A Year After Sitong Bridge Protest, Netizens Ask “Where Is Peng Lifa?”

A 12 months after his protest in opposition to Xi Jinping and the Chinese language Communist Occasion atop Beijing’s Sitong Bridge, netizens proceed to ask: the place is Peng Lifa? On October 13, 2022, Peng hung two banners from Sitong Bridge that learn: “We wish meals, not COVID assessments; reform, not Cultural Revolution. We wish freedom, not lockdowns; elections, not rulers. We wish dignity, not lies. Be residents, not slaves”; and, “Boycott lessons. Boycott work. Depose the traitorous despot Xi Jinping.” Peng was detained shortly after and has been incommunicado since. His protest impressed a world marketing campaign of protest artwork. Regardless of nigh unprecedented all-out censorship inside China’s borders, photographs of his protest unfold throughout China via means each high- and low-tech. Some used Apple Airdrop to share photographs of the protest with others on the Guangzhou subway. Others graffitied his slogans on public restroom partitions. In late November, the true impression of Peng’s October protest turned clear as tens of hundreds took to the streets throughout China within the White Paper Protests, a few of them chanting the slogans Peng coined. At Voice of America, Ye Bing reported on Peng Lifa’s whereabouts and the state’s surveillance and detention of his members of the family and associates:

Shortly arrested that day, Peng Lifa, whose on-line identify is Peng Zaizhou, stays in detention at an unknown location, and his shut members of the family stay below authorities watch, in accordance with sources accustomed to the case who didn’t need to be named for concern of attracting official consideration.

Authorities have but to ship to his household any authorized paperwork associated to his case, the sources informed VOA Mandarin, and his relations and associates haven’t been capable of rent a lawyer to supply him with authorized help.

[…] Peng Lifa’s spouse, Han Yang, and their two underage daughters stay in Beijing. Authorities have organized transportation for his or her each day commutes to work and college. They’re accompanied by authorities personnel wherever they go, the sources informed VOA Mandarin, describing an upended household.

As a result of the federal government confiscated the cellphones belonging to Peng Lifa’s spouse and daughters to “defend” them, they have to use ones issued by the authorities.

Peng Lifa’s father-in-law, Han Yueci, who used to run a small enterprise, has been assigned by the Public Safety Bureau to work and stay at a small manufacturing facility and is below surveillance. Peng Lifa’s mother-in-law, who used to stay in Beijing, now lives along with her eldest daughter in Jilin Province in northeastern China, bordering North Korea and Russia. She is probably going below surveillance. [Source]

An enormous array of phrases, some solely tangentially associated to the protest, have been censored in its aftermath. On Weibo, searches for “courageous,” “the courageous one,” “bridge,”  “salute,” “Haidian,” and “hero” solely returned outcomes from government-affiliated accounts, or “Blue Vs,” indicating intense censorship. Weibo suspended at the least one user who wrote merely, “I noticed it.” Weibo additionally banned the hashtag #Beijing. Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese language sister app, restricted search outcomes for “Beijing” to authorities affiliated accounts. Searches for “Sitong Bridge” returned subsequent to no outcomes throughout Weibo, Zhihu, Douban, and Baidu. In at the least one case, sharing a picture of the protest in a WeChat group led to a 24-hour ban from the platform’s group chat and Moments options. QQ Music deleted all feedback below the music “The Courageous One” by No Occasion For Cao Dong. Apple Music eliminated the music “Sitong Bridge” from its Chinese language streaming service and Baidu eliminated a web page on the music from its digital encyclopedia. 

The state’s efforts to erase Peng’s protest haven’t abated. In late 2022 police arrested a Chinese language artist who painted a portrait of Peng and posted it to Twitter. In 2023, authorities eliminated the bodily Sitong Bridge signal and it was subsequently erased from all digital maps as effectively. A human rights lawyer who tried to go to Peng’s hometown was blocked from getting into his village by plainclothes police after which detained for twenty-four hours. 

Even so, Peng’s protest has not been forgotten. The next are feedback chosen from Twitter and Pincong, a Chinese language-language discussion board blocked in China however nonetheless well-liked amongst mainland customers hoping to debate politics: 

EthanZ666888：Peng Lifa, courageous warrior, the place are you?

Canglingge：Peng Lifa’s deeds ought to be inscribed in stone! He performed no small half in ending the pandemic restrictions. Now that everybody has the liberty to stroll out their entrance door, don’t overlook the one who made it potential!

萨格尔王掀翻池塘：If Liu Xiaobo was the standard-bearer of the 1989 era’s struggle for freedom in opposition to tyranny, then Peng Zaizhou and program-think are, for sure, our modern main lights. Liu Xiaobo has handed away, and the perfect we are able to hope is that Messrs. Peng and program-think stay protected. Historical past will certainly present them a simply appraisal, however it’s crucial that as their contemporaries, we proceed to indicate our concern for them, observe their instance, and even (to the extent that it’s potential) to try to save lots of them. 

Legend2020：Historical past is on Mr. Peng’s aspect. So long as he lives the Occasion will fall and democracy will arrive. [Chinese]

Twitter account @whyyoutouzhele shared screenshots of Chinese language-language remembrances of Peng Lifa that have been posted to Weibo: