With Qing Ming Festival [1] getting closer, Chinese people worldwide are calling to remember the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Zhao Ziyang, and the 80 million living souls that perished under the CCP’s oppressive rule. The “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” have triggered over 600,000 withdrawals from the CCP, causing party officials to panic and respond with yet another round of arrests. The Central Government has enforced even tighter security over Internet users, especially students. Many on-line bulletin board services (BBS) have been shut down.

Chinese Worldwide Memorialize Zhiyang Zhao and 80 Million Innocent Fellow Citizens

On March 29, over 30 Chinese organizations in Australia held a “Pure White Memorial.” The event encouraged participants to wear something white- a white flower, a white handkerchief, a white jacket, a pair of white shoes and socks, a white handbag, or cover tree branches with white flower petals to memorialize Zhiyang Zhao and the 80 million Chinese people who have perished under the CCP’s rule. The former General Secretary Zhiyang Zhao was put under house arrest for fifteen years for trying to warn students at Tiananmen Square that troops were coming to massacre them. On the weekend prior to Qing Ming Festival, the “Pure White Memorial” was also held in Sydney’s China Town. The main purpose of the event was to memorialize fellow fallen Chinese countrymen and withdraw from the evil CCP. It was estimated that several hundred people attended the event.

Professor Sun Wenwang of Shandong University suggested that people in China memorialize Zhao by wearing black clothes and go to the streets or the People’s Heroes Monument. Sun thinks that this form of memorializing is easy to carry out and less risky. Bao Tong, executive secretary of former Party Chief Zhao Ziyang, published an article the night before Qing Ming Festival criticizing the CCP by stating, “One Communist Party has control over one billion civilian’s happiness, sadness, and anger.”

Beijing Observes Qing Ming Festival, Activists Arrested

Following the death of Zhao, on February 2, 2005, over 10 students from Beijing University published an open letter to call for “all college students to memorialize Zhao at Tiananmen Square on Qing Ming Festival.”

Prior to Qing Ming Festival, Beijing authority intensified its control over numerous democracy activists in order to prevent people from memorializing the June 4th Massacre and Zhao. The police drew a circle on the ground to serve as a prison boundary and placed those who lived within the circumference under house arrest or put them under police surveillance. The Epoch Times has been told that Qi Zhiyong, Pang Meiching, Wang Guoqi, and Li Mei were among those being monitored. Among them, Qi and Wang were taken to the police station and not allowed to return home. They informed us that many of their friends are also in similar situations.

China Tightens Control of Online Opinions on Eve of Qing Ming Festival

The night before Qing Ming Festival, the Chinese authority again enforced tighter control over on-line public opinions. Many top university on-line bulletin boards were re-enforced with new controls or were shut down.

Professors and students of Tsinghua University had to use their real names to sign onto their BBS and off-campus pin names were forbidden to be accessed. Beijing University forbade Internet users to surf the web anonymously. Universities in Tianjing, Nanjing, and Shanghai announced that their websites were under construction and not available to the public. Even postings on bulletin boards were not allowed. Internet users have responded strongly against these actions.

Jinan TV Stations Interrupted by “The Nine Commentaries,” Public Withdrawals Attract Attention

Although the CCP enforced tighter control over public expression, they could not prevent television stations throughout China from being interrupted by broadcasts. On March 29, at 8:30 p.m., in Jinan city of Shandong province, many television shows were interrupted with broadcasts of “The Nine Commentaries on the Communisat Party,” calling for people with a conscience to withdraw from the CCP. Since it happened at night during prime time, many people saw the contents of “The Nine Commentaries.” This was the third television interception following the March 14 and March 17 television interceptions The Chinese authority has remained silent.

Recently in Jilin and Dalian city, public withdrawals have appeared on bulletin boards giving many civilians the opportunity to read them. One civilian stated, “Even though this form of public withdrawal is less often seen, it marks the beginning. The wave of CCP withdrawals and Zhao’s memorializing events have given the Chinese people an opportunity to think about the sins the CCP has committed in its 55-year history. The CCP will be put on trial by the spirit by the Chinese people.”

Note:
[1] Qing Ming, which means clear and bright in Chinese, falls on April 5th this year. It is both the fifth term in the traditional lunar calendar and a festival to hold memorial ceremony for the dead.