A missing Chinese woman who splashed ink on President Xi Jinping's poster has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment.
Dong Yaoqiong, 29, live-streamed herself throwing blank ink on a poster of Mr Xi on Twitter on July 4, saying she was protesting against the Chinese Government's "mind control persecution".
She then went missing after posting an image of what appeared to be police officers seen through an apartment door peep hole.
Her father, Dong Jianbiao, appeared in a video circulated on Twitter confirming she was admitted to a psychiatric institution.
"My brother told me that my daughter was taken to [Hunan's local mental hospital] Zhuzhou No. 3 by the Shanghai police on July 16," Mr Dong said.
"My wife has signed a consent for my daughter's medical treatment, [but] wasn't aware of the real situation."
"I don't believe my daughter has [any] mental illness."
Mr Dong said that he went to the hospital on July 22, but his request to visit his daughter was denied by the hospital.
"Splashing ink on President Xi Jinping's image is a matter [that should be handled by] the police, [or the] court, not a mental institution," he said.
'We are Marxists, we've done nothing against the law'
In another alleged case of enforced disappearance, a recent graduate of China's prestigious Peking University and prominent #MeToo activist went missing on August 24 after participating in a student-led protest demanding greater protections for workers.
Yue Xin remains incommunicado after allegedly being detained along with 50 other workers and students following a protest in August in the southern city of Huizhou.
According to Amnesty International, forced disappearance is not uncommon in China.
"Police detained human rights defenders outside formal detention facilities, sometimes incommunicado for long periods, which posed additional risk of torture and other ill-treatment to the detainees," it stated in its latest report on China's human rights record.
In the case of Ms Yue and her fellow student activists, however, the punishment was for implementing the Marxist ideals of the People's Republic.
Ms Yue has been a prominent member of the Jasic Workers' Solidarity Group (JWSG) — a Marxist student-led movement for workers' rights.
In July, workers at the Jasic Technology, a factory manufacturing wielding equipment, were reportedly detained and harassed for protesting their working conditions and demanding to form an independent union against Government wishes.
The Chinese authorities require all unions to fall under the party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
The student movement for workers' rights spread to college campuses across China, finding support among students embracing Maoist and Marxist ideologies.
Dong Sen, 22, a student at Peking University and a member of the student group, told the ABC that his comrades have done nothing against the law.
"We call ourselves left-wing youth. We support the Maoist Marxist [ideology] and we are concerned about workers' rights and want to do something about it," Mr Dong said.
Mao is revered as the leader who founded the People's Republic of China in 1949, and his ideology has always been taught by the Government in China's schools and universities as a guiding principle of the People's Republic.
Yet, the Chinese Government seems to be concerned that his ideology could inspire rebellion.
"We are defending the rights and interests of people [at] the bottom of the society, this is consistent with the leftist ideology [of the People's Republic] and is embraced by workers," Mr Dong said.
"The left-wing societies have been suppressed in various schools." Mr Dong said in reference to student-led Maoist groups.
'No one is immune'
On August 19, Ms Yue published an open letter addressed to Mr Xi and the Central Committee.
She stated that her "compatriots' goals" aligned with the constitutional tenets of socialism and that they were not seeking to instigate a student-led revolution, or have any foreign connections.
She went missing five days later.
"We lost contact with Yue Xin who is still missing, and the workers are still in detention," Mr Dong said.
According to Human Rights Watch's senior researcher, Maya Wang, no one's immune from enforced disappearances in China.
In September, the former Interpol president Meng Hongwei disappeared upon visiting his native country and the Chinese authorities later announced he was under investigation for an un-specified crime. His wife hired two law firms to help track down her husband.
In another high-profile disappearance, actress Fan Binging vanished from the public eye for at least four months, only to emerge early October owing $180 million for tax evasion.
