Liu Xiaobo and the Citizens’ Rights Movement: A New Face for China’s Democracy Movement in 2003

• Main Authors: Perry Link, Weiping Cui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Sun Yat-sen University 2019-06-01
• Series: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal
• Subjects: Liu Xiaobo; Communist Party of China; June Fourth massacre; democracy movement; citizens’ rights movement
• Online Access: http://icaps.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/CCPS5(2)-Link-Cui.pdf

The June Fourth massacre illustrated the fatal risks involved in complaining directly to the Communist Party of China’s top leadership. In ensuing years, liberal-minded intellectuals did not abandon the goal of democratic reform but switched to a very different approach. It was: to seek justice in concrete cases and to garner popular support for them by spreading word on the Internet or in the semi-open press. When authorities were exposed as violating law or fundamental morality, they were obliged to do reforms, some of which could become permanent. One had to be careful, though, not to anger the authorities, because crackdowns could destroy fragile progress before it had a chance to solidify. Liu Xiaobo was an active practitioner and supporter of this approach.