‘I Felt Like I Could Breathe Free Air’: Chinese Businessman Finds Refuge in Canada

For more than a decade, Chinese businessman Li Xiaoliang had quietly prepared for the possibility of leaving China. He researched immigration programs, applied for visas, moved some of his assets overseas, and gradually persuaded his wife that their family might one day need to start over elsewhere.

That day finally came in early August, when Li, his wife, and their two children arrived in Canada after leaving behind the life and business he had spent nearly two decades building in Shenzhen. “The moment I cleared customs, I felt like I could breathe free air,” Li told Vision Times.

For Li, the departure followed years of growing unease over China’s political direction and two encounters with police over his online activity. The second clash, in 2026, convinced him that the contingency plan he had spent years building could no longer remain just a backup.

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From factory worker to entrepreneur

Born in rural Hebei Province, Li once dreamed of becoming an artist. But financial circumstances eventually pushed him onto another path. In 2006, he moved to Shanghai and worked for a Japanese company. A year later, a Japanese colleague invited him to Guangdong, where Li began handling customs clearance, machinery installation, and equipment relocation for factories.

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“At the time, I didn’t understand any of it, not at all,” he said. “I learned everything from scratch.” Guangdong was then in the midst of an export and manufacturing boom. Foreign companies were pouring into Dongguan, Guangzhou, and surrounding cities, creating opportunities for workers and entrepreneurs alike.

Li eventually struck out on his own, using connections he had developed among Japanese manufacturers to build a logistics and industrial-equipment business. In the beginning, he had no vehicle and traveled from factory to factory by bus while carrying equipment and supplies.

“Customer satisfaction with me was more than 200 percent,” he said. By around 2020, however, business had begun to weaken. Li attributed the decline to the pandemic, the departure of some foreign manufacturers, changing government policy, and the rise of China’s electric-vehicle industry, which disrupted parts of the traditional automotive supply chain.

Clashes with police

Li said he began using tools to access overseas websites around 2016, gradually reading foreign news and participating in online political discussions. In 2021, he said police and domestic-security officers questioned him for several hours after discovering that he had joined political discussion groups on U.S.-based app Telegram.

Before officers arrived at his home, Li deleted Telegram, YouTube, Twitter, sensitive photographs, and other material from his phone and removed the hard drive from his computer. When police arrived that afternoon, he recalled, “My wife was terrified.” But the officers were unrelenting, demanded to search his phone, and questioned him about an online username. They ultimately released him after finding no evidence they deemed sufficient for further action, said Li.

A second encounter in 2026 convinced the family that it was time to leave. After Li reposted an overseas statement concerning the reported prosecution of members of the China Democracy Party, he said his WeChat account was blocked. Police then summoned him for questioning and confiscated his phone.

“[They] took my phone, and I had to give them the password,” he said, noting that he was questioned for roughly six hours about whether he had posted anti-government comments or communicated with other organizations. He was eventually required to sign a statement promising not to publish similar material or participate in related activities again, he said. “Otherwise, they said I would be formally arrested.”

Years in the making

Political concerns were not the only factor shaping Li’s decision. He also described several traumatic health episodes involving relatives, including a serious injury suffered by his son after losing consciousness at school and the later deaths of his father and grandmother. Li suspects some of those health problems may have been connected to the COVID-19 vaccine.

After his latest police questioning, Li told his family what happened. “Everyone was very scared,” he said. He worried that authorities could also uncover past emails in which he had expressed support for Hong Kong’s democracy movement and criticized Chinese Communist Party rule.

Li and his family left China several weeks before the new rules took effect, a timing he now views as particularly fortunate. On Sept. 15, new entry and exit regulations in China give authorities broader powers to restrict Chinese citizens from leaving the country in cases involving national security, technology, and industrial security. The rules also allow immigration authorities to question travelers and require documents, electronic data, and other information when verifying the purpose of travel.

Li had, however, been preparing for that possibility for years. He studied immigration policies, obtained visas in multiple countries, moved some assets abroad, and gradually persuaded his wife that the family should consider living outside China. They ultimately chose Canada, settling in Vancouver. “Heaven gives opportunities to people who are prepared,” Li recounted.

Starting anew

Li said his thinking about China had also been shaped by repeated trips to Hong Kong beginning around 2008, when the city still allowed far greater access to politically sensitive books, publications, and public displays compared to mainland China. But after the city was returned to Beijing in 1997, a clear change began taking place.

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Looking back, Li said the Hong Kong he once knew has changed dramatically, especially after the sweeping National Security Law (NSL) was enacted in late 2020, which critics say has sharply curtailed freedoms of expression, assembly, association, and the press, while giving authorities broad powers to prosecute political dissent and erode civil liberties.

Since arriving in Vancouver, Li and his son have joined the Canada committee of the China Democracy Party and begun attending political and community activities. He now hopes to start another business and build a new life with his loved ones in Canada.