—Zeyi Yang

Once I lately visited China, for the primary time for the reason that pandemic, I traveled to Shenzhen in a bid to unlock my 15-year previous Tencent social media account.

I’ve tons of private stuff—diary entries, chat logs, emails—locked away in Tencent’s on the spot messaging platform QQ. My account was all of the sudden suspended in November 2021, months after I used it to report on a narrative about QQ’s censorship of LGBTQ content material, and to attach with sources for different tales. But it surely wasn’t clear whether or not that exercise resulted within the suspension. 

I’d mainly given up on ever accessing it once more, till I discovered about Tencent’s weirdly secretive customer support middle in Shenzhen. It’s a final resort for determined customers prepared to make the journey to satisfy with a consultant to make their case. Learn the total story to seek out out what it’s like inside.

Zeyi’s story is from China Report, his weekly e-newsletter supplying you with the within monitor on all issues occurring in China. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.

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