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| Beijing Sitong Bridge protest | |
|---|---|
| Part of theChinese democracy movement and the2022 COVID-19 protests in China | |
 Sitong Bridge pictured in 2012 | |
| Date | October 13, 2022 |
| Location | 39°57′56″N116°18′55″E / 39.96564°N 116.31517°E /39.96564; 116.31517 |
| Caused by | Opposition toXi Jinping and the Chinese government'szero-COVID policy |
| Methods | Hanging banners, playing slogans on loudspeakers,burning tires to produce black smoke |
| Resulted in | Protester arrested, banners and loudspeakers removed |
  Location within central Beijing | |
TheBeijing Sitong Bridge protest was a protest that took place on October 13, 2022, inHaidian,Beijing, China.
The protest happened three days before the opening of the20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On the morning of October 13, 2022, a protester demonstrated againstCCP general secretaryXi Jinping'scult of personality,dictatorship,human rights violations, strengthening ofcensorship, seeking ofleadership for life and implementation of thezero-COVID policy by hanging banners and burning tires onSitong Bridge [zh] (Chinese:四通桥;pinyin:Sìtōng Qiáo) in Haidian, Beijing.
The protester,Peng Lifa (彭立发; pinyin: Péng Lìfā; b. 1974),[1] has been dubbed Bridge Man or Banner Man in reference toTank Man.
Protests took place frequently in China in the 2000s, with 180,000 protests taking place in 2010 according toTsinghua University sociology professor Sun Liping.[2]
This protest against Xi Jinping and his policies was rare, as it came just days before the start of the CCP National Congress, a period during which the authorities imposed extremely tight control over protests and dissent. It was widely expected that Xi's rule for an unprecedented third term would be cemented at the Congress.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
| External image | |
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 The protest, showing the left banner and smoke from burning tires, fromThe New York Times[9] |
We don't want nucleic acid testing, we want food to eat;
We don't want lockdowns, we want freedom;
We don't want lies, we want dignity;
We don't wantCultural Revolution, we wantreform;
We don't want [dictatorial] leaders, we want elections;
We don't want to be slaves, we want to be citizens.[10]
(不要核酸要吃饭 不要封控要自由 不要谎言要尊严
不要文革要改革 不要领袖要选票 不做奴才做公民)
Go on strike at school and work, remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping!
Arise! Ye who refuse to be slaves! Oppose dictatorship. Oppose authoritarianism. Save China withone person one vote to elect thepresident!!!
(罢课罢工罢免独裁国贼习近平
起来不愿意做奴隶的人们！ 反独裁反专制救中国 一人一票选主席！！！)
I want to eat. I want to be free. I want to vote.
Go on strike at school and work, remove the treasonous dictator Xi Jinping!
(要吃饭，要自由，要选票！
罢课，罢工，罢免独裁国贼习近平！)
The protest was held on October 13, 2022, onSitong Bridge by a lone protester. The protester, having disguised himself as a construction worker by wearing an orange vest and a yellow helmet, placed two banners on the bridge and set fire to tires to produce attention-drawing smoke. He then repeatedly chanted through a loudspeaker, "Go on strike at school and work, remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping! We want to eat, we want freedom, we want to vote!"[11] He was soon arrested by security forces.[12][13]Radio Free Asia reported in October 2023 that he was still alive, whereabouts "unclear," with his family under close surveillance.[14]
Photos of the event spread rapidly ononline social media.[15][16]
Peng Lifa also published a 23-page detailedpromotional document onResearchGate, calling on the public to begin boycotting classes and work, as well as honking car horns and other activities, starting on October 16 (the opening day of the 20th National Congress, a Sunday).[17][18]
ThoughThe New York Times published an article on December 7, 2022, naming him "Peng Lifa," the protester's identity has not been confirmed. However, some believe him to be an academic physicist and have flooded a Twitter account assumed to be linked to the protester with messages of admiration.[11]The Wall Street Journal andRadio Free Asia reported that some activists believed the protester to be Peng Lifa, also known as Peng Zaizhou, a 48-year-old physics enthusiast.[19][20]
Protest banner themes includedXi Jinping's cult of personality, dictatorship and totalitarian rule, infringement ofhuman rights, strengthening ofcensorship, Xi Jinping'sreelection despite failure to observe term limits, theCultural Revolution, the implementation of the "zero-COVID" policy, andoverwork.[21][22][13][23][24]
Peng's act was described byBBC News as "one of the most significant acts of Chinese protest seen under Mr Xi's rule".[11]
In response to the protest, numerous photos circulated in Twitter of posters showing solidarity with the protester and slogans denouncing Xi Jinping from campuses of numerous universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada,Netherlands andSouth Korea.[25][26] Similar protest slogans subsequently appeared as graffiti in other cities in China[27] and viaAirDrop.[28] Art celebrating his actions has also been shared online.[11]
Photographs and videos of the protest were censored by theChinese internet censorship system.[29][30] Some individuals who reposted video or images of the protest were also arrested.[31][32] Chinese authorities censored terms which could lead people to the protest, including "Sitong Bridge" and "brave man",[33] andBloomberg News reported that words such as "courage", "bridge" and even "Beijing" were also censored.[33][34]
The following month,Apple released aniOS update that prevents AirDrop from being enabled in "Everyone" mode for more than 10 minutes at a time for users in China (after which it reverts to a mode requiring the sender to be on the receiver's contacts list). Apple publicly stated that this was intended to help reduceunsolicited images, and that the feature would become available outside of China at a later date. It was suggested by Bloomberg News that the change was made at the request of the Chinese government.[35][36]
Baidu Maps subsequently removed the location of the protest from its online maps.[37]
The protest was assessed by media as having possibly inspired further similar protests inXinhua County inLoudi in July 2024,[38] and atChadianzi Bus Station inChengdu in April 2025.[39]
the Sitong Bridge in Beijing on Friday, where protest banners with slogans criticizing the Communist Party's policies were hung the day before, ahead of China's 20th Communist Party Congress
Such an overt and publicised protest against Xi specifically would be significant at the best of times, but this occurred just days out from the ruling Communist party congress.
Over the past week, as party elites gathered in Beijing's Great Hall of the People to extoll Xi and his policies at the 20th Party Congress, anti-Xi slogans echoing the Sitong Bridge banners have popped up in a growing number of Chinese cities and hundreds of universities worldwide.
A rare one-man protest against Xi Jinping in Beijing has inspired solidarity protests around the world as China's party congress sits this week.
A rare protest calling for Chinese President Xi Jinping's overthrow was staged in the country's capital Thursday, days before the start of the Communist Party congress, which is expected to cement his rule for an unprecedented third term.
网民试图搜索抗议者的身份，追查聚焦于来自黑龙江省一个村庄的一名物理学研究人员。BBC与该村干部核查证实，曾有一位同名人生活在那里。他曾在研究网站ResearchGate上发布过看似宣言的文档，后来被删除，但是副本已经上传。
材料包含计画呼吁人民在长安街、中央电视台、人民日报、新华社周围、八一大楼、军队大院与公安局跟派出所等多个地点"连续鸣笛"，并预告要于10月16日发起全国罢课、罢工与"起义总动员"。.......滕彪指出，虽然这对中国政治局面起不到改变，但非常具有象征意义。他补充道："在过去10年习近平的统治下，民间社会的空间已急遽萎缩。大量的异议人士跟维权人士被关押或噤声，几乎没什么人敢说话。像这种街头抗争就更加罕见，面臨的风险也更大，所以有人把这个比做事'新坦克人'，他的确有一种震撼人心的效果。"......他告诉德国之声："哪怕所有关键字都被消除后，人民仍可透过举一张白纸或发一个标点符号来表达异议。这都会成为对中国当局来说恐怖的状态，所以就我看来，这些异议没办法被消除，反而让越来越欲盖弥彰，变成充满了暗示。"
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