On June 26, at Chengcheng Pagoda Square, Wang Hongwu, wearing a white T-shirt with both sleeves empty, was explaining drug-related knowledge to passersby. This armless farmer, who had just spent 10 years cycling across the country to promote anti-drug awareness, covering a distance of 100,000 km, has decided to spend another 10 years visiting 2,000 counties nationwide.
At noon on the 26th, 42-year-old Wang Hongwu rode his tricycle back to his low-rent housing with the exhibition boards. In the afternoon, he continued to promote anti-drug awareness at Pagoda Square. Last month, for his anti-drug efforts, he was shortlisted as a candidate for the third National “Top Ten Civilian Anti-Drug Figures,” jointly organized by the Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission and the China Narcotics Control Foundation, receiving 17,512 votes. Although he didn’t win in the end, Wang Hongwu said he would continue striving to promote anti-drug awareness.
Wang Hongwu is from Luocheng Village, Wangzhuang Town, Chengcheng County, Weinan. At the age of 9, he unfortunately had an amputation due to an accident. In 2002, a news report about a 14-year-old girl stabbing her classmate to death over drug money deeply affected him, as he had just welcomed the birth of his younger daughter. He said he realized that drugs were not far from ordinary people and decided to promote anti-drug awareness. That March, he spent a thousand yuan to create 30 exhibition boards featuring drug crime cases and anti-drug knowledge. He modified a tricycle and began promoting anti-drug awareness across the country.
“There was one year when I spent over a month in Shandong Province alone. Sometimes I’d be away from home for half a year.” Wang Hongwu said his cycling routes weren’t fixed — he’s been as far north as Hebei, as far east as Shanghai, and as far south as Hainan, typically crossing at least four neighboring provinces a year. To date, he has traveled through 17 provinces and over 400 cities, covering 100,000 km. Over the past ten years, in every location he visited, he displayed the exhibition boards in squares, parks, and other public spaces, gave speeches to citizens, and visited drug rehabilitation centers to encourage addicts to quit drugs early. Numerous media outlets such as Shanxi Daily and Chongqing Evening News have reported on Wang Hongwu. To support her husband financially, his wife Qian Aiping, who used to accompany him closely, has in recent years returned home to farm and sell vegetables to fund his cause.
Wang Hongwu said that in recent years, drug users have gradually become younger, spreading from coastal areas to inland regions and even rural areas. Before rehabilitation, most drug users rely on theft, robbery, or fraud to raise money for drugs. After leaving rehab, they struggle to make a living and integrate into society, often returning to the “drug user circle.”
This June, Wang Hongwu’s book “Earth Walker,” based on his ten years of diary entries, was published by the Shaanxi People’s Publishing House. Wang Hongwu hopes to use the royalties to open a farm that provides job opportunities for rehabilitated drug users, helping them return to normal life.
He also revealed that he will continue cycling across the country to promote anti-drug awareness, hoping to visit 2,000 counties within 10 years. “If that’s not possible, visiting all the prefecture-level cities will also do.”
Did You Know?
Weinan has approximately 5,600 registered drug users
●June 26 is International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Currently, crimes induced by drug trafficking and abuse—such as theft, robbery, fraud, prostitution, and various violent offenses—are severely disrupting public security in many countries and regions.
●Drugs refer to opiates, heroin (traditional drugs), methamphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, caffeine, sodium caffeine (synthetic drugs), and other narcotics and psychotropic substances that can lead to addiction.
●Drug use can directly damage brain nerve cells, leading to acute or chronic mental disorders similar to schizophrenia. Clinically, it may also manifest as delusions of persecution, delusions of being persecuted, and more. Synthetic drugs, in particular, may cause acute myocardial ischemia, cardiac rupture, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmias in the cardiovascular system, trigger systemic skeletal muscle spasms, and severely damage cerebral blood vessels, leading to cerebral hemorrhage.
●Currently, the number of registered drug users in Weinan is about 5,600, with over 80% subjected to compulsory rehabilitation. It is reported that the statistics only account for one-fifth of the actual number of drug users.
●The trend of drug spread in Weinan has shifted from affecting older individuals to younger ones, from urban areas to urban villages and rural areas, and from traditional drugs to synthetic drugs like methamphetamine.
●In the first half of this year, Weinan City cracked 85 drug-related cases, apprehended 104 suspects, seized 4,370 grams of various drugs, and placed 461 drug users under control — including 113 in compulsory isolation rehabilitation, 117 in community-based rehabilitation, and 231 under other forms of handling.
●Teenagers are among the most vulnerable groups to drug influence. As young people, it’s essential to deeply understand the dangers of drugs and firmly reject the “first try.” Be cautious in making friends, learn to say “no” skillfully to temptation and coercion, let go of curiosity about drugs, stay vigilant, and avoid being deceived.