The Plea for Help from Two Underage Girls

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

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

Christmas is coming, and all we can do is pray to God, hoping that our country’s government and people will rescue us.

Plea for help:

Emily Minjun Chung

Athena Zhong

(Canadian name: Athena Mincy Chung)