Tuidang movement
Encyclopedia
The Tuidang movement is a Chinese dissident phenomenon that began in late 2004. The movement, whose name translates literally as “withdraw from the [Communist] party,” was catalyzed by the publication of the editorial series “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” (Jiuping Gongchandang) in the U.S.-based Chinese-language newspaper The Epoch Times
(Dajiyuan; affiliated with the Falun Gong
movement). The series criticised Communist Party rule in China, with a focus on the party’s history of political repression, its propaganda apparatus, and its assaults on traditional culture and value systems.
Soon after the publication the Nine Commentaries, The Epoch Times began publishing letters from readers wishing to symbolically disavow their affiliations to Communist Party organizations, including the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers
. Over 100,000,000 individuals have purportedly submitted these statements, though the frequent use of pseudonyms makes these numbers impossible to verify independently. Among the movement's participants are political dissidents, lawyers, scholars, diplomats, and former police or military personnel.
movement’s resistance to suppression in China.
Falun Gong is a qigong
practice with roots in Buddhist and Daoist philosophy which achieved great popularity in the 1990s. Since 1999 it has seen heavy persecution from the Communist Party of China (CPC).
In the early 2000s, United States-based practitioners created news organizations intended to challenge the Communist Party’s hegemony over Chinese-language media and provide an opposition voice. Through these organizations, notably The Epoch Times
and New Tang Dynasty Television
, Falun Gong came to establish a “de facto media alliance” with other Chinese dissident groups.
As part of its struggle against the CPC, The Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in November 2004, and began inviting readers to renounce the party. Hu Ping describes this foray into political commentary a “logical progression” resulting from Falun Gong’s inability to end the persecution against them through other means, but points out that the practice itself is apolitical in nature: “Originally Falun Gong aimed the brunt of its criticism at Jiang Zemin
, but after Jiang left office and the new Hu Jintao regime refused to rehabilitate Falun Gong and continued to persecute practitioners, Falun Gong broadened its aim to include the entire regime and the Communist Party ... This change, if not exactly natural, must surely be considered reasonable. If some people insist on regarding Falun Gong as political, it can only be in the sense that Vaclav Havel described as “antipolitical politics.”
and resulting famine, the Cultural Revolution
, the destruction and appropriation of religions, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the persecution of Falun Gong
, among other topics which are subject to censorship in Mainland China.
In addition to the historical accounts, the Nine Commentaries contains lengthy editorializing on the nature and character of the Communist Party, arguing that it is innately violent, duplicitous, immoral, and that its philosophy betrays the Tao
and universal laws. Unlike some Chinese dissident movements that draw heavily on liberal democratic concepts,the Tuidang movement “employs distinctly Chinese language and meaning. More Confucian than humanist, [the Nine Commentaries] often makes its points by drawing on Buddhist and Daoist spirituality. Denouncing the party is thus not simply political activism, but takes on spiritual meaning as a process of cleansing the conscience and reconnecting to traditional ethics and values.”
The Nine Commentaries does not explicitly set out recommendations for an alternative political system in China, nor does it view institutional change as the solution to the country’s ills. It is like other Falun Gong writings, which in the words of historian Arthur Waldron, “espouse cures to the pathologies of communism in the traditional Chinese values of truthfulness and human heartedness.”
The series itself has received mixed reviews in the Western world. Historian David Ownby writes of the series “Although there is undoubtedly some truth in the commentaries, they lack balance and nuance, and read like the anti-Communist propaganda written in Taiwan in the 1950s.” By contrast, the Asian American Journalists Association bestowed an award on the Epoch Times for the series’ publication in 2005.
Activists within China adopt their own methods of dissemination, including distributing copies door-to-door, and writing or printing the movement’s slogans on paper currency or displaying them in public locations.
, Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers
. The newspaper created a dedicated website to the cause, which featured an online submission form for statements. For reasons of personal safety, most participants sign using aliases.
The process of issuing withdrawal statements is referred to in Chinese as “Tuìdǎng” (退党), which can be translated as “withdraw from the party” or “quit the party.” The term is something of a misnomer; participants do not “quit” so much as symbolically disavow the party. Moreover, most were never true Communist Party members, but instead members of the Youth League or Young Pioneers.
As of August 2011, The Epoch Times has posted over 100 million names (or aliases) of Tuidang participants. Due to the anonymous nature of the statements, these numbers are impossible to independently verify, and it is possible that some postings to the website are dishonest. Nonetheless, says Ethan Gutmann, “the significance is very real. [The Tuidang statements] are promissory gestures of rejection from Chinese citizens of all backgrounds and beliefs. And while the numbers are as shaky as any Internet-based survey, I think we can say with confidence that it is well into the millions.”
, a leader of the 1978 Beijing Spring democracy movement; human rights lawyers
including Gao Zhisheng
, Guo Guoting
, and Zheng Enchong
; and defectors Chen Yonglin
, Hao Fengjun and Li Fengzhi.
Other participants whose stories have attracted media attention are Masha Ma, a University of Toronto graduate student who resigned from the Communist Party after watching a documentary on the Tiananmen Square Massacre and reading the Nine Commentaries. 74-year-old Ding Weikun, Communist Party veteran from Zhejiang Province renounced his membership after he was jailed his protests against a land grab by the local government in his village.
The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times is a multi-language, international media organisation. As a newspaper, the Times has been publishing in Chinese since May 2000. It was founded in 1999 by supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline....
(Dajiyuan; affiliated with the Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
movement). The series criticised Communist Party rule in China, with a focus on the party’s history of political repression, its propaganda apparatus, and its assaults on traditional culture and value systems.
Soon after the publication the Nine Commentaries, The Epoch Times began publishing letters from readers wishing to symbolically disavow their affiliations to Communist Party organizations, including the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers
Young Pioneers of China
The Young Pioneers of China is a mass youth organization for children aged six to fourteen in the People's Republic of China. The Young Pioneers of China is run by the Communist Youth League, an organization of older youth that comes under the Communist Party of China...
. Over 100,000,000 individuals have purportedly submitted these statements, though the frequent use of pseudonyms makes these numbers impossible to verify independently. Among the movement's participants are political dissidents, lawyers, scholars, diplomats, and former police or military personnel.
Background
The Tuidang movement, and the publication of the Nine Commentaries in particular, can be understood in part as an outgrowth of the Falun GongFalun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
movement’s resistance to suppression in China.
Falun Gong is a qigong
Qigong
Qigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...
practice with roots in Buddhist and Daoist philosophy which achieved great popularity in the 1990s. Since 1999 it has seen heavy persecution from the Communist Party of China (CPC).
In the early 2000s, United States-based practitioners created news organizations intended to challenge the Communist Party’s hegemony over Chinese-language media and provide an opposition voice. Through these organizations, notably The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times is a multi-language, international media organisation. As a newspaper, the Times has been publishing in Chinese since May 2000. It was founded in 1999 by supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline....
and New Tang Dynasty Television
New Tang Dynasty Television
New Tang Dynasty Television is a television broadcaster based in New York City, with correspondents in over 70 cities worldwide. The company was founded by Falun Gong practitioners...
, Falun Gong came to establish a “de facto media alliance” with other Chinese dissident groups.
As part of its struggle against the CPC, The Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in November 2004, and began inviting readers to renounce the party. Hu Ping describes this foray into political commentary a “logical progression” resulting from Falun Gong’s inability to end the persecution against them through other means, but points out that the practice itself is apolitical in nature: “Originally Falun Gong aimed the brunt of its criticism at Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
, but after Jiang left office and the new Hu Jintao regime refused to rehabilitate Falun Gong and continued to persecute practitioners, Falun Gong broadened its aim to include the entire regime and the Communist Party ... This change, if not exactly natural, must surely be considered reasonable. If some people insist on regarding Falun Gong as political, it can only be in the sense that Vaclav Havel described as “antipolitical politics.”
Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party
The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party is a book-length collection of nine editorials which present a critical history of Communist Party rule from the Yan'an Rectification Movement to the present. It details events such as the Great Leap ForwardGreat Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China , reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern...
and resulting famine, the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, the destruction and appropriation of religions, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the persecution of Falun Gong
Persecution of Falun Gong
The persecution of Falun Gong refers to the campaign initiated by the Chinese Communist Party against practitioners of Falun Gong since July 1999, aimed at eliminating the practice in the People's Republic of China...
, among other topics which are subject to censorship in Mainland China.
In addition to the historical accounts, the Nine Commentaries contains lengthy editorializing on the nature and character of the Communist Party, arguing that it is innately violent, duplicitous, immoral, and that its philosophy betrays the Tao
Tao
Dao or Tao is a Chinese word meaning 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes more loosely, 'doctrine' or 'principle'...
and universal laws. Unlike some Chinese dissident movements that draw heavily on liberal democratic concepts,the Tuidang movement “employs distinctly Chinese language and meaning. More Confucian than humanist, [the Nine Commentaries] often makes its points by drawing on Buddhist and Daoist spirituality. Denouncing the party is thus not simply political activism, but takes on spiritual meaning as a process of cleansing the conscience and reconnecting to traditional ethics and values.”
The Nine Commentaries does not explicitly set out recommendations for an alternative political system in China, nor does it view institutional change as the solution to the country’s ills. It is like other Falun Gong writings, which in the words of historian Arthur Waldron, “espouse cures to the pathologies of communism in the traditional Chinese values of truthfulness and human heartedness.”
The series itself has received mixed reviews in the Western world. Historian David Ownby writes of the series “Although there is undoubtedly some truth in the commentaries, they lack balance and nuance, and read like the anti-Communist propaganda written in Taiwan in the 1950s.” By contrast, the Asian American Journalists Association bestowed an award on the Epoch Times for the series’ publication in 2005.
Dissemination in China
Copies of the Nine Commentaries have been sent into China from abroad by email, fax, or snail mail. In February 2006, Forbes magazine estimated that over 172 million copies had been sent into China through these means. A documentary version of the series is broadcast into Mainland China via satellite by New Tang Dynasty Television. The internet has also played an important role both in disseminating copies of the Nine Commentaries and circulating information on the resulting response.Activists within China adopt their own methods of dissemination, including distributing copies door-to-door, and writing or printing the movement’s slogans on paper currency or displaying them in public locations.
Withdrawing from the Party
Following the publication of the Nine Commentaries, The Epoch Times' website began publishing letters from readers stating their desire to sever their affiliations to the Communist PartyCommunist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
, Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers
Young Pioneers of China
The Young Pioneers of China is a mass youth organization for children aged six to fourteen in the People's Republic of China. The Young Pioneers of China is run by the Communist Youth League, an organization of older youth that comes under the Communist Party of China...
. The newspaper created a dedicated website to the cause, which featured an online submission form for statements. For reasons of personal safety, most participants sign using aliases.
The process of issuing withdrawal statements is referred to in Chinese as “Tuìdǎng” (退党), which can be translated as “withdraw from the party” or “quit the party.” The term is something of a misnomer; participants do not “quit” so much as symbolically disavow the party. Moreover, most were never true Communist Party members, but instead members of the Youth League or Young Pioneers.
As of August 2011, The Epoch Times has posted over 100 million names (or aliases) of Tuidang participants. Due to the anonymous nature of the statements, these numbers are impossible to independently verify, and it is possible that some postings to the website are dishonest. Nonetheless, says Ethan Gutmann, “the significance is very real. [The Tuidang statements] are promissory gestures of rejection from Chinese citizens of all backgrounds and beliefs. And while the numbers are as shaky as any Internet-based survey, I think we can say with confidence that it is well into the millions.”
Notable participants
A number of high-profile Chinese dissidents are counted among the Tuidang movement’s participants. These include Wei JingshengWei Jingsheng
Wei Jingsheng is a Chinese activist known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement, most prominent for authoring the document Fifth Modernization on the "Democracy Wall" in Beijing in 1978. He is generally known for getting arrested and spending 15 years in prison due to the document...
, a leader of the 1978 Beijing Spring democracy movement; human rights lawyers
Weiquan movement
The Weiquan movement is a non-centralized group of lawyers, legal experts and intellectuals in the People's Republic of China who seek to protect and defend the civil rights of the citizenry through litigation and legal activism...
including Gao Zhisheng
Gao Zhisheng
Gao Zhisheng is a Chinese human rights attorney and dissident known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting alleged human rights abuses in China. Because of his work, Zhisheng has been disbarred and detained by the Chinese government several times and released...
, Guo Guoting
Guo Guoting
Guo Guoting , is a former Chinese lawyer, and chief partner of the Shanghai Tian Yi Law Firm. He was one of few lawyers who would defend dissidents and Falun Gong practitioners. He represented the imprisoned lawyer Zheng Enchong and journalist Shi Tao. Because of these activities, the Shanghai...
, and Zheng Enchong
Zheng Enchong
Zheng Enchong is a Shanghai-based Zheng Enchong is a [[Shanghai]]-based...
; and defectors Chen Yonglin
Chen Yonglin
Chen Yonglin is a former Chinese diplomat who sparked fears of a diplomatic incident through his defection to Australia in the summer of 2005. The episode highlighted the tensions faced by China's trade partners when concerns arise from that nation's human rights record...
, Hao Fengjun and Li Fengzhi.
Other participants whose stories have attracted media attention are Masha Ma, a University of Toronto graduate student who resigned from the Communist Party after watching a documentary on the Tiananmen Square Massacre and reading the Nine Commentaries. 74-year-old Ding Weikun, Communist Party veteran from Zhejiang Province renounced his membership after he was jailed his protests against a land grab by the local government in his village.