The verdict said they had trafficked more than 100 articles on dozens of WeChat accounts between late 2020 and April last year and profiteered from readers’ tips and advertisements – a common way of making money online in China.
The verdict called them “a gang of evil forces who worked under the name of the Red Culture Association to promote what they called ‘red culture’”.
The five were identified as Zhang Zhijing, Yu Chaoquan, both 31; Qiu Pinghui and her younger sister Pinqin; and student Huang Xiaochun, who turned 20 on Monday. Yu Yixun, the leader who is on bail and under residential surveillance – a form of home detention – is awaiting trial separately.
SCMP Global Impact Newsletter
By submitting, you consent to receiving marketing emails from SCMP. If you don't want these, tick here
Yu Yixun, a 31-year-old high school dropout from southeastern Fujian province, confirmed that the verdict was authentic and said he had no regrets about his and his group’s actions.
03:09
Deng Xiaoping’s role in transforming China
“I read a lot of articles online … and have developed this adoration of Mao Zedong thoughts, and a strong attraction to socialism in Mao’s era,” Yu told the Post in a telephone interview.
“So I have begun to understand and learn more about Mao Zedong … and made friends with a few young people who love red culture,” he said referring to leftist ideas.
“I feel proud of what I did … and it would be an honour if I have to go to jail for promoting Mao’s thoughts, which are about equality for everyone and [are] being embraced by a lot of people now.”
Deng Yuwen, a former editor of Study Times, an official mouthpiece of the Communist Party’s top academy, said the sentencing showed that Beijing would not tolerate ultra-leftists if they went too far and their actions were deemed to be destabilising before the party’s all-important national congress expected to be held later this year.
“It’s very clear that Beijing would not allow the ultra-leftists, or the liberals, to undermine the regime’s stability,” said Deng, who is now based in the United States and is an independent researcher on China’s politics.