Inside China Today

Joint calls for Mid-Autumn festival to be Freedom of Speech festival

Calls have been made for this year’s Chinese Mid-Autumn festival to be turned into the festival for freedom of speech. 14 people from China’s media, legal and scholar arenas have made a joint proposal ahead of September 14, or August 15 in the Chinese Calendar, tradition dating back over 1000 years.
Veteran media expert Ling Chanzhou, Chief editor of Beijing Journal Tian Lu, editor Li Yu, Beijing scholars Teng Biao, Zhao Guojun, Xu Ziong, Zhang Xingshui, Du Zhaoyong, Zhejiang writer Zan Aizhong, Zhejiang scholar Zhuang Daohe and Wen Kejian, Sichuan Scholar Ran Yunfei, Guanzho Journal editor Zhang Yi Gang and Beijing newspaper editor Huang Xingfen released a joint statement to propose the Festival of Freedom of Speech on September 2.

The announcement said that compared with gold medals in sports, people place more importance in gold medals for freedom of speech and gold medals for public votes.

Referring to a Mid-Autumn Festival legend from the 13th and 14th century the announcement described it as being the most uplifting as it described the moon-cake as having transmitted the message of the search for freedom and resisting tyranny. The legend was set in a time where China was under the tyrannical rule of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. The public began to rebel but found it difficult to relay messages due to the oppression. Liu Baowen, military advisor to Zhu Yuenzhang who later became the founding Emperor of the Ming Dynasty thought of a clever way to pass on messages of the rebellion. He asked people to put a note saying “Uprising on the midnight of August 15” into moon cakes, a delicacy dedicated to the Mid-Autumn festival and dispersed the cakes to uprising troops around the country. On August 15, people around the country joined effort to drive out the Mongolians.

The September 2 announcement referred to this story, calling for the Mid-Autumn Festival to be China’s Festival for the Freedom of Speech as it is that freedom that distinguishes a person as a free entity as opposed to a slave.

The proposal received overseas support with the Chief editor of June 4 Poetry Collection and Rights Defence Poetry Collection Jiang Pingchao responding instantly from Los Angeles. Jiang has also decided to unite freedom advocates from within and outside of China to actively promote the proposal.

The above news is brought to you by Chris Thomas for Inside China Today on the SOH Radio Network