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Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

relate to house demolition and relocation should be the remedy prior to implemen-

tation of demolition’ (Zhang, 2010, N.P.) .
45
On 12 September, the Yihuang government released an official report that ex-
plained the event as an accident, but the Zhong family rejected the statement. To reflect
the truth to the central government and protect their rights and interests, Zhong Rujiu
and Zhong Rucui, daughters of the Zhong family, decided to fly to Beijing to file a pe-

tition on 16 September. This day was considered to be the watershed of the Yihuang
incident.

7.3.2 Stage 2: Turning point: the bustle of Weibo – ‘The Battle in the
Ladies’ Room’ disseminated widely online

On 16 September, the Zhong sisters went to Nanchang airport and planned to
fly to Beijing at 8:15 a.m. to report their situation and be interviewed by Hong Kong
Phoenix Television. However, the Yihuang government officials waited them at the air-

port, demanding that they solve the problem on the spot, and dissuaded the sisters from
making a petition bypassing the local authorities. Helpless, the sisters hid in the female
lavatory. Their initial plan of reporting to Beijing was abandoned due to the disturbing
by the local government officials. (Bi, 2014)

While the sisters were trapped in the lavatory, they contacted Liu Chang for help
using a mobile phone; he was a journalist at New Century Weekly and they informed
him of the circumstances. Liu Chang posted a Weibo with the headline ‘Emergency!
Call for help!’ and appealed for assistance from internet users (Figure 38 and Figure

39). At first, only a few Weibo users forwarded the post. However, twenty minutes later
the situation changed because the Sina Weibo opinion leader Murong Xuecun re-posted
it. The post had then been forwarded 2,368 times and received 986 comments. A huge
number of Weibo users had been exposed to the problem that the Zhong sisters were

facing.

45 Translation provided by the author.

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