The past week has seen a real-life version of film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” reenacted in China. The Chinese protagonist, Xu Wu, has been detained in a psychiatric hospital for four years over a labour dispute against a state-run enterprise in Wuhan, Hubei province. He escaped from the hospital and told his story to a television station in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. Having traveled to Guangzhou, police from Wuhan then forced their way into the station building and abducted Xu, remanding him back to the psychiatric ward. The story of Xu Wu Xu Wu was once a firefighter in a large state-owned company in Hubei province – the Wuhan Iron and Steel Group. In 2000, as a workers’ representative, he started a legal battle with the factory, which offered to settle the case with RMB 30,000 in compensation. Xu rejected the offer and chose to petition his way to Beijing in December 2006. His local district government then forced Xu's family to sign a document which declared him insane. Xu has been detained in a psychiatric hospital ever since. On April 19, 2011, Xu escaped from the psychiatric hospital and traveled to Guangzhou where he testified to the Southern television station that he had been illegally detained in a hospital for the mentally ill for four years. During his stay in Guangzhou, he visited the Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital for a second diagnosis. However, before the test results were issued, a group of unidentified men claiming to be Wuhan police officers abducted Xu while still inside the station campus and escorted him back to Wuhan. Read a translation of a news piece telling Xu's story at the Ministry of Tofu blog. Both the police and the hospital refused to let Xu's parents see their son. Below is a video showing Xu Wu's mother yelling outside the hospital, telling her son not to be scared: The clip was deleted from Sina Video and other main video sharing websites in China before this post was published, however can still be viewed on YouTube. There were [zh] more than 121 comments under the video, including: 2011-05-02 15:44:37 这是个黑暗的社会 2011-05-02 15:43:01 该关进精神病院里的应该是武汉警方，他们把法律给践踏了。 2011-05-01 23:14:35 我们都是徐武 2011-05-01 00:27:28 阳光下的丑恶~！！！ 纸包不住火的。。。 2011-04-30 19:44:29 徐武，顶住，我们一定要来救你。这帮猪狗不如的东西 2011-05-02 15:43:01 The Wuhan police should be locked up, they have trampled upon the law. 2011-05-01 23:14:35 We are all Xu Wu. 2011-05-01 00:27:28 Evil under the sun!!! Paper cannot hold back fire… 2011-04-30 19:44:29 Xu Wu, hold on, we will save you. They are worse than dogs and pigs. Politically mentally ill It is not the first time that a petitioner has being diagnosed as mentally ill. A Weibo user searched around the Internet and discovered that in Wuhan city alone there are currently 18 petitioners who have been locked up in psychiatric hospitals [zh]. From the discussion thread: 小文zheng: 作为一个武汉人我震惊了，转发不会被神经病吧？虽然害怕，还是要转发，请大家关注。(59分鐘前) 李一樊: 访民肯定都是精神病。被强奸时都不会享受精神肯定有问题。(今天 10:49) 林昭的灵魂: 前苏联也干过类似的事，看来凡事法西斯国家都很相似。(今天 10:49) Xiao Wen zheng: As a Wuhan resident, I am totally shocked. Will I be diagnosed as mentally ill for reposting this? Although I am scared, I have to repost it. Please pay attention. Li Yifan: Petitioners are mentally ill because they don't enjoy being raped. Lin Zhao's soul: Similar things used to happen in the Soviet Union. All fascist countries are similar. Blogger Yu Ge points out that such social governance tactics [zh] have a long history: 这背后，则是一种历久弥新的治理术，即 权力机器热衷于将那些严重扰乱了其正常运转的反对者，以及那些变了形的齿轮、溢出了正轨的螺丝钉，在政法领域，自然要除恶务尽；而在道德、智识领域，同样 要极尽打击、贬低之能事，譬如诬蔑他们为败类、渣滓、寄生虫、黑五类……精神病人只是省略号里一个微乎其微的点。 判定徐武们为精神病人，一来 可以解释此前他们破坏社会稳定的“反常”行为，二来，假如能对徐武们明正典刑，我相信有司绝不会手软，无奈连株连、罗织都不得其法，那只能暗度陈仓，将他 们投入密不透风的精神病院。在此，精神病院扮演了一个十分尴尬的政法角色，它不是看守所和监狱，却被迫发挥后者的功用。这无疑是对医学与真正的精神病人的 惨重伤害。… This is a governance tactic with a long history that has never become outdated: the power machine wants to, through legal and political means, eradicate opponents – damaged gears and screws – who affect its normal function. In terms of moral and intellectual domains, it has to debase them as scum, parasites, the five black categories, etc. Mentally ill is just one of the labels. To diagnose Xu Wu as a psychiatric patient can explain away his “abnormal” behavior which might disrupt social stability. If they could prosecute Xu through legal means, they could have done so. However, authorities clearly could not have put a case up against him without exposing their own problems, which is why they had to lock him up in the psychiatric ward. Thus the mental hospital plays the very awkward role and function of both a prison house and detention center here. This damages the entire psychiatric profession.