US echoes dragon: What I learned in China: Obedience gets you nowhere

NEW YORK: In 2014, Chinese writer Murong Xuecun in an essay in NYT said he was returning to China to turn himself in to the police. Two weeks earlier, the authorities had arrested three of his friends in Beijing after they attended a small private gathering to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations.

Murong believed he, too, would have been arrested if he had not been in Australia at the time. Once he flew back to China, he posted a message online announcing he was ready to be picked up.

For over a decade, I have worked for international rights organisations and been an advocate for the rights of people in China. Murong was certainly brave, but his story is not singular. Many Chinese writers, journalists, civil rights lawyers and others have also chosen to stand up to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, knowing they could end up in prison.

I, too, have suffered repercussions: The Chinese authorities have monitored my activities here in the US and used internet trolls to harass me. Periodically, the party menaced my family in China to pressure me to end my work.

More and more Americans are now, perhaps for the first time in their lives, facing threats from their government for simply doing their job, speaking their mind or protesting. As someone with experience challenging one of the world’s most ruthless and powerful governments, I have one important piece of advice to share: Show courage. It is also an effective strategy for fighting back against creeping authoritarianism.

In Chinese, there is an idiom to describe how the government operates: “qi’ruan pa’ying,” or “bully the weak and fear the strong.” The Communist Party has long acted like a street bully . But the party rarely rewards submission with benevolence. Once you demonstrate that you are not easily cowed, and will be a persistent headache, the bully may simply drop you as a target.

In the case of Murong, police summoned him for interrogation. Yet they decided not to arrest him. Murong’s audacity had stirred a wave of public attention. My guess is that the party determined that the negative publicity of an arrest would not be worth the deterrent effect.

That said, fighting back does not guarantee a tormentor will retreat. Many critics of the Chinese government have gone to prison. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo died in police custody in 2017.

My experience working with victims of Chinese government abuses is that when the Communist Party’s iron fist first punches them, most people freeze and submit — but gradually, many will stand up, because of an innate sense of right and wrong. Some will become extraordinary rights activists.

Standing up can restore one’s sense of dignity and offer an important sense of internal liberation. Chinese activist Wang Qiaoling faced horrendous harassment for speaking out about the abduction and detention of her husband, rights lawyer Li Heping. Still, Wang said she had no regrets.

I am witnessing something similar unfolding in America. Though some institutions and individuals initially caved to Trump, a growing number are standing up: Once Harvard stood firm, other university presidents vowed not to be strong-armed by the administration.

The US has a long tradition of supporting freedom and democracy fighters around the world. I still believe in the promise of this nation. And so I offer you a Chinese blessing, Americans: Jiayou! Don’t give up!