Wang Zang: Distorting right and wrong, shirking responsibility, and continuing to shield the village Party secretary’s wrongdoing — Pursuing accountability in the “Wang Hao Drowning Incident” [Progress Report No. 6]

At 14:30 on August 6, 2026, the deceased’s father, Wang Shaowei, and I went as agreed to the reception desk of the Sankou Town Comprehensive Governance Center for a meeting. The deputy mayor read out in person the “Details of the Handling under Statutory Procedures of the Matters Raised by Wang Shaowei with the Local Guannan Government Regarding the Wang Hao Drowning Incident” and gave us this document from the People’s Government of Sankou Town, Guannan County (Sanxinfuzi [2026] No. 20).

Regarding these “Details of the Handling,” the guardian and our family members stated: We do not recognize, are not satisfied with, and do not accept them:

I. According to the deceased’s grandmother Hou Shuzhen’s firsthand account: “In the days before Wang Hao drowned, government and judicial personnel had face-to-face contact with me on three separate occasions. The first was at the entrance to my home, with Cheng Haiyan, director of women’s affairs in Sanhe Village; the second was inside my home, with Pan Yujun, Party secretary of Sanhe Village; the third was inside my home, with three police officers from the local police station. All five people during the three encounters mentioned Wang Liqin and Wang Zang to me, and all said that if I did not cooperate in reforming and disciplining my daughter Wang Liqin, the consequences would be my own responsibility.”

The “Details of the Handling” state: “Cheng Haiyan encountered Hou Shuzhen on the way to the village office and therefore asked her in person whether Wang Liqin was at home … During the above coordination of assistance and education placement and the verification of information, the staff of the Sankou judicial office did not have face-to-face contact with Hou Shuzhen. There was no intimidation or threat against Hou Shuzhen whatsoever.” — This is purely a lie.

II. According to the firsthand accounts of Hou Shuzhen and other family members: “At the site in front of the home where Wang Hao died, the local village committee had previously specifically deepened the river channel at this location. I told them not to dig it, saying: Why was it not dug elsewhere, and why did they have to dig precisely along the riverbank on the side in front of my home? If it was not dug, the water was so shallow that it did not even reach the knees. By digging it deeper like this, a child could drown. It was too dangerous! But Pan Yujun ordered people to dig it by force.”

The “Details of the Handling” state: “… Construction involved dredging only the southern half and did not widen or deepen the ditch. Afterward, no further dredging or other related construction work was carried out on the ditch.” — This is purely a lie.

III. The “Details of the Handling” state: “… Warning signs concerning drowning prevention and other matters were installed, and the warning signs remain intact and preserved to this day.”

According to photographs from the period before and after the incident, as well as photographs taken again by family members near the site of the incident tonight, there is only one badly damaged iron sign. No one can make out the writing on it, and it is impossible to identify the “warning signs” mentioned in the document, much less say that they have been “intact and preserved.”

IV. The “Details of the Handling” state: “Wang Shaowei, his father, became emotionally distraught because of excessive grief after attempts at resuscitation failed. The matter of handling the remains was decided through internal consultation among the family. At the time, Wang Hao’s relatives (Hou Shuhua, Wang Zhengshui, and others), based on local customs, put forward to Pan Yujun, then Party secretary of the village, the request that ‘children who die prematurely should not be cremated,’ and asked the village committee for temporary assistance. Out of consideration for calming the family’s emotions and demonstrating humanitarian concern, Pan Yujun arranged for villagers to assist the family in temporarily transferring and placing the remains. In this process, Wang Hao’s family took the initiative to make the request, and village officials provided assistance; there was no conduct by government personnel of forcibly seizing or disposing of the remains. Regarding the specific burial location and subsequent changes concerning the remains, these were all actions independently handled by the family and the people they commissioned, and the government did not interfere. Based on all the facts established through investigation, no fault on the part of Pan Yujun or relevant town leaders was found, and there is no corresponding factual basis for holding them accountable.”

1. According to the firsthand account of the deceased’s father, Wang Shaowei: “I was indeed deeply grieved at the time, but my mind was clear and my thinking was lucid. I was still considering matters such as where to bury the child and other arrangements. I did not lose control of my emotions. Saying that I lost control of my emotions is a false accusation.”

2. On the day Wang Hao drowned, the only family members present were his grandmother Hou Shuzhen and his father Wang Shaowei. There was no consultation among the guardian and family members, nor did they make any decision about where to bury the body. Wang Hao’s guardian, Wang Shaowei, and Hou Shuzhen both said: “Only an hour and a half to two hours after the incident, the child’s body was gone. We searched everywhere but could not find it. We wanted to look at the child one more time and think about what to do, but we simply could not find it … We later made inquiries and only then learned that Pan Yujun had taken people to carry it away! Party Secretary Pan never asked for our opinions and never obtained our consent!”

3. On the day of the incident, Wang Shaowei’s relatives Hou Shuhua and Wang Zhengshui were not present. Even if they had been present, the two were not family members, much less guardians, and had no right to make any decision on behalf of the guardian’s family.

4. At no time did Wang Hao’s guardian or family members “take the initiative to make a request.” From beginning to end, it was the village Party secretary Pan Yujun who forcibly took away the body, acted on his own authority, and disposed of it on his own authority. The “specific burial location and subsequent changes concerning the remains” likewise resulted from the forced interference of village Party secretary Pan Yujun, who acted and disposed of the remains on his own authority without obtaining the family’s consent or informing the family.

5. Even today, when we received the “Details of the Handling,” Pan Yujun, the town government, and the public security authorities still firmly refuse to tell us where the deceased Wang Hao was buried! To this day, for three years, four months, and twenty-six days, Wang Hao’s family has still not known or found the burial site even once to pay their respects!

6. The village Party secretary Pan Yujun acted in such flagrant violation of the law and with such viciousness, yet the town government’s official document with its red header so openly reverses black and white and good and evil. It declares that conduct which is intolerable to heaven and reason, utterly devoid of conscience, morally corrupt, destructive of all ethics, and suspected of violating the law and committing crimes was intended to “calm the family’s emotions and demonstrate humanitarian concern”? How can they be “holding an umbrella while acting as a monk,” and how can they be lice on a bald head, yet still say that they “found no fault on the part of Pan Yujun or relevant town leaders”?

V. Jiangsu Province’s Guannan County Sankou Town government has whitewashed such naked wrongdoing, completely shifted away responsibility, paid not a penny in compensation, and firmly refused to apologize to the victim’s family — certain leaders of the Sankou Town government, how much longer will you continue racing down the illegal and evil path?

Wang Yuwen (Wang Zang), Wang Shaowei, Hou Shuzhen

August 6, 2026