At least 10 people lost their lives in a fire in a high-rise building in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China on November 24. The incident sparked anger and expressions of mourning among Chinese netizens, which triggered a speech by a Chengdu girl. The people wanted to know if there had been a delay in the arrival of fire trucks on the scene, whether or not the building was in lockdown at the time, and if it was, whether or not the residents were barred from escaping the burning building because of it.
In opposition to the lockdowns and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) “zero COVID policy,” people in many regions of China began to participate in protests on November 26 while holding blank pieces of white paper to symbolize all the news articles and social media posts that have disappeared from the Internet along with online accounts of outspoken individuals that have been taken down.
At one protest site in Southwest China in the city of Chengdu, a girl’s speech raised the question: “Is the Chinese Communist Party a mafia organization? Why can’t people speak the truth? Why?”
The Chengdu girl gives a speech
The Chengdu girl’s speech was delivered on November 27 when a large number of people gathered on Wangping Binhe Road in Chengdu to protest, and on December 1, a video of the speech went viral on social media.
This Chengdu girl said: “What I have always been very angry about is why we can’t speak the truth… These past few days, on WeChat and Douyin, I have been sending messages, but all my friends have given me replies trying to persuade me to ‘be careful’ and ‘be careful or you will be arrested and spend a few years (in prison).'”
“Why is the CCP acting like gangsters in this day and age? Why are people being blocked from speaking the truth? Why?”
The Chengdu girl loudly questioned the Chinese Communist Party authorities: “Don’t we in China say, or at least our government is saying, that we are a people’s democratic socialist country and all our citizens have basic rights? We have the right to demonstrate and have freedom of speech, but do we really?”
The Chengdu girl asked the people present at the protest: “You all feel it, don’t you? Do we really have it? We can’t bring up any sensitive political topic, and if we do, we will either be warned or we will be taken in for detention.”
The Chengdu girl said: “Every time something big happens in the country and the people suffer, there is entertainment news (to divert the attention, to shift the focus).”
Someone at the scene shouted: “Where is the official media of justice?” People shouted in unison: “Where is it?”
The Chengdu girl who made the speech questioned the official media of the Communist Party: “People’s Daily, what kind of news are you reporting? Please look at us, the people, please listen to us, the people! Without the people, how can you achieve anything? Without the support of the people, what are you?”
The crowd applauded together and cheered for the Chengdu girl.
“So we don’t want COVID testing, we want freedom!” The Chengdu girl shouted: “No more testing, we want freedom!” The crowd joined in shouting “No more testing, freedom!”
The Chengdu girl added: “I only now know why other countries say that we Chinese don’t have human rights. I only realized in 2022 that we really don’t have them.”
The Chengdu girl again asked the people in the audience, “Do we really have human rights? Do we really have them?”
The crowd responded: “No! No! No!”
Twitter followers commented:
“A very well-reasoned speech! A voice that touches China!”
“Young people in the 90s and 00s are maturing and awakening through the epidemic.”
“She is really brave and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for speaking what is in the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.”
Translated by Eva
