MCLC: translation of Xu Zhiyong's closing statement

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: translation of Xu Zhiyong's closing statement
***********************************************************

Here's the English translation of Xu Zhiyong's "closing statement." After
the statement, find Xu Zhiyong's "transcript" of his conversation with a
high-ranking official of the Public Security Bureau. Thanks to Paul Mooney
for submitting this.

Kirk

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Source: China Change (1/22/14):
http://chinachange.org/2014/01/23/for-freedom-justice-and-love-my-closing-s
tatement-to-the-court/

For Freedom, Justice and Love — My Closing Statement to the Court
By Xu Zhiyong, January 22, 2014

This is Xu Zhiyong’s closing statement on January 22, 2014, at the end of
his trial. According to his lawyer, he had only been able to read “about
10 minutes of it before the presiding judge stopped him, saying it was
irrelevant to the case.”

You have accused me of disrupting public order for my efforts to push for
rights to equal access to education, to allow children of migrant workers
to sit for university entrance examinations where they reside, and for my
calls that officials publicly declare their assets.

While on the face of it, this appears to be an issue of the boundary
between a citizen’s right to free speech and public order, what this is,
in fact, is the issue of whether or not you recognize a citizen’s
constitutional rights.

On a still deeper level, this is actually an issue of fears you all carry
within: fear of a public trial, fear of a citizen’s freedom to observe a
trial, fear of my name appearing online, and fear of the free society
nearly upon us.

By trying to suppress the New Citizens Movement, you are obstructing China
on its path to becoming a constitutional democracy through peaceful change.

And while you have not mentioned the New Citizens Movement throughout this
trial, many of the documents presented here relate to it, and in my view
there is no need to avoid the issue; to be able to speak openly of this is
pertinent to the betterment of Chinese society.

What the New Citizens Movement advocates is for each and every Chinese
national to act and behave as a citizen, to accept our roles as citizens
and masters of our country—and not to act as feudal subjects, remain
complacent, accept mob rule or a position as an underclass. To take
seriously the rights which come with citizenship, those written into the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and China’s Constitution: to treat
these sacred rights—to vote, to freedom of speech and religion—as more
than an everlasting IOU.

And also to take seriously the responsibilities that come with
citizenship, starting with the knowledge that China belongs to each and
everyone one of us, and to accept that it is up to us to defend and define
the boundaries of conscience and justice.

What the New Citizens Movement calls for is civic spirit that consists of
freedom, justice, and love: individual freedom, freedom without constraint
that brings true happiness, will always be the goal of both state and
society; justice, that which defines the limit of individual freedom, is
also what ensures fairness and preserves moral conscience; and love, be it
in the form of kindness, tolerance, compassion or dedication, is our most
precious emotion and the source of our happiness.

Freedom, justice, and love, these are our core values and what guides us
in action. The New Citizens Movement advocates a citizenship that begins
with the individual and the personal, through small acts making concrete
changes to public policy and the encompassing system; through remaining
reasonable and constructive, pushing the country along the path to
democratic rule of law; by uniting the Chinese people through their common
civic identity, pursuing democratic rule of law and justice; forming a
community of citizens committed to freedom and democracy; growing into a
civil society strengthened by healthy rationalism.

Common to all those who identify themselves as citizens are the shared
notions of constitutional democracy, of freedom, of equality and justice,
of love, and faith. Because taken as a whole, civic groups are not the
same as an organization as defined in  the authoritarian sense, having
neither leader nor hierarchy, orders or obedience, discipline or
punishment, and in contrast are based fully on the voluntarily coming
together of free citizens.

It’s through acts of pushing for system reforms that geographically
dispersed groups of citizens are able to grow spontaneously into their
own, and by acting to hold authorities accountable and pushing for
political reforms, establishment of democratic rule  of law, and advances
in society, that civil groups are able to grow in a healthy way. Pushing
for equal access to education, the right for children of migrant workers
to sit for university entrance exams where they live, and calling on
officials to disclose their assets, these are civic acts carried out in
precisely this sense.

The push for equal access to education rights particularly for children of
migrant workers was a three-year-long action we initiated in late 2009.

Prior to that, we had received a series of requests for help from parents,
it was then we realized the severity of this social issue. More than 200
million people across China had relocated to urban areas to live and work
but found themselves unable to enjoy  equality where they lived despite
being taxpayers. Far more serious was learning that their children were
unable to study or take university entrance examinations in their new
places of residence, leaving no choice but to send them thousands of miles
away back to their permanent registered addresses in order to receive an
education, resulting in millions of Chinese children being left behind.

While many feel concern for the fate of left-behind children, rarely do
they realize the best help they can offer is to tear down the wall of
household registration-based segregation, allowing the children to return
to their parents.

Our action consisted of three phases. The first took place over the first
half of 2010, with petitions to education authorities in Haidian district
and across Beijing, through deliberations to allow non-local students to
continue their studies in Beijing as they entered high school. The second
phase, which lasted from July 2010 to August 2012, consisted of petitions
to the Ministry of Education to change policies to allow non-local
children of migrant workers to take university entrance examinations
locally.

The third phase took place between September 2012 until the end of year.
It focused on pressing the Beijing Education Commission to implement new
policies issued by the Ministry of Education. To that end, we gathered
signatures and expanded our volunteer team of parents, and on the last
Thursday of each month, we approached the Education authorities to
petition. We submitted our recommendations and we consulted experts to
research actionable changes to policies regarding educational paths for
non-local children of migrant workers. We wrote thousands of letters to
National People’s Congress delegates, making calls and arranging meetings,
urging them to submit proposals during the two annual parliamentary
sessions.

During the Two Sessions in 2011, the Minister of Education said in one
interview that policy changes for non-local children were then being
drafted. During the Two Sessions in 2012, the Education minister promised
publicly at a press conference that changes to university entrance
examinations for non-local migrant children would be released sometime in
the first half of the year, and provincial education authorities would be
required to draft implementation plans over the second half of 2012.

By June 28, 2012, a scheduled day for parent volunteers to continue
petition work, the Ministry of Education had yet to issue any formal
response. Parents decided then and there that they would return the
following Thursday if by the end of the month the Ministry of Education
failed to issue the new policy as it had promised. This led to the July
5th petitioning.

In August, the Ministry of Education finally released a new policy
regarding university entrance examination eligibility for children of
non-local migrant workers, along with an order for local education
authorities to draft implementation strategies. By  the end of 2012, 29
provinces and cities across China released plans to implement the policy
except for Beijing. One parent joked bitterly that after a three-year
struggle they had managed to liberate all of China, just not themselves.

I could see the tears behind the joke, because it meant that their own
children would have to leave and take up studies in a strange place, in a
possibly life-changing move.

As idealists, we were able to win a policy allowing children of migrant
workers to continue their studies and remain with their parents, and yet
the main impetus behind this change, the parents who lived and worked in
Beijing without Beijing hukou, had not been able to secure for their own
children the chance of an equal education. I felt I let all of them down,
and many of them grew disheartened. I was compelled to go out and,
standing at subway station entrances, hand out fliers calling for one last
petitioning effort on February 28, 2013.

In the two petitioning events, one on July 5, 2012 and the other on
February 28, 2013, we the citizens went to the education authority, or a
government office, not a public place in a legal sense, to make an appeal.
China’s Criminal Law is very clear on the definition of public spaces, and
government buildings, locations of organizations and public roads are not
among them. Therefore our activities do not constitute disruption of order
in a public place.

Over the past three years, our activities have remained consistently
moderate and reasonable. Certain parents did get emotional or agitated
during the July 5th petition, and the reason was that the Ministry of
Education failed to live up to its own publicly-issued promise, nor did it
provide any explanation.

Yet despite this, their so-called agitation was merely the shouting of a
few slogans, demanding a dialog with the Minister of Education, rather
understandable considering they had gathered 100,000 signatures, behind
which stand the interests of 200 million new urban immigrants.

And the response they got? Take a look at the photos of the scene. One
parent who goes by the online alias “Dancing” was taken away by police
pulling her hair. Was there no other way to escort her away? Was she
exhibiting extreme behavior? Had she ever done anything provocative in the
past three years? No, never! It hurts whenever I think of the event. We
had pursued a very simple goal for three years, our approaches had been so
reasonable, but we were assaulted with such viciousness. There were police
officers who, with a prepared list of names in hand, sought them out and
beat them.

In spite of what happened, I told them, over and over again, that they
must stay calm and that we can’t stoop to their level. This society needs
a renewed sense of hope, and we can’t behave like them.

The right to an equal education, the right to take a university
examination where you live, these are concepts that the New Citizens
Movement encompasses. Starting with changes to specific public policies
and concrete system changes, in this case, for the freedom of movement,
for justice, for love.

When China established the household registration system, or hukou, in
1958, it created two separate worlds: one rural, one urban. In 1961, China
established the system of custody and repatriation. From then on, anyone
born in a rural area who wanted to find work and try a new life in the
city could be arrested and forcibly returned home at any time. In Beijing
in 2002 alone, 220,000 were detained and repatriated.

In 2003, the custody and repatriation system was abolished, but it
remained a long road for new urban arrivals to integrate with the city. In
2006, we discovered through our research in Beijing that there still
existed as many as 19 discriminatory policies against non-local permanent
residents, the most inhumane of them being the very policy that prevented
children from living with their parents and receiving  an education.

We worked tirelessly for three years to win children the right to take the
university entrance examination locally while living with their migrated
parents. During the three years, I witnessed equal education campaign
volunteers brave bitter winters and scorching summers at subway entrances,
on roadsides and in shopping malls to collect more than 100,000 signatures
with contact information included. I witnessed several hundred parents
standing in the courtyard outside the Letters and Petition Office of the
Ministry of Education and reciting their Declaration of Equal Access to
Education. I witnessed several hundred parents and children planting trees
in Qinglong Lake Park on the Clear and Bright Day (清明节) in 2012. Everyone
wore caps bearing the same slogan: “Live in Beijing, love Beijing.”

I also witnessed the taping of a program on Phoenix TV where a little girl
sobbed because she could not bear to leave her mother and father in
Beijing where she grew up to go back to a strange place where her hukou is
to go to school. In a hutong in Di’anmen (地安门), I witnessed Zhang Xudong
(章
旭东), a top eighth grader at Guozijian Secondary School, who was forced to
go to a completely strange county high school in Zhangjiakou after
graduating from middle school to continue his education just because he
did not have Beijing hukou. A year later, Ill-adjusted a year later in
language, environment and textbooks, he dropped out. He became withdrawn,
not the happy boy he once was anymore. His parents have worked for nearly
thirty years in Beijing but they are forever outsiders and second-class
citizens in this city.

When I think of the hundreds of millions of children whose fates were
permanently decided by the hukou segregation, of generation after
generation of Chinese people who have been hurt by this evil system, of
the countless Chinese who died in the custody and repatriation system,
today I stand here as a defendant, filled with no grudges but pride for
having worked to eliminate the segregation system with Chinese
characteristics and for having fought for millions of children to be able
to live with their parents and go to school.

The calls on officials to publicly declare their assets, these are our
efforts to push the country to establish an anti-corruption mechanism.
More than 137 countries and territories around the world currently have
systems in place for officials to declare assets, so why can’t China? What
exactly is it these “public servants” fear so much? Excessive greed and
undeserved wealth do not just bring luxuries, but also a deep-seated fear
and insecurity, as well as public anger and enmity.

When we go online to collect signatures and distribute promotional
materials, or unfurl banners on the street, all to call on officials to
publicly declare their assets, we are at the same time exercising our
civic rights to free speech provided for in the Constitution. Our actions
did not violate the rights of any other person, nor did they bring harm to
society. While the speech delivered in Xidan has a few strong words, as a
speech about public policy, they did not exceed the limits of free speech
provided for by the Constitution and the law.

It is a normal occurrence in a modern, civilized society for citizens to
express their political views by displaying banners, giving speeches and
taking other actions in public venues. Law enforcement agencies can be
present to monitor and take precautionary measures, but they should not
abuse their power or interfere. In fact, when banners were displayed at
the west gate of Tsinghua university, Zhongguancun Square and other places
where no police officers were present, they caused no disorder, nor did
they hinder any other people’s rights. They left after displaying banners.
This conforms to our idea of a “flash action.” It had taken consideration
of China’s reality and Chinese society’s tolerance capacity. We took quick
actions in small groups, instead of larger gatherings, to make these
public expressions.

Of course we hope that the sacred rights enshrined in the Constitution
will be realized, but reform requires stability and social progress
requires gradual advancement. As responsible citizens, we must adopt a
gradualist approach when exercising our constitutionally guaranteed rights
and when advancing the process towards democracy and rule of law.
Over the last ten years, we consistently pushed for progress through
peaceful means, and we tried to effect change in specific policies through
involvement in public incidents. We did so for the sake of freedom,
justice, love, and for the sake of our long-held dreams.

In 2003, the custody and repatriation system was abolished but not without
Sun Zhigang paying the price of his life for it. We, as legal
professionals, made every effort in the process and we recommended, in our
role as citizens, constitutional review on the custody and repatriation
system.

For the past decade we have continued to strive to win equal rights for
new migrants in cities, resulting in the introduction in 2012 of a new
policy allowing migrant children to take university entrance exams where
they have relocated with their parents.
We provided legal assistance to victims of grave injustices, such as the
victims of melamine-tainted milk powder and the high-speed rail accident.

In 2008 when the Sanlu milk powder scandal broke, we brought together a
team of lawyers and calculated the number of victims based on media
reports. We proposed fair compensation schemes in accordance with the law,
while working with the victims to successfully push the issuance of a
government-led settlement plan. However, the government compensation
package was far from from adequate for the damages suffered by many
children. For instance, the cost of an operation for one child was nearly
100,000 yuan, and the compensation he received was only 30,000 yuan. So we
continued to seek redress for the more than 400 children we had
represented, bringing lawsuits all the way to the Supreme People’s Court,
to more than a hundred courts across China, and to a court in Hong Kong.
In July, 2009, when I was thrown in jail for the so-called “Gong Meng tax
evasion” and when people from all walks of life made donations to help pay
the fine imposed on Gong Meng, our volunteers in the south were sending a
settlement of one million yuan to the home of a baby victim.

I am forever proud of that moment, and we will not give up our promise to
the disempowered even when we ourselves are in trouble.
We have spent many winters out on the street delivering coats, blankets
and steamed buns to the poor and homeless petitioners so that they would
not die of hunger or cold silently in this bustling city.

Petitioning is rights defense with Chinese characteristics. In a society
like ours comprised of relationships that belie privilege, corruption and
injustice, to step forward in defence of one’s rights and dignity is
something only the most stubborn of us dare do. But this small minority,
when gathered in the nation’s capital, number in the tens of thousands.
They get driven out of Beijing, or illegally detained, or beaten. In
Beijing alone, there are more than 40 black jails — and we’ve verified the
numbers — that have been used to illegally detained people. When we
visited these black jails and reported the crime taking place, showing the
specific laws it violated,  we were humiliated and beaten by those
guarding them. Time and time again, I feel proud for sharing a little bit
of their suffering.

Having chosen to stand alongside the powerless, we have witnessed far too
much injustice, suffering and misfortune over the past decade. However, we
still embrace the light in our hearts and push for the country’s progress
in rational and constructive ways.
After proposing review on the unconstitutionality of the custody and
repatriation system, we researched and drafted new measures to better
manage beggars and the homeless. We pushed the educational equality
campaign. We drafted a proposal for migrant workers’ children to take
college entrance exams locally and our draft was adopted by most provinces
and cities.

For our call for disclosure of officials’ assets, we even drafted a
“Sunlight Bill” in March 2013. Raising an issue is not enough; solutions
must be found. To oppose is to construct, for we are citizens of a new
era, we are citizens responsible to our country, and we love China.

Unfortunately, you regard the existence and growth of these citizens as
heresy and something to fear. You say we harbored political purposes. Well
we do, and our political purpose is very clear, and it is a China with
democracy, rule of law, freedom, justice and love.

What we want is not to fight to gain power, or barbaric politics by any
means; but good politics, a good cause for public welfare, a cause for all
citizens to govern the country together. Our mission is not to gain power
but to restrict power. We aim to establish a modern and civilized system
of democracy and rule of law and lay a foundation for a noble tradition of
politics so that later generations can enjoy fairness, justice, freedom
and happiness.

Good politics is a result of true democracy and rule of law. On every
level, the government and the legislature must be elected by the people.
The power to govern should not come from the barrel of a gun but through
votes.

Under true democracy and rule of law, politics should be carried out
within the the rule of law. Political parties should compete fairly and
only those that win in free and fair elections are qualified to govern.

Under true democracy and rule of law, state powers are scientifically
separated and mutually subject to checks and balances; the judiciary is
independent and judges abide by the law and conscience.

Under true democracy and rule of law, the military and the police are
state organs and should not become the private property of any political
party or vested interest group.

Under true democracy and rule of law, the media is a social organ and
should not be monopolized to be the mouthpiece of any political party or
vested interested group.

Under true democracy and rule of law, the constitution stipulates and
actualizes sacred civil rights, including the right to vote, freedom of
speech and freedom of belief. The promise of people’s power should not be
a lie.

These modern democratic values and measurements are rooted in common
humanity. They should not be Eastern or Western, socialist or capitalist,
but universal to all human societies.

Democracy is the knowledge to solve human problems. Our ancestors did not
discover this knowledge. We should thus be humble and learn from others.
Over the past thirty years, China introduced the system of market economy
with free competition which brought economic prosperity. Similarly, China
needs to introduce a democratic and constitutional system to solve the
injustices of our current society.

The social injustice is intensifying in China. The greatest social
injustice concerns political rights, which lie at the heart of other forms
of injustice. The root of many serious social problems can be traced to
the monopoly of all political powers and economic lifelines by a
privileged interest group, and China’s fundamental problem is the problem
of democratic constitutionalism.

Anti-corruption campaigns are waged year after year, but corruption has
become more and more rampant over the course of the last sixty some years.
Without democratic elections, press freedom and judicial independence, a
clean government is not possible under a regime of absolute power.

The People’s livelihood is emphasized year after year, yet hundreds of
million of people still live below the internationally defined poverty
line. In remote and mountainous areas, corrupt officials even embezzle the
subsistence allowances of only 100 yuan a month for the extremely poor.
The wealth gap between the elites and the general public is ever-widening.

Hostility towards government officials and the wealthy is, in essence,
hostility towards power monopoly that perches high above. Tens of
thousands of families toil and worry about their children’s basic
education, looking for connections to pay bribes just for kindergarten
enrollment. How has the society become so rotten?

Humans are political animals, in need of more than a full stomach and warm
clothes. Humans also need freedom, justice, and participation in
governance of their own country. You say the National People’s Congress is
China’s highest body of power, then again you say this highest body of
power answers to the Party.

If the country’s basic political system is such an open lie, how is it
possible to build a society that values trust? You say the judiciary is
just and that courts hold open trials, then you arrange for unrelated
people to come occupy seats reserved for observers in the courtroom. If
even the courts resort to such unscrupulousness, where can people expect
to find justice?

It should surprise no one that people wear frozen masks in their dealings
with one another, and that whether to help a fallen elderly person can
become a lasting debate. There is toxic baby formula, kilns using child
slaves, and every sort of social ill imaginable, yet the perpetrators
haven’t had the slightest bit of guilt or shame, and they think this is
just how society is.
China’s biggest problem is falsehood, and the biggest falsehood is the
country’s  political system and its political ideology. Are you able to
even to explain clearly what socialism entails? Is or is not the National
People’s Congress the highest authority?

Political lies know no bounds in this country, and 1.3 billion people
suffer deeply from it as a result. Suspicion, disappointment, confusion,
anger, helplessness, and resentment are norms of life. Truly, politics
affects each and every one of us intimately. We cannot escape politics, we
can only work to change it. Power must be caged by the system, and the
authoritarian top-down politics must change. I sincerely hope that those
in power will find a way to integrate with the trends of human
civilization, and take an active role in pushing for political reforms and
adopt the civilized politics of a constitutional democracy, therein
realizing the hundred-year-old Chinese dream of empowering the people
through peaceful reforms.

More than a century ago, China missed an opportunity to turn into a
constitutional democracy through peaceful transition, sending the Chinese
nation into a protracted struggle marked by revolution, turmoil, and
suffering. The Republic of China, with its hopes for a market economy and
democratic system, didn’t last long before totalitarian politics were
revived and reached extremes during the Cultural Revolution.

Following the Cultural Revolution, China’s economic reforms led to a model
of incremental reforms in which social controls were relaxed but the old
system and its interests remained untouched, although new spaces created
by the market slowly eroded the old system as reforms were laid out.

Political reforms in China could rely on a similar model, one in which the
old system and its interests stay in place as social controls are relaxed
and democratic spaces outside the system are permitted to grow in a
healthy direction. A model such as this would actually prove a valuable
path for China to follow.

We have built a community of citizens and rationally, remaining
responsible to the country, taken the first small step.
You need not fear the New Citizens’ Movement, we are a new era of
citizens, completely free of the earmarks of authoritarian ideology such
as courting enemies, scheming for power, or harboring thoughts to
overthrow or strike down. Our faith is in freedom, justice, and love, of
pushing to advance society through peaceful reforms and healthy growth in
the light of day—not acts of conspiracy, violence or other barbaric models.

The mission of civil groups is not to exist as an opposition party,
although the creation of a constitutional democracy is inevitable for a
future China built on civilized politics. Our mission is shared by all
progressives in China, to work together to see China through the
transition to civilized politics.

The New Citizens’ Movement is a movement of political transformation
leading to democratic rule of law, as well as a cultural movement for the
renewal of political and cultural traditions. A constitutional democracy
needs a fertile bed of civilized politics in order to function, and it’s
our collective anticipation and faith which serves as such a soil bed.

At the same time our country’s citizens seek faith in healthy politics,
unscrupulous and barbaric politics must also be forever cast out from the
deep recesses of each and every soul. This calls for a group of upstanding
citizens to bravely take on such a responsibility, sacrificing ego to
become model citizens. Each and every Chinese person shares this
responsibility.

This is my responsibility. Having been born on this land, I need no reason
to love this country; it’s because I love China that I want her to be
better. I choose to be a peaceful reformer, carrying on with the
century-old but unfinished mission of our forebears, advocating an
unwavering commitment to non-violence just as I advocate freedom, justice,
and love, and advocate peaceful reform as the path toward constitutional
democracy.

Although I possess the means to live a superior life within this system, I
feel ashamed of privilege in any form. I choose to stand with the weak and
those deprived of their rights, sharing with them the bitter cold of a
Beijing winter the way it feels from the street or an underground tunnel,
shouldering together the barbaric violence of the black jail.

God created both the poor and the wealthy, but keeps them apart not so we
can reject or despise one another, but in order for mutual love to exist,
and it was my honor to have the chance to walk alongside petitioners on
their long road to justice.

My decision comes at a time when my child has just been born, when my
family needs me most, and when I yearn to be there by their side. After
years now of witnessing the bitter struggles of the innocent and
downtrodden, I remain unable to control my own sorrow—or, try as I might,
to remain silent.

I now finally accept judgment and purgatory as my fate, because for
freedom, justice, and love, the happiness of people everywhere, for the
glory of the Lord, all this pain, I am willing.

This is our responsibility as a citizen group. In a servile society prone
widely to submission, there will always need to be someone to be the first
to stand up, to face the risks and pay the price for social progress. We
are those Chinese people ready now to stand, with utmost concern for the
future and destiny of the motherland, for democratic rule of law, justice,
and for the dignity and well-being of the weak and marginalized.

We are kind and pure of heart, loathe to conspire and deceive, and we
yearn for freedom and a simpler, happier life. We strive to serve society,
and help those most in need, pushing for better society.

Bravely, we assume this responsibility, ready to forgo our privilege and
secular interests—even at the cost of our freedom—to stay true to our
ideals. Ready to put aside our egos with no thought of personal gain or
loss, we respect the rights and boundaries of others, facing all beings
with humility.

Such is the responsibility now upon you judges and prosecutors. Your
responsibility is fidelity to the law and your conscience, to uphold the
baseline of social justice, to neither be reduced to a lowly cog in this
bureaucratic system nor debase the sanctity of rule of law.

Do not say you’re constrained by the bigger picture, because the bigger
picture in China is not an order from above, but the letter of the law. Do
not say you merely follow the logic of laws as you sentence me, and do not
forget those sacred rights afforded all by law. Do not say this is just
your job, or that you’re innocent, because each and every one of us is
ultimately responsible for our own actions and we must at all times remain
faithful to our own conscience.

As a society with a history of rule by man that stretches back centuries,
the law in China serves a very distinct purpose. Regardless of acting as a 
defendant, a juror, or a legal scholar, I have always remained true to the 
idea of justice and I behoove you to do the same.

It has always been my hope China’s legal community will undergo an 
awakening of conscience, that you judges can gain the same amount of 
respect afforded your counterparts overseas, and it is my hope an 
awakening of conscience will begin with you.
Those of you watching this trial from behind the scenes, or those awaiting 
for orders and reports back, this is also your responsibility. Don’t take 
pains to preserve the old system simply because you have vested interests 
in it; no one is safe under an unjust system. When you see politics as 
endless shadows and reflections of daggers and swords, as blood falling 
like rain with its smell in the wind, you have too much fear in your 
hearts.

So I have to tell you the times have changed, that a new era of politics 
is afoot in which the greatest strength in society is not violence but 
love. Fear not democracy or loss of privilege, and fear not open 
competition nor the free society now taking shape. You may find my ideas 
too far-out, too unrealistic, but I believe in the power of faith, and in 
the power of the truth, compassion and beauty that exists in the depths of 
the human soul, just as I believe human civilization is advancing mightily 
like a tide.

This is the shared responsibility of us 1.3 billion Chinese. Dynasties, 
likes political parties, all pass with time, but China will always be 
China just as we are all Chinese. It’s our responsibility to build a 
bright future for the country. Our China is destined to become the 
greatest country in the world, possessing the most advanced technology, 
the most prosperous economy, the greatest ability to defend equality and 
justice throughout the world, and the most magnificent culture to 
spearhead human civilization.

But that’s a China that cannot exist under authoritarian rule. Ours is a 
China that will only exist once constitutional democracy is realized, a 
China that is democratic, free and governed through rule of law. Allow us 
to think together what we can do for for our country, because only then 
can we create a bright future. This country lacks freedom, but freedom 
requires each of us to fight for it; this society lacks justice, which 
requires each of us to defend it; this society lacks love, and it’s up to 
each and every one of us to light that fire with our truth.

Allow us to take our citizenship seriously, to take our civil rights 
seriously, to take our responsibilities as citizens seriously, and to take 
our dreams of a civil society seriously; let us together defend the 
baseline of justice and our conscience, and refuse without exception all 
orders to do evil from above, and refuse to shove the person in front of 
you just because you were shoved from behind.

The baseline lies beneath your feet just as it lies beneath all our feet. 
Together, let’s use love to rewake our dormant conscience, break down 
those barriers between our hearts, and with our love establish a tradition 
for the Chinese people of noble and civilized politics.

Here in absurd post-totalitarian China I stand trial, charged with three 
crimes: promoting equal education rights for children of migrant workers, 
calling on officials to publicly disclose their assets, and advocating 
that all people behave as citizens with pride and conscience.

If the country’s rulers have any intention to take citizens’ 
constitutional rights seriously, then of course we are innocent. We had no 
intention to disrupt public order; our intention was to promote democracy 
and rule of law in China. We did nothing to disrupt public order, we were 
merely exercising our freedom of expression as provided for by the 
constitution.

Public order was not disrupted as a result of our actions, which infringed 
on the legitimate rights of no one. I understand clearly that some people 
have to make sacrifices, and I for one am willing to pay any and all price 
for my belief in freedom, justice, love, and for a better future of China. 
If you insist on persecuting the conscience of a people, I openly accept 
that destiny and the glory that accompanies it. But do not for a second 
think you can terminate the New Citizens’ Movement by throwing me in jail. 
Ours is an era in which modern civilization prevails, and in which growing 
numbers of Chinese inevitably take their citizenship and civic 
responsibilities seriously.

The day will come when the 1.3 billion Chinese will stand up from their 
submissive state and grow to be proud and responsible citizens. China will 
become a country that enjoys a civilized political system and a happy 
society in which freedom, justice, and love prevail. The disempowered will 
be redeemed, as will you, you who sit high above with fear and shadows in 
your hearts.

China today still upholds the banner of reform, something I sincerely wish 
will be carried out smoothly allowing the beautiful dream of China to come 
true.  But reform must have a clearly defined direction, and it is 
irresponsible to continue “feeling the stones to cross the river,” just as 
it’s irresponsible to treat the symptoms but not the roots of social ills, 
and irresponsible to sidestep the fundamental political system in 
designing the country.

One hundred years on, where China wants to go is still the most crucial 
question the Chinese nation faces. As interest groups consolidate, the 
economy slows down, and accumulated social injustice leads to concentrated 
outbursts, China has once again arrived at an historical crossroad. 
Reforms will succeed if the goal remains to realize democracy and 
constitutionalism as in line with the course of history, and without 
question will fail if the aim is to maintain one-party rule in 
contravention of history.

Absent a clear direction toward democracy and constitutionalism, even if 
reforms deepen as promised the most likely result will be to repeat the 
mistakes made during the late Qing Dynasty, picking and choosing Western 
practices but not fixing the system.  To a large extent, what we see 
happening around us today is re-enactment of the tragedy of the late Qing 
reforms, and for that reason I am deeply concerned about the future of the 
Chinese nation. When hopes of reform are dashed, people will rise up and 
seek revolution. The privileged and powerful have long transferred their 
children and wealth overseas; they couldn’t care less of the misfortune 
and suffering of the disempowered, nor do they care about China’s future. 
But we do. Someone has to care. Peaceful transition to democracy and 
constitutionalism is the only path the Chinese nation has to a beautiful 
future. We lost this opportunity a hundred years ago, and we can’t afford 
to miss it again today. We, the Chinese people, must decide the future 
direction for China.

My fellow compatriots, at any time and regardless of what happens in 
China, I urge everyone to maintain their faith in freedom, justice, and 
love. Uphold freedom of religion, stay rooted in reality, and pursue those 
universal rights and freedoms which were pursued and fought for and paid 
for in blood this past century by those also with lofty ideals.

Remain steadfast in your faith in justice, always stay true to your heart, 
never compromise your principles in the pursuit of your goals. Pursue a 
rounded and just democratic society governed through rule of law, where 
all fulfill their duties and are provided for, where the strong are 
constrained and the weak are protected, a society built on the cornerstone 
of moral conscience. Adhere to faith in love, because this nation has too 
many dark, bitter, and poisoned souls in need of redemption, because there 
exists too much vigilance, fear, and hostility between people. These evil 
spirits, buried in the depths of the soul, must be cast out. It is not 
through hatred that we rid ourselves of them, but through salvation. We 
are the Redeemer.

Freedom, justice and love, these are the spirit of our New Citizens 
Movement, and must become a core value for the Chinese people—for which it 
is up to our generation to fight, sacrifice and assume responsibility. Our 
faith in the idea of building a better China, one of democracy, rule of 
law, freedom, justice, and love, is unwavering. As long as we continue to 
believe in love and the power of hope for a better future, in the desire 
for goodness deep inside every human soul, we will be able to make that in 
which we have faith a reality.

Citizens, let us begin now. It does not matter where you are, what jobs 
you have, whether you are poor or rich; let us say in our hearts, in our 
everyday lives, on the internet, on every inch of Chinese land, say with 
conviction and pride that what already belongs to us: I am a citizen, we 
are citizens.

Citizen Xu Zhiyong
January 22, 2014


On Friday, July 19, a text circulated on QQ that is a record of Xu 
Zhiyong’s “talks” with a top official of the Beijing Public Security 
Bureau that occurred on June 25, 26 and 28. Its authenticity has since 
been confirmed by Xu’s close associates. ChinaChange.org 
<http://ChinaChange.org/> is providing a complete translation of the text 
in three installments.

By Xu Zhiyong
Published: July 22, 2013

On the three afternoons of June 25th, 26th, and 28th, I had “talks,” per 
appointment made by the police, with one of the heads of the Beijing 
Public Security Bureau in a conference room of a vacation hotel in 
Changping, Beijing. We argued about many issues, including democracy, rule 
of law, constitutionalism, CCP’s leadership, socialism, the concept of 
citizenship, public disclosure of officials’ assets, the petitioning 
system, equal education rights and more, and we each put forward our 
views. The other party said I had already committed multiple crimes and 
coercive measures would soon be taken by the authorities. He demanded that 
I support the Party’s leadership and cease committing crimes. I said I 
would be adhering to the spirit of the new citizens’ movement, but I was 
willing to listen to his opinions on the specific ways and methods [on how 
to pursue it], but if it was committing a crime to become a citizen, I was 
willing to pay full price for it.

 
June 25

The police requested the meeting the day before. The team leader of the 
guards outside my home told me that one of the municipal Public Security 
chiefs wanted to have a talk with me, and he promised that I would be able 
to return home that evening. I accepted it without giving the matter much 
thought.

It was the first time I went outside my home since April 12, the day when 
I was placed under house arrest. I rode with three plain clothes policemen 
to a small, nondescript vacation hotel east of Zhongka Orchid (中卡庄园) in 
northern Changping. After getting out of the car, I was searched, led to a 
conference room, and seated in a single chair on one side of the table. 
Opposite, there were two men in their fifties. One of them would be the 
main interlocutor who, one could tell, was someone in a high position. 
Let’s call him C and the other D. A young man was fiddling with a video 
camera.

Sitting down, I said I was Xu Zhiyong, and I asked who they were. C said, 
“I’m the head of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, and I opted to talk 
to you this way today.” I asked him why I was brought there.

C: It’s been almost three months since we took coercive measures in early 
April against the illegal organization of Citizen (referring to the 
detention, and then arrest, in April of ten citizens who demanded 
disclosure of officials’ wealth in Beijing – trans.). As the head of this 
organization, you have committed several crimes of the Criminal Law. We 
will soon detain you as well, and we want to hear what you have to say.

Me:  Citizen is far from being an organization. Instead, it is a voluntary 
group of people who pursue democracy, the rule of law, freedom, justice 
and love, and who have been consistently advocating the nation’s progress 
through moderate and reasonable approaches. Our actions, whether it was a 
dinner gathering or calling for officials to disclose assets, were merely 
the exercise of citizens’ legitimate rights, and were not crimes at all. I 
will not change in my pursuit of the ideas of citizenship; as for our 
approaches, they can be discussed. We have always been reasonable and 
willing to listen to others’ input. Of course, if people as moderate and 
reasonable as me cannot escape being locked up in prison, so be it. It’s 
the misfortune of the Chinese people, and I will surrender myself to my 
destiny.

C: Are you people reasonable? You displayed banners more than a hundred 
times in various cities over the last few months. If we don’t stop you 
promptly, it will trigger social turmoil.

Me:  Shouldn’t officials disclose their assets? If they do so, corruption 
will be curbed as a result, and we would not have to display banners to 
call for it. Your fear of theses actions triggering mass gatherings only 
indicates that asset disclosure is what the people want. Making a call for 
it is merely an expression and it will not cause tumult. If tumult is upon 
us one day, it will be because of escalation of conflict caused by 
privilege, corruption and the perverse stability maintenance.

C: Hasn’t our Party been actively campaigning against corruption?

Me:  Isn’t that great? We are trying to help.

C: Are you people really serious about anti-corruption? If so, why can’t 
you see all the progress the Party has made in anti-corruption?

Me:  Of course we are sincere about fighting corruption. We do what we say 
and vice versa. Shortly before the ten advocates were arrested, we had 
been discussing a bill called the Sunshine Bill. I don’t deny that the CCP 
is fighting corruption, but the system is the problem, and corruption is 
becoming more rampant despite the anti-corruption campaign. I ask you to 
use your reason: Over the last ten years, has corruption in China 
increased or decreased?

C: Which country doesn’t have corruption? Will the country rid itself of 
corruption if it’s governed by your model?

Me:  Indeed. Every country has corruption, but the difference is 
gargantuan. In the US, a ministerial level official taking a bribery of 
two million dollars would be a huge scandal, but in China, it’s nothing. 
To curb corruption, we need to monitor power; we must have an independent 
judiciary, checks and balances of powers, and free media. These are 
effective ways used all over the world. Asset disclosure is another 
recognized mechanism, so why are they so afraid to disclose?

C: With equal education rights as a pretext, you people besiege the 
Ministry of Education every month, causing enormous trouble for us. You 
were a people’s representative before, why didn’t you make appeals through 
legitimate channels?

Me:  We have been trying everything. We wrote letters to over a thousand 
people’s representatives, we held discussions with many experts. But the 
most effective way is to petition in front of the Ministry of Education, 
because your system puts stability maintenance above everything else, and 
a gathered crowd can place the most effective pressure on you, thus 
pushing the Education Ministry to change its policies.

C: Beijing is already very crowded. If Beijing opens up the national 
entrance exams (gaokao—trans.) to everyone, then won’t students from 
across the country flood Beijing to take the exams?

Me:  That will not happen. Gaokao-motivated immigration is due to 
inequality in college acceptance. Students in Beijing municipality have an 
advantage in college acceptance because the city deprived the children of 
its eight million non-hukou (residency registration—trans.) taxpayers of 
their gaokao rights. If the kids of the eight million new immigrants are 
allowed to take the gaokao in Beijing, their advantage will diminish. 
Then, who will want to immigrate to Beijing for the sake of taking the 
gaokao here? Our fight for equal education rights is not fighting for that 
privilege, but fighting for the same rights for all taxpayers of the city, 
and for the rights of millions of left-behind children to unite with their 
parents. On your part, you think you have maintained stability by 
suppressing the calls for equal education rights, but have you ever 
thought: Where will they go, the children of Beijing’s eight million new 
immigrants who have suffered discrimination and whose prospects in life 
are hurt? They will still come back to Beijing, because their parents live 
here, and Beijing is their real home. When I was on a jury in a court, I 
knew very well that crimes among children of immigrants were rising 
quickly, and it is to a large extent the result of discrimination. (Part 
of argument omitted here)

C: You can make reasonable recommendations about these?

Me:  We have been. For years we have been promoting social progress in 
constructive ways.

C: Your series of articles, such as The People’s Nation (《人民的国家 
<http://xuzhiyong2012.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-post_6449.html>》), echo 
totally the western system, and they are anti-party and anti-socialism. 
Your organization has grown to several thousand people over only a few 
months. Your actions have already constituted a crime, actually multiple 
crimes.

Me:  Aren’t the communist party and socialism western products? May I ask, 
what is socialism? If a market economy is socialist, why is democracy and 
the rule of law, which we are pursuing, not socialist? Does socialism 
necessarily exclude democracy and the rule of law? As for anti-party, it 
is such an extreme charge. We support what we think are the right 
policies, and we oppose what we think are the wrong policies. In addition, 
I harbor no hostility towards anyone. If the Communist Party continues to 
rule the country through elections, I will support it. If it’s a crime for 
citizens to gather for dinner, discussing current affairs, serving 
society, and calling for officials to disclose their wealth, then you are 
making any accusation you want, and you will be sentencing me however you 
want. I don’t care.

D, at this point, interjected at great length on how awful western 
countries, especially the United States, were. He said, you, Xu Zhiyong, 
would most likely be a traitor of the Chinese people in the future, and 
many online have said the same thing about you. I answered seriously, 
“Most likely, I love China more than you do! When you have time, you 
should read my essay Go Back to China (《回到中国去 
<http://www.politicalchina.org/NewsInfo.asp?NewsID=178353>》) to see a 
Chinese’s experiences and reflections in the United States. And you, how 
many of you corrupt officials have sent your wealth overseas?

C: Loving the party, the country and the people is a trinity. Since you 
don’t love the party, how can you possibly love the country and the people?

Me:  My fatherland is 5,000 years old, this party from the west is less 
than 100 years old, and it will not be ruling China forever. How could 
there be a trinity? I love China, I love the 1.3 billion people, but I 
don’t love the party. One of the reasons is that it has inflicted on my 
country too many cruelties with millions having died of hunger and the 
Cultural Revolution thoroughly destroying Chinese culture and the nation’s 
spirit. Another reason is that, the party today is too dirty. There are so 
many corrupt officials. They lie blatantly when they apply for party 
membership and they lie blatantly when they swear into it: How many of 
them are really devoting themselves to communism? I abhor lies; I abhor 
the unscrupulousness with which some pursue their desires; and I abhor 
someone who lies even when he or she makes a vow.

C: I would say you are a man when you dare say you don’t love the party. 
Given that it’s not bad that you advocate freedom, justice and love, given 
that your intentions are good, we hope to educate you and we hope you will 
love the party, give up these civic activities, make more contact with 
people from all walks of life, and see things more objectively.

Me:  Thank you for reminding me. I will do my best to be objective and 
reasonable. I examine social ills, but I also watch CCTV’s evening news. I 
am willing to take advice on specific activities that might not be 
perfectly without fault. Some actions might have been too rash, and we can 
stop for now. All these can be discussed, but don’t say anything about 
committing crimes.

C: I know I will not be able to change your views easily. I have read your 
files. You have been consistent like a pin for all these years, and your 
position has been there and has never moved. We’ll continue next time. 
What is a good time for you, tomorrow afternoon, or the afternoon of the 
day after tomorrow?

Me: Tomorrow will be fine.

Around 7 pm, I was taken back home, still under strict house arrest.

Xu Zhiyong’s “Talks” with Beijing’s Public Security Chief Three Weeks 
before His Detention (2) 
<http://chinachange.org/2013/07/24/xu-zhiyongs-talks-with-beijings-public-s
ecurity-chief-three-weeks-before-his-detention-2/>
Xu Zhiyong’s “Talks” with Beijing’s Public Security Chief Three Weeks 
before His Detention (3) 
<http://chinachange.org/2013/07/29/xu-zhiyongs-talks-with-beijings-public-s
ecurity-chief-three-weeks-before-his-detention-3/>
Xu Zhiyong Criminally Detained, Home Searched 
<http://chinachange.org/2013/07/16/xu-zhiyong-summoned-by-police-home-searc
hed/>
Citizen’s Statement Regarding the Arrest of Ten Advocates for Demanding 
Disclosure of Officials’ Assets 
<http://chinachange.org/2013/05/25/citizens-statement-regarding-the-arrest-
of-ten-advocates-for-disclosure-of-officials-assets/>
The Last Ten Years 
<http://chinachange.org/2013/06/05/the-last-ten-years/>, a review of Gong 
Meng’s work by Xu Zhiyong
New Citizens’ Movement by Xu Zhiyong 
<http://chinachange.org/2012/07/11/china-needs-a-new-citizens-movement-xu-z
hiyongs-%E8%AE%B8%E5%BF%97%E6%B0%B8-controversial-essay/>
Chinese original <http://msguancha.com/a/lanmu4/2013/0719/7972.html>