New Year Messages for 2017 from One Hundred Chinese Public Intellectuals

[Bowen Press] The following are New Year messages for 2017 from one hundred Chinese public intellectuals. These voices differ from the official New Year addresses and greetings, yet they are the voices Chinese society most needs today. The collection was published by the WeChat public account Yingxiangli Guancha (Influence Watch).

Democracy is a good thing. Making good use of a good thing is no easy task. In 2017, every citizen must strive, strive, and strive again!

— An Xingben, cultural scholar; Professor, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Together, let us hold fast to the light within us as we pass through the tunnel of history.

— Cai Xia, scholar; Professor, Central Party School of the Communist Party of China

In wind and rain we hold one another and weep; in the smog we have not lost our way. When we are weak we support one another; when we are lonely we keep watch together. The fading lamp shall never go out; the bruised reed shall not be broken.

— Cai Shenkun, independent scholar and current affairs commentator

Attend to those at the bottom of society and strive for decent work; care for society and seek a life of dignity.

— Chang Kai, scholar; Professor, Renmin University of China

In the new year, I hope people can eat safe food and breathe clean air. I hope more people will pay attention to environmental issues.

— Chen Haowu, scholar; Research Fellow, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

Anger becomes a joke; disgraceful acts become comic anecdotes. We express discontent through indifference and digest fear through entertainment. I do not know when we will truly confront our problems with seriousness of mind, still less in what terrible form this accumulation of negative feeling may erupt. After all, even when we know that nothing we say will make a difference, speaking or writing remains the last chance time has left us older people to prove that we once existed. With this in mind, I enter the new year.

— Chen Jiaqi, Professor, Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Tongji University

The proper measure of reform is whether it releases the vitality of markets and society and gives people greater freedom, while making institutions fair through a series of institutional designs and reforms—economic, political, legal, and otherwise. Respect for common sense, history, and the way things work is the basic foundation of a normally functioning society.

— Chen Jian, scholar; Vice President, China Society of Economic Reform

In 2017, I hope those with the power to make and control the law will treat the law well!!!

— Chen Shihe, lawyer

In 2017 we will confront two sets of difficulties: those of China and those of the world. Let us do what we can.

— Cheng Yinghong, historian; Professor, Delaware State University, United States

Everything changes; everything must change! This is the essence and true meaning of China's foremost classic, the I Ching. Its hexagrams Pi, or Stagnation, and Ge, or Revolution, exemplify this essence and meaning. Under Heaven's iron law that everything changes and everything must change, freedom and democracy on Chinese soil will surely emerge where none existed, grow from small to great, and become strong from weakness!

— Chu Chengfang, legal scholar and political essayist

In the dark of night, I silently recite the name of each friend. I see you as light, a path, and hope. When we stop treating one another as enemies, strength rises swiftly between your shoulders and mine, passing from one to the other.

— Cui Weiping, scholar; Professor, Beijing Film Academy

However deep the night, if you firmly believe in the light within your heart, the light will come!

— Deng Yuwen, political affairs commentator

We passed through 2016 amid boundless darkness, despair, and the tears and blood of so many innocent people. In 2017, I look for the earth to stir, all living things to awaken, and our country and our people to make their exodus from Egypt.

— Di Ma, independent writer

The dream of the rule of law is broken; the human spirit does not die.

— Ding Dong, scholar and historian

You brought an unexpected upheaval and exiled me—to a shattered dream. There I gathered some cold wisdom and, guarding my heart, set out on the road again. I borrow these lines from the celebrated poet Mu Dan as my New Year message for 2017.

— Fan Xiao, scholar; professor-level senior engineer in geology

The dream breaks through Qin's gates; daylight fills the world. Power returns to citizens, and a new destiny dawns.

— Feng Chongyi, historian; Professor, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

As the new year approaches, I am filled with emotion. The years behind us have been battered by wind and rain; the music of the years ahead sounds like weeping and lament. I offer Shelley's Ode to the West Wind as encouragement to us all: ‘Be through my lips to unawakened earth the trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’

— Gao Quanxi, scholar and university professor

Another year of bitter rain; snow at my temples, shame burning in my heart. Gray haze and red fog darken the heavens; I pray for thunder to break the dreaming dawn. The old year cannot be told in a single word; in the new year, scarcely a word can get through. May God grant, in the year ahead, better livelihoods and fuller rights for the people… May all the gloom disperse, and the Chinese nation be reborn through fire!

— The Gao Brothers, independent artists

In the dark night of winter, be a hearth fire, a torch, a candle, a match—for God said: Let there be light!

— Guo Yuhua, sociologist; Professor, Tsinghua University

Without freedom there is no happiness; only through courage is there freedom.

— He Weifang, legal scholar; Professor, Peking University

In this ice age on Chinese soil, I urge myself to be braver, to care less for personal gain, to discard the hollow honors of the imperial state, and to break openly with evil with greater courage and resolve. I hope that many wise and courageous people will encourage one another and draw close for warmth: that together we will distinguish good from evil, name each plainly, counter evil with conscience, and each offer our judgment and our efforts toward constitutional democracy on this land.

— Hao Jian, writer; Professor, Beijing Film Academy

This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Anti-Rightist Campaign. I earnestly hope China can emerge from the shadow of suffering.

— Hu Jie, independent documentary filmmaker

Equity, on the left, and constitutionalism, on the right, are the two banners of China's future. Without fairness and justice, and without constitutional government through which to achieve justice, China will hurtle toward a cliff like a derailed train, with almost no one able to stop it. This is a tragedy for the nation! How can we sit and watch?

— Hu Xingdou, economist; Professor, Beijing Institute of Technology

Take heart, clear your eyes, put on your mask, roll up your trouser legs, remember your original purpose, and keep moving. Do not disappear or lose your way in the smog on this new Long March toward democracy and the rule of law. May the people enjoy health and happiness, the country democracy and the rule of law, and the nation a peaceful renewal!

— Hua Bingxiao, scholar and public communicator in constitutional and political studies

Seek new hope in hopelessness.

— Hong Zhenkuai, historical scholar; former Executive Editor, Yanhuang Chunqiu

Humanity, human nature, and humane culture restore common sense about being human; freedom, self-government, and self-awareness accord with the natural life of society.

— Jia Xijin, scholar; Associate Professor, Tsinghua University

In the new year, I hope scholars with a conscience will continue to observe social phenomena in a spirit of rational realism.

— Jiang Ping, legal scholar; Lifetime Professor, China University of Political Science and Law

In 2017, may the ‘wall’ collapse and the world become real. Yet I know deeply that, for freedom to arrive, more people must be willing to live openly and truthfully. In 2017, I hope more independent witnesses will emerge, to uncover the truth together and document the course of history.

— Jiang Xue, independent journalist

In ancient times, Confucius's benevolence and righteousness, the Buddha's compassion, and Jesus's equality; in modern times, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law: all are cherished human values of universal validity. Today, only a humane concern of such breadth can put this great land back in order.

— Li Bohong, writer and translator based in the United States

As long as we are still here, time will not disappear. We shall meet in history!

— Li Dongjun, independent historical scholar

‘When we reach the point where the mountain's foot gives out, the stream flows grandly into the village ahead.’ I borrow these lines from the Southern Song poet Yang Wanli for 2017.

— Li Gongming, scholar; Professor, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts

A people who understand common sense, seek the facts, love freedom, and stand by the truth are a people with hope.

— Li Nan, poet and freelance writer

In 2017, the world will be changed by the violent collision of the two great plates, China and the United States. Is this a turning point for the Chinese model, the American model, or both? We wait to see.

— Li Weidong, Publisher, China Strategic Analysis magazine

Either erupt within chaos or die within order.

— Li Wen, PhD in sociology; founder of Hunxu Tribe

A myriad homes, their faces dark, lie lost among the weeds; dare song or verse voice grief that shakes the earth? My thoughts stretch boundlessly into the vast cosmos; in the silence I hear thunder. (Recalling Zong Fuxian's play at the beginning of reform and opening up, I offer these lines by Lu Xun for 2017.)

— Li Shuang, Professor and Dean, School of Culture and Communication, China University of Labor Relations

Continue to face reality directly, to express ourselves sincerely and freely, and to pursue creativity in art without respite. As a New Year message for 2017, these are familiar words; their value lies in continuing to live by them.

— Li Xianting, art critic

The haze clears; the sky turns blue.

— Lei Yi, historian; Research Fellow, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

May there be fewer 404s on the internet in 2017—far fewer. May there be no more ‘martyrs’ like Qu Changrong.

— Liu Hu, formerly a reporter for the New Express; now an independent investigative journalist

Freedom is a birthright; rights must be won! Abolish privilege and restore the people's rights: this is the only path to freedom for citizens.

— Qiming Liu, independent artist

2017 marks forty-five years since China and Japan restored diplomatic relations. As the new year arrives, I hope both countries will take the broad, farsighted view, restrain blind nationalist impulses, and work toward reconciliation over their inherited enmities.

— Ma Licheng, scholar; former commentator for the People's Daily

2017 is a new year for capital markets. The secret of capital lies in entrepreneurs' creativity, in the contribution of knowledge to markets, and in whether wild beasts are put in cages.

— Mao Shoulong, sociologist; Professor, Renmin University of China

Sun Yat-sen said that the world's great tide sweeps forward: those who follow it prosper, and those who oppose it perish. His words are not outdated in the least. The people have been enlightened; their leaders must catch up too.

— Mao Yushi, economist; founder of the Unirule Institute of Economics

Be diligent in what you do; let the outcome take its course. Read to nourish the spirit, and take good care to eat well.

— Meng Lei, media professional; Deputy General Manager, Economic Observer Media

No effort is wasted. However dark the wind and rain, in the new year keep hope, keep faith, and keep trying!

— Peng Xiaohua, scholar based in the United States

In 2016, we witnessed too many deaths: Lei Yang, Wei Zexi, the eighteen-year-old girl in Shandong deceived by telephone fraud, Yang Gailan and her family of six in Gansu, more than thirty miners in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, more than seventy construction workers in Yichun, Jiangxi… Looking toward 2017: stay alive. Before speaking of other rights or development, let there be fewer accidental and unexplained deaths. First stay alive; then pursue our dreams.

— Qiao Mu, Associate Professor and librarian, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Wind and rain weigh like stone; rise at the cock's crow and practice with the sword. Winter has come—what can hold back the spring? You many men of learning, bring honor to this land. Even if Chu has only three households left, it is Chu that shall bring down Qin.

— Qin Hui, historian; Professor, Tsinghua University

Breathe freely, speak freely, move freely!

— Qin Qianhong, scholar; Professor, School of Law, Wuhan University

Do not disdain a modest contribution or fear overwhelming power. Help China advance through every small effort.

— Rong Jian, independent scholar

My heart is bright; I walk straight along the great Way. Why fear wind and rain as heavy as stone?

— Shi Nian Kan Chai, scholar and cultural commentator

For the state, time moves forward: tens of millions of white bones do not trouble the court. For the individual, time moves backward: all we hold most dear turns to dust. I am beginning to persuade myself that freedom is a portrait of oneself as an other. Unless we begin with individual freedom, China will never have a future.

— Shuai Hao, historical scholar and art critic

2017: prevail through the heart; reveal strength through weakness. Do not put down what you can shoulder; do not let go of what you can move forward. Once we truly understand the character and needs of this age, I believe we can learn to choose a dignified way of living each day.

— Su Xiaoling, writer; member of a writers' association; former Editor-in-Chief of Yingxiangli China

Only by clearing the poisonous fog within our hearts can we dispel the shadow of the Cultural Revolution; only by establishing individual dignity can we establish democratic constitutionalism. I take leave of 2016 with regret and place my hopes in 2017.

— Tang Jiwu, scholar, writer, and publisher

The internet has opened an age of human transparency as transformative as a genetic mutation! In an age of transparent information, secrets resemble isotopes whose half-lives grow ever shorter. Every institution that profits from unequal access to information will crumble. If you are here, China is here; if your heart turns toward the light, China will be light!

— Tong Dahuan, independent scholar; specialist in urbanization and real estate research

I hope air quality will improve markedly in Beijing, Shanghai, and across the country in 2017.

— Tong Zhiwei, legal scholar and university professor

Take suffering into your heart; take humiliation into your heart; take hope into your heart; take ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ into your heart. Never be absent when social justice calls, and cast the net of faith into deep waters.

— Wang Dongcheng, scholar; Professor, China Youth University for Political Sciences; Christian

The question is not whether the labor movement will flourish, but where it is headed. If a labor movement oriented toward constitutional democracy stalls, the far left will seize the opening and steer it toward totalitarian despotism. The intellectual community also bears responsibility for the choice of direction; it has no right to evade that responsibility.

— Wang Jiangsong, Professor and librarian, China University of Labor Relations

Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will certainly be better! Even if the ‘tomorrow’ in which we place our hopes is a hundred years away, today I am still willing to do everything I can. Even if black clouds press upon the city and gloom fills the air, the fire within you and me is still alight, still warm: it can illuminate the road ahead and warm people's hearts.

— Wang Ying, entrepreneur

The power of freedom is the power of human nature. Human nature cannot be defeated; freedom cannot be defeated! Only when the flowers of freedom bloom can all flowers bloom! Long live freedom!

— Wang Zhanyang, political scholar and university professor

Rivers do not belong to humanity alone. Please preserve China's last great naturally flowing river—the Nu River.

— Wang Yongchen, convener of Green Earth Volunteers

In an age when holding to conscience and common sense requires courage, let us keep working and bring change together in 2017, firmly believing that we can!

— Wei Jingui, university professor; author of fiction and historical essays

Rain washes the dense haze away; the people's struggle lightens crushing taxes.

— Wei Sen, economist; Professor, Fudan University

Pass through the long corridors of 404, cross the high walls of 1984, brush the dust from Common Sense, and let the drumbeat of conscience carry far.

— Wu Fei, scholar; Professor, Zhejiang University

China is a society half totalitarian and half authoritarian. A move from Stalinist, monolithic totalitarianism toward authoritarianism with limited pluralism—something close to Taiwan before its transition—would meet less resistance overall and is a highly probable historical development.

— Wu Si, scholar of history and culture

In 2017, life in China under its heavy pall of smog will grow harder. Yet the world is changing, and people's hearts are changing; perhaps opportunity lies within those changes. By holding firm to a belief in the light and continuing to move forward, we can gather into a great storm that disperses every shadow, clears the world, frees our breath, and brings clarity to our minds.

— Wu Wei, independent scholar of contemporary Chinese history

If the Way cannot prevail, take a raft and float beyond the seas. If we cannot advance the struggle for democracy for our nation, then step back and seek freedom for our families. Of the thirty-six stratagems, leaving is the best; leaving includes moving freely and flying far away. Sometimes the security of wealth matters more than its growth; sometimes freedom matters more than democracy. Do not imagine that violence and ignorance cannot themselves be forms in which democracy appears.

— Wu Zuolai, scholar based in the United States

In the departed year of 2016, we went through difficult things. In the approaching year of 2017, we can foresee that we will still confront troubled times, inescapable and impossible to predict. Whatever happens, however, the human spirit is moving forward. Under the torment of injustice, it does not bend or break, but grows ever more resilient.

— Xuan Wu, writer and poet

We are all straws. Taken alone, each straw seems useless, but there will always be a last straw. We only need to be resilient enough.

— Xiao Shu, historical scholar and current affairs commentator

The long night stretches on; the road ahead is perilous. Bring down the walls, clear the haze, keep watch, and help one another.

— Xiao Xuehui, sociologist; Professor, School of Literature, Southwest University for Nationalities

Conscience lives among our fellow alumni; hope lives among the people.

— Xing Xiaoqun, scholar

To build a republic worthy of the name, in which constitutional government is supreme: this is the Chinese dream that has remained unchanged for a century. Through the unyielding efforts of people of conviction and humanity, and of all Chinese people, the day will finally come when that dream becomes reality.

— Xu Youyu, scholar; Professor, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Time is the true teacher. It gathers new passions and dreams, corrects the world's errors and absurdities, reveals hidden truths and glory, and consoles humanity's suffering and wounds. Time grants freedom to everyone: in the new year, you can reshape your own fate and take part in changing the fate of your country. May every Chinese person dance freely in the way they love in the year ahead, answering life and time.

— Ye Kuangzheng, poet and cultural scholar

Rooted first in clefts of rock, grip the green mountain and never let go!

— Yan Lieshan, essayist; former editor, Southern Weekly

Turmoil grips court and country; everywhere, feebleness and mediocrity. Frost lies thick across the land; sorrow deepens without end. Open people's minds, uphold human rights, disperse the haze, and part the clouds to reveal the sun.

— Yang Dongping, artist

In 2017, I hope my family and friends will be healthy and safe. I hope I can still practice ‘freedom, the rule of law, and democracy,’ among the twenty-four Chinese characters of the core values. I hope my words, which already have nowhere left to retreat, will no longer be deleted: they are only a faint cry. I hope the smog will not bring me down on the road. Spring will come.

— Yang Hengjun, scholar, writer, and current affairs commentator

In 2016, I was frequently silenced. In 2017, I do not expect to be let through the net. Until my throat is completely choked off, I will keep trying to speak out loudly!

— Yang Jinlin, columnist and current affairs commentator

In the face of difficulties and challenges, there are three choices: change them, accept them, or move away. In 2017, a temporary departure may be a good choice—from smog, for instance. At the same time, never give up the dream of change.

— Yang Peichang, scholar

Although we are forced to live beneath a pall of smog, we have never lost the ability to imagine blue skies and white clouds.

— Yu Jianrong, scholar; Professor, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

‘Sparse bells hasten dawn; restless crows cry out at dusk!’ I welcome 2017 with these lines from a Song dynasty poet.

— Yuan Weishi, historian; Professor, Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University

In the digital age, society looks to each one of you to become a citizen intellectual: to create your own China and your own future through words, action, and courage.

— Zeng Jinyan, young scholar

Too many misfortunes occurred in 2016. Yet, since misfortune is an unavoidable part of human life, the media must report it truthfully instead of pretending to be deaf and mute. We need honest, reliable journalism. Good journalism must face a bewildering world, clarify complex relationships, free itself from prevailing prejudices, demonstrate professional courage, reveal the facts, and expose lies and false arguments.

— Zhan Jiang, media scholar; Professor, Beijing Foreign Studies University

I bought a dawn-crowing rooster and spoke to him: do not crow idly in ordinary times. Deep in the mountains, on a moonless, stormy night, give a cry when dawn is drawing near. I offer these lines from a Tang dynasty poet as encouragement to us all.

— Zhang Lifan, historian

In 2017, the law of the jungle may again dominate the world. This is not good news for China in its difficult transition. Let us retain our self-respect, encourage ourselves, and keep striving forward.

— Zhang Boshu, scholar based in the United States

When will the East be red—and return to me an East that is green?

— Zhang Er, poet; Professor, Seattle University, United States

Effort will bear fruit; belief will bring a future. Our ideals endure, renewed with every year!

— Zhang Lun, scholar based in France

I simply hope that the problems our forebears left us, and those we ourselves have created, can largely be resolved within our generation. If we pass this mess on to our children and grandchildren, I will feel that I have failed in life.

— Zhang Qianfan, constitutional scholar; Professor, Peking University

At this approaching turning point, when the world order is about to be reshaped, I hope it can offer the land beneath my feet at least some opening toward the light.

— Zhao Cheng, scholar; professor at an unnamed university

I am convinced that all of China's problems are becoming, at an accelerating pace, a question of political change. As an intellectual, I hold a moderate but firm position on my country's future and the eventual end of despotic rule. I have always devoted myself to the three questions that concern me most: where evil comes from, how it happens, and what we should do to ensure it never happens again. To that end, I am willing to undertake every modest task that ought to be done and that I am able to do. Be clear about what you know; act even when you know the task cannot be done.

— Zhao Guojun, scholar of legal culture; founder of China Lawyers Watch

May we remember everyone who has ever fought for freedom; may the flowers of freedom bloom in more people's hearts.

— Zhao Mu, media professional; formerly with the People's Daily

People can turn the heart of Heaven and Earth; Heaven and Earth cannot take a person's heart away. In acting, a person of integrity judges right and wrong, not profit and harm; whether the act accords with the right order, not success or failure; what it means for all ages, not merely one lifetime. (From Xie Fangde's Letter to Li Yangwu.)

— Zhao Shilin, Professor, Minzu University of China; cultural scholar

China must never deviate from the path of reform; despotic totalitarianism must never return to China.

— Zhao Shilong, media professional

Only when the people are prosperous can the country prosper; only when society is strong can the state be strong. Only by taking citizens' rights seriously can we stand the test of history and earn the world's respect. Let my country awaken!

— Zhou Weimin, scholar; Professor, Central Party School

A century of constitutionalism, impatient hearts turning it into a dream; another century is still needed for enlightenment in universal values.

— Zhou Weimin, Shekou Community Foundation

If you have lost hope in the world, undertake a renaissance of your own.

— Zhu Dake, cultural critic and writer; Professor, Tongji University

In this age of great upheaval, let each of us do all we can, while upholding a spirit of community: unite, help one another, move forward together, and create new history!

— Zhu Xinxin, independent scholar

Build yourself, and keep running through the night.

— Zhu Xuedong, media professional; former Editor-in-Chief, Nanfengchuang magazine

2017: may the earth lie white and boundless, ‘truly clean’!

— Zhu Xueqin, historian; Professor, Shanghai University

(Contributors are listed in surname order.)

Yingxiangli Guancha (Influence Watch)

Published on January 2, 2017

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