📝 What the posters said
Many criticised the Cultural Revolution and the injustices of the Mao years. Some told stories of unfair treatment. Others called for more freedom of speech and a say in how China was run.
China, 1976-89 » The Democracy Wall, Wei Jingsheng and Deng's Opposition to Political Reform
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B4, Key topic 5
- What the Democracy Wall was and why it appeared in 1978
- What Wei Jingsheng meant by the “Fifth Modernisation”
- Why Deng allowed the Wall at first, then closed it
- What happened to Wei, and what this shows about Deng
Deng Xiaoping changed China's economy a great deal. But when some Chinese people asked for changes to the way the country was ruled, he said no. This lesson looks at the first big call for democracy under Deng, in 1978-80. The economic changes are covered in the lesson on Deng's economic reforms, and the student protests of the 1980s come in the next lesson.
Key terms:
- Democracy Wall: a brick wall in Beijing where people stuck up posters about politics from late 1978. The name was also used for the whole movement.
- Big-character poster: a handwritten poster in large Chinese characters, put on a wall for everyone to read.
- Political reform: changing how a country is ruled, for example by giving people a vote or the right to criticise the government.
- Fifth Modernisation: Wei Jingsheng's name for democracy, which he said China needed in addition to Deng's Four Modernisations (the plan to modernise farming, industry, defence, and science and technology).
- Four Cardinal Principles: four things Deng said must never be questioned: the socialist road, the rule of the Communist Party, Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and the “people's democratic dictatorship”.
- Counter-revolutionary: the label used for someone accused of trying to overthrow Communist rule.
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Unlock This CourseThe Democracy Wall, 1978-79
In late 1978 people in Beijing began to stick big-character posters on a long wall at Xidan, a busy street in the centre of the city. The wall became known as the Democracy Wall. Crowds gathered to read the posters, and people sold or handed out home-made magazines.
Why did it appear then? Mao had died in 1976 and the Gang of Four had been arrested. After the Cultural Revolution, many people felt angry about what had happened to them and their families. Deng was also taking charge of the Party, and talked of “seeking truth from facts”. People felt it was safer to speak out.
👥 Who wrote them
Writers included young workers and former Red Guards who felt their lives had been wasted. Many were people with a complaint who had come to Beijing to ask the government for justice.
At first, Deng let the Wall stand. The posters attacked the Gang of Four and the Cultural Revolution, which helped him against the leaders who still wanted to follow Mao's old policies, such as Hua Guofeng. Allowing the Wall also made China look more open to foreign visitors and journalists.
Wei Jingsheng and the “Fifth Modernisation”
The best-known voice of the Wall was Wei Jingsheng, a young electrician who worked at the Beijing Zoo. In December 1978 he put up an essay called “The Fifth Modernisation”.
His argument was simple. Deng's Four Modernisations were not enough. Without democracy, he said, China would stay under the control of a small group of leaders, and the other modernisations would not succeed. Democracy, in his view, meant that the people should choose their rulers and be free to criticise them. Wei also published the magazine Exploration.
In March 1979 Wei went further. He wrote that Deng was turning into a dictator. That crossed a line.
Deng closes the Wall
Deng's support for the Wall was only ever limited. He wanted to use it against his rivals, not to start a movement for democracy. Once people began to criticise the Party itself, he turned on it.
- March 1979: Wei was arrested. Days later, Deng made a speech setting out the Four Cardinal Principles. Free speech could not be used to attack the Party's rule.
- October 1979: Wei was put on trial for being a counter-revolutionary, and was also accused of passing information to a foreigner. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- December 1979: The Wall was shut down and the posters were moved to a park, with rules about who could put them up. In 1980 the right to put up big-character posters was removed from China's constitution.
Wei spent most of the next 18 years in prison, and was sent abroad to the United States in 1997.
Why did Deng oppose political reform?
🏛 Keep the Party in power
Deng believed that China needed a strong Communist Party to hold the country together.
⚖️ Order for the economy
He thought growth needed stability. After the Cultural Revolution, he feared more disorder.
📑 A different plan
He wanted economic change first, with the Party still in charge. Reform, he said, would not mean Western-style democracy.
Change and continuity
Change: in the Mao years, such open criticism would have been very dangerous. In 1978-79, for a short time, ordinary people could put up their views in public and be read by thousands.
Continuity: in the end the Party still decided what could be said. Deng was willing to change the economy, but not the way China was ruled. So the Party, not the people, still decided what could be said.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes
- Saying Deng wanted democracy. He wanted economic change and kept the Party in control.
- Saying Deng was against the Wall from the start. He allowed it at first because it helped him against his rivals.
- Mixing up the Democracy Wall of 1978-79 with the student protests of 1989. They are separate events.
- Describing Wei's idea without saying why it mattered. He argued the Four Modernisations would fail without democracy.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO causes of the closing of the Democracy Wall in 1979-80. [8 marks]
Model answer
One cause was that the posters began to attack Deng and the Party itself. At first the Wall suited Deng, because it criticised the Gang of Four and his rivals. But in March 1979 Wei Jingsheng wrote that Deng was becoming a dictator, and he was arrested. This showed that Deng would not tolerate criticism of Communist rule, so the Wall was shut down in December 1979.
A second cause was Deng's wish for order and a strong Party. Deng thought that the economic reforms needed stability, and he feared more disorder like the Cultural Revolution. In his Four Cardinal Principles speech of March 1979 he ruled out any challenge to the Party's leadership. Allowing a movement calling for democracy would have broken these rules, so the posters were moved to a park, and in 1980 the right to put them up was taken out of the constitution.
What lifts this to the top level: each cause is backed by precise facts and explains how it led to the closing of the Wall.
Exam tip
In a two causes question, one cause alone can score no more than half marks. Give two separate causes, and for each one, say how it led to the outcome.
Recap
- From late 1978 people put up posters on the Democracy Wall in Beijing, criticising the Cultural Revolution and asking for more freedom.
- Wei Jingsheng argued that democracy was a “Fifth Modernisation” that China needed.
- Deng allowed the Wall at first, then arrested Wei in March 1979, jailed him for 15 years and closed the Wall.
- Deng wanted economic change but would not allow political reform that threatened the Party's rule.