Over the past several months I have been closely following an amazing story developing in China. I haven't brought it up before now, due to the fact
that almost all of the news is coming from one source, if you can’t read Chinese (which I can't). Therefore I cannot claim that this is 100%
factual, but I will use alternate sources wherever they are available. However, the vast majority of the links will be to
The Epoch Times. I just wanted to get that out of the way first.
I also apologize in advance for the length, there are just so many different facets to the story, I didn’t exactly know when to stop; and every time
I did, I'd remember 'just one more' piece of information I wanted to include. Also, it was quite difficult to pull everything together in one
post, so I've just used captions with descriptions and a link to the story in most cases, instead of making things worse (and much longer) by quoting
all of them.
In November 2004 The Epoch Times, published the introduction to a series of essays entitled
The Nine
Commentaries on the Communist Party, or 'Jiuping' by an anonymous author. The commentaries are very critical look at the history and tactics
of the Party and the destabilizing effect the party has on not only China, but the entire world. They urge members to renounce their memberships and
the next day, the newspaper set up a
website, which is in Chinese, so I can't read it, where those who
could break the blockade could post their resignation.
In just over just five months the response has been overwhelming, and is growing
exponentially.
By the end of February, the total number of people who withdrew from the CCP was only 77,207. By March 10, the number exceeded 200,000. On
March 14, the number was over 250,000 and on March 16, it jumped above 300,000.
Between March 27 and April 1, there have been over 100,000 resignations, bringing the total to over 650,000, as of April 4, 2005. The counter can be
found on
The Epoch Times front page. While not all of these renunciations come from Mainland China, some
people are getting through.
One tactic that is used is 'group' renunciations, such as
this one representing 172
members of the CCP, Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers.
The "Nine Commentaries" effectively analyzed the CCP's tyrannical rule over the last fifty years. This helped us truly see the wickedness of the
CCP. The CCP gained power relying solely on violent oppression and deceitful lies; it secured existence by brainwashing the Chinese people and
deluding their minds. In its fight for power, the CCP brought out the most selfish side of the people and caused us to lose our moral foundation. The
CCP has completely destroyed the Chinese moral bearings of over five thousand years, removing kindness and benevolence from among the people. Being a
member of the CCP is aiding it to do evil and disregarding human justice and conscience. Only by withdrawing from the CCP and its evil organizations
can we truly free our souls and uphold justice in this world. Therefore, we firmly declare our resignation from the CCP, the CYL, the Young Pioneers
and all other evil organizations.
And
another representing a group of 18. I chose to post this quote because of the
interesting claims made in the renunciation.
CCP officials have become corrupt from the top level to the grassroots. They take people's hard-earned money but do every bad thing from wine and
dine to prostitution and gambling. They led to the degradation of morality and deprived people of their means to live.
China's news agencies create rumors everyday. Insiders said that over 3,000 people died in the recent Shenyang coalmine explosion, yet CCTV said
there were only 203 deaths. During an explosion at our factory, seven people died at the scene, but the news said there were only two death cases. In
our area, some retired construction workers have had no pension for eight years already. They tried to bring their case to appeal offices, but did not
win in the end. Later, over 40 elderly workers laid on the railway tracks in order to get some attention, but the news said Falun Gong practitioners
committed group suicide. China's news agencies broadcast big lies to deceive 1.3 billion people everyday. Today, we finally woke up. We are very
determined to resign from the Youth Pioneer, Youth League, and the CCP to get rid of the CCP evil's manipulation.
This
resignation story is also somewhat important, as it is one of the very
few mentions, in English, I could find an alternate source for.
One day I gave him the "Nine Commentaries" to read. He then started to reflect on the crimes the party has committed in their history, and
the terrible situations in our current society. He accepted, to some extent, what the articles have exposed. As a result, we had common ground from
which we could discuss the topic.
Soon, a special column was created on the epochtimes.com website entitled, "Quit the CCP." I told my father about the column.
-snip-
Seeing my father gradually understand the issue, I brought up the topic of withdrawal from the CCP again. He said to me in a serious manner: "This is
my right, please let me think it over." That night I sent forth righteous thoughts to help him get rid of the control or influence from the evil
spirit of the CCP. My father gave me his alias the next afternoon and agreed to let me help him write the solemn declaration. In the end, a veteran
party member broke away from the evil Party.
external image
Broadcast Intercepts
In the past month, there have been three times when someone has managed to intercept a satellite and broadcast programming into Mainland China, on
March 14,17 and 29. The
Epoch Times has reported that these are broadcasts about the
Nine Commentaries, with excerpts being read. Asia Satellite has
claimed
that it was Falun Gong spreading propaganda about their 'cult', but Falun Gong has denied any knowledge of the broadcasts or the contents.
Clandestineradio.com has an
entry but they are using the same source I am.
It also has an
entry for
Sound of Hope,
which is a New York based station who is very involved in the campaign. Apparently, through P2P BitTorrent technology, they can get past the censors,
and give the people in China access to the commentaries and programming. This
link is to a story the station has posted about how the Nine Commentaries are
spreading through China, and mentions the
Maintaining Advancement Movement, which has it's own little section below.
The Red Army
A retired Chinese officer,
Mr. Lin Zhengyang, who now lives in Seattle has claimed that
the commentaries are being widely circulated throughout the army. According to him, most of the forces have access to internet bars and all have
private email accounts, while all officers have their own computers. They are receiving copies of the commentaries from overseas, and are passing it
along to those who have not seen it yet.
This is a small excerpt from an interview with the organizer of a
group resignation
reported to be from 46 senior party members working in China’s military nuclear industry.
We all had not turned in fees for the CCP for over 4 years [according to the CCP’s Charter, those who do not turn in membership fees or join
CCP activities for over half a year would be considered as having automatically resigned]. All of us had something splendid in our past careers. But
think about what we did? Whatever the Kuomintang [the nationalist party defeated by the CCP in 1949] did not do—the CCP did; the bad things CCP
asked its people not to do, CCP itself did all of them.
-snip-
There are many in the military industry who stopped turning in the CCP membership fees…In the Past, we all had some naive illusions about the CCP.
After learning from our sons and daughters and friends and colleagues, what it did in the past few years, we were all shocked.
March 26 rally in Taiwan
It was
reported that at the March 26 rally in Taiwan, tens of thousands of copies of
the commentaries were handed out on the streets. Banners were being displayed promoting the commentaries, and booths were set up to help people
submit their resignations.
Publicly Posted Resignations
In the past two weeks, it has been reported that in a few different cities in Mainland China, there have been incidents of people posting their
resignations in a public place. While they are torn down very quickly, some people do get to read them and it spreads awareness of the campaign.
Postings have been reported in
Dalian and a town in
Jilin.
Russian Paper Publishes Commentaries
Russia's Izvestia newspaper was
reported to have recently published the commentaries
in Russian, which resulted in a lot of positive feedback from Russians who could sympathize with the plight of the Chinese.
Banner
The following is a banner purported to pertain to the Nine Commentaries. It is supposed to say 'The Nine Commentaries' is the best Antidote to the
Anti-Secession Law', and was taken at the crossroad of South Jianguo Street and East Heping Street during the Taiwan rally. For all I know it could
read 'Eat at McDonalds'. Anyone who reads Chinese would be a big help here. Please correct me if this is not true, I honestly want to know what
this really says.
Related Events?
The Maintaining Advancement movement
The CCP has instituted a new program, called the Maintaining Advancement Movement (mentioned above in the Intercepts section), with a new slogan of
establishing a harmonious society, which asks people to publicly reaffirm their allegiance to the CCP. The
Epoch Times claims that this is in direct response to the massive resignations.
LA arrest for man stealing copies of The Epoch Times
Epoch Times staffers first became concerned when they noticed how quickly the copies of
their newspaper disappeared, with a marked increase after the commentaries were published. They decided to set up a sting operation, staking out
distribution centers armed with video cameras. For almost two weeks, they taped the same man coming into several different centers and taking all of
the copies of The Epoch Times, shortly after they had been dropped off. Several other publications were left untouched.
Staffers took the tape to the police, who then arrested the man at his home. He claims that he was taking the papers to sell them for recycling
money, but seeing as The Epoch Times was the only one of several Chinese language papers removed, perhaps that wasn't his only reason. Staff at a
local recycling facility identified him as a frequent customer.
Epoch Times Blocked by Google China
It was nice to able to find a couple of links on ATS I could use in this story. Mynaeris posted this
information about how, shortly before the commentaries were published, The Epoch Times
was blocked by Google China because of supposed pro-Falun Gong leanings.
My Other ATS Link
A week ago, Mayet posted the ATSNN story
Protests over China's Chatroom Crackdown.
While it may be completely unrelated to this story, it is a nice example of how hard the CCP is trying to maintain control over the flow of
information.
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders has listed five journalists or cyber-dissidents that have been arrested in China over the
past four months. Three of them,
Zheng Yichun,
Zhang Lin and
Shi Tao, all
have something in common. They contributed to The Epoch Times.
Warnings to media executives and their families
These both come from the same
report.
When Lin Xiaoxu, Vice-President of Sound of Hope radio, called his family to wish them Happy New Year, he heard about a 'special greeting' they had
received from State Security. His family was asked about his activities, and then instructed to pass along the message that China welcomes him home,
and his safety would be guaranteed.
On February 28, the Vice-President of New Tang Dynasty TV, Ma Annan, received a call from his relatives back home wishing him a Happy New Year, and
also to tell him that Beijing's National Security Bureau had called the Ma family multiple times to send greetings. The Bureau made it clear that
they have him under surveillance and know all of his actions, and the whereabouts of his family.
New Tang Dynasty TV Cancelled In China
And in an interesting twist in the New Tang Dynasty TV story, they have this
notice up on
their website:
One year ago, NTDTV made a business partnership with Eutelsat to transmit NTDTV's signal to Asia and China. Since then, NTDTV is the only
non-governmental TV that broadcasts to China uncensored and in Mandarin. Working closely with Eutelsat, we opened a historic "open satellite window"
in the great wall of information control that is forcibly maintained by Beijing. Through that open window we have broadcast a wide variety of
programs, including the European Union debate about China policy as well as many messages sent expressly to our Chinese viewers on the Eutelsat W5
Asia Beam by dozens of elected European leaders. We broadcast, "live" and in simultaneous translation, the US Presidential debates which had an
immense response from our viewers in China. We broadcast programs on human rights in China, Article 23 in Hong Kong, economic development and
corruption, traditional Chinese culture, and so much more.
Now we are just days away from Eutelsat stopping NTDTV's transmission to Asia and China. Eutelsat is preparing to slam shut the "open satellite
window" this week. Instead of expanding the historic opening of the world’s largest society to the free flow of broadcast information, Eutelsat is
choosing to help Beijing reassert full content control over satellite broadcasting. In fact, Eutelsat's Chairman, Mr. Giuliano Berretta has recently
signed what Eutelsat called a "historic partnership agreement" with the same agency of the Chinese Government that instructed Eutelsat to remove
NTDTV from the W5 Asia Beam. And Mr. Berretta is primed for still more favors from Beijing, in return for putting Eutelsat's Inter-Governmental
Convention as well as various European and international conventions in the company shredder.
The last day of broadcast could be as soon as April 15, 2005.
Reporters Without Borders
has been allowed to become a party to the court challenge against Eutelsat.
I think I have brought up most of the relevant things I have been able to gather on this. Again, apologies for the lack of diversity in sources, but
being China, and not a language I can read, it is very hard to find corroborating sources. The Epoch Times has a very large circulation and has been
in operation since 2000, and I have seen it used here occasionally without causing a stir; but without more sources, I can't be completely sure of
all the news. But what if it is true?
While it is just a small percentage of the total membership, around 1% I think, these are still pretty
significant numbers.
I wanted to share the story with you and get your thoughts and opinions on this. If all this is really going on, I'm concerned about what could
happen to the people involved. How far will the CCP go to suppress this growing movement?
*edited to remove link that no longer works*
[edit on 5-4-2005 by Duzey]
). I must say, knowing some of the brutal history of China under communist rule and living here for
three years, I was almost moved to tears while translating these. 
