

An image of a disturbing note written in Chinese and randomly found in some socks was posted online yesterday afternoon. It has since gone viral and sparked passionate concern across the globe.

The note appears to tell the story of a 39-year-old man named “Ting Kun Ding” from Anhui province, who writes that he is being held hostage after attempting to report some corrupt local officials. He goes on to claim that his wife has been taken to a mental institution and his father killed in a hospital.

Now, just where was such a note discovered? “It was folded up in the bottom of one of the socks, which my dad found upon putting them on,” Lucy Kirk, the girl who posted the note online, told Metro.co.uk.

#helpTingKunDing My Dad recently found this note folded up in socks bought from Primark,please help spread the word! pic.twitter.com/LzwU2y7mIz — luce (@distxste) December 10, 2015



The note has gained a lot of traction on Twitter. Users began tweeting the hashtag “#helpTingKunDing.” Soon enough, the British clothing chain who sold the socks responded to Kirk.

@distxste Luce, we take this very seriously. Can you DM the details of where this was found so that we can investigate please? — Primark (@Primark) December 10, 2015



When asked what course of action she would take, Kirk told Unilad, “I’ve been advised to go to the Chinese embassy but the note specifically said to go straight to the media, and the Chinese government, so I’d like to stick by the request really, out of respect.”



Back in October, a similar note was found in a sock bought in Dublin at Penneys, which is what Primark goes by in Ireland. The note told a identical story of a 39-year-old man from Anhui being imprisoned while his family was tortured.



Here is a translation of the note provided by Reddit user “Atarut“:

To all members of society who support justice, please help.

My name is Ding Tingkun. I am a 39-year-old man. I live in China, Anhui Province, Lingbi County, Damiao Town, Shatan Village, No. 6 Group. Because I went to Beijing to report corrupt officials in person, on 29 June 2014, I was framed by the Damiao Town government leaders for “extortion.” I have since been shut in the Lingbi County jail. I have suffered great mental torment. My wife was forcibly locked up in a mental hospital, and both she and I have been crippled by injury! On 22 May 2014, my father was murdered in the Damiao hospital!

Please, anyone who reads this letter, please pass this letter on to our country’s leader Chairman Xi Jinping, and through the media bring these things to light! Thank you!!!

Local corrupt officials have no law and no heaven. They publicly oppose the central government’s policies, satisfying their superiors but deceiving the public. They cover up the truth of things. They painstakingly arrange schemes to manufacture false charges!

I resolutely support the Chinese Communist Party’s central leadership and Chairman Xi Jinping’s honest, people-loving good government!

Seeker of Help: Ding Tingkun

24 June 2014, jail

Older brother Ding Qiang’s cell phone: …

By Mary DeMay

[Images via Reddit // Twitter]