June 12, Deputy Consul General Yu Peng and staff from the Overseas Chinese and Education divisions of the Consulate went to UIUC to learn about the missing case of Chinese visiting scholar Yingying Zhang’s and urged the local police and the university to enhance efforts in searching and investigating.

In the afternoon of June 9 local time, UIUC Chinese visiting scholar Yingying Zhang went missing when running errands. The local police, students and scholars have invested in full efforts in searching Ms. Yingying Zhang who has remained missing for 3 days. She went missing after getting on a dark colored Saturn Astra vehicle on her way to sign an apartment lease contract.

After getting the information, the Consulate General immediately contacted with the local police, teachers of Ms. Yingying Zhang, students and association of Chinese Students and Scholars Association to gain updates on the case , and has kept communication with the victims’ families to assist their visa application for coming to the U.S.

While meeting with the local police, Consul General Yu Peng said that the Consulate General in Chicago pays strong attention to the missing case of Ms. Yingying Zhang and the case has aroused strong concern among the Chinese students and scholars, as well as the overseas Chinese. The consulate hopes the police can use all means and enhance the investigation efforts. The police briefed that the missing case of Ms. Yingying Zhang has been the most important case and the police has invested in a lot of manpower and material into the investigation. Based on the recorded video, Ms. Zhang went missing after getting on a car at 2:06 pm on June 9. The police is sparing no efforts to search for the vehicle which Ms. Yingying Zhang got in before missing, and has already requested federal and state law enforcement agencies to provide support.

Deputy Consul General Yu Peng expressed the high concern to the case to the office of international student service of the university and hopes the safety of Chinese students could be given more attention and the university could provide strong support to the investigation of the case.

Deputy Consul General Yu Peng expressed regards and appreciation to the teachers of Ms. Yingying Zhang, students and all the volunteers helping with the searching. He aslo exchanged ideas with them on how to effectively collect information and actively assist police investigation.