“Many people no longer dare to speak”

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  Sjoerd den Daas

  correspondent China

The Chinese Communist Party Congress has yet to begin, but the outcome has actually already been decided. Opponents and critics have been silenced and most of the noses are in the same direction within the party. And so President Xi Jinping will only have to resume his unusual third term as party leader at the 20th party congress next week.

“The world has been turned upside down,” said a member of the Gansu party. He is on a study trip with colleagues from the provincial government to Jiaxing, the place where the first party congress on the so-called Red Boat was completed in 1921. Previously he had been rented by Mao Zedong and associates. Shortly before, the Communists had been expelled from Shanghai, where the meeting had initially begun.

“At that time we still had to hide from the Japanese and the nationalists, they all wanted to take us,” says the party member. “The twentieth party congress is a celebration for the whole country. Obviously we are hoping for Xi.”

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An opinion that, not surprisingly, is shared by other party members who flock to the Red Boat on Southern Lake in Jiaxing. “This is the cradle of the revolution,” says one of the study group, in the place where there are practically no tourists due to Covid restrictions. “The Chinese people have risen from here. China has developed rapidly, life is improving every day.”

For a large part of the population, in the end, life really improved. After the disaster years under Mao, prosperity came. Civil society has again been given a space, albeit limited. Under Xi, that limited space has disappeared like snow in the sun, even Yu Wensheng knows. The human rights lawyer called for far-reaching reforms to the constitution in 2018 and also suggested free elections.

“The next day I was arrested,” said Yu, who was released earlier this year. He went out into a world he no longer recognized, partly due to the strict restrictions of the crown in China.

“Four years ago, everyone had the freedom to move,” explains Yu. “That freedom is gone. Now everyone seems to be wearing electronic handcuffs,” she says of mandatory corona apps and the authorities’ hunger for data. “I feel like I’ve gone from a small prison to a big prison.”

Strong words, at a time when most critics no longer dare to open their mouths. But Yu, who has been tortured and had to share his cell with murderers, rapists, thieves and scammers, still does and knows the risks like no other.

“When I proposed constitutional amendments in 2018, I was arrested the next day,” said Yu, who is more cautious. “I know it could happen again. I’m not going to say if I’ll do it again or not, but it’s not likely. I want to be there now for my wife and son, who have had difficult years,” she said.

“One day I may be arrested again, but I hope it will take a while.” The authorities do not allow him to speak to the media, he is still under surveillance.

The fragile hopes among the more progressive Chinese of a freer and more democratic China seem to have almost vanished under Xi. “Ten years ago there was still room for talking and people defending human rights,” Yu said of the period before 2012, when Xi took power. “In today’s environment, many people no longer dare to speak.”

It was even more remarkable that a banner was found on Thursday on the Sitong Bridge, a large viaduct, in Beijing’s university district. “We don’t want PCR, we want food. We don’t want blocks, we want freedom”, it reads. “Down with the dictatorial traitor Xi Jinping”.

There have been many protests in recent months, but they have mostly been directed against the ongoing blockades. Hardly anyone dares any more personal attacks on the Communist Party leader. The day before the opening of the twentieth party congress, most of the bridges in the capital were equipped with agents and volunteers. Beijing is under high tension.

For Jiaxing students, the Xi party leader cannot be wrong. “We trust him completely,” said Wang Yue, a member of the Communist Youth League. “We think he will stay forever,” said his fellow student Gao Yangyi.

But for people like Yu, who has had to give up his lawyer badge and has no “political rights” for three years, the future is uncertain. “I may not fight like I did before,” she says calmly. “I don’t know what my fate will be after the 20th party congress, but if I don’t get arrested I could do something again for human rights and the rule of law.”