Epoch Times - ‘This is how they manipulate people’: Director Yan Ma
Aired: 2025-08-14
Duration: 01:53


=== Manipulating Pressure Points (01:52) ===

[00:00:00]  As you told me earlier, you know, your relatives have been threatened, they've had their pay cut because of your work.
[00:00:07]  What do you think they're trying to accomplish with that?
[00:00:10]  Well, obviously they wanted to put pressure on me.
[00:00:16]  Just stop whatever I'm doing.
[00:00:19]  But to me, I think the best way to react to this is do even more.
[00:00:24]  Because it can back down.
[00:00:27]  Once you back down, they know they have you in their pocket.
[00:00:32]  They know that this works.
[00:00:34]  It will just go worse.
[00:00:37]  If this film becomes big, and I think it really has the potential to, you've made a really powerful film here.
[00:00:45]  Aren't you worried that it might have greater repercussions on your family back home?
[00:00:50]  Yes, all the time.
[00:00:51]  It really is like, especially to me, as Chinese, this kind of thing really can impact us a lot.
[00:01:03]  But I don't think I can walk away.
[00:01:07]  My conscience won't allow me to do that, firstly.
[00:01:09]  And then secondly, if I stop because of this, then they know, oh, this works for him.
[00:01:17]  They won't stop.
[00:01:18]  They will just do more.
[00:01:20]  I experienced many of these kind of cases from my friends.
[00:01:26]  They all experienced this before.
[00:01:30]  There's a first time, always a second time.
[00:01:32]  They will go to your family again, but this time they will say, okay, we need you to do this for us.
[00:01:40]  Otherwise, your family is going to be in trouble again.
[00:01:42]  So they slowly turn you to work for them.
[00:01:46]  This is how, you know, for someone that doesn't have the bottom line, they can, yeah.
[00:01:51]  This is how they manipulate people.