The Warning of Hong Kong Is Not Far Off; How Can Taiwan Allow Itself to Destroy Its Own Great Wall?
Commenting on Zheng Liwen’s Visit to the Mainland to Express Loyalty, Setbacks in Her US Visit, and Her Authoritarian Face in Expelling Protesters
Special Commentary: Miao Qing
Lead-in
The sinking of Hong Kong has already written a bloody political warning record for Taiwan: under the totalitarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), without the guarantee of independent sovereignty, the so-called “high autonomy,” so-called “peaceful coexistence,” and so-called “institutional commitments” are all nothing more than political favors that can be taken back at any time. Right against this historical background, Kuomintang Chairperson Zheng Liwen first went to Beijing to meet CCP leader Xi Jinping, submitting a political toumingzhuang (pledge of loyalty/submission) to Beijing; subsequently, she went to the United States for activities, encountering a cold reception from overseas Chinese circles in San Francisco, and when facing protests by democracy movement activists in Los Angeles, she went so far as to permit and even connive at on-site personnel forcibly expelling protesters, and even defended this practice afterward.
This series of performances by Zheng Liwen is no longer merely a personal loss of composure or a struggle over party lines, but nakedly exposes the dangerous nature of the Kuomintang’s pro-communist line: the so-called “peace” it peddles is not a peace built upon democracy, freedom, and sovereignty, but a “surrender-style peace” that demands Taiwan lower its vigilance, suppress resistance, and hand over its subjectivity. Looking at Taiwan from Hong Kong, Zheng Liwen’s actions are precisely pushing Taiwan step by step into the dangerous situation of “Hong Kong-ization.”
I. Hong Kong Has Already Finished Demonstrating the Outcome: Without Sovereignty, So-called Freedom Is Ultimately Merely “Gracious Permission”
Today, when talking about Taiwan’s future, no one can bypass the realistic tragedy of Hong Kong.
After the forceful implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020, Hong Kong, within an extremely short period, rapidly degenerated from an international city possessing relatively free space, rule of law tradition, and civil society vitality into a political forbidden zone under the high-pressure rule of the CCP. Opposition lawmakers were purged, the Legislative Council was reorganized into a rubber stamp; media outlets shut down one after another, journalists and commentators were arrested and imprisoned; civil groups disbanded one after another, and commemorating June Fourth, public protests, and street expressions were all regarded as political crimes. “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong,” “high autonomy,” and “remaining unchanged for fifty years,” which were once written into international documents and repeatedly declared, were nothing more than shattered in an instant before the absolute power of the CCP.
Hong Kong’s encounter has made a most simple and also most cruel political common sense clear and plain: under the premise of having no independent sovereignty as the final barrier, any freedom, rule of law, autonomy, and way of life are merely “licensed goods” temporarily permitted to exist by the powerful, rather than rights truly owned by the people themselves.
The reason why Hong Kong fell was not because it was not prosperous enough, not because it was not civilized enough, and nor because Hong Kong people did not fight for freedom, but because it never mastered the sovereignty to decide its own destiny. Since sovereignty was not in the hands of the Hong Kong people, Beijing can promise autonomy when united front work is needed, and can also immediately tear up the promise when stability maintenance is needed; today it can say “high autonomy,” and tomorrow it can pull up all freedoms by the roots in the name of “国家安全” (national security). The most painful lesson of Hong Kong lies in: under the CCP’s logic of governance, if any right is not built on the foundation of the people themselves mastering sovereignty, it will ultimately only be a permit that can be invalidated at any time.
Therefore, Hong Kong has completely shattered that naive and dangerous illusion—as if as long as one does not stimulate the CCP, as long as one “rationally negotiates” with Beijing, and as long as one accepts the political prerequisite of “One China,” one can exchange it for peace, stability, and institutional guarantees. Hong Kong has proved with its own destiny: yielding to the CCP will not exchange for freedom; compromising with totalitarianism will not exchange for dignity; placing hopes on Beijing keeping its word will only exchange for more thorough control.
II. Zheng Liwen’s Journey to Beijing to “Worship” Is Not a Peaceful Exchange, but Submitting a Political Pledge of Loyalty to the CCP
Precisely because Hong Kong’s outcome is so clear, Zheng Liwen’s sneaking visit to Beijing and meeting with Xi Jinping at this very moment appears exceptionally eyesore-inducing and exceptionally dangerous.
In recent years, the Kuomintang has continuously used “peace,” “exchange,” and “reducing the risk of war” as slogans, attempting to package concessions to the CCP as “pragmatism,” package the dilution of sovereignty as “rationality,” and package leaning toward Beijing as a “responsible cross-strait policy.” However, the core of the problem does not lie in the word “exchange,” but lies in: what qualification on earth does a totalitarian regime, which just personally destroyed Hong Kong’s freedom and has long implemented military threats, diplomatic suppression, and cognitive warfare against Taiwan, have to talk about peace with Taiwan?
Zheng Liwen’s journey to Beijing is absolutely not conducting a dialogue with Beijing on an equal status, but is accepting united front arrangements within the political stage, political language, and political framework set by the CCP. Xi Jinping receiving her is not out of respect for Taiwan’s public opinion, and not to seek true peace, but to manufacture an illusion for Taiwan, the United States, and the international community: as if Taiwan’s main opposition force is willing to accept the CCP’s political prerequisites, willing to pull Taiwan’s future back into the narrative framework of “One China,” and willing to cooperate with Beijing to jointly suppress the growth of Taiwan’s subjective consciousness.
To put it bluntly, the true function of Zheng Liwen’s trip is not to strive for peace on behalf of Taiwan, but to supply legitimacy to the CCP’s united front work against Taiwan; it is not to hold the line of safety for Taiwan, but to repair the political narrative cracks after the complete bankruptcy of “One Country, Two Systems” on behalf of Beijing. What she handed to Xi Jinping was not merely the “goodwill” of a Kuomintang chairperson, but a clear and plain political pledge of loyalty (toumingzhuang): that is, there are still people inside Taiwan who are willing to continue endorsing the CCP’s “peaceful reunification” scam while the bloodstains of Hong Kong are not yet dry, and continue assisting Beijing to weaken the vigilance of Taiwanese society and disintegrate the defense will of the Taiwanese people.
This kind of behavior can no longer be lightly brushed aside as a “line divergence.” Because under the reality that Hong Kong has already fallen and the Taiwan Strait threat is escalating day by day, any action of actively expressing loyalty to the CCP and endorsing the CCP’s discourse is objectively harming Taiwan’s democratic security and eroding Taiwan’s sovereignty defense line.
III. The San Francisco Hung Moon’s Refusal to Attend Is Not a Matter of Courtesy, but a Public Severance from the Pro-Communist Line
After Zheng Liwen arrived in the US, the San Francisco Hung Moon organization’s refusal to attend her meeting triggered public opinion attention. If looked at from a shallow layer, this seems to be merely a courtesy controversy or communication issue in overseas Chinese community activities; but if placed within the complete context of Zheng Liwen first going to Beijing and then going to the US to observe, one will understand that this is absolutely not simple human warmth or coldness, but a clear political statement.
The Hung Moon and its related overseas Chinese groups hold special symbolic significance in the political history of overseas Chinese. Its historical tradition is closely connected with anti-Qing, republicanism, the 1911 Revolution, and the overseas support network of the Republic of China. Precisely because of this, when this category of overseas Chinese community forces carrying a strong traditional “Republic of China faction” color is unwilling to stand platform for Zheng Liwen and unwilling to attend her meeting, this itself has already explained: this line of Zheng Liwen’s has already made more and more overseas Chinese see through its danger.
The problem does not lie in whether the Kuomintang can exchange with mainland China, but lies in the fact that Zheng Liwen, after the fall of Hong Kong and at a time when Xi Jinping is continuously increasing military and political pressure on Taiwan, still chose to actively go to Beijing to “worship” and package herself as a so-called “messenger of peace.” Under such a background, the San Francisco overseas Chinese circle keeping their distance from her precisely explains that among overseas Chinese, there are still many people who soberly realize: today, any political figure who endorses the CCP’s “peaceful reunification” narrative is actually helping the CCP weaken Taiwan’s subjective consciousness, weaken international society’s support for Taiwan, and weaken the Taiwanese people’s will to defend their free way of life.
Therefore, the San Francisco Hung Moon’s refusal to attend is absolutely not just a matter of face, but a public political severance: even inside the traditional overseas Chinese circles, it is not the case that everyone is willing to endorse this kind of pro-communist, communist-flattering, and communist-submitting line, much less willing to become a link in the CCP’s united front chain against Taiwan.
IV. The Expulsion of Protesters in Los Angeles Tore Off the Authoritarian Mask Under Zheng Liwen’s Disguise of “Peace”
If it is said that going to Beijing to face Xi exposed Zheng Liwen’s political stance, then the protest turmoil in Los Angeles exposed her deeper political nature—that is, contempt for the right to dissent in a democratic society, and an instinctive closeness to the logic of authoritarian politics.
In a democratic society, political figures facing protests, questioning, and criticism is originally a most normal thing. Especially for a Taiwanese opposition party chairperson who just met with Xi Jinping, overseas democracy movement activists, anti-communist overseas Chinese, and people who care about Taiwan’s future raised doubts to her and expressed protests in public venues, which was not only legitimate but also necessary. Because this is not a personal grievance, but a major public issue vital to Taiwan’s fate, the Chinese democracy movement, and the CCP’s united front penetration. The masses have the right to press questions: Hong Kong has already become like this today, on what grounds does Zheng Liwen still want to express loyalty to the CCP? Xi Jinping has already torn “One Country, Two Systems” completely to shreds, on what grounds does Zheng Liwen still want to peddle the “hallucination of peace”?
However, toward these questionings, what Zheng Liwen adopted was instead not public response, not arguing based on reason, but expulsion, isolation, and suppression, allowing and even conniving at on-site personnel forcibly excluding protesters from the venue. What is even worse is that afterward she did not express apologies, but instead defended this kind of practice, as if as long as one holds high the banner of “maintaining order,” one can rationalize the eviction of opposing voices.
The problem is precisely here: this is absolutely not just a single out-of-control event at an activity scene, but an exposure of political instinct.
Because this kind of logic is truly too similar to everything Hong Kong has experienced over these years. Hong Kong’s freedom was not lost in one day, but was bit by bit deprived, compressed, and blocked under the name of “for order,” “for stability,” and “for national security” time and time again. First describing protesters as “troublemakers,” then describing dissenters as “stability destroyers,” and finally packaging suppression as “necessary management” and rationalizing eviction as “maintaining order.” When a Taiwanese political figure who claims “peace,” when facing protests, first thinks not of protecting the other party’s right to speak, but how to make the other party shut up, leave the venue, and disappear, this is already not a simple problem of personal cultivation, but a way of thinking highly compatible with authoritarian politics.
Zheng Liwen expelling protesters in Los Angeles did not expel a few opponents who made her embarrassed, but expelled the most precious thing of Taiwan’s democracy—the right to dissent, the right to publicly criticize, and the right not to remain silent before power. For a person who can greet Xi Jinping with a smiling face but coldly expel protesting citizens when facing them, whom on earth does the “peace” in her mouth serve? The answer is already self-evident.
Scene of violent expulsion of protesters at the Zheng Liwen meeting (Image from the internet)
V. Looking at Taiwan from Hong Kong: The Legitimacy of Taiwan’s Independence Is, First of All, the Legitimacy of Defending Freedom and Survival
Also precisely because of this, talking about the legitimacy of Taiwan’s independence today can no longer stay at the level of the traditional unification-independence debate, but must return to a more fundamental and more realistic question: Why must Taiwan insist on sovereign independence?
The answer is not abstract. Because only with independent sovereignty can the Taiwanese people continue to master their own destiny, continue to decide who governs with their own votes, and continue to protect press freedom, judicial independence, civic protest, and social pluralism with their own laws. After decades of democratization process, Taiwan has already formed a democratic community authorized jointly by 23 million people and self-governing. The legitimacy of the Taiwan government comes from the people, not from Beijing’s gracious permission; the operation of Taiwan’s system comes from the constitutional order inside Taiwan society, not from the “special permission” of some central regime. This point has a fundamental difference from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s freedom is a freedom “permitted to exist” by Beijing, so Beijing can take it back at any time; Taiwan’s democracy, however, is a democracy strived for by the Taiwanese people themselves through sweating and bleeding, so Taiwan absolutely cannot hand it back to a totalitarian regime that has never respected freedom, never respected human rights, and never respected the authorization of the people. The collapse of Hong Kong precisely proves from the negative side the realistic necessity of Taiwan’s independent sovereignty: sovereignty is not an abstract noun, not a symbolic posture, but the final firewall for 23 million Taiwanese people to avoid degenerating into a second Hong Kong.
From the perspective of international law and realistic politics, Taiwan has long possessed the constituent elements of a state, such as fixed territory, permanent population, effective government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. The reason why Taiwan must insist on sovereign independence is not to pursue an illusionary title, but to hold the line for the most concrete daily freedom: whether journalists can continue to report the truth, whether the people can publicly criticize those in power, whether judges can adjudicate cases according to law rather than political orders, and whether citizens can go onto the streets to protest without being dragged away under the name of “maintaining order.” To put it down to the bottom line, sovereignty is never a distant political slogan; what it concerns is whether a society can still breathe freely tomorrow and whether it can still live with dignity.
VI. Conclusion: Hong Kong’s Answer Has Already Been Written Clearly; Taiwan Absolutely Cannot Repeat the Same Mistake
Zheng Liwen going to Beijing is expressing loyalty to the CCP; Zheng Liwen encountering setbacks in her US visit is the inevitable consequence suffered by her pro-communist line; Zheng Liwen expelling protesters, furthermore, exposes the authoritarian background color behind her “peace narrative” completely and thoroughly. What she advocates is not a peace built upon the foundation of democracy, freedom, and sovereignty, but a “surrender-style peace” that demands Taiwan first lay down its guard, first give up its subjectivity, first suppress anti-communist voices, and finally accept the CCP’s political arrangements.
However, Hong Kong has already demonstrated the end point of this kind of road clearly and plainly: any freedom without the guarantee of sovereignty will ultimately degenerate into a favor; any peace built upon illusions toward totalitarianism will ultimately turn into more thorough servitude.
What Taiwan needs least today is to go and believe again the clichés of “as long as we talk with Beijing, as long as we do not stimulate the CCP, and as long as we dilute sovereignty, we can exchange it for safety.” What Taiwan truly needs is to read and understand reality from the wounds of Hong Kong: sovereignty is not an optional slogan, but the final line of defense for Taiwan’s democracy; independence is not an abstract posture, but the sole guarantee to prevent Taiwan from degenerating into a second Hong Kong.
Therefore, the line represented by Zheng Liwen is absolutely not just a policy choice inside the Kuomintang, but a fundamental issue concerning whether Taiwan continues to exist as a free and democratic community. Facing the CCP, any political line that takes “peace” as its name, takes “exchange” as its decoration, takes suppressing dissent as its means, and takes diluting sovereignty as its goal must be severely exposed and resolutely rejected.
Hong Kong has already fallen; Taiwan has no qualification to make the same mistake again. Taiwan’s road must absolutely not lead to Hong Kong; Taiwan’s future, even more so, cannot be handed into the hands of the likes of Xi Jinping and Zheng Liwen.
Director of the Publicity Department of the China Democracy Party in San Francisco Chief of the San Francisco Reporter Station of Beijing Spring and The Opposition Party Written by Miao Qing in San Francisco, 06/20/2026
Editor: Huang Jizhou Proofreader: Wang Bin Translator: Zhou Min
Citizens Resistance Association Holds in Los Angeles
“The Road to a Democratic China in the Writings of Democratic Predecessors” Event Successfully Concludes
【Opposition Party Magazine Journalist Zhang Zhijun Reports from Los Angeles】 Hosted by the Citizens Resistance Association, the event “The Road to a Democratic China in the Writings of Democratic Predecessors: Transitional Justice, Constitutional Reconstruction, and Democratic Future” was successfully held on the afternoon of June 20, 2026, at the Los Angeles June Fourth Memorial Museum. This event gathered multiple democratic predecessors, public intellectuals, and overseas Chinese community representatives who have long focused on China’s democratization, human rights movements, and constitutional transition, to jointly explore the institutional direction and historical responsibility of China’s future democratic transition.
This event was divided into three main segments: keynote speech, democratic predecessors forum, and democratic speculative debate. The event first began with a keynote speech by June Fourth student movement leader Feng Congde, who proceeded from the historical context of the Chinese democracy movement, reviewed the relationship among the overseas democracy movement, constitutional reconstruction, and transitional justice, and pointed out that if China is to truly move toward freedom and democracy in the future, it cannot merely stay at the level of opposing totalitarianism, but must advance-think about institutional reconstruction, national positioning, and the undertaking capacity of civil society.
Subsequently conducted was the “Democratic Predecessors Forum,” which invited guests including Zhu Yufu, Su Xiaokang, Wang Yingguo, Li Yahui, and Lin Jinpeng to speak respectively from the angles of the situation of overseas democracy movement activists, exile experiences, the course of the Southern democracy movement, political arrangements after democratic transition, as well as the future direction of the overseas democracy movement. Attendees generally believed that China’s democratization is not a single event, but a long-term project that requires ideological preparation, organizational preparation, and institutional preparation. Although the overseas Chinese community is physically in the free world, they still have the responsibility to preserve historical memory, pass down democratic experience, and propose concrete plans for China’s future institutional transition.
The “Democratic Speculative Debate” then unfolded discussion around the debate topic: “After mainland China’s democratization, should it restore the 1946 ‘Constitution of the Republic of China’, or draft a new constitution?” The affirmative and negative sides carried out offense and defense respectively regarding questions such as legal tradition continuity, constitutional legitimacy, democratic authorization, transition cost, national reconstruction, and realistic feasibility. The atmosphere of the discussion on-site was rational and enthusiastic, and attendees also participated in the discussion through questioning, making this debate not just a clash of positions, but furthermore a public speculation regarding the route of China’s democratic transition.
Wang Yiru, Chairperson of the Citizens Resistance Association, stated that the significance of this event does not lie in immediately arriving at a unique answer, but lies in allowing democratic figures of different generations, different experiences, and different political propositions to be able to rationally discuss China’s future within the same public space. Whether it is restoring the 1946 “Constitution of the Republic of China” or re-drafting a new constitution, what is truly important is that China’s future must return to the track of freedom, democracy, constitutionalism, rule of law, and human rights, and let the people become the masters of the country once again.
In the future, the Citizens Resistance Association will continuously promote civic education, democratic speculation, historical memory preservation, and public discussions related to China’s democratization within the overseas Chinese community, allowing the sparks of freedom to continue to pass down between different cities and different generations. Although the road of China’s democratization is still long, every discussion, every assembly, and every public debate is accumulating thought and strength for the future. Only by continuous dialogue, continuous organization, and continuous cultivation of civic spirit will the road to a democratic China be walked out step by step.
Event Information
Event Name: 【2026 Freedom and Democracy Forum】 First Session
Special Topic: “The 1946 Constitution” and the Constitutional Imagination of Chinese Democratic Transition
Time: June 20, 2026 (Saturday) 13:00-16:00
Location: Los Angeles June Fourth Memorial Museum (3024 Peck Rd, El Monte, CA 91732)
Organizers: Citizens Resistance Association, Liberty Sculpture Park, China Parliament, Night Navigator YouTube Channel
Press Contact: Wang Yiru, Chairperson of the Citizens Resistance Association
Group photo of “The Road to a Democratic China in the Writings of Democratic Predecessors” at the June Fourth Memorial Museum.
At the scene of the democratic speculative debate, attendees surrounded “Restoring the 1946 ‘Constitution of the Republic of China’, or drafting a new constitution” to unfold discussion.
Su Xiaokang shares China democracy movement experience, transitional justice, and reflections on constitutional reconstruction.
Editor: Zhang Zhijun Proofreader: Wang Bin Translator: Zhou Min
Top Ten National Shames of China Over the Past 60 Years
Abstract: This article enumerates issues including the Chinese Civil War, the Anti-Rightist Movement, the Great Famine, the Cultural Revolution, history education, the household registration (hukou) system, the 1989 incident, and speech censorship, criticizing the problems and lessons within modern Chinese history and its social system.
Number One: The Chinese Civil War.
The Eight-Year War of Resistance Against Japan was not a shame for China, but a glory. However, the Chinese Civil War that followed was an absolute and thorough national shame. After defeating our common enemy, even with the assistance of the international community, we unexpectedly lacked the wisdom and sincerity to find a feasible way to build a peaceful nation. Across the Huaihai plains, 1.4 million sons and daughters of China slaughtered one another on their own land! When the child of one Chinese peasant viciously plunged a bayonet into the chest of another Chinese peasant’s child, both Mao and Chiang were destined to be nailed to the pillar of historical shame. A few years ago, when the movie The Decisive Engagement was released, the cinemas erupted into cheers in the face of this fratricide. These cheers serve as an even more shameful footnote to this disgrace.
Number Two: The Lost Souls of North Korea.
Regardless of whether that war was won or lost, an indisputable fact remains: we penned the people of half of the Korean Peninsula under one of the most brutal regimes in human history for 60 years! It is we who caused them to suffer endlessly in a dark, hell on earth! History will not forgive us! Thank the United States, for they halved our sins.
Number Three: The Anti-Rightist Movement.
Adopting a humble posture, we expressed hope that everyone would offer more input. The reality, however, was “luring the snake out of its hole” so as to wipe them all out in one dragnet. In this world, other than Nazi Germany’s deception of the Jewish people, is there anything more shameless than this?
Number Four: The Three Years of Famine.
The shame of this famine is so intense that its perpetrators had to cover it up as “natural disasters”—which, in fact, makes the shame even more intense. During the famine, we were exporting grain in large quantities; during the famine, we gave more money to aid the Third World than the total amount of our debt to the Soviet Union; during the famine, the Party Secretary of Fengyang lamented with deep emotion: “What wonderful working people, they would rather starve to death than rob state grain…” Turned around, these words mean: “What a treacherous government, watching the common people starve to death yet refusing to open the granaries to provide relief.”
Number Five: The Ten Years of the Cultural Revolution.
That was a movement, and it was also a shame. Once a nation has done such a thing, it is utterly unqualified to brag about itself ever again. When mentioning the Japanese invaders, Chinese people will bestow a pile of derogatory terms upon them. However, at the very least, the Japanese did not treat other Japanese that way, did they? What kind of nation locks its own national elite into cowsheds? What kind of nation utterly destroys its own social backbone? What kind of nation propagates that “the more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you are”? The answer is already there: the Chinese people!
Number Six: Falsifying History.
China is actually the least qualified to accuse Japan of falsifying history. China’s history textbooks depict an ally, to whom China owes gratitude as high as the sky and as deep as the earth for saving it from extinction, as an ambitious wolf. China’s history textbooks remain completely silent about the glorious achievements of the National Revolutionary Army (Nationalist) generals and soldiers who fought bloody battles and sacrificed their lives for the country. China’s history textbooks treat the Soviet Union, which committed monstrous crimes in Northeast China, as a benefactor. China’s textbooks even go so far as to condemn the United States for dropping the atomic bombs.
Number Seven: The Chinese Peasants.
In the era of slavery, people were differentiated into aristocrats and slaves from birth. In China, people are differentiated into rural household registration (hukou) and urban household registration from birth. If you unfortunately become the former, then you are born inferior, unable to enjoy the same civil rights as the latter. You are unable to enjoy the same medical care, education, and social security as the latter. Born as a peasant, you will bear three times the tax burden of urbanites, you will be unable to migrate freely, you will be unable to enjoy the same employment treatment as urbanites, and you do not even own the land you cultivate generation after generation, because it belongs to the state. Such a system, such a modern serfdom system, has existed for nearly 60 years. In the 21st century, it still exists. A monstrous shame and deep humiliation for a nation.
Number Eight: Nineteen Eighty-Nine.
I have no intention of discussing the rights and wrongs of this event; that is too dangerous (and this danger itself is also a form of national shame). I only want to ask one question: Is it possible that we—not only the government, but also all the people of this country—lacked the ability and wisdom to resolve this matter peacefully, making it necessary to resort to such a tragic and violent method? When a nation only knows how to use the barrels of guns, rather than the power of justice and truth to resolve problems, is that not a shame?
Number Nine: The Karamay Fire, the Jiujiang Dike Breach, SARS, and Mine Disasters.
These do not seem to be a single event, but from a slightly deeper level, their nature is completely identical. They reflect the extent to which a regime, which flaunts itself as the spokesperson for the people and the representative of the people’s interests, has degenerated.
That phrase from Karamay, “Let the leaders leave first,” has thoroughly torn to shreds the naked conviction upon which the ruling party was originally founded. The scene during the celebratory gala after the Jiujiang dike breach, where the masses filed past shouting “long live,” made the world vomit. SARS spreading from a single spark to afflict the whole world was a crime committed by China against the people of the world. As for the last item, we have experienced so much suffering that many people have already become habitually numb.
Number Ten: Censorship and Blocking.
In the 21st century, a country whose constitution guarantees its people’s civil rights, a country whose constitution guarantees its people’s freedom of speech, unexpectedly does not allow its own citizens to freely express their viewpoints in the virtual world of the internet. A post can actually be blocked simply because it contains sensitive words, and the viewpoint of a citizen with full capacity for civil conduct and independent thought actually needs to be censored! What are the citizens of China? Are they dim-witted or young children? Needing others to “guide” them and think on our behalf! It is truly utterly rotten and thoroughly dark. If someone fears the truth, then I highly suspect that he actually knows he is being overbearing, and that he does not possess the truth.
Reproduced from “Global Hot Net” http://w8.smirt.ch/
Struggle, a Stance of Life—Reflections Inspired by the Hangzhou Seniors
Author: Tian Yongde
Abstract: The author recalls his experiences interacting with the seniors of the Hangzhou democracy movement, praising the integrity and character of individuals such as Xu Guang, Lv Gengsong, and Zhu Yufu, who held fast to their beliefs and remained fearless in the face of suppression, while expressing deep concern and respect for Xu Guang’s physical condition after his release from prison.
Xu Guang, a senior of the Hangzhou democracy movement, has been released from prison. He has become as thin as a flash of lightning, weighing only a little over eighty catties—one must keep in mind that he used to weigh over a hundred and fifty catties.
The intersection between myself and the Hangzhou seniors originated in 2006 during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. At that time, I was working as a migrant worker in Baishan, Shanghai. As Shanghai was hosting the SCO summit, I was designated by the relevant authorities in Shanghai as an unstable element. After communication with me yielded no results, they turned to pressure my boss. In order not to implicate the boss who had given me a job opportunity, I ultimately compromised—I would leave Shanghai for one month while the SCO summit was being held. Thus, I began a survival mode of “wandering across the land of the motherland” (a phrase coined by a friend who is no longer active now). During this period, I went to Anhui and Beijing. The police, who were closely monitoring my itinerary, threw themselves into panic and disarray upon learning I was in Beijing, and intensely demanded that I leave. After a round of bargaining, I arrived in Hangzhou.
When Big Brother Zhu Yufu finished the seven years of his first prison sentence, I managed to catch up with the Hangzhou seniors hosting a welcome-back dinner for him. That year, Senior Wang Rongqing introduced me to the Hangzhou friends as a member of the Democracy Party from Inner Mongolia. Based on my shallow understanding of the Democracy Party, I cautiously stated that I was not yet a member of the Democracy Party at present, but I expressed my highest respect to the seniors in Hangzhou.
In May 2007, I went to Hangzhou for tourism. The relevant departments in Hangzhou acted as if they had gone mad, absolutely insisting on expelling the two of us outsiders, Hu Junxiong and myself. The direct consequence brought about by this incident was that Big Brother Zhu Yufu, who had not been out of prison for long, was sentenced to two years in prison; as for me, with the help of Hangzhou friends, I successfully hid for a night, and then left Hangzhou for Chengdu.
At the end of 2007, Big Brother Lv Gengsong was arrested. I rushed from Hangzhou to Beijing again, wanting to do something for Big Brother Lv Gengsong, hoping to get him out of prison before the court went into session. To this end, under the guidance of an acquaintance, I wrote a letter to Mr. Li Rui, the former secretary to Mao Zedong, hoping he could look into this matter, because the acquaintance told me that Li Rui had a close relationship with Zhao Hongzhu, who was the Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee at the time. Facts proved that it was of absolutely no use. Consequently, I could only run back and forth between Beijing and Hangzhou, and managed to find only a small amount of money, merely seeking to bring some solace to my own heart.
In 2008, I was introduced by Mr. Gao Hongming in Beijing to join the China Democracy Party. At the same time, I accepted his assignment to return to Inner Mongolia to lead and develop party members. (It was just that afterward, every time I went back, I was dropped hints by the local Domestic Security Department [Guobao] that I should leave. The captain even said that I was being watched by the Inner Mongolia Public Security Department, so I just continued “wandering across the land of China.”) However, time and again, seeing the Hangzhou seniors wave after wave going to prison like moths to a flame was more than I could bear. The most painful time was when the two seniors, Wang Rongqing and Wang Donghai, passed away; at that time, being in Shanghai, I had no way to attend their funerals because there were two unidentified individuals downstairs who monitored me for two full months. In order not to be driven out of Shanghai again, I had no choice but to play the coward, which has also become a major matter for which I feel I have failed the Hangzhou seniors.
In my eyes, Big Brother Xu Guang has always been a casual, easygoing person who never takes anything to heart. But his true colors are exactly like that. For instance, while Big Brother Zhu Yufu was in prison, he hired Zhu Yufu’s son to work at his own environmental testing company, utterly indifferent to the pressure from the Domestic Security Department. Yet, it was this very easygoing man who actually went on a hunger strike for so long; he even wanted to use his life to tell the Chinese Communist Party (CCP): I am someone you will never defeat! One must know that he lived a well-to-do life and absolutely did not have to be this way. Dealing with them superficially through false compliance? That is not in his character! Thus, looking at this man who was even a bit rough around the edges, I came to realize my own smallness. But my respect for the seniors grew even greater.
I feel that the Hangzhou seniors have taken the struggle against the CCP as their very stance of life, completely uncaring of how they themselves live. Take Big Brother Lv Gengsong for example: after he completed his prison sentence, the CCP served him a notice of deprivation of political rights, and he tore it to pieces in one swift motion, utterly unconcerned. As for his wife, Big Sister Wang Xue’e—when the despicable Domestic Security Department tried to hoodwink her while Lv Gengsong was in prison, urging her to divorce Old Lv, she said a phrase with absolute, domineering pride: “Our Old Lv is the best man in the whole world!” Suppression? That’s all it amounts to! From the person of Big Sister Wang Xue’e, I saw the integrity and character of the Hangzhou Democracy Party members, because her husband is a man who stands tall between heaven and earth, and her husband’s brothers are the same. It is merely a struggle, what is the big deal!
Recently, Xu Guang was released from prison, while my two elder brothers, Zan Aizong and Zou Wei, are still in prison. Yet, the one I am particularly worried about is not those two, but Big Brother Xu Guang. A man of over a hundred and fifty catties has withered down to a little over eighty catties; I am deeply worried that his internal organs might suffer irreversible damage or even pathological changes. I have already lost several Hangzhou friends whom I deeply respected, and I do not want to see any more outcomes regarding Xu Guang that would cause me grief. Therefore, I write these words to express what is in my heart.
The cruelty and hardship of the democracy movement’s struggle against the CCP far exceed anyone’s imagination, but I have never seen a single one of the Hangzhou seniors flinch or back down. Certain phenomena overseas leave me with no choice but to remain even more silent, but fortunately, the flawless examples set by the Hangzhou seniors stand before me, urging me that I cannot truly halt my steps. After all, struggle has already become their stance of life—what right do I have to stand still and make no progress?