Sep 19, 2025

 

王代時在2025年聯合國第十七屆日內瓦人權與民主峰會開幕式上演講。

我至今仍記得姑姑傳來的那個消息，清晰得好像就發生在昨天：「你父親死了。」我們已被這一不詳的預感煎熬了很長一段時間了。

我的父親王炳章，是中國在押最久的政治犯。在我們收到那條死訊的時候，他已經被單獨關押了 17 年。他在獄身患多種疾病，多次中風。所以，他的死訊並不那麼令人感到意外。

不過，這個死訊被我證偽了。我從維吉尼亞州出發，一路輾轉了30多個小時才抵達廣東，決意要眼見為真，冒再大的風險也要弄清楚真相。行前，我發電郵給加拿大和美國的大使館，告知了我的行程，並留下了一個明確的訊息：「我要去中國調查我父親之死。請確保中共會允許我回家。」我的親人都為此提心吊膽，我太太提心吊膽，我自己也提心吊膽。但當我終於踏進監獄的大門時，我發現我的父親——是的，他蒼老了很多，但他還活著。

在獨裁政權下，事情總是這樣真假難辨。

跟許多那一代的中國人一樣，我父親及其家族也在毛澤東的統治下飽經了難以言說的苦難。1950 年代，政權奪走了我祖父家僅有的奶牛場，使他們一貧如洗。幾位親人在政權政策導致的饑荒中活活餓死。在毛澤東發動文化大革命中，我父親被一個嫉賢妒能的同學誣告成反革命，被打得幾乎喪命。

如今，半個多世紀過去，毛澤東的肖像仍懸掛在天安門廣場。而像我家這種在中國司空見慣的遭遇，卻至今只能在私下議論。

但就像所有暴君一樣，毛澤東也只是個凡人，他最終還是死了。毛死後，中國重新向世界打開了大門，我父親獲得了一筆獎學金，前往蒙特利爾的麥吉爾大學（McGill University）留學深造。

在那裡，他親眼見證了一場全民公投。這場公投徵詢的是：「魁北克公民是希望主權獨立，還是願意繼續作為加拿大的一部分？」

他深受震撼。主權在政治上是個至高無上的議題，但加拿大卻放心交由普通公民來決定。

身為一名愛國者，我父親相信中國人具備同樣的智慧與能力，並不比任何人遜色。為什麼中國人民不能同樣有權決定自己國家的命運呢？

於是，父親在麥基爾大學學成醫學博士之後，卻放棄了前途無量的醫學職業生涯，將畢生精力投入於為同胞爭取民主權利。

他說過：「醫生能治好一個人的病，但治不了一個國家的病。」

此後的20年裡，他竭盡全力推動中國的民主。

 

他創辦了影響深遠的《中國之春》雜誌及多個民運組織。他在世界各地奔走，為運動尋求支持，尤其致力於凝聚中國的年輕人。

為了協助組建反對黨，他甚至不惜用假護照潛回國內。

為了報復他，中共撤銷了他的國籍。但他拒絕加入任何其他國籍，堅持自己是、並會永遠是中國的愛國者。

2002 年，他赴越南去見他以為的一些中國勞工運動人士。但那是一個圈套。他遭到綁架，被跨境押送到中國，被草草地審判定罪。

在那場審判中，當局捏造了證據。但判處的刑期卻是實實在在的：終身監禁。

當時我17 歲，與父親關係疏離，因為在我很小的時候父母就分居了。

但我深知，他和我們全家遭遇到了一場巨大的不公——尤其當我看見疼愛我的奶奶終日以淚洗面，直到哭乾了眼淚，直到她生命的最後一刻。

於是我暗下決心，至少要深入去了解父亲，以及那個迫害他的政權。這一切是從探監開始的，那也是我第一次踏上中國的土地。

 

圖為加拿大國家廣播公司（CBC）2017年製作的紀錄片《高墙之内，Inside These Walls》 的海報，向公眾介紹王炳章以及他和家人的處境。圖中的空椅子代表著家庭中缺席的父親——王炳章。坐在左側的是王代時的母親寧勤勤，右側是妹妹王天安，站立著分別是王代時（左）和他的哥哥。

 

當我看見他雙腳鎖著鐐銬，被押進會見室時，我的心沉了下去。

隔著厚厚的玻璃與鐵欄，我們父子二人坐了下來。

他拿起話筒，開口說的第一句話是：「代時，千萬不要相信政權指控我的那些話。」

我告訴他，我不會信的。

自那以後，我去探監已經有十多次了。我逐漸領悟到，父親那天對我說的那句話——不要相信政權的謊言——實在是意味深長。

顯然，父親對此是有著這切膚之痛的，他深知中共是靠謊言起家、也必須靠謊言維繫的極權政權。

並且他深知，中共維繫權力的唯一手段就是殘暴。

但人的良知永遠會對殘暴表示震驚。

所以，暴政唯一的選擇就是撒謊。

他們謊稱六四屠殺不存在。

他們謊稱新疆沒有集中營。

若你問他們為什麼要把我父親單獨關押，就像我曾問過的，他們會回答說：「哦，我們沒有單獨關押。我們只是按照犯罪情況分組收監，而你父親的案子又剛好比較特殊。」

多麼方便的藉口。

 

廣東監獄流出的王炳章獄中照片。

 

我還逐漸領悟到，我父親這樣的人與中共政權的一個本質區別，恰恰就在於是否願意說謊。

對於我父親來說，說真話是一種自尊，我相信對於許多在座的與會者來說也是如此。

我曾在一次探監時問他：「爸，你覺得對你的綁架，是否是中國政府幕後操縱的？」

你猜他怎麼回答？「有這個可能，但我們沒有足夠證據坐實這一論斷。」

想想看，想想看——迫害者靠謊言讓你身陷囹圄，而你反過來仍在堅持不能空口無憑。

終於，我領悟到，父親這一生真正的意味就在於：追求真相與正義，這本身就是對人生至深的回報。

因此，在他的感召下，在我的職業生涯中，我選擇為政治迫害的受害者代言，為被欺凌、被壓榨的弱勢群體發聲——而這往往也就意味著與中共對立。

如今父親已年近八旬，我不知道他餘生還有多少時間。但我知道他善用了自己的一生。他對原則、真相與正義的堅守，助我在可能動搖時保持了堅強。我希望這份堅守也同樣能幫到你。

 

謝謝大家。

 

王代時（Times Wang）

2025 年 2 月 17 日 於聯合國第十七屆日內瓦人權與民主峰會開幕式上

 

王代時在聯合國第十七屆日內瓦人權與民主峰會上。

编辑：钟然

翻译：吕峰

【转载自议报 链接：https://yibaochina.com/?p=256570】

[Imaginative Ideas] Wang Daishi | My Father’s Story

Sep 19, 2025

Wang Daishi delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the 17th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in 2025.

I still remember the message my aunt sent me, as vividly as if it had happened yesterday: “Your father is dead.” We had been tormented by this ominous premonition for a long time.

My father, Wang Bingzhang, is the longest-imprisoned political prisoner in China. By the time we received that news of his death, he had already been held in solitary confinement for 17 years. In prison he suffered from multiple illnesses and had several strokes. So, the news of his death was not entirely unexpected.

However, I proved that news to be false. From Virginia, I traveled for more than 30 hours, through many stops, before finally reaching Guangdong. I was determined to see with my own eyes; no matter the risk, I had to know the truth. Before leaving, I emailed the Canadian and U.S. embassies, informing them of my trip and leaving a clear message: “I am going to China to investigate my father’s death. Please make sure the CCP allows me to return home.” My family was deeply worried, my wife was deeply worried, and I myself was deeply worried. But when I finally stepped into the prison gates, I found my father—yes, he had aged greatly, but he was still alive.

Under a dictatorship, truth and falsehood are always hard to tell apart.

Like many of his generation, my father and his family endured unspeakable suffering under Mao Zedong’s rule. In the 1950s, the regime seized my grandfather’s only dairy farm, leaving the family destitute. Several relatives starved to death during the famine caused by the regime’s policies. During Mao’s Cultural Revolution, a jealous classmate falsely accused my father of being a counterrevolutionary, and he was beaten nearly to death.

Now, more than half a century later, Mao’s portrait still hangs over Tiananmen Square. Yet experiences like those of my family, so commonplace across China, can still only be discussed in private.

But like all tyrants, Mao was only a mortal, and in the end, he died. After Mao’s death, China reopened its doors to the world, and my father received a scholarship to pursue further studies at McGill University in Montreal.

There, he personally witnessed a national referendum. The question was: “Do the citizens of Quebec wish for sovereign independence, or do they wish to remain part of Canada?”

He was deeply moved. Sovereignty is the highest of political questions, yet Canada entrusted ordinary citizens to decide it. As a patriot, my father believed the Chinese people possessed the same wisdom and capability, no less than anyone else. Why then should the people of China not have the right to determine their own country’s destiny?

Thus, after earning his medical doctorate at McGill, my father gave up what could have been a brilliant medical career and devoted his life to fighting for the democratic rights of his compatriots.

He used to say: “A doctor can cure the illness of one person, but not the illness of a nation.”

For the next 20 years, he poured his heart and soul into advancing democracy in China.

He founded the influential China Spring magazine and several pro-democracy organizations. He traveled around the world seeking support for the movement, with a special focus on uniting young people in China.

In order to help establish an opposition party, he even risked returning to China on a false passport.

In retaliation, the Chinese Communist Party revoked his citizenship. But he refused to adopt any other nationality, insisting that he was—and would always remain—a patriot of China.

In 2002, he went to Vietnam to meet what he thought were Chinese labor activists. But it was a trap. He was kidnapped, forcibly taken across the border into China, and hastily tried and convicted.

During that trial, the authorities fabricated evidence. But the sentence was all too real: life imprisonment.

At that time, I was 17 years old and somewhat estranged from my father, as my parents had separated when I was very young.

Yet I knew deeply that he, and all of us as his family, had suffered a grave injustice—especially when I saw my loving grandmother weeping day after day, until her tears ran dry, until the final moment of her life.

So I made a vow to myself: at the very least, I must seek to understand my father, and the regime that persecuted him. That journey began with visiting him in prison—and it was also the first time I set foot on Chinese soil.

The picture shows the poster of the 2017 documentary Inside These Walls, produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which introduced Wang Bingzhang and the situation faced by him and his family to the public. The empty chair in the image symbolizes the absent father—Wang Bingzhang. Seated on the left is Wang Daishi’s mother, Ning Qinqin, and on the right is his younger sister, Wang Tian’an. Standing are Wang Daishi (left) and his elder brother.

When I saw him being led into the visiting room with shackles on his feet, my heart sank.

Separated by thick glass and iron bars, my father and I sat down.

He picked up the receiver, and the first thing he said was: “Daishi, never believe the accusations the regime has made against me.”I told him that I never would.

Since then, I have visited him more than a dozen times. Gradually, I came to realize the profound meaning behind what he told me that day—never believe the regime’s lies.

Clearly, my father spoke from deep, personal pain. He knew well that the Chinese Communist Party is a totalitarian regime built on lies, and one that must rely on lies to survive.

And he also knew that the only means by which the CCP maintains its power is through brutality.

But human conscience will always be outraged by brutality.

Therefore, tyranny has only one choice: to lie.

They lie by claiming the Tiananmen Square massacre never happened.They lie by claiming there are no concentration camps in Xinjiang.

And if you ask them why my father has been held in solitary confinement—as I once did—they will answer: “Oh, we do not practice solitary confinement. We simply assign prisoners into groups according to their cases, and your father’s case just happens to be somewhat special.”

What a convenient excuse.

A prison photo of Wang Bingzhang leaked from Guangdong prison.

I also gradually came to realize that the essential difference between my father and the Chinese Communist regime lies precisely in whether one is willing to lie.

For my father, telling the truth is a matter of dignity. I believe it is the same for many of you here today.

Once, during a prison visit, I asked him: “Dad, do you think your kidnapping was orchestrated by the Chinese government behind the scenes?”

Do you know how he answered? “It’s possible, but we do not have sufficient evidence to establish that claim.”

Think about it—just think about it: your persecutors imprison you through lies, and yet you, in turn, still insist that you cannot speak without evidence.

At last, I understood that the true meaning of my father’s life lies in this: the pursuit of truth and justice is itself the deepest reward in life.

Therefore, under his inspiration, I chose in my own career to speak on behalf of victims of political persecution, to give voice to the oppressed and exploited—to stand up for those who are silenced. And that has often meant standing in opposition to the Chinese Communist Party.

Now my father is nearly eighty years old. I do not know how much time he has left. But I do know that he has used his life well. His steadfast commitment to principle, truth, and justice has helped me remain strong in moments when I might have wavered. I hope this same commitment can also help you.

Thank you all.

Times Wang (Wang Daishi)At the Opening Ceremony of the 17th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and DemocracyFebruary 17, 2025

Times Wang at the 17th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.

Edited by: Zhong RanTranslated by: Lyu Feng

[Reprinted from Yibao Link: https://yibaochina.com/?p=256570]