“ECT will only last for a few minutes!” The nurses at Beijing Anding Hospital told us numbly

[This article provides the most detailed account to date of all aspects of my asylum seeking case]

“Torture” is a strong word, but that’s how I describe the process of attempted conversion therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure used by some psychiatrists, where up to 460 volts of electricity are sent coursing through the brain. Why? To induce a grand mal seizure they claim will “reset” or “reboot” the brain.

This theory has never been proven. In fact, there is considerable evidence that ECT causes significant and irreversible brain damage. The methods inflicted upon “patients” are physically vicious and psychologically cruel. “ECT will only last for a few minutes!” The nurses at Beijing Anding Hospital told us numbly. Their words brought no solace as we nervously queued for the procedure. Food and water were forbidden before ECT.

I wonder if Serbia considered my asylum story as a case of health deprivation

Should ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) be considered a form of torture or health deprivation? ECT has been completely banned in some countries, including Slovenia and Luxembourg. It seems that training in ECT for psychiatric residents and psychiatrists is rarely provided in Europe. Some people argue that if ECT isn’t combined with muscle relaxants, it constitutes torture. I wonder if Serbia considered my asylum story as a case of health deprivation.

My mother frightened me with a theory she derived from heteronormative Chinese media outlets: “Gay men are…”

In China, from 2011 to 2012, I volunteered as an MSM (Men Who Have Sex With Men) advocate at the XXX Disease Prevention and Control Centre. Through my interactions with vulnerable groups such as MSM, drug addicts, and sex workers, I observed that mainstream society harbors significant prejudice against gay individuals, often associating same-sex acts with HIV. This bias is deeply ingrained across both older and younger generations.

Despite being HIV negative, my mother strongly opposed my socializing with people I met through AIDS-related events. This stems from a widespread misconception in China that “homosexuals carry HIV, and only HIV-positive people advocate for their rights”.

The way my mother discriminated against openly gay people was very indirect and tinged with superstition. She frightened me with a theory she derived from heteronormative Chinese media outlets: “Gay men are immoral, abnormal (变态), promiscuous, often intending to infect innocent people with HIV. If you get close to gay people, one day you will be under a spell that shortens your life. I even have to pay a fortune teller to guide us on how to behave in the future to rescue us from this sickness!”

Even after my mother heard that I quit my studies at Sanya University without her permission, she blamed me, saying, “You neglected your studies because you were close to these gay guys. They maliciously taught you to stray from our good, valued mainstream society!”

In atheist China, the majority of people discriminate against gay individuals because they are ignorant about the nature of relationships between gay men. They haven’t found a unanimous scientific answer to justify the normality of homosexuality. The common stigma in China is that it’s impossible for gay people to develop human connections beyond indecency. Sex is seen solely as an act between a penis and a vagina, and having a promiscuous personal life can lead to being fired from employment.

Who should be diagnosed as a Persecutory Type Paranoid? China, The Communist Party, or me !

It’s not rare to hear international mainstream media outlets reporting worrying gay situations in China. As a LGBTQ member, I’m sharing my first hand knowledge about dilemmas of living in China. Please browse the websites below to put yourself in my shoes, be aware of wrong logics to analyse gay situations in China: LGBTQ – Safer than Iran!

• The Lancet September/2019: Discrimination against LGBT populations in China 
• The Diplomat 13/August/2020: The Misuse of China’s Mental Hospitals – Feng Xiaoyan’s case shows how practices of involuntary hospitalisation and adult guardianship can combine to lock away unfortunate victims-sometimes for life
• The Economist 25/May/2023: Why the Communist Party fears gay rights – Social conservatism plus paranoia about foreign infiltration prompts a crackdown
• The Guardian 15/Jan/2024: ‘It’s difficult to survive’: China’s LGBTQ+ advocates face jail and forced confession 

From a mental health perspective, in 2000, the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders 3 (CCMD-3) removed homosexuality and bisexuality from the mental disorders categories. However, a considerable number of mental health professionals in China still consider homosexuality a disorder that should be treatable by sexual orientation conversion efforts (SOCE). At present, SOCE is provided by hospitals across China, including several leading medical centres in major Chinese cities.

China has no common law. Instead, China has mainly a civil law system. The law means statutes and excludes case law. In other words, court cases are not law, only rules codified by the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary are laws!

The reality of my case is: Gay- Enforced psychiatric committal – Electric Shocks – Adult Guardianship – Trumped-up charges from authorities. In China and the Party’s bleak logic, the acronyms LGBTQ are somewhat paranoia related.

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Mother was only a nominal sender with limited comprehension of legal terms, the incarceration was conducted by…

What happened: In 2012, when I was 20. I faced bullying at xx university due to my MSM volunteering experience leading me to leave my English language studies. Since then, I’ve embraced independence, engaging in activities like intermittent Spanish language study in Beijing and volunteering at various hostels in different cities. Being an adult, I felt it was appropriate to chart my own path in life.

In 2014, I was based in Beijing for Spanish studies reasons, but I could still have some free weeks for a vacation. Shortly before my hospitalisation at Beijing Anding Hospital, I spent a few weeks for holiday in Yanji, a city in northeast China. I booked a flight from Yanji to Beijing, a city near my birthplace, Puyang in Henan province, and asked my mother to meet me at the Beijing airport. In her perception, Beijing was still quite distant from Puyang.

Anticipating isolation from my mother and relatives, I had hoped to discuss the school bullying I faced as an MSM volunteer, intending to explain my reasons for dropping out. However, my mother unexpectedly brought her third husband, Jia Jianjun, whom I had only met once, to the airport. His presence and comments about MSM groups on the airport shuttle bus, upset me. Jia Jianjun framed that MSM was a form of hostile foreign forces and I was colluding with homosexuals and drug addicts.

The tension escalated on an airport shuttle bus. I attempted to avoid sharing the bus with Jia Jianjun, but he persisted in following me, given his relationship with my mother and residence at her apartment. When I insisted on getting off the bus, the driver initially ignored me, leading me to loudly demand to be let off.

Eventually, my mother, Jia Jianjun, and other passengers, including myself, disembarked. Jia Jianjun refused to let me separate from them, and in the ensuing confusion, someone called an ambulance from Beijing Anding Hospital.

Around midnight, Jia Jianjun forced me to go to the hospital’s emergency unit, where I sensed hostility from the staff. I managed to escape from the hospital grounds but was pursued by Jia Jianjun. After I hailed a taxi, he stopped it, falsely accusing me of drug use and forcibly taking me back to the hospital.

However, a considerable number of mental health professionals in China still consider homosexuality a disorder that should be treatable by sexual orientation conversion efforts (SOCE).

At Beijing Anding Hospital, I was labeled as a ‘paranoid schizophrenic,’ a persecutory type, by the police psychiatrist, Fan Meng. This label has had significant consequences, including the denial of a health certificate, which restricts my formal employment opportunities, relegating me to temporary jobs without health benefits.

In practice, psychiatrists appoint a sender randomly in the presence of your immediate relatives, they would ignore victims’ opinions.

The institution likely recorded the commitment as voluntary due to my mother’s presence

The hospitalisation, which occurred between July and August 2014, around 1 to 4 am, was enforced. Despite my objections, Jia Jianjun and Fan Meng, from the hospital’s Judicial Appraisal Unit, were listed as the senders. The institution likely recorded the commitment as voluntary due to my mother’s presence.

During my stay, Jia Jianjun physically restrained me, and I was sedated against my will. It’s alleged that police were also involved during my unconsciousness. This experience reflects a broader issue in China, where involuntary commitment in psychiatric institutions often occurs without adequate legal safeguards, as noted by the Chinese NGO CRLW in its 2017 report on mental health and human rights.”

This “legal guardian” is not a lawyer or someone knowledgeable about the law

Police psychiatrist: Fan Meng ( 范萌, Female)

A legal guardian is assigned based on a fixed kinship order, and this “legal guardian” is not a lawyer or someone knowledgeable about the law. Chinese civil law and adult guardianship regimes assume that your immediate relatives will always act “in your best interest” due to family ties.

Notes: Involuntary commitment in psychiatric institutions is a form of administrative and extra-judicial detention. Chinese NGO CRLW stated in its 2017 annual research report on mental health and human rights that it is still very easy to involuntarily commit a healthy individual to a psychiatric hospital, and that the mechanisms for filing complaints, appeals, and lawsuits are inadequate.

The Chinese medical authorities’ initial diagnosis included imbecility

“ Conversion Therapy ” was conducted under the guise of a “ serious ” mental disability ( like Paranoid Schizophrenia, Persecutory Type ) based solely on the opinion of psychiatrists, then they can be forcibly committed.

Like my case, diagnosis from Beijing Anding Hospital: The final version of the changed diagnosis was Paranoid ( persecutory type ) Schizophrenia, Intermittent Schizophrenia. My diagnosis ( in a handwritten form) had been changed several times by Chinese medical authorities: Aphrenia- (medicine) Stoppage of thought; inability to think, imbecility with a strikethrough marker on each word. The medical authorities’ initial diagnosis included Aphrenia ( stoppage of thought ), imbecility.

Notes: The Mental Health Law (MHL) stipulates that forced psychiatric commitment is based on a qualified physician diagnosing someone with a “serious mental disorder” and assessing that they have caused harm to, or are at risk of harming, themselves or others.

MHL calls for a “voluntary” principle and, at the very least, approval from the individuals’ guardians. ( In practice, if there’s presence of your immediate relatives, psychiatrists would ignore victims’ opinions. ) In criminal cases, the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) only permits a court to approve an involuntary commitment on the recommendation of a procuratorate, and it does not allow government officials or public security police to act unilaterally to institutionalise anyone.

Beijing Anding Hospital imposed a very regimented routine on our patients. Nurses watched me like a hawk.

During my hospitalization, I endured a litany of abuses:

1. Tilted Neck and Electric Shocks: Unidentifiable drugs caused me to lose consciousness for several days, resulting in a twisted neck. Electric shocks further tormented me, affecting my chest and spine.
2. Intensive Meditation as Torture: For 29 grueling days, they treated me like an experimental subject, disguising their actions as intensive meditation. It was nothing more than a form of physical torture.
3. Physical Agony: Headaches, a burning spine, muscle contractions, and spasms left me trembling and drenched in sweat. My thinking slowed, and my movements stiffened.
4. Deprivation: I endured a day without food.
5. Neglect and Humiliation: Ignored and left in my own waste, I suffered uncontrollable urination and defecation during the first week.
6. Restraints: My forearms were consistently tied to handrails after waking up from electric shocks during the initial two weeks of hospitalization.
7. Ridicule: My hair stood on end after the shocks, and both nurses and fellow patients laughed at my distress.
8. Unexpected Slaps: A hospital-employed barber, whom I had never met before, slapped me while shaving my hair to make my head less tilted.
9. Mother’s Aggression: During an MRI examination at Beijing Anding Hospital, my mother clenched her teeth and used her fist to beat me as I suffered muscle contractions due to uncontrollable spasms and extrapyramidal symptoms.
10. Mockery: Nurses and inmates teased and mocked my extrapyramidal symptoms.

Upon being deemed ready for release and allowed to return to Puyang city, my electronic devices and medical documents from Beijing Anding Hospital were confiscated by my mother. During the first week of release, when my mother was absent, I was closely watched by Jia Jianjun.

I was forced to sign an “ Abandonment Agreement ” after the discharge, living in fear of social deprivation

Chinese psychiatrists rarely prioritize the best interests of their patients. My mother insisted on forcing me to take liquid haloperidol because she believed Beijing Anding Hospital was the “best” mental hospital in China. Since the medicine prescribed by the psychiatrist was expensive, she didn’t want her money spent on medical costs to go to waste.

After being discharged from Beijing Anding Hospital, I earned a precarious living. To counteract the minor tremors induced by haloperidol, I used nicotine-impregnated chewing gum. However, the reality was that nicotine only made my muscles more contracted and tight.

The side effects of electric shocks, Chlorpromazine, and Haloperidol made it difficult for me to maintain my balance. After my psychiatric incarceration in 2014, my mom forced me to sign an abandonment agreement at her apartment in February 2015.

She initiated this written agreement with the words “ Are you clear minded? After you receive this xxx RMB ( Chinese Currency ), I won’t give you any financial assistance any more in the rest of your life. ” My mother disowned me due to the stigma of having a schizophrenic son, believing that domestic shame shouldn’t be spread. Jianjun made a backhanded compliment about my education level, highlighting the harsh reality of being a dropout, because old generations in China rarely went to a university.

My mother accompanied me to the Bank of Puyang to deposit xxx RMB via a debit card, aiming to evade collective punishment based on family ties, my gay identity, her duty as a legal guardian, and the stigma of “having a schizophrenic son.” Half a year later, the extrapyramidal symptoms were gone, and I began seeking rehabilitation treatments for my spine, chest, muscle contractions, and spasms.

I traveled to several provinces with the xxx RMB my mother gave me, searching for a temporary place to stay. At that time, I was still in pain, and the onset of extrapyramidal symptoms was terrifying. Everyone would freak out when my tongue stuck out and my eyes rolled upwards uncontrollably. The first three years after my discharge (2015, 2016, 2017) were the hardest to survive.

Chinese people often assume or associate individuals with mental illness with disturbing public security issues

Chinese people often assume or associate individuals with mental illness with disturbing public security issues, such as murder. The worst part is that in China, there are laws and regional regulations that support this morbid mentality, causing public panic when encountering someone with a mental health issue.

In China, if you are deprived of full legal capacity for civil conduct, you will lose the ability to independently perform civil juristic acts. This means you cannot make legal decisions or enter into contracts on your own. Instead, a legal guardian will be appointed to “act on your behalf”. Here are some specific rights you might lose:

1. Entering into Contracts: You won’t be able to sign contracts or make binding agreements without your guardian’s consent.
2. Managing Property: You will not have the authority to manage or dispose of your property independently.
3. Legal Proceedings: You cannot represent yourself in legal matters; your guardian will need to act on your behalf.
4. Personal Decisions: Decisions regarding your personal affairs, such as medical treatment or living arrangements, will be made by your guardian.

One of the difficulties I faced in navigating legal procedures in China was that I wasn’t considered competent to have my evidence approved according to Chinese evidence law.

Psychiatry and psychiatrists can be found worldwide, but their practices vary significantly between countries. The Chinese government tends to view any form of dissent, including LGBTQ activism, as a potential threat to social stability and its authority. By labeling dissenters as mentally ill, the government can delegitimize their claims and justify their suppression.

9 years uncommon whole spinal repair due to electric shock injuries

So far my health conditions:

1. Toxins of the enforced drugs and Extrapyramidal symptoms were eliminated in 2015.

2. During 2015-2023, the shape of my neck, shoulder and spine was repaired. Multiple times large scale Neck+Shoulder+Spine Acupotomy. (A minimally invasive surgery).

The problem lies with a loophole in the Mental Health Law involving “ guardianship ” of adults who are considered highly influenced by a hostile West in ideologically authoritarian China

In 2014 I was institutionalised involuntarily, and was subjected to electric shock treatment and drug injections ( allegedly Chlorpromazine, confirmation: Sedatives, Haloperidol ) at Beijing Anding Hospital.

Once a false diagnosis is associated with a “ serious mental disability ” , generally the victims will be deprived of full capacity for civil conduct.

In China, Domestic Law may authorise a court or other competent authority, acting on the basis of competent and independent medical advice, to order that such persons be admitted to a mental health facility.

Notes: In 2012, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) raised concern that involuntary confinement is used as a tool to maintain public security, and was “disturbed” that individuals with “actual or perceived impairments” had been subjected to such detentions, which violates the Convention in regard to liberty and security of persons, and freedom from torture (Articles 14 and 15).

CRPD recommended the government abolish all forms of involuntary civil commitment based on actual or perceived impairments and cease subjecting such individuals to therapies, but Chinese authorities have ignored these recommendations.

The problem lies with a loophole in the Mental Health Law involving “ guardianship ” of vulnerable adults, powers often assumed by relatives or officials without the patient’s consent. The person concerned has no right to appeal the decision to confer guardianship status. Once a person had been appointed guardian, they were expected to take on the task of representing the vulnerable adult legally, causing a conflict of interest.

X-Ray images and MRI images:

1. 29/03/2016 X-Ray images of a tilted neck

2. 25/06/2016 MRI images of a tilted neck

3. 17/01/2017 MRI images of a twisted spine

4. 06/02/2017 X-Ray images of neck and a twisted chest

5. 10/10/2018 X-Ray images of neck and a twisted chest

Deprived civil conduct by Chinese judicial organs: Adult victims were labelled to be a “ Mama’s Boy ” in the name of limited/no capacity for civil conduct

Mama’s Boy: An insulting word for a boy or man who depends too much on his mother and is considered weak!

The policewoman named He Tao whose duty was for Registration of Household Migration made an oversight without a thorough check about my documents ( My limited capacity of civil conduct status ) used for immigrating to Yuanjian Village ( Where I bought my apartment in Chongqing). Allegedly, in 2019 He Tao was disciplined and fired due to this negligence!

During the inquiry, I was questioned by Rao Yuanchen and his colleagues about my whereabouts after I moved from Puyang City to Chongqing. It’s always a good idea to keep an audio recording of conversations with the police, as it can be used to defend myself if I feel offended by their actions.

All the information the police had came from my mother, as different officers kept repeating, “Your mother said you…”. The subjective opinions from the police and my mother about my childhood and teenage years worried me.

Since 23/Sep/2023, I was in difficulties of getting a crime report after the experience of being a victim of robbery and violence in Zvornik, BiH

{27/Aug/2023-22/Sep/2023} Serbia.

{22/Sep/2023-23/Sep/2023} BiH. Terrifying 04:55am in Bosnia, from an insincere “ invitation ” to horror: Surviving Violence and Robbery.

{23/Sep/2023-10/Oct/2023} Serbia. I was seeking assistance in obtaining a crime report following a traumatic incident where I fell victim to robbery and violence in Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina on September 23, 2023. Additionally, I consulted with a legal representative from an organization in Belgrade to understand the proper steps for the asylum process.

For instance, I learned about the time limitations for receiving an asylum intention letter. However, at that moment, the concept of ‘asylum’ remained unfamiliar to me. In China, awareness of human rights is scarce.

{11/Oct/2023 -19/Dec/2023} China. Acupotomy surgeries (A minimally invasive surgery).

{19/Dec/2023 -24/Dec/2023} Thailand. A stopover.

{25/Dec/2023} Istanbul. A stopover.

{25/Dec/2023- Now} Serbia. Asylum seeking journey.

Will I be a target of Exit Ban by Chinese authorities since my full capacity for civil conduct was limited? Performance indicators system of public security bureau will answer this question

If you are a supporter of coercive adult guardianship based on enforced psychiatric treatment ( For example, gay conversion therapy…), you will never feel the repercussions of a fixed guardianship appointment system.

Deprivation of freedom is based on vaguely worded “ national security ” grounds

The Exit-Entry Administration Law (EEAL) not only authorizes exit bans based on vaguely worded “national security” grounds, but also adds a clause (Article 12) that effectively means anyone can be barred from leaving for any reason.

Exit bans can be imposed on persons who “may endanger national security or interests, and are not allowed to exit China upon decision by competent departments under the State Council” (effectively any government office) or under the sweeping “other circumstances in which exit from China is not allowed in accordance with laws or administrative regulations”.

The Supervision Law (SL)(Article 30) authorizes the use of exit bans on “persons connected to the person under investigation”. Here “connected to” (相关) is a broad enough term to be interpreted as widely as the Supervision Commissions wish—anyone from work colleagues, family members to friends and beyond.

In China, once you are on an internal/public missing persons list, your identity would be similar to vagrants or beggars

If a policeman really cares about a missing person’s safety, they shouldn’t yell at you from the beginning to the end during a so-called “ inquiry-purposed ”  arrest, especially when you never met them in the past!

Creepy Moments of the Arrest Conducted by A Plainclothes Vice Chief Police at 16:16 04/Dec/2023

Plainclothes vice chief Rao Yuanchen ( From Zhujiaba Police Station) and 2 auxiliary policemen were hiding in a patrolling car. When I was arrested arbitrarily by a vice chief of Zhujiaba Police Station on the way to my apartment from an adjacent neighborhood named Yanjia, the vice chief ( Rao Yuanchen kept yelling at me “You are on a missing persons list! ” Although I never met Rao Yuanchen and the two auxiliary policemen before.

Accumulated fears I have about returning to China

• Continuing Electric Shocks, Forced mental drugs intake ( Due to the history of the prescription of Chlorpromazine and Haloperidol) at any medical facility directly administered and run by the Ministry of Public Security and its subordinate provincial-level departments. It’s not an one-off incident, anyone has risks to be incarcerated at any medical facility again once you have a psychiatric committal history.
• Misdiagnosis ( associated with legally deprived civil conduct ) won’t be erased in the police and medical authorities’ registration system, because the police psychiatrist belongs to the judicial appraisal unit and my 29 days ( purportedly it’s 29 days, because my mom confiscated my original medical documents, and I got no copies) incarceration occured at Beijing Anding Hospital ( It’s a public security bureau affiliated specialized psychiatric hospital) , I was supposed to be incarcerated for 30 days.
• A fixed sequence of a guardian appointment according to the current general provisions of the civil law. The coercive family planning.

Notes: According to the professional legal-medical literature from China, there’s a close and longstanding cooperation between forensic psychiatrists and the security authorities in effecting the simultaneous criminalisation and medicalization of certain forms of dissenting activity, various diagnostic theories and perspectives that are commonly applied in such cases. As claimed by the authorities, have been mentally disordered to any significant degree.

Guilt by association- an added means of control on top of law enforcement

China’s modern-day collective punishment creates an “atmosphere of fear so that even just the threat of family members suffering is enough to act as a deterrent. This is an informal and wholly illegal system where family and friends of those who are suspected or found guilty of a “crime” are also punished based purely on relationship ties.

Loved ones of human rights defenders are commonly targets, but anyone can be a victim. When a rights defender is detained or imprisoned, collective punishment or the threat of collective punishment is likely aimed at getting them to confess or discourage advocacy by family members on their behalf.

Non-mainstream LGBTQ community, certain types of dissidents, whom the government regards as posing an ideological threat to “ social order. ”

Today, threats or punishments levelled at loved ones are proving to be an effective measure to crush dissent, coerce confessions and scare people into silence.

The Chinese government has banned all depictions of gay related content, as part of a cultural crackdown on “ vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content ”

The judicial and legislative framework governing the practice of forensic psychiatry in China: The criminal and civil law contexts, legislation on mental health and forensic-psychiatric assessment. Also considered is the question of China’s expansive definition of the key legal determinant of involuntary psychiatric committal, namely “ social dangerousness. ”

Whereas under international standards, the applicable scope of the “ dangerousness ” criterion is mainly restricted to situations where mentally ill people pose a direct physical danger either to themselves or to others, in China it’s applied also to those, such as non-mainstream LGBTQ, certain types of dissidents, whom the government regards as posing an ideological threat to “ social order. ”

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