Dear friends who care about how to democratize China:
More than 2,200 years ago, after QinShihuang, Ying Zheng, unified the six countries, he used “Emperor” to call himself for the first time. Since then, the centralized imperial dictatorships with harsh punishments & strict laws, and legalists who fooled and weakened the people have ruled China for more than two thousand years. Tan Sitong said with emotion:”The 2000-Year Qin Regime all is also a big steal. “Emperors were overthrown by those who themselves became emperors, which has become a constant killing game. “Whether a dynasty rises or declines, people suffer.” The despotism has a lasting and profound influence in China until today it still haunts the political, legal, social, cultural, and spiritual world of the Chinese like ghosts.
111 years ago, the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the monarchy in the end and established the first democratic country in Asia based on the Republic of Five Races Under One Union. Although there are flaws, twists, and turns, it is greatly groundbreaking in response to “the great changes unprecedented in three thousand years.” It experienced restoration, melee, revolution, troubles at home and foreign invasion. Finally, it was completelydestroyed by the Chinese Communist Party (Referred to as the“CCP”) in 1949. Following the example of Leninist-Stalinist Soviet Union, CCP has established the modern authoritarian regime which is even stricter and more brutal than the imperial autocracy. Since then, the people have been deprived of their fundamental freedoms, rights, and dignity. Their rights to life and property are not guaranteed at all. The Movements of the Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries, Three Antis, Five Antis, Land Reform, People’s Commune, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square Massacre, Family Planning, and Violent Zero Covid, the CCP has committed countless crimes against the Chinese people. The tyranny of communism has claimed the lives of tens of millions of Chinese people. At the same time, it is appalling that it has devastated the cultural heritage, morals and ethics, and ideological beliefs of various religions and ethnic groups in China.
Although the aim of the reform and opening-up policy after 1978 was to rescue the crisis of the CCP’s rule, it, objectively, brough about the rapid economic development, the limited progress in the rule of law, and the human rights. However, after Xi Jinping came to power, he cuts off China’s underlying trend towards an open society in the middle, destroys the limited space that civil society has gained through hard work, turns the single-party state back to a Mao Zedong-style one-man dictatorship, and uses modern data technology, the Internet, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology to establish and intensify an unprecedented high-tech totalitarian system. The Chinese people and the international community once hoped that China would move towards political freedom through economic freedom, but this expectation was completely shattered by the CCP and Xi Jinping. Through the suppression of thoughts, the crushing of dissent, the persecution of religious beliefs, the genocide of Uyghurs, the brutal oppression on ethnic groups such as Tibet and Inner Mongolia, the destroying of freedom in Hong Kong, China is not moving toward democracy, but is increasingly becoming North Korea. The CCP’s evil backstage manipulators have also extended overseas, infiltrating the media and schools in free countries, manufacturing and disseminating false information, manipulating democratic elections, monitoring overseas Chinese communities, threatening, and harassing oversea dissidents, and even kidnapping across borders.
From Yan Fu and others translated and introduced Western democratic ideas at the end of 19th century, although China’s constitutional enlightenment and democratic movement have borne fruit and had short-term victories, in general, Chinese democracy was born in wrong times, having difficulties in taking a step, suffering many mishaps in her life. But constitutional democracy is the momentum of history. Those who submit it will prosper, and those who resistwill perish. Democracy is not only the “least bad system” to guarantee freedom, but also the fundamental requirements of human dignity. Over the past three hundred years, more and more authoritarian regimes have been overthrown, and more and more people have gained freedoms. After the baptism of the five waves of democratization, the political system in which the government is formed through free elections has become the only type with genuine legitimacy. In today’s world, the CCP’s perverse acts have not only plunged the Chinese people into dire suffering, but also threatened the freedom and democracy of the entire world. As the most powerful authoritarian regime in the world, the CCP has become the leader of dictators of all kinds of the axis of evil. It is an enemy of freedom and humanity.
Today, more and more Chinese people have lost trust and patience with the communist Party, which has owed the masses many blood debts in history and increasingly becomedictatorships.
More and more people have come to realize that only replacing the one-party state with democracy can the despotic rulers be prevented from abusing their powers to oppress the people. As long as dictatorship is not eradicated, the national calamity will never end. In order towelcome the arrival of a new democratic China, it is necessary to unite people who oppose dictatorships so that the angry Chinese will no longer be afraid; the lost Chinese will no longer get lost, the cynic Chinese will no longer be insensitive, and the desperate Chinese see the Power of Action and Dawn of Hope. From now on, we hereby solicit from all over the world the call to crusade against the dictatorship, as well as the action plan of mass resistance.And based on this, we encourage the people of the whole country to start shouting and taking action, abandoning autocracy, and welcoming a democratic future.
The sponsor of the essay solicitation activities the organizer of the activity. The organizing committee is composed of the “China Action”, “Citizen Power Initiatives for China”, “Chinese Democratic Education Foundation”, “Democratic China (https://minzhuzhongguo.org)”, and “China in Perspective.” The committee invites the people who are prestigious and charismatic in the democratic circles and dedicate their time and energy to serve as the judges for the essay solicitation.
The judges are divided into two groups. Group 1 is composed of the reputable scholars. Group 2 is composed of the well-known social media commentators and activists.
The prize on the “Call for Papers Against Dictatorship” are as follows:
The Top Prize: RMB150,000 ($21,428), 1 Winner
The Second Prize: RMB30,000 ($4,284), 2 Winners
The Third Prize: RMB10,000 ($1,428), 3 Winners
Recognition Prize: RMB2,000 ($285), 5 Winners
The prize on “the Plans of Mass Non-violent Action” are as follows:
The Top Prize: RMB150,000, 1 Winner
The Second Prize: RMB30,000, 2 Winners
The Third Prize: RMB10,000, 3 Winners
Recognition Prize: RMB2,000, 5 Winners
The judges of the Essay Solicitation are divided into two groups:
Group 1 is the Expert and ScholarCommittee of Evaluation (referred to as the Scholarly Committee of Evaluation), which is composed of reputable experts and scholars.
Scholarly Committee of Evaluation
Convenor: Chen Kuide, Ph.D in Philosophy, Director of Princeton China Institute
Members (Order by strokes of last names)
Group 2 is the Civic Committee of Evaluation, which is composed well-known social media, commentators, and activists.
Civic Committee of Evaluation
Convener: Zhou Fengsuo, Leader of the June 4th Student Movement, Director of Humanitarian China, Executive Director of Human Rights in China.
Members (Order by strokes of last names)
1，Paper Against the Dictatorship
The essay must be fresh, sharp, fluent, must have literary talent, persuasiveness, and exciting power. It must be fit for widespread dissemination and reading, which shall be necessary to clarify in a clear, easy-to-understand and impressive way,the harm of dictatorship to individuals, societies, and a country, as well as the possible changes to be brought about by freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. It is necessary to eliminate the negative effects of the communist brainwashing propaganda and let people realize why Democracy is the hope of the future; Treat all Chinese as victims of dictatorship. It must be even pointed out to those with vested interests the reasons whyliving in a democratic society is better for them. It is necessary to make those who drift along raise crisis awareness, to make those who suffer an unjust grievance be willing to resist, to make those are clear-headed take an action, to make those who have already acted more efficiently, to make those who are influential in societies stand on the side of democracy. At least, they are not against democratic forces.
There is no restriction on words. Go when it needs and stop where it needs.Nevertheless, 20,000 words are recommended.
2，Plan ofMass Non-violence Action and Non-cooperation”
“The Plans onMass Non-violence”must advance a groundbreaking and widely participated action plan against the difficulties and challenges faced by current civic resistance; It not only considers the initiation of the action, methods of resistance, but also considers how to sustain the action. The ultimate goals must be achieved. The plans must be of creativity, imagination, reality, and feasibility.
The plan should adhere to the principles and spirit of non-violence, should not involve the violent actions such as advocating armed uprisings, kidnapping, and assassination.
There is no word limit for the action plan. Go when it needs and stop where it needs.
1，In addition to submitting a candidate’s essay via email, you can also upload the documents from the website. For security reasons, the uploaded documents (Word or PDF) should be encrypted, and the password shall be separately sent to the Call for Paper Email.
2，Use a secure mailbox to send emails. It is recommended to use free and secure protonmail.com, gmail.com, and tutanota.com.
3，Pay attention to safety when submitting the documents from China. Safety measures must be taken.
If an email is used without VPN and any encryption measures in China, the Committees shall not accept the submissions.
4，The friends in mainland China are welcome to submit the documents anonymously. After winning the prize, please authorize an overseas individual whose identity is disclosed to receive the award on your behalf. Please be aware that you use a secure mail for submissions.
5，The friends who intend to recommend or self-recommend the people inmainlandChina as the anonymous judges, please contact the Committees. The Director of the Committee will designate an individual to contact the anonymous judges on single track.
6，For the specific selection of the information, please read: Requirements on the Essay solicitation and Methods of Selection.
Mailbox for Submission: zhengwen.chinaaction@gmail.com.
Mailbox for contact: chinaaction20260915@gmail.com