Protesters hold a banner at a rally in Washington, DC, supporting Chinese who have renounced the Chinese Communist Party. (The Epoch Times)
By Ben Hurley
Epoch Times Staff
July 24, 2009
It only takes a few minutes at a “Quit the Chinese Communist Party” (CCP) site to see that the movement resonates with a lot of Chinese people.
A young Chinese man in a suit walks past, and Winny Zhao walks along with him. She’s a tall, middle-aged woman with long, wavy hair.
They have a spirited chat, “ok, sure, I’ll quit,” says the man with a laugh, after they walk about ten metres together. Winny returns with his name, “Kevin”, and adds it to the list.
A young lady goes by, and Liu Jie, middle-aged but a little shorter than Winny, talks to her. “I know this Tuidang [Chinese for ‘quitting the party’] has my best intentions in mind,” the young lady says. “OK, I agree to quit. I’m very happy, thank you.” She turns out to be a student, and uses the name Zhan Shan.
Another young lady goes by. “I don’t need to quit,” she tells Winny. “I only joined the Young Pioneers.” Winny replies: “You have to renounce that pledge you made to the party.” “OK, thanks.” She uses the name “Ada”.
The site is in Burwood, an area in Sydney’s inner West with a lot of Chinese migrants. It’s one of about ten sites across Sydney, where groups of well-dressed Chinese gather to encourage Chinese people to resign from the CCP. Their signs say “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) isn’t the same as China, loving the Party isn’t loving China” and there are message boards about the Party’s various political campaigns. The ladies are all practitioners of Falun Gong, and they hand out information materials, and copies of The Epoch Times.
It’s about half-past one in the afternoon and the smiling ladies have 34 names on their clipboard, with about two hours to go. They’re mostly pen names like De Fu (obtain fortune), Ping An (peace and safety), and others. The signatories tick which party organisation they want to quit: the Young Pioneers for primary school children, the Youth League for high school, or full Communist Party membership.
The movement began in November 2004 with the publication of the editorial series Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party by The Epoch Times. The series ‘exposes the Party’s violence and its political campaigns since its founding in 1949. With the ‘Nine Commentaries’ release, people were invited to “withdraw” their Party membership via the website, by phone or by fax to Epoch Times offices and “Quit the CCP Service Centres” around the world, like this one in Burwood.
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