Democracy Wall

During the November 1978 to December 1979, thousands of people put up "big character poster" on a long brick wall of Xidan Street, Xicheng District of Beijing, to protest about the political and social issues of China. Under acquiescence of the Chinese government, other kinds of protest activities, such as unofficial journals (Chinese: 地下刊物), petitions, and demonstrations, were also soon spreading out in major cities of China. This movement can be seen as the beginning of the Chinese Democracy Movement. It also known as the "Democracy Wall Movement" (Chinese: 民主牆運動). This short period of political liberation was called as "Beijing Spring".

In 1966, when Mao Zedong launched the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution, millions of middle school, high school, and college students answered Mao's call, organized as the "Red Guards" to rebel and root out the "capitalist roaders" in the Chinese Communist Party. But, in 1969, for restoring the social order, Mao launched the "Down to the Countryside Movement" to exile the "Red Guards" to rural areas. This movement caused a lot of red guards to feel abandoned by Mao.

In 1971, Lin Biao's attempted coup and death deeply shook the people's faith on Mao and the Cultural Revolution. On November 19, 1974, Li Yizhe's (Chinese: 李一哲) paper appeared on a wall in Guangdong Province. The 67 pages of the paper focused on: (1) Damage to the citizens caused by bureaucratic corruptions of the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution; and (2) the need to practice democracy and a legal system in China. This big character poster proved that people started to re-evaluate the Cultural Revolution and political system of China.

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