Not Xi Jinping's "Chinese Dream": "A Beautiful China" from Xu Zhiyong's Pen
On the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington for a summit with the U.S. President, the English edition of Xu Zhiyong's collection of essays, "A Beautiful China," was released at Georgetown University Law Center. Activists discussed Xu's vision for constitutionalism, reviewed the mass arrests of the Xiamen Case following the 2019 Xiamen gathering, and overseas citizens held protest marches to show solidarity with political prisoners in jail, including Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Wang Bingzhang, and Gao Zhisheng.
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I remember asking him, I said you had plenty of opportunities to leave, why did you choose not to? He said this is my homeland, this is where I want to continue my struggle, and I am willing to do it here. The person Yang Bin was referring to is Chinese constitutional scholar and founder of the New Citizens' Movement, Xu Zhiyong.
In 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a Chinese court for subversion of state power; this is his second time in prison. On Monday, three days before Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington to meet with U.S. President Trump, the English edition of Xu Zhiyong's collection of essays, "A Beautiful China," was released at Georgetown University Law Center. In the book, he describes a vision of China that is completely different from Xi Jinping's "China Dream." Xi Jinping talks about the China Dream, but I think that is a false dream; this is the real dream—a free, democratic, and constitutional China. People should not only hear the one-sided narrative of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); they should also hear this version. These voices have greater legitimacy than an oppressive, unelected government.
In December 2019, lawyers and civil activists including Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, and Wu Shaoping gathered in Xiamen, Fujian, to discuss current affairs and the development of Chinese civil society. Following the gathering, Chinese authorities launched a nationwide crackdown. Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi were given heavy sentences, while Wu Shaoping fled China. The CCP wants to break the backbone of the Chinese people. Mr. Xu Zhiyong and lawyer Ding Jiaxi are actually representatives of the backbone of the Chinese nation. They truly love this country, they truly love the people there, and they truly want it to be better. The smartest and most outstanding people in China are either in prison or on their way to prison.
Although her husband, Ding Jiaxi, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Luo Shengchun still believes that the "Beautiful China" described by Xu Zhiyong will one day become a reality. Because even though people are constantly being suppressed, in this process, I also keep seeing people like me—who originally wanted to avoid politics—come out and stand in the circle of human rights defenders. I feel their sacrifices will awaken more people.
In the past two days, Xi Jinping is going to the White House to meet with Trump. Hundreds, even thousands of people have come from Los Angeles. We want to take this opportunity to march on the streets, make our voices heard, and speak up for political prisoners like Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Wang Bingzhang, and Gao Zhisheng, who cannot speak for themselves in prison. We want to speak for them and tell them that we on the outside have not forgotten them.