Chinese people's traditional customs were often criticized by scholars like Yan Fu, Liang Qichao, Lu Xun, etc. At that time, these scholar' critiques were very popular and highly recommended. Why? Because their strong criticism about the peoples' drawbacks comes from their deep love of the people. Thus from late Qing Dynasty till the Republic of China, the customs becomes more opening and contemporary. Especially around "May 4" movement of 1919, all kinds of thought are presented, and it became an era of freedom of thought.

After the invasion of Japan in 1931, the country's destiny drifted with the foreign countries' aggression and war, which led to centralization of power, and elapse of the people's freedom. If Liang Qichao or Lu Xun survived till now, and continued to publish articles like the "human blood bun", they must be defined as "enemy of the 1.3 Billion people". If all these are due to social progress, it would be too good. While the reality is on the contrary. Compared with 1919, today's China is more tyrannical and people are more indifferent with the politics of the country. People's enthusiasm of participation in politics diminished after "June 4" incident in 1989, because people's are getting desperate with the politics already. I could not help to ask, where are the "backbones" of Chinese people?

Under such circumstance, everyone who care about China's future are obligated to ask whether China will need another enlightenment campaign to stand up again. Under such circumstances, the topic "1.3 billion people kneeling down" deserves our serious consideration, no matter who proposed the topic, and what culture they belongs to. Also Chinese people should ask themselves, is this the government we really need?

Look at today's China, the parliamentary election system established after Revolution of 1911 has been transformed into the "National People's Congress", also called "rubber-stamp Congress". A small number of people make major national decisions without being supervised, and the people lacks the very basic channels to express their political preference. As to the freedom of the people, the rights written in state constitution including freedom of rallies, freedom of demonstration, and the freedom of strike are completely deprived. Not to mention the people's basic freedom of speech and freedom of media. The Communist Party using the state apparatus to control all communications channels. The people's political rights are completely deprived. In most countries, people's political rights are defined to include the right to vote and to be elected, the jury obligations, and the rights for jury trial. While the Chinese people rarely have opportunities to exercise these rights, meaning that Chinese citizens doesn't enjoy much more political rights than the prisoners who are "deprived of all political rights". Anyway, as one of the only 5 Communist countries left in the world, China's political system is one of the most tyrannical and corrupted. Even in the Islamic fundamentalist Iran, the president is elected by the people. But in China, who will be the next Chairman is not a problem for the public. I can't help to ask my fellow Chinese people, how much longer we have to wait? Why are we still waiting? When talking about "the formation of a country's political system is the reflection of the people's will", I always feel shamed. The political system has become such a shame, it it all dictators' fault? Do I have some responsibility myself? When did resignation to tyranny become a virtue? Today, those who still praises the Communist Party includes several types of people: a small number of beneficiaries from tyranny, the employed guards, and much more are the brain washed, "kneeling down" majority. You should have witnessed some of them, even in a foreign country thousands of miles away from China, still kneeling and you can't even pull them up. So deeply poisoned!

Fortunately, there are people who formed democratic groups without fear of the authoritarian, there are doctors who help HIV farmers, there are attorneys who are jailed for protecting human rights' They are my heroes. In the political and social context of China, they need great courage to stand up with their belief. They have the courage to go forward, alone, even knowing thousands of pioneers have sacrificed their lives. In contemporary China, people survived through several massacres and movements with millions of people beaten, exiled, humiliated and killed in each. It's pleasantly surprising to see there are still so many people with conscience and insist on pursuing their rights. This is the ultimate courage as a citizen.

People's voice must be heard whether a country is democratic or not. In the United States, I often find that under the ruling of the majority, the minority's need are not sacrificed or ignored, unlike the "minority should subordinate to the majority" advocated by Communist Party. In US, everyone have the opportunity to speak out to the politician no matter majority or minority. For example, African American is just more than 10% of population. They have been minority in economy, but their political rights are not limited. The proportion of African American in government, culture, sports and even news reporters are far greater than 10%. This is the result of democracy and public justice. And the homosexual groups the United States only have a few members comparing to the "majority", and among which only a few could openly step forward and fight for their rights. While now they already become the crucial minority in elections whose rights cannot be ignored or violated!

In contrast, on June 4, 1989, the Communist Party planned the massacre of thousands of students and citizens. Did they show any remorse? No. Not even the apology made by Duan Qirui's government in "5.4 movement" in 1919. No apology until now! This Party had totally lost humanity. "It's time for 1.3 billion backbones get straight". It's time for us to wake up and start fighting. Let's shout out: Long live democracy! Long live freedom!

Hu, Yanqi