New Citizens Movement (China)

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Citizen insignia handwritten by Sun Yatsen

The New Citizens' Movement (Chinese: 中国 新 公民 运动; Pinyin: Zhōngguó XīnGōngMín YùnDòng ) is a right-wing movement consisting of lawyers and citizens with social responsibility. It was founded in March 2012 by Xu Zhiyong and other civil rights activists . The pioneer of this movement was the Gongmeng Initiative, which was banned by the authorities in 2009. The New Citizens Movement recently had more than 5,000 members.

The name was suggested by Xu Zhiyong, a prominent legal scholar and civil law attorney, in his May 2012 blog article, “China's New Citizens Movement”.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the new citizens' movement has been part of the civil population movements in mainland China. The New Citizens' Movement has ties to the Weiquan Movement (a legal protection initiative), but has clearer statutes and broader goals than the Weiquan Movement. It is a political movement that hopes to achieve a peaceful transition in the country to constitutionalism , but also a social movement with the aim of achieving the transition from "servant society" to civil society.

Chinese authorities have always tried to monitor and suppress the New Citizens Movement.

Xu Zhiyong, the movement's founder, was arrested on July 16, 2013. Wang Gongquan , a well-known businessman and financial supporter of the movement, was arrested on September 13, 2013.

The spirit of the New Citizens Movement

The spirit of the New Citizens Movement was first named by Xu Zhiyong in his article "New Citizens' Spirit - Free, Righteous, Loving".

The logo of the initiative

The "Free, Love, Justice" badge

The logo of the New Citizens Movement consists of the word Citizen "公民" in Sun Yat-sen's handwriting. The characters are white on a blue background. The logo is the common symbol of Chinese citizens' pursuit of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and a constitution.

These five Chinese characters are the mark of the spirit of the New Citizens Movement.

Activities of the New Citizens Movement

The civic promise

In June 2010, a group of scholars, lawyers, journalists and activists wrote an open letter entitled "The Citizen's Promise" to raise awareness and raise awareness among Chinese citizens about civil rights. The authors included Xu Zhiyong, Teng Biao , Wang Gongquan, Li Xionbing, Li Fangping, Xu Youyu and Zhang Shihe (Laohmiao).

Equal rights for education

The "Equal Rights to Education" campaign aimed to reduce and eliminate the great unfairness of the distribution of educational materials in mainland China. One of the demands of the campaign was the hukou restrictions in Gaokao abolish system of migrant children in cities. The campaign started in 2010 with just four volunteer student parents and grew to more than 100,000 supporters in 2012. Under the pressure of this, the Ministry of Education revised the Gaokao policy for migrant children in August of the same year. As a result, some provinces and cities lifted the hukou restrictions. However, Beijing and Shanghai are still exceptions, so the restrictions continued to exist there.

Disclosure of assets (by government officials)

The property disclosure campaign required government officials in mainland China to show their property to the public. Demonstrations were held in many cities in support of the campaign. The most notable demonstration was held in Beijing on March 31st in Xidan Square and was conducted by Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng, Ma Xinli and Hou Xin. Another occurred in Xinyu , Jiangxi on April 23, 2013, conducted by Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, Li Sihua, and others.

Urban dinner

The City Dinner is a monthly gathering held on the last Saturday of each month. In mainland China, the New Citizens' Movement evening meeting has been in existence for many years.

Towards the end of 2011, after deliberations, it was proposed to set a fixed date so that the unification of citizens would be strengthened. The dinner gatherings are self-organized and generally social issues are discussed, but there is no set schedule. In 2013 the evening events took place in more than 30 cities, including overseas. Although the evening events were not a key part of the movement and were not illegal, they were still under pressure in some cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou , Nanning and Changsha . There the participants were interrogated and people who were sensitive to the movement were threatened or arrested.

Citizen Watch

Citizen Watch is a civic welfare project of the New Citizens Movement to meet the basic needs of the families of prisoners of conscience. The reference rate is estimated at 50,000 RMB (approx. 6,800 €) per year. Participants in this project should independently form regional groups. The suggestion for this project came from Li Huaping. The project is similar to the “Songfandang” project by Routangseng and “Ai-Mo-Can-Help” project by Ai Weiwei and Mo Zhixu.

Reactions from the Chinese authorities

Chinese authorities often suppress independent activists. In 2009 the Gongmeng (Open Constitutional Initiative) was disbanded by the authorities because of alleged tax evasion. As a result, many Gongmeng members joined the New Civic Movement to continue civil rights activities. Between late 2012 and 2013, many citizens took to the streets in Shenzhen, Beijing, Jiangyi, and other cities to seek disclosure of property from Chinese government officials. This resulted in many arrests: Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng, Ma Xinli, Hou Xin, Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Sun Hanhui, Wang Yonghong, Li Wei, and Qi Yueying were arrested between March 31 and April 17, 2013; Zhang Xiangzhong, Li Gang, Li Huanjun, Song Ze, and Xu Zhiyong Arrested in Beijing; Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, and Li Sihua from Xinyu were arrested in Jiangxi on April 28, 2013; Yuan Fengchu (Yuan Bing), Yuan Xiaohua, Huang Wenxun, Chen Jianxiong (Chen Jinxin), and Li Yinli were captured in Hubei on May 25th.

Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping and Li Sihua were charged and charged with "illegal gathering" in July 2013. In addition, Liu Ping and Wei Zhongping were charged in September with "gathering a crowd to disturb public order" and using "an evil cult to undermine the law enforcement agency." The process started in late 2013.

On July 16, 2013, after three months of house arrest, Xu Zhiyong was arrested for allegedly "gathering a crowd to disturb public order." International and national media reported on the arrest. On August 22, a formal indictment was filed against Dr. Xu raised. The arrest of Dr. Xu caused widespread protests. Mao Yushi, Wang Gongquan, Xiaoshu, He Sanwei, and Yang Zili published an open letter demanding the release of Dr. Xu and other arrested citizens demanded. Over 3000 people signed the open letter.

On July 18, 2013, Chuan-Zhi-Xing, a Beijing-based NGO strategy center, was closed for involvement in civil law research.

On August 8, 2013, Guo Feixiong, a major organizer of the New Citizens' Movement, was arrested in southern China.

On August 11, 2013, Li Huaping, another major organizer of the New Citizens' Movement, was arrested in east China.

On September 13, 2013, Wang Gongquan was arrested by Beijing police for "disturbing public order." On October 20, he was formally charged.

On January 26, 2014, Xu Zhiyong was sentenced to four years in prison by the Beijing First Intermediate Court . The verdict was based on the "gathering of a crowd to disturb public order".

In April 2014, Ding Jianxi and Li Wei were tried by the New Citizens' Movement for "disturbing public order." Foreign diplomats who wanted to attend the trial were prevented from attending the hearing.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Asia House Foundation, press release: Wave of arrests in China , February 3, 2014, accessed on April 17, 2017
  2. ↑ Kai Strittmatter, Fear of Awakening Civil Society , Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 13, 2014, accessed on December 25, 2016
  3. ↑ Xu Zhiyong, 中国 新 公民 运动 , November 15, 2012, accessed January 19, 2017
  4. ↑ a b Chris Buckley, A Leading Chinese Human Rights Advocate Is Detained in Beijing , New York Times, July 17, 2013, accessed January 19, 2017
  5. ↑ a b Calum MacLeod, China silences anti-corruption activists , USA Today, July 20, 2013, accessed January 23, 2016
  6. ↑ a b Jane Perlez and Chris Buckley, Jailed Chinese Rights Advocate Speaks Out in Video , New York Times, August 8, 2013, accessed January 23, 2016
  7. ^ A b Edward Wong, China Detains a Billionaire for Activism , September 13, 2013, accessed January 19, 2017
  8. ↑ Xu Zhiyong, 新 公民 精神 —— 自由 、 公 义 、 爱 , Xu Zhiyong's blog, July 20, 2012, accessed January 23, 2016
  9. ↑ Xu Zhiyong, et al: “The Chinese Citizens' Pledge,” Chinageeks, June 20, 2010, accessed January 24, 2016
  10. ^ New Citizens Movement , Human Rights in China, accessed April 17, 2017
  11. ↑ Ye Bing, 促 官员 公开 财产 4 公民 被 抓 8 天 官方 仍无 说法 , VoaChinese, April 7, 2013, accessed February 8, 2017
  12. ↑ 中国 公民 同城 聚餐 连遭 警方 打压 上海 组织者 遭 警方 传唤 , Radio Free Asia, March 21, 2013, accessed February 8, 2017
  13. ↑ “公民 守望 工程” , Human Rights in China, July 30, 2013, accessed March 21, 2017
  14. ↑ Fang Yang, 3 stand trial in Jiangxi for illegal assembly , Global Times, April 12, 2013, accessed January 24, 2017
  15. ^ Lawyers Statement Concerning Yushui District People's Court in Xinyu City Keeping Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, and Li Sihua in Custody Beyond Legal Limit , Human Rights in China, October 14, 2013, accessed January 27, 2017
  16. ↑ Simon Denyer, In China, citizens rights activist Wang Gongquan is formally arrested , Washington Post, October 21, 2013, accessed January 24, 2017
  17. ^ Gillian Wong, Chinese citizens movement leader arrested , Omaha World-Herald, August 23, 2013, accessed January 27, 2017
  18. ^ Eva Pils and Joshua Rosenzweig, Beijing Confronts a New Kind of Dissident , The Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2014, accessed January 27, 2017