CHINA TRUTH — bilingual independent investigations and historical archive

Video circulated on May 28 purportedly shows the area in front of Tiananmen on Chang’an Avenue in Beijing. The footage shows a taxi driving toward a barrier and sustaining severe damage, while a person who appears to be a police officer is knocked to the ground. Several police officers are seen breaking the taxi’s windows. The video could not be independently verified.

On May 30, a fire broke out at a transportation building in Baoding, Hebei. According to local residents, the fire started in an upper-floor warehouse used to store supplies and spread downward. The fire occurred around noon, when relatively few people were in the building. The number of casualties remains unclear, and the claims and footage could not be independently verified.

According to the post, at least 12 river-jumping incidents occurred in Taiyuan over a two-week period, and police have begun guarding bridges to prevent such incidents. The claim could not be independently verified.

The post also says Taiyuan was selected last year as one of China’s “cities with the greatest sense of happiness.”

A circulating post claims that a document allegedly from martial-law forces lists casualty figures from the “June Fourth” incident. It gives 10,974 student deaths, 7,992 deaths among ordinary people and 11,865 people whose identities could not be confirmed, for a total of 31,978. The material also lists 113 military deaths, 197 military personnel mistakenly injured or killed within the military, and 837 seriously injured military personnel in hospitals, along with figures for multiple locations. The material could not be independently verified.

According to the post, after a central inspection team arrived in Tangshan, a large number of petitioners gathered outside the hotel where the team was staying. Footage shows people in plain clothes repeatedly dragging and intercepting individuals. The material could not be independently verified.

At a press conference on May 27, China’s Ministry of Public Security said China is one of the countries with the world’s lowest homicide rate, criminal-offense rate and number of gun-violence cases. The statement drew mockery and skepticism from some online users, with calls to reduce police staffing if the country is so safe. The claims and online reactions could not be independently verified.

According to the post, a deputy director of a public security bureau made a real-name online report, claiming he had been wronged and had been subjected to torture during interrogation. He also asked internet users to seek justice for him. The claims could not be independently verified.

A post dated May 26 said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army had mounted a machine gun on a robot dog. It also said the robot dog was originally developed by Boston Dynamics, which released its software development kit (SDK) on GitHub in 2020 and stated that weapons must not be attached to robot dogs for military use. The claims could not be independently verified.

On May 25, blogger “Nameless Knight” visited a man who has lived in a rural area of Hebei for 30 years after losing both legs. According to the account, the man worked at a nearby coal mine with his younger brother when he was young. A collapse crushed one of his legs; the post alleges that his brother then cut off the other leg to seek greater compensation. The compensation was ultimately not received, and the brother later disappeared. These claims could not be independently verified.

According to the post, the man has lived alone for years in a dilapidated tile-roofed house and moves by tying a rope around his head and shifting his body. After the video drew attention online, people helped arrange and deliver a wheelchair and assisted in looking for his relatives.

Footage shows a person sitting on the roof of a police car and making a splashing motion. The information identifies the location as Linyi, Shandong; it could not be independently verified.

Students said a fire broke out in a dormitory building at the Communication University of China on May 25. They said the smoke alarm did not sound, an upstairs escape route and downstairs access control were locked and could not be opened with facial recognition, the fire extinguishers were damaged, and all fire-safety facilities were unusable, nearly resulting in a tragedy. The claims could not be independently verified.

According to the post, Shen Chenggang, a former deputy head of the Qixingguan District police branch in Bijie, Guizhou, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for bending the law for personal gain. The post says a former prosecutor admitted making a false statement that led to Shen’s imprisonment. The Guizhou High People’s Court has accepted the case for filing. The claims could not be independently verified.