History of the Chinese Democracy Movement: From Wang Shiwei’s Struggle in Yan'an to the Xidan Democracy Wall

History of the Chinese Democracy Movement: From Wang Shiwei’s Struggle in Yan'an to the Xidan Democracy Wall" and "History of the Chinese Democracy Movement: From China Spring to the Jasmine Revolution" — a two-volume classic cross-era analysis!

Scholars researching the Chinese democracy movement under CCP rule often cite the 1976 "April Fifth Movement" or the 1979 "Xidan Democracy Wall" as the origins; however, the development of the democracy movement must have historical roots. In fact, the movement quietly began as early as the Yan'an period!

Looking back from 1942, from Wang Shiwei’s struggle for democracy in Yan'an to the 1958 "Hundred Flowers Campaign" where intellectuals and "democratic figures" spoke out freely, strongly criticizing the CCP's "Party-as-the-World" system and lack of democracy, to the outbreak of the "May 19th Student Movement" at Peking University; almost all of China's democracy movements were triggered by Mao Zedong’s "Open Stratagem" of "luring the snake out of the hole" to purge intellectuals, yet they left behind the sparks of democracy.

After the "Anti-Rightist Struggle," the errors of the "Three Red Banners" caused widespread famine and misery, leading heavyweights like Li Da, Peng Dehuai, and Ma Yinchu to fearlessly speak up for the people against Mao! During the "Cultural Revolution," even more democracy activists braved death to publicly oppose Mao and the Cultural Revolution, adding tragic chapters to the history of the movement.

The accumulated anger of the people finally exploded in the 1976 "April Fifth Tiananmen Movement" while mourning Zhou Enlai, initiating a mass democracy movement; after Mao's death in 1978, Deng Xiaoping, in order to seize power, publicly supported and used the speech on the "Xidan Democracy Wall" to topple Hua Guofeng, only to suppress it immediately after!

But the tide of democratic thought had already spread like a prairie fire overseas. Thus, in 1982, Wang Bingzhang launched the "China Spring" democracy movement in the United States, combining with internal democratic forces to trigger the 1986 "December 9th Student Movement" and the 1989 "Tiananmen Democracy Movement," which ended in the bloody massacre of "June Fourth"...