The Spirit of 1989 Is Rising in China—Could This Be a 1776 Moment?

In China today, something is stirring—something bold, dangerous, and potentially world-changing. From university campuses to factory floors, Chinese citizens—what we in America call “We the People”—are rising up, risking everything to demand what our Founders declared in 1776: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s a whisper of freedom echoing through the iron corridors of Communist rule. Could this be China's moment of reckoning—their own 1776?

A signed manifesto by a university dean and deputy dean has lit the fuse. Their call to topple Xi Jinping’s brutal dictatorship is unprecedented in its boldness. They plead with students to reclaim their future or be erased by history. This is not idle rhetoric. In the People’s Republic of China, defying the Party means risking death, disappearance, or a living silence. Just months ago, an economist who challenged Party lies about GDP figures vanished without a trace. Now these professors have gone further—they’ve placed their names and faces on a public declaration of liberty.

This moment calls back to 1989, when thousands of Chinese students gathered in Tiananmen Square, demanding democracy and the rule of law. The Chinese Communist Party responded not with reform, but with tanks. It slaughtered its own children to maintain power. Today, the CCP pretends June 4th never happened, spending billions to erase the truth and replace it with propaganda. But history—like liberty—has a stubborn way of breaking through even the strongest censorship.

And now, history may be repeating itself.

Across China, protests are erupting. Workers demand months of unpaid wages. Factories shut down. Construction sites go silent. Economic collapse and Party corruption have pushed the people to the brink. The Chinese regime answers with arrest and suppression, but the truth is out. From tech campuses to textile plants, from migrant workers to university idealists, the Chinese people are saying “enough.”

Xi Jinping's dictatorship—once seen as monolithic—is cracking. The façade is crumbling under the weight of its own lies. And behind China’s digital wall, citizens are rediscovering revolutionary ideas: natural rights, self-government, justice, and human dignity.

Americans should recognize this spirit—it’s the same flame that burned in Boston in 1775, when farmers stood their ground at Lexington and Concord. There, a ragtag band of patriots fired the “shot heard round the world,” not just in defiance of tyranny, but in declaration of a new birth of freedom. Today, in China, peaceful dissidents may be lighting their own spark. They stand with empty stomachs and open hands, demanding only what our Founders once fought for: a government that serves, not rules.

But here’s the difference—Americans had a Constitution, a Declaration, and a Bill of Rights. The Chinese people have none. No safeguards, no legal protections, no guarantee of liberty. And yet still, they stand.

That’s why the work of the 917 Society matters more than ever. We exist to educate, to inspire, and to remind Americans that the Constitution is not merely a document—it is a moral compass. A charter of liberty. A bulwark against tyranny. It reminds us that freedom is not a gift from government—it is a right from God.

As brave Chinese patriots rise, let us remember: the American flame of liberty is meant to shine beyond our shores. We cannot fight their battle, but we can tell their story. We can reject the silence and censorship that empowers tyranny. And we must continue teaching our children what tyranny looks like—so they’ll never trade liberty for comfort.

The spirit of 1989 has returned. And perhaps—just perhaps—the spark of 1776 is rising with it.

Liberty, once sparked, cannot be stopped. Not by tanks. Not by tyrants. Not even by time.

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