Following one man’s daring political protest against Xi Jinping’s continued rule and harsh zero-COVID policies on the eve of China’s 20th Communist Party Congress, citizens and activists have launched a poster campaign in solidarity with the protester’s demands. Due to heavy censorship of protest-related text, video, and images on Chinese social media, much of the protest art is being shared via Telegram, Twitter, and other social media outside the Great Firewall, and via Apple’s local wireless file sharing feature AirDrop within it. Chinese students abroad have joined in as well, posting handwritten signs and posters at a variety of university campuses around the world.
While the posters display creativity and variety, many quote directly from the two banners displayed by the protester on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge on October 13. One banner read, “We want food, not nucleic acid tests / Freedom, not lockdowns / Dignity, not lies / Reform, not Cultural Revolution / Elections, not rulers / To be citizens, not slaves.” The other banner exhorted, “Boycott classes. Boycott work. Depose the traitorous despot Xi Jinping.”
The following is an initial collection of protest posters collected, archived, and translated by CDT Chinese editors:
Red text:
Get off the bus when it reaches the final stop.
Accept responsibility for your mistakes and resign.
Black text, top:
We want food, not nucleic acid tests
Freedom, not lockdowns
Dignity, not lies
Reform, not Cultural Revolution
Elections, not rulers
To be citizens, not slaves
Red text, bottom:
Destroy the old world.
Build a new world.
Still photo of the October 13, 2022 protest at Sitong Bridge, with superimposed text:
On October 13, 2022, on the eve of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Party Congress, Sitong Bridge in Beijing’s Haidian District was the site of a rare political protest in opposition to Xi Jinping’s reappointment [for a third term] and his “dynamic zero-COVID” policy. The lone protester has been arrested by the police, and news of the protest has been completely blocked in mainland China. Any discussion of the topic on social media will be met with a permanent account ban. October 13, 2022.
Red text:
We freedom, not lockdowns.
The flames of Sitong Bridge cannot be extinguished.
Dear Chairman Xi Jinping, kindly get off the bus when it reaches the final stop.
Accept responsibility for your mistakes and resign.
October 13, 2022
Top two rows:
Don’t be silent
Protest peacefully
Bottom six columns:
We want food, not nucleic acid tests
Freedom, not lockdowns
Dignity, not lies
Reform, not Cultural Revolution
Elections, not rulers
To be citizens, not slaves
Large dark grey characters, top:
I saw it!
Light grey text within larger characters, top:
We want food, not nucleic acid tests
Freedom, not lockdowns
Dignity, not lies
Reform, not Cultural Revolution
Elections, not rulers
To be citizens, not slaves
Red text on white banner:
Boycott classes
Boycott work
Depose the traitorous despot Xi Jinping
Top:
Abolish corrupt practices
Turn over a new leaf
Yellow text, top:
Oppose “zero-COVID” political persecution
Yellow text, middle and bottom:
ANTI ZERO COVID
ANTI POLITICAL PERSECUTION
Black text, top:
One button, three sequences
Leaves a long legacy of harmful consequences
Three red symbols, left to right:
A Han Dynasty crown
The traditional character for “Xi”
A face mask
Two gray posters depict the October 13, 2022, protest at Sitong Bridge. The top poster shows a lone protester, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and yellow hard hat, standing on a bridge with his red and white banners, and gray smoke rising into the air. The bottom poster is a close-up of the smoke and the protester, whose face is not visible.
A simple rendering of Tiananmen Gate shows smoke rising from Mao Zedong’s portrait in the center of the gate.
This abstract rendering of one of the bridge protest banners uses symbols such as Xs and Os, ears, feet, hands, shackled feet, chains, DNA helixes, COVID test cards, and mouths being swabbed to get its point across.
Top to bottom:
We want food, not nucleic acid tests
Freedom, not lockdowns
Dignity, not lies
Reform, not Cultural Revolution
Elections, not rulers
To be citizens, not slaves
Hashtags:
#NotMyChairman
#NotMyPresident [Chinese]
