Charter 08 is a manifesto initially signed by 303

Chinese dissident This list consists of activists who are known as Chinese dissidents. The label is primarily applied to intellectuals who "push the boundaries" of society or criticize the policies of the government. Examples of the former include Wei Hui and Jia ...

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

s and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activists. It was published on 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

, adopting its name and style from the anti-Soviet

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něm ...

issued by

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

s in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Since its release, more than 10,000 people inside and outside China have signed the charter. After unsuccessful reform efforts in 1989 and 1998 by the Chinese democracy movement, Charter 08 was the first challenge to one-party rule that declared the end of one-party rule to be its goal; it has been described as the first one with a unified strategy. In 2009, one of the authors of Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo, was sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment for "inciting subversion of state power" because of his involvement. A year later, Liu was awarded the

2010 Nobel Peace Prize The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Chinese human rights activist (1955–2017) "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China". The laureate, once an eminent scholar, was reportedly little-known in ...

by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Seven years later in July 2017, he died of terminal liver cancer in the prison after having been granted medical parole.

Demands

Many of the original signatories were prominent Chinese citizens inside and outside the government, including lawyers; a

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

an poet and essayist, Woeser; and

Bao Tong Bao Tong ( zh, s=鲍彤; 5 November 1932 – 9 November 2022) was a Chinese writer and activist. He was Director of the Office of Political Reform of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Policy Secretary of Zhao Z ...

, a former senior

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

official, who all faced a risk of arrest and jail. The Charter calls for 19 changes including an independent legal system, freedom of association, the elimination of

one-party rule A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

and privatization of all enterprises and farm land. "All kinds of social conflicts have constantly accumulated and feelings of discontent have risen consistently," it reads. "The current system has become backward to the point that change cannot be avoided." China remains the only large world power to still retain an authoritarian system that so infringes on human rights, it states. "This situation must change! Political democratic reforms cannot be delayed any longer!" Specific demands are: #Amending the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. #

Separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

. #Legislative democracy. #An

independent judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inter ...

. #Public control of public servants. #Guarantee of

. #Election of

public officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

. #Abolition of the

hukou system ''Hukou'' () is a system of household registration used in mainland China. The system itself is more properly called "''huji''" (), and has origins in ancient China; ''hukou'' is the registration of an individual in the system (''kou'' lit ...

. #

Freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...

. #

Freedom of assembly Freedom of peaceful assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ide ...

. #

Freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

. #

Freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...

. #

Civic education Civics is the study of the rights and obligations of citizens in society. The term derives from the Latin word ''civicus'', meaning "relating to a citizen". The term relates to behavior affecting other citizens, particularly in the context of ur ...

. #

Free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

s and protection of private property, including privatizing state enterprises and land. #Financial and

tax reform Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxati ...

. #

Social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. # Protection of the environment. # A federated republic. # Truth in reconciliation. The opening paragraph of the charter states:

Response

China

The

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...

has said little publicly about the Charter.China aims to silence reform call
, ''BBC News'', 12 January 2009. On 8 December 2008, two days before the 60th anniversary of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

's adoption of the

, Liu Xiaobo was detained by police, hours before the online release of the Charter. He was detained and later arrested on 23 June 2009, on charges of "suspicion of inciting the subversion of state power."A Manifesto on Freedom Sets China’s Persecution Machinery in Motion
, ''New York Times'', 3 May 2009.
" (Liu Xiaobo Formally Arrested on 'Suspicion of Inciting Subversion of State Power' Charges), China Review News, 24 June 2009. Several Nobel Laureates wrote a letter to President Hu Jintao asking for his release; in response, the Chinese government suppressed them:Beijing acts to stifle dissident call for reform
" ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'', 3 January 2009. at least 70 of its 303 original signatories were summoned or interrogated by police while domestic media were forbidden to interview anyone who signed the document. Police also searched for or questioned a journalist,

Li Datong Li Datong (李大同, born 1952) was the Managing Editor of ''Freezing Point'', a section of ''China Youth Daily''. He now writes for openDemocracy, which is based in London. Datong was openly critical of China's 2018 constitutional change that ...

, and two lawyers, though none were arrested. State media was banned from reporting on the manifesto. A blogging website popular with activists, bullog.cn, which may have had ties to the Charter, was shut down. On 25 December 2009, Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" activities by the court. On 8 October 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".

Outside of China

A number of governments, including those of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, as well as the opposition in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

,Taiwan should heed "Charter 08" message
, Taiwan News, 25 December 2008. have condemned the harassment of supporters of Charter 08 as well as hailing the Charter. Western press has generally covered the Charter positively, and international

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s have supported its message. David Stanway reported in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that it "has been hailed as the most significant act of public dissent against China's Communist party since the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests were brutally crushed in 1989." Other international figures, including the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

, have also voiced their support and admiration of the Charter. There were also protests in Hong Kong demanding the release of Liu Xiaobo and other signatories. The organization that Liu led to pursue Charter 8, received financial support from the US government's

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

Selected signatories and supporters

Original signatories

Tsering Woeser Tsering Woeser (also written Öser; ; , Han name Chéng Wénsà 程文萨; born 1966) is a Tibetan writer, activist, blogger, poet and essayist. Biography Woeser, a quarter Han Chinese and three quarters Tibetan, was born in Lhasa. Her grandfath ...

* Dai Qing *

Ding Zilin Ding Zilin (; born December 20, 1936 or January 1, 1939) is a retired professor of philosophy and the leader of the political activist group Tiananmen Mothers. Ding is the mother of Jiang Jielian, one of the first student protestors killed dur ...

* Liu Junning * Liu Xiaobo * Mao Yushi * Pu Zhiqiang *

Ran Yunfei Ran Yunfei (born 1965) is a Chinese writer and a high-profile democracy activist and blogger. He was arrested in late March 2011, shortly after the start of the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests, on charges of inciting subversion of state pow ...

Later supporters

* Fang Lizhi *

Ha Jin Jin Xuefei (; born February 21, 1956) is a Chinese-American poet and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin (). ''Ha'' comes from his favorite city, Harbin. His poetry is associated with the Misty Poetry movement. Early life Ha Jin was born in ...

He Weifang He Weifang (born July 17, 1960; ) is a former professor at Peking University of China and an activist striving to reform the Chinese judicial system, who has argued that the Chinese Communist Party is an unregistered and therefore an illegal orga ...

* Su Xiaokang *

Yu Ying-shih Yu Ying-shih (; 22 January 1930 – 1 August 2021) was a Chinese-born American historian, sinologist, and the Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was known for his mastery of sources for Chinese hi ...

* Wang Dan

References

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External links

*Full text of Charter 08
Original Chinese
o
Original Chinese (pdf)English translation by Perry LinkEnglish translation with postscript by Perry LinkEnglish translation by Human Rights in ChinaCharter 08 main site
(Chinese) -- includes updated news and signature lists
Charter 08 main site
(English) -- includes updated news and ability to sign the charter online
News about Charter 08
"

China Digital Times China Digital Times (CDT; ) is a US-based 501(c)(3) organization that runs a bilingual news website covering China. The site focuses on news items which are blocked, deleted or suppressed by China's state censors. History The website was started ...

Chinese Support Charter 08
"

History News Network History News Network (HNN) at George Washington University is a platform for historians writing about current events. History History News Network (HNN) is a non-profit corporation registered in Washington DC. HNN was founded by Richard Shenkman ...

Over 300 sign 'Charter 08', a manifesto for human rights in China, but some are already arrested
" ''Asia News'' History of human rights 2008 in China Constitution of China Political charters 2008 documents