 Firstsing is a Chinese trade company, which deals in electronics, and game peripherals specifically. Apparently they’ve done rather well for themselves, but I got an email just before leaving for vacation (which I’m currently on), saying that all of their employees and funds have been seized by the Chinese government. It’s rather an unbelievable story, but I’m relating it since the only thing the email asks for is for people to contact their embassies and government – not for money.
According to Anndy Wang, who was in Beijing at the time, the Chinese government stormed their offices in Shenzhen and seized all their computers, and all employees in the office. Within 30 hours or so, most were released, but the three top ranking people in the company, Anndy’s younger brother, older brother, and (24 year old) cousin respectively, have been held for over 100 hours as of now. According to Anndy, the government is trying to get them to admit to some wrongdoing so that they can ‘legally’ take the company’s funds. As Anndy says (non-grammar corrected): “I'm staying in Beijing , if I'm also staying in our Shenzhen office , I should also had been abducted, and then all of us should had been KILLED quietly then they can take all our fortune away freely without anyone else dare to SUE them!”
Anndy is particularly worried that his family members are being beaten in captivity (or that they'll be killed), because nobody has been allowed to see them, and most people won’t admit where they’re being held. He did manage to find out, and his sister in law and aunt went to the station and paid their ‘meal fees’ of 600 RMB (about $78 for one day – that’s a lot, especially in China), but they weren’t allowed to see the prisoners. Anndy has promised to sue the government if they have any wounds on them. Apparently Anndy has been told that they’ll imprison his family for at least a month if necessary, and are being charged for meals in the process.
He’s included several photos, which I’m guess came from released employees who went back to the company warehouse. These include a number of images of charges for meals, computers which have had their towers removed (just monitors), his boss’s now-empty office. A lot of the data and imagery is in Chinese, so I can’t actually determine what it is.
 While I don’t know for a fact that Firstsing is totally innocent, this does sound like a rather distressing situation. The tone of the mails he’s sending indicated that the motivation for this was all financial – according to Anndy, the company had been doing well in a poor area, and the local government wanted in on the action. He's so upset that he's actively wishing he weren't Chinese - the only 'crime' he claims to be guilty of.
About all I can do from here is make a news post about it – especially as I’m not at home myself. But if anyone wants to investigate further, please share any information you may have with me. Anndy is urging people around the world to contact their governments to look into this - and, well, if you don't have anything else to do on your saturday...
Update: Here's a lot more information from somebody who prefers to remain nameless: "I was born in China and lived there for quite a while. I immigrated to Canada a few year back, but I remember my experiences there quite clearly. Yes, I've seen some companies be raided and closed down, but they always DID do something illegal. Yes, the local governments in China corrupt in certain places, but they don't behave erratically and without reason.
Yes, that last picture is a warrant, but the reason for arrest is "for selling counterfeit and defective product". Now, I have no idea whether or not Firstsing actually does this, but if they did, then it is a punishable crime, though arrests are usually not made for it. However, a search on Firstsing on Chinese webpages such as alibaba (a place where companies can't put descriptions of their company for employment or other purposes) reveals the the company claims to be making 100 million RMB (Yuan) a year. Which is roughly 13 Million dollars in USD, which is already suspicious because 100 million yuan in China is quite a significant amount of money, and one wonders why this company chooses to reside in such small offices, but suppose they are making that much money, if most of it comes from counterfeit product, then it becomes a more serious crime, as the money that is illegally obtained, the more serious the crime."
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