The Story Behind the Two Girls’ Letters for Help

I am Emily Minjun Chung (17), a Canadian citizen, and my younger sister, Athena Zhong (11), is an American citizen. On September 30, 2025, when we were leaving China for Hong Kong, Chinese customs informed us that starting from November 2024, both of us had been banned from leaving the country—yet the reason, unbelievably, “could not be disclosed.”

I moved to Canada with my parents when I was one year old and obtained Canadian citizenship at age six together with them. My sister was born in California, USA. We have always lived in British Columbia, Canada, and have never had any involvement with the Chinese government or Chinese companies. We only came to study Chinese at an international school in Guangzhou four years ago. At the time we were banned from leaving China, we were only 16 and 10 years old.

While trying to comfort my sister, I also felt extreme sadness and confusion. The reason for our exit ban is both absurd and laughable—not only violating all laws and morals but ignoring even the most basic conscience. And this, supposedly, is the “beloved motherland” our parents told us about when we were little.

Our father is not in China. Our mother was banned from leaving the country in November 2024. Although she has always wanted to know why, no Chinese government official has been willing to give her any explanation. Even though they were sad and worried, our parents—who grew up in China—were used to enduring hardship in silence, so they held on. My father told us that perhaps someone was eyeing the business he had been preparing to list on China’s A-share market—they could take the business, he said, but they could not take the company’s legally registered patents.

In any case, because I was in Grade 11 and could not easily transfer schools, he said we just needed to endure a little longer and things would pass. That is why I did not learn until this year that my sister and I had been banned from leaving China as well.

But then the question arises: if Chinese officials only wanted to seize a business or money, my father already said they could take it—so why place exit bans on my mother and on me and my sister, two minors?

I have a guess: November 2024 happened to be the time when I registered the copyright for my first novel in the United States (it was published in North America in September 2025). Because my book involves modern faith and mentions progressive ideas (Literary Titan Review), I worry this may be the real reason why my sister and I were banned from leaving the country. However, although I do not agree with the Chinese system, under my father’s influence, my novel contains no religious or political discrimination (Kirkus Review). In fact, politics is barely mentioned, only lightly touched for character development. So why would Chinese government officials do something so outrageous to two underage girls?

In early October this year, I wanted to appeal to international media for help to rescue my mother and us sisters, but my father hoped I would trust him. So, based on his understanding, he wrote a letter of appeal and submitted it to six departments of China’s central government. He told me that the Chinese government was good, and only certain corrupt officials were “bad.”

More than a month has passed, and the ridiculous reality is that no one has responded to his appeal. I had to remind my father of a harsh truth: you love your motherland deeply, but sadly, your motherland does not love you. This is a problem of the system. In Chinese, it’s like saying, “No one can lift themselves 30 meters off the ground by pulling their own hair.”

So now the question is: when confronted with China’s powerful economic interests, can the international community rescue two minors based on faith and humanitarianism? My mother is a Canadian citizen, yet the Canadian government has been unwilling to rescue her. My sister holds dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, so perhaps the U.S. government would be willing to help her. As for me, I only have Canadian citizenship, and the only thing I can do is try to save my mother and myself through international public attention. It is truly sad to be a citizen of a weak nation.

Applicant:

Emily Minjun Chung