Qualla: Democracy Wall https://qualla.com/democracy-wall en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:39 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Democracy Wall https://qualla.com/democracy-wall Democracy Wall: Introduction https://qualla.com/democracy-wall/ On November 25, 1978, a group of nine young people led by Ren Wanding gathered at a long brick wall on Xidan Street in Beijing's Xicheng District. Two days later, they marched to Tiananmen Square with over ten thousand participants demanding democracy and human rights. The wall they had gathered beside would lend its name to a movement -- the Democracy Wall -- and for thirteen tumultuous months, it served as the most volatile public forum in China. Thousands of citizens pasted handwritten big-character posters on its surface, critiquing everything from Mao Zedong's legacy to the daily corruption of local officials.

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/4/g/democracy-wall-wp/wx4g-democracy-wall-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Democracy Wall: Roots in Disillusionment https://qualla.com/democracy-wall/ The people who wrote the posters were not strangers to political mobilization. Many had been Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, answering Mao's call in 1966 to root out capitalist elements from within the Communist Party. By 1969, Mao had exiled these same students to rur...

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/4/g/democracy-wall-wp/wx4g-democracy-wall-roots-in-disillusionment.mp3 0:06 2 full Democracy Wall: The Fire Lighter and the Fifth Modernization https://qualla.com/democracy-wall/ The movement accelerated through individual acts of courage. On November 23, 1978, a man named Lu Pu posted a critique of Mao Zedong on the Xidan Wall, arguing that the real causes of the April 5th Movement of 1976 were a backward economy, rigid thought control, and the poor livi...

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/4/g/democracy-wall-wp/wx4g-democracy-wall-the-fire-lighter-and-the-fifth-modernization.mp3 0:06 3 full Democracy Wall: Posters, Journals, and Petitioners https://qualla.com/democracy-wall/ The wall hosted multiple forms of protest simultaneously. Alongside the political manifestos, petitioners from across China posted accounts of suffering during the Cultural Revolution, detailing persecution by corrupt local officials and pleading for the central government's atte...

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/4/g/democracy-wall-wp/wx4g-democracy-wall-posters-journals-and-petitioners.mp3 0:06 4 full Democracy Wall: A Spring That Ended in Winter https://qualla.com/democracy-wall/ Deng Xiaoping's relationship with the Democracy Wall was tactical from the start. He initially tolerated and even encouraged the movement because the posters criticizing the Gang of Four and Mao's legacy served his own political struggle against Hua Guofeng. When Deng told Japane...

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/4/g/democracy-wall-wp/wx4g-democracy-wall-a-spring-that-ended-in-winter.mp3 0:06 5 full