U.S. House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) has nominated Peng Lifa, who’s known as “the Bridgeman” for his one-man protest on the Beijing Sitong Bridge in 2022 against the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its leader, Xi Jinping, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The nomination was announced on Oct. 13, the one-year anniversary of Mr. Peng’s protest.
Overseas Chinese in many cities around the world held rallies in front of Chinese consulates shouting slogans against the CCP’s authoritarian rule and calling for Mr. Peng’s release.
“We don’t want COVID tests, we want food,“ the banners read. ”We don’t want Cultural Revolution, we want reform. We don’t want lockdowns, we want freedom. We don’t want an autocrat, we want votes. We don’t want lies, we want dignity. We are citizens, not slaves.”
He was quickly taken away by CCP police.
The video of Mr. Peng’s protest went viral and ignited demonstrations across China, which led to the CCP abandoning the lockdowns and restrictions in December 2022.
He also criticized Apple for helping the CCP attempt to prevent the Chinese people from sharing videos of Mr. Peng’s story and protests inspired by him in China.
“Apple rolls out an update in November [2022],“ he said. ”Apple’s AirDrop update has helped choke off the protests.”
Mr. Gallagher said it’s a story about “courage and cowardice.”
“Today, I’m nominating Peng Lifa for the Nobel Prize,“ he said in the closing moments of the video. ”The world needs to hear his story—one that I fear Apple doesn’t want you to hear.
“We don’t want lies, we want dignity.”
The Sitong Bridge protest shocked the world. Mr. Peng’s whereabouts remain unknown, even as volunteers have searched extensively over the past year.
Li Shengliang, founder of the “CCP Fiend List,” told The Epoch Times that he and other volunteers eventually located Mr. Peng’s relatives and friends, although none of them knew where Mr. Peng was being held, and his family didn’t receive any notifications. Even his relatives and friends were controlled and silenced by the regime.
“The Sitong Bridge protest awakened the entire Chinese populace to take action,“ he said. ”For the first time, they shouted on the streets to take down the Communist Party. This inspired too many people.
“We should always remember Peng Lifa (also known as Peng Zaizhou) for his contributions to the Chinese people’s pursuit of freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
former Beijing lawyer Liang Shaohua told The Epoch Times on Oct. 14, “We strongly agree with the nomination of Peng Lifa as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. The whole world is paying attention to Peng Lifa, not only the Chinese world, but the entire democratic world.
“Under the severe suppression of the CCP, when Chinese society entered the state of a chilling effect, he shouted out what people want in public.
Protests Spring Up in Support of Peng
On Oct. 14, Chinese democratic activists held a rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, shouting “Where is Peng Lifa?” and demanding that the CCP release Mr. Peng. Chinese immigrants also held banners in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and on an overpass in Los Angeles in support of Mr. Peng.On Oct. 13, in New York’s Times Square, pro-democracy Chinese held a rally to demand Mr. Peng’s release.
On Oct. 14, dozens of overseas Chinese held a rally to support Mr. Peng in New Zealand. There were also some Chinese who held banners in front of the “June 4 [Tiananmen Massacre] Monument,” shouting slogans to take down the Chinese Communist Party and repeating Mr. Peng’s slogans on Sitong Bridge while urging his release.
That same day, Chinese immigrants in London held banners and shouted slogans in support of Mr. Peng in front of the Chinese Consulate. Some protesters also hung multiple banners on London Bridge, including copies of the Sitong Bridge banners: “CCP step down,” ”Where is Peng Lifa?” and others.
