After a family vacation, Chinese actress Liu Yuxin returned to her Beverly Hills home only to find it in disarray, with millions of dollars worth of valuables reportedly missing.
The 35-year-old actress, known for portraying Princess Mingyu in the popular Chinese drama “Scarlet Heart” (2011), has captured headlines in Asia after sharing her experience on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu Feb. 19.
“I really don’t want to stay in California this time; it’s left me with a serious mental scar,” she wrote in Chinese. “It’s horrifying. Los Angeles is no longer livable given its public safety situation.”
She posted photos depicting empty shelves and boxes where her missing valuables—including jewelry, watches, designer bags, and cash—were once kept. According to Ms. Liu, the value of the loss amounts to tens of millions in Chinese yuan, equivalent to millions of U.S. dollars.
“All my hard work over the years, gone in an instant,” she wrote.
She added that upon calling the police, they merely arrived to collect her statement before departing.
Ms. Liu said that her neighborhood is known to be safe, and she has invested a large amount of money in improving home security, including installing surveillance cameras and alarm systems. Therefore, she said she was shocked that the burglary could happen, even without triggering any alarms in the process.
“I dare not sleep [after the incident],” she wrote. “The person who came to repair for me said his house had been robbed twice, targeting specifically Chinese people. Chinese people dare not put Lunar New Year couplets [traditional decorative red paper stripes with auspicious messages] on their doorsteps.”
Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment on the case by press time.
The Beverly Hills community is no stranger to such crime, as several celebrities and other residents have reportedly become victims of home invasions in recent months.
More Residents Resort to Buying Guns
David Liu, owner of a gun shop in Arcadia, an affluent, Asian-dominant city in Los Angeles County, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that Ms. Liu’s experience is not an isolated case. In recent years, incidents of robbery targeting Chinese individuals have become increasingly common.He pointed to a rising trend in gun purchases, among Chinese Americans and people of other ethnicities, showing more individuals want to be more prepared to defend themselves.
In Los Angeles County, Mr. Liu said, even walking on the streets with pets can lead to armed robbery. He said a customer decided to buy a gun after his wife was threatened by a robber while walking their French bulldog in broad daylight. In California, French bulldog puppies typically range in price from $2,800 to $5,200, according to iHeartDogs.com, an online pet product shop.
Statistics from the Los Angeles Police Department’s 2023 report show a 3.5 percent increase in theft in the city compared to a year ago, including flash robberies, auto theft, petty theft, and burglaries, Chief Michel Moore said last month.
Chinese Community Easily Targeted
Mr. Liu mentioned that Chinese people are easy targets for criminals, partly due to some new immigrants being too ostentatious with their wealth. To further complicate matters, he said, some Chinese robbery victims don’t report the incidents for fear of retaliation from the criminals.Mr. Liu, who has served as a volunteer police officer in Arcadia for a long time, said he has noticed that many Chinese people hesitate to call the police immediately, even if they witness their neighbors’ homes being burglarized. Many of them would wait until the thieves left before dialing 911, he said.
Additionally, he said Chinese households can be easily identified.
“If you see yards planted with osmanthus, magnolia, or fruit trees, chances are they belong to Chinese residents,” he said.
Criminals can also observe the presence of shoes or shoe racks by the front door, as many Asians adhere to the custom of removing shoes indoors.
When his children were teenagers, Mr. Liu said he started taking them to shoot targets and play with guns.
“Learning to use firearms is actually similar to learning Taekwondo, as they both are ways to protect oneself,” Mr. Liu said.
He said the purpose of using firearms is to prevent criminals from committing further crimes, not to injure them.
For those who want to start carrying a firearm outside, Mr. Liu said a Concealed Carry Weapon License is required, though the public often mistakenly assumes that the Firearm Safety Certificate is a gun permit.
“In fact, this certificate has only one function: to purchase a firearm,” he said.
Recently, a federal judge temporarily halted most of the provisions in Senate Bill (SB) 2, a controversial California law that aimed to prohibit licensed gun holders from carrying firearms in multiple locations across the state. The legislation was originally scheduled to take full effect at the beginning of this year.
Under SB 2—signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September—individuals with concealed carry weapons permits would be barred from carrying firearms in 26 locations, including public parks and playgrounds, churches, banks, medical facilities, and privately owned commercial establishments open to the public.
According to the ruling last December, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney found that the state law would “unconstitutionally deprive” carry permit holders of their “constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.”
The 9th Circuit will hear in April California’s appeal of the temporary injunction.
