The 18th Geneva Summit on Human Rights and Democracy was grandly held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 18, 2026. Liu Dongling, head of the overseas Ban the Great Firewall movement, delivered a video speech titled “Tear Down the Wall to Defend Freedom of Speech,” which attracted widespread international attention.
Kan Zhongguo recently conducted an exclusive interview with Liu Dongling. She detailed her personal experiences from domestic rights advocacy to being forced into exile, analyzed the CCP’s strict control over information freedom, its transnational repression tactics, and the shocking suspicions surrounding alleged live organ harvesting. She firmly called for advancing the wall-tearing movement to let truth illuminate Chinese soil.
Liu Dongling, now lives in exile in Denmark. She was originally an ordinary citizen in Zhengzhou, Henan. Starting in 2014, due to large-scale demolitions in the area, she voluntarily helped disadvantaged evicted households with their cases and complaints, which drew her into the whirlpool of rights defense. In June 2022, she arrived in Denmark with her child and began her life in overseas exile. In early 2023, she co-initiated the “Ban the Great Firewall” movement with Yang Zewei (online name Qiao Xinxin), Wang Qingpeng, and Lin Shengliang, aiming to dismantle the CCP’s internet firewall and allow Chinese people to access free information.
The following content has been slightly edited for reader convenience.
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Reporter:
Hello, Ms. Liu! Thank you for accepting this interview with Kan Zhongguo. Recently, you were invited to participate in the Geneva Summit via video, and in your speech, you mentioned being forced into exile overseas for defending freedom of speech and helping vulnerable groups with rights advocacy. Now that you are living in Denmark, could you share your background and your experiences leading up to arriving in Denmark?
Liu Dongling:
Thank you to Kan Zhongguo for the interview. In 2014, I got involved in demolition rights defense in Zhengzhou. At that time, large-scale demolitions were happening nationwide, with many families forcibly evicted and some people dying. I personally witnessed demolition teams smashing windows and throwing gasoline bottles at rural houses, burning unwilling residents alive inside. There were such cases in Shandong, where homeowners hid in their houses, but outsiders couldn’t get in, so they threw fire through the windows, burning the house and killing the people. These truths are impossible to search for domestically, and even when family members are contacted, they dare not speak the truth.
I collected a lot of information back then. In September 2017, in the Cao Chunsheng intentional injury case in Zhengzhou, I helped him with rights defense from start to finish. There were also videos of Jie Lijian jumping from a building to seek help, Zhengzhou’s Xue Gang, and Fan Huapei being shot dead on the street. I went to the scene to find Fan Huapei’s classmates and uncle, even bringing a reporter from Beijing News, but no one dared to speak. I could only wait like “waiting by a tree stump for a rabbit.” This is the result of communications being blocked and information monopolized. Without information freedom, freedom of speech is just a castle in the air. Even if you can speak freely, without real information, you can’t report the truth.
Reporter:
You mentioned that in 2018, while involved in rights advocacy, you were under 24-hour surveillance, and your child was bullied at school as a result, ultimately leading you to leave China with your child. Could you describe this process in detail? Did this solidify your determination to promote information freedom?
Liu Dongling:
Yes. In 2018, I helped evicted households with their cases and also paid attention to lawyers like Guo Feixiong and Yuan Xiaohua, often delivering food and showing support. As a result, I was under 24-hour surveillance, frequently “invited for tea” at police stations, procuratorates, and district governments. People from the office even called pretending to be friendly: “Sister Dongling, where are you? I’ll drive to pick you up.” Once I went online, they located me via my phone. Many people didn’t dare contact me, but I had some strong rights-defense friends who helped each other.
At that time, my son was in third grade of primary school, only 8 years old. Because of my rights work, the teacher first moved his seat from the front to the middle, then to the back, and eventually wouldn’t let him enter the classroom for a full 4 months! My child is introverted and subtly asked me, “Mom, what can I do to do the right thing?” I was busy and didn’t pay attention. Later, he said, “Mom, am I a bad kid? The teacher says I’m bad, and no one plays with me.” I still didn’t take it seriously.
In the fourth month, the teacher posted a video in the parents’ group: the child standing with his head down, fists clenched. The teacher scolded: “Look how bad you are, how did your family raise you? You still want to hit me?” I questioned the teacher, saying the child did nothing wrong. She felt guilty and said the child was skipping school. Only then did I learn the truth. The child said, “Mom, I haven’t been in class for a long time.” I broke down, feeling I had harmed my child.
Later, I contacted overseas democrats who knew I was being tracked. During the 2018 summer vacation, someone suggested a trip to Thailand. I took my child there; he was already terrified of school. I found a school at a Christian church and asked if he wanted to stay—he chose to stay. From then on, I left China with my child. At that time, my resistance was mainly local, with no border control, so I exited smoothly. But everything my child suffered was entirely due to being implicated by my rights work.
After leaving, the class monitor’s mother told me details: the teacher told the monitor, “Don’t play with XXX, or you won’t be monitor anymore.” After leaving China, his father told me more but instructed not to publicize it, fearing further harm to the child. This made me determined: I must take my child out and not let him continue to suffer.
Reporter:
You co-initiated the Ban the Great Firewall movement in early 2023 with Qiao Xinxin and others. Could you share the background of its launch and your personal feelings? Without information freedom, how can freedom of speech be achieved?
Liu Dongling:
While in Thailand, I continued speaking out but kept receiving calls from domestic procurators (one later promoted to provincial discipline inspection). They frequently tried to extract personal information. I knew cases like Dong Guangping, Jiang Yefei, and Xing Qingxian (spelling to be confirmed) being kidnapped or tricked back from Thailand, as well as Gui Minhai and Peng Ming. I stayed in Thailand with my child in school for over three years, fearing kidnapping—if I were taken, what about my child? So I used a long-term Thai visa to get a Danish visa.
Around March 8, 2023, Qiao Xinxin (real name Yang Zewei) contacted me through Wang Qingpeng. The four of us—me, Wang Qingpeng, Lin Shengliang, and Qiao Xinxin—formed a group to discuss the movement’s goals, activities, and promotion methods. I greatly admired Qiao Xinxin; he was a Radio Free Asia contributor, eloquent, and multilingual. The movement promoted in Korean, Japanese, English, Lao, Burmese, Russian, and was reported by multi-country media: The CCP’s firewall harms not just China but the world.
From my domestic experiences, I deeply understood: without communication freedom, where is freedom of speech? Posts we made were deleted in two seconds; phone calls only gave partial info; we couldn’t directly contact family or grasp the full picture. In demolitions, cases like Luo Yang’s Zhang Putao and Zhang Xiaoping’s neighbors being crushed by excavators or falling to death from roofs were hard for domestic people to know. The CCP’s so-called “freedom of speech” is just a lie. Without information sources, freedom is empty talk. The Ban the Great Firewall movement aims to let Chinese people see the truth and promote democracy.
Reporter:
Qiao Xinxin was cross-border kidnapped by the CCP in late May 2023 in Laos. How do you view transnational repression? Do you face similar dangers in Denmark? Why do you persist in pushing the Ban the Great Firewall movement?
Liu Dongling:
Before Qiao Xinxin was arrested, the wall-tearing movement had just started. A leaked CCP Ministry of Public Security recruitment for 40 internet police led to action by late May. We sent volunteers to Laos to check; they found bloodstains on the walls of Qiao’s residence. Reports came from Voice of America and others.
After Qiao’s arrest, Wang Qingpeng focused on “One Person One Push” and the “CCP Evil List”; I took over and continued. Though my capabilities are limited and progress is slow, I’m glad many volunteers and international hackers are paying attention, and the movement is advancing.
Of course, I face the danger of transnational repression. Qiao was taken in late May; in mid-June, three police visited my brother on July 15, asking, “Is Liu Dongling your sister? She’s committed crimes.” My sister-in-law angrily replied: “If she’s committed crimes, arrest her—why come to our home? She’s been married for decades and doesn’t live with us!” Harassment continued two or three times a year. Last New Year’s, authorities accused my brother of illegal business; the market supervision bureau took statements. My brother has been disabled in one arm since a 2009 car accident; the family was terrified, calling me at 1 a.m. for advice. In October-November this year, they approached my brother again; he said, “Just stay at my house and wait for me to call her.” My mother is over 80; I can only call occasionally when I miss her—they dare not contact me proactively.
Having gone through all this, I have no regrets. If no one pushes for democracy, everyone is silenced with no freedom. Only when truth emerges can the CCP be overthrown. Though my family is implicated, this is the cost. Only when Chinese people stand up can change happen.
Reporter:
In your summit speech, you mentioned the CCP using the Cybersecurity Law to suppress rights activists like Wang Quanzhang and Huang Xueqin, and linked frequent disappearances of youths to suspicions of organ transplant chaos. Do you believe population disappearances are related to live organ harvesting?
Liu Dongling:
Yes. After intern doctor Luo Shuaiyu’s bizarre “suicide by jumping,” his parents persisted in speaking out; recordings from his computer circulated: three groups of children’s characteristics, intestine removals, etc. I received info that in one Shandong county, over a thousand children went missing in a month. Nationally, official reports claim millions missing annually. I contacted Uyghur surgeon An Hua Totti to study together: organ transplants require viable organs from living people. According to the Medical and Health News, Zhengzhou Seventh People’s Hospital performed 101 heart transplants in 2024—each a life. These missing youths are highly linked to live organ harvesting; it’s a crime against humanity!
Reporter:
The U.S. State Department recently launched the freedom.gov project to help global users (including in China) bypass censorship. What was your first reaction? Do you see this as a positive signal from the U.S. government?
Liu Dongling:
I think yes. I reviewed it carefully; it’s open-source technology, easy to circulate in China. But I worry the CCP will thicken the firewall to block it. It may work initially, but I doubt wide spread. Our Ban the Great Firewall movement also has VPN airports with dozens of nodes; Epoch Times, VOA, Cisco, Microsoft VPNs are trying, but covert transmission is slow and inefficient. This is the biggest challenge.
I’ve always called for sanctioning companies exporting censorship tech to China, like Cisco and Microsoft—that’s the best way to tear down the wall.
Additionally, Western democracies must beware of the CCP’s information warfare! The CCP exports tech, leading Russians to be deceived into thinking parts of Ukraine are theirs; Iranian opposition faces precise facial-recognition arrests, with many deaths. If the CCP’s firewall doesn’t fall, it will harm the whole world.
Reporter:
Why do you think the CCP fears truth so much? What is the ultimate goal of the Ban the Great Firewall movement? Do you have confidence in China’s future democracy and freedom?
Liu Dongling:
The CCP has ruled with lies since its founding. Truths of the Long March, Cultural Revolution, and June 4th are all covered up. The CCP allows no release of any truth. In early 2019 in Thailand, I only posted Wikipedia info on the “Chinese Soviet Republic” on Weibo and got permanently banned! They fear truth emerging.
There have been many extreme cases of ordinary people retaliating against officials domestically, showing people’s anger can no longer be suppressed. When truth surfaces and everyone knows the CCP’s crimes—killing 80 million Chinese since founding and still harvesting organs—Chinese people will overthrow it. Chen Yun said: “Never let the people know what we’ve done, or they won’t be satisfied even digging up our ancestors’ graves.”
The purpose of the Ban the Great Firewall movement is to let the vast Chinese people understand the truth and truly speak out. Qiao Xinxin said: When the firewall falls, we can travel freely with backpacks; if not, even overseas travel fears transnational repression.
I see brave self-media like Liu Hu and Wu Yingjiao speaking out, and Liu Hanbin released on bail after cross-border arrest; I called to help him and felt gratified. I have confidence: With so many brave people rising, China will surely achieve democracy and freedom.
Reporter:
You are being tracked in Denmark. Could you talk about this? What do you want to say to your compatriots in mainland China?
Liu Dongling:
According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a person named Liu Tong tracked me and my son in Denmark, even recording Chinese asylum seekers in refugee camps. He interrupted our Ban the Great Firewall meeting, promoting communism. He injured a movement volunteer on a train and was deported by Danish police; he may now be in Germany.
I will continue pushing to tear down the wall until the firewall falls! Qiao Xinxin was sentenced to 5 years and is still held in Chishan Prison, Hunan; his family dares not communicate with me—I understand their fear. But international appeals do pressure the authorities.
I hope compatriots inside the firewall protect yourselves, avoid sensitive words, and not fall into “literary prison” persecution. Thank you to all who care about the truth. As long as the firewall stands one day, my burden remains; when it falls, Qiao Xinxin and I can rest easy.
By Xiao Ran
