The journey from Dallas to the city in northern China involved two planes, three stops and more than 24 hours of travel. Tao, an electronics repairman in his early 30s, spent them wide awake — metal cuffs biting into his wrists and ankles.

He was being deported back to China, after American officials rejected his asylum claim. Questions swirled in his head.

What awaited him back in China, the country that he had tried so hard to escape?