On the eve of the second anniversary of the Four-Way Bridge incident in Beijing, American musician Gray released a music video “Hand over to Us, Peng Zaizhou” demanding the Chinese authorities to release Peng Zaizhou.
Gray wrote on the social platform X: “On October 13, 2022, at Four-Way Bridge in Beijing, he launched a solo act of resistance. He first ignited a fire to attract attention and hung a banner full of his appeals to the Chinese (CCP) government. Before this, he posted a manifesto on X (Twitter), claiming to be ‘Peng Zaizhou’. Since then, he has disappeared without a trace. If he is still alive, he is probably being constantly tortured in prison.
We urge the Communist Party of China to respond: Where is the man who identified himself as ‘Peng Zaizhou’ (also known as Peng Lifa)? We demand an independent humanitarian medical team to visit to ensure his personal safety, physical health, and conditions of imprisonment. We demand the CCP to publicly address all accusations, prosecutions, and judgments against him. Most importantly, we demand his immediate and unconditional release.”
Peng Zaizhou, originally named Peng Lifa, aged 50, is from Tailai County, Heilongjiang Province.
On October 13, 2022, Peng Lifa hung two long banners in the bustling Four-Way Bridge in Beijing. One banner read: “Don’t want nucleic acid tests, want to eat! Don’t want lockdowns, want freedom! Don’t want lies, want dignity! Don’t want Cultural Revolution, want reform! Don’t want leaders, want votes! Don’t be a slave, be a citizen!” The other banner read: “Boycott classes, strike, and remove the dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping.”
Peng Lifa disguised himself as a construction worker to hang the banners, lit items to create smoke to attract pedestrians and passing vehicles, and used a megaphone to make his appeals.
He stayed at the protest scene without planning an escape afterwards, gaining the maximum attention time until the police escorted him into a police car, after which he went missing. He had also written essays in advance such as “Strategy for Boycott, Strike, and Remove Xi Jinping,” but his Twitter content was quickly cleared.
The Four-Way Bridge incident is considered the beginning of the White Paper Movement. Shortly after the Four-Way Bridge incident, in November 2022, the White Paper Movement swept across China, ultimately forcing the CCP authorities to abandon the extreme control that had lasted for three years.