致敬万润南与彭载舟
作者：吕峰
编辑：邢文娟 责任编辑：罗志飞 校对：程筱筱
2025年10月13日清晨，旅居巴黎的民运领袖万润南先生病逝，享年七十九岁。巧合的是，这一天正值北京“四通桥事件”三周年。时间与命运在同一天交汇，仿佛在告诉我们：两代人的信念与勇气，在时空中遥相传递，点燃更多人心中的自由之火。万润南先生，1946年生于江苏宜兴，清华大学毕业后任中国科学院工程师。1984年，他创办“四通公司”，推出风靡全国的“四通打字机”，成为上世纪八十年代中国改革开放早期科技理想主义的象征。1989年“六四天安门事件”后，他被迫流亡法国，先后担任“民主中国阵线”秘书长与主席，继续为中国的自由与民主奔走呼号。
“四通公司”早年曾捐建北京“四通桥”，这座桥原本象征着现代化与开放的精神。然而三十多年后，它因另一位勇士而被重新铭记——2022年10月13日，北京市民彭载舟登上四通桥，举起横幅，上书：“不要核酸要吃饭、不要文革要改革、不要封控要自由、不要领袖要选票、不要谎言要尊严、不做奴才做公民。”
那一年，中国正深陷严酷的疫情封控。千万人被迫停业、停工、停学，方舱与铁栏之内的人们饱受饥饿、孤立与恐惧，而当局却以“防疫”为名，实施毫无人性的社会管控。在这样的黑暗之中，彭载舟以一人之力，点燃被压抑已久的怒火与希望，照亮了全国，也震惊了世界。直接引发了自1989年天安门事件以来中国最大规模的公民抗议——“白纸运动”。
随后，彭载舟被“消失”，四通桥路牌被拆除，地图上也抹去了所有痕迹。当局还派出警力昼夜把守，甚至禁止人们拍照留念。然而他们试图掩盖的名字，却在人民心中愈加鲜明。
万润南先生曾说：“中共害怕‘四通’两个字，因为那象征着开放与自由。他们试图抹去历史，恰恰说明他们的内心仍在恐惧”。他提醒世人：“别忘记四通桥，也别忘记四通桥上的勇士——彭载舟”。
从“四通公司”到“四通桥”，从1989到2022，从知识分子的理想到公民的孤勇，他们跨越时间的鸿沟在同一日交汇。
桥，是连接，是支撑。火，是照亮，是觉醒。2025年10月13日，一个人逝去，另一个人失踪，但他们共同留下了一件永恒的事——让身处黑暗中的人，可以看见那道光。
Courage Across Time-
In Tribute to Wan Runnan and Peng Zaizhou
Author: Lü Feng
Editor: Xing Wenjuan Executive Editor: Luo Zhifei
Proofreader: Cheng Xiaoxiao Translator:Peng Xiaomei
Abstract:This article commemorates the passing of exiled pro-democracy activist Wan Runnan, retracing his transformation into a movement leader. It also echoes the third anniversary of the “Sitong Bridge Incident,” emphasizing how conviction and courage transcend time to illuminate darkness.
On the morning of October 13, 2025, Chinese pro-democracy leader Wan Runnan, who had lived in exile in Paris, passed away at the age of seventy-nine. Coincidentally, this very day marked the third anniversary of Beijing’s Sitong Bridge Incident. Time and destiny met on the same date, as if to remind us that the faith and courage of two generations reach out across time and space, igniting the flame of freedom in countless hearts. Mr. Wan Runnan was born in 1946 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province. After graduating from Tsinghua University, he worked as an engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1984, he founded Sitong Corporation, which launched the wildly popular Sitong typewriter, a symbol of the technological idealism of China’s early reform and opening era. After the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989, he was forced into exile in France, where he later served as Secretary-General and then Chairman of the Federation for a Democratic China, continuing to advocate tirelessly for freedom and democracy in China.
Sitong Corporation once donated funds to build Sitong Bridge in Beijing—a bridge that originally symbolized modernity and openness. Yet more than thirty years later, it was remembered anew because of another brave soul. On October 13, 2022, Peng Zaizhou, an ordinary citizen of Beijing, climbed onto Sitong Bridge and raised a banner that read:
“We want food, not COVID tests.We want reform, not a new Cultural Revolution.We want freedom, not lockdowns.We want votes, not rulers.We want dignity, not lies.We are citizens, not slaves.”
That year, China was in the grip of a harsh pandemic lockdown. Tens of millions were forced out of work, out of school, and into isolation. Inside quarantine camps and behind iron fences, people suffered hunger, fear, and despair, while the authorities imposed inhumane social control under the pretext of “epidemic prevention.”In that darkness, Peng Zaizhou—alone—sparked long-suppressed anger and hope, lighting up the entire nation and shocking the world. His act directly inspired China’s largest civic protest since 1989—the White Paper Movement. Soon after, Peng Zaizhou was “disappeared. The Sitong Bridge road sign was removed, and every trace of it erased from maps. Police guarded the site day and night, even forbidding people to take photos. Yet the name they tried to erase grew only brighter in people’s hearts. Mr. Wan once said: “The Chinese Communist Party fears the words ‘Sitong,’ because they represent openness and freedom. Their attempt to erase history only proves that fear still rules their hearts.” He urged the world: “Do not forget Sitong Bridge, and do not forget the brave man who stood upon it—Peng Zaizhou.”
From Sitong Corporation to Sitong Bridge, from 1989 to 2022, from the idealism of intellectuals to the solitary courage of citizens—they met across the chasm of time, on the same day.
A bridge connects and supports.A flame illuminates and awakens.
October 13, 2025—one man passed away, another vanished.Yet together, they left behind something eternal:the light that allows those in darkness to see.
