On December 10, 2024, on the International Human Rights Day, members of the China Democracy Party gathered outside the Chinese consulate in New York, holding banners that read “Release all political prisoners” and listing the names of political prisoners currently detained by the Chinese Communist Party. Some young people bravely shouted slogans such as “Down with the Chinese Communist Party,” sharing their own experiences and urging people to pay attention to the human rights violations by the CCP.
One of the post-90s generation, Gong Kai, joined the gathering and expressed that he had only arrived in the United States last year and it was his first time participating in World Human Rights Day activities. “We just want to voice our concerns because China is the country with the least human rights and the most severe human rights violations,” he said.
Gong Kai shared his family’s experiences of persecution under the CCP regime. His grandfather, originally a soldier in the Nationalist Party, was later forced by the Communist Party to serve as cannon fodder on the Korean battlefield and was shot in the back, contrary to the propaganda spread by the CCP that these individuals volunteered for frontline duty. His mother nearly starved to death during the Great Famine manufactured by the CCP in the 1960s, while he himself faced persecution under the CCP’s one-child policy for being a third-born.
Having learned more truths about the CCP’s brutal treatment of the people by circumventing the Great Firewall in China, Gong Kai made efforts to escape to the United States. He realized that “the premise for human rights in China is the collapse of the Communist Party; the Communist Party must step down because it is the root cause of human rights violations in China, the biggest violator of human rights.”
Another activist, Wu Pingqi, who was involved in new citizen movements such as “Human Rights Watch” and the “Citizen Alliance Movement” in Hubei province, also attended the event and called for the CCP to release all prisoners of conscience. Even though he is in the U.S., his friends like Qin Yongmin are still imprisoned by the CCP.
“They are heroes and conscience of our nation, fighting for the rights of the Chinese people, and such people should not be persecuted,” Wu Pingqi stated.
Wu Pingqi’s daughter, Wu Xiaojuan, along with other democracy advocates, shouted “Down with the Chinese Communist Party.” Despite being part of the younger generation, she discovered that under the CCP’s rule, basic human rights are non-existent for the Chinese people.
She pointed out that in China, everyone is subjected to patriotic brainwashing education, and that “any dissenting voice must be suppressed.” “But I believe patriotism is not equivalent to loving the Party,” she added.
She recounted how her father couldn’t bear the CCP’s authoritarian rule and escaped to the U.S., while she and her family faced continuous harassment by state security in China. “They were very rude to my mother and even dragged me away,” she said.
The continued harassment by the authorities left them feeling increasingly fearful, leading Wu Xiaojuan and her family to eventually take the step to seek safety in the United States.