Free Republic

Chinese police broke up a dinner party attended by activists in the eastern city of Hangzhou Tuesday night and detained a dozen people, according to an activist who attended the dinner. Activist and blogger Wang Wusi said he and another 10 people were released after spending about two hours in police custody. He said police held Wen Kejian until Wednesday morning, when he was released although without his cell phone or computer. Wen is a signatory of Charter 08, a document calling for democracy and the end of one-party rule in China. …

An elite dissident has split party leaders with criticism of their ‘sham’ reforms THE most prominent dissident still living in China has attacked the Communist party’s economic reforms and compared Deng Xiaoping, its late leader, to Louis XIV. His essays are the second public challenge to the leadership after the appearance of Charter 08, a manifesto for political change that has been signed by more than 7,000 prominent citizens. The essayist is Bao Tong, 76, who was the highest-ranking official imprisoned after the 1989 crackdown on China’s democracy movement. He served a seven-year sentence and now lives under house arrest...

Communist China celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights last month by detaining prominent dissidents across the country. Their apparent transgression was signing their names on “Charter 08”, a manifesto published on the internet on December 10 calling for all Chinese citizens inside and outside the government to embrace the “rapid establishment of a free, democratic and constitutional country” and the end of one-party authoritarian rule by the Communist party. Many of the signatories are prominent establishment intellectuals not known for their radical views or political activism. In private, Chinese intellectuals are calling Charter 08 the...

Chinese dissidents emulate anti-Soviet heroes with Charter 08 Chinese intellectuals have challenged the country's Communist leaders to end one-party rule with the launch of Charter 08, a throw-back to the Charter 77 declaration of Soviet-era Czechoslovakian dissidents. By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 3:56PM GMT 09 Dec 2008 The bold plea for political reform calls on the government to allow freedom of expression and association and to give up Communist Party control over the legal system. Its launch coincides with Wednesday's 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is one of the most dramatic steps taken...