televised confession” appeared in the future, it would be a false act made under coercion after being subjected to serious threats. Since mid-July 2025, Zhang Qiyuan has been in a state of enforced disappearance.
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