# Beijing Spring

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Late-1970s period of liberalization in China

For the pop band, see [Beijing Spring (band)](/source/Beijing_Spring_(band)).

History of the People's Republic of China Chronology 1949–1976 (Mao era) Revolution Land Reform Movement Proclamation Korean War Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns First five-year plan Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Bandung Conference Sufan movement Hundred Flowers Campaign Anti-Rightist Campaign Canton Fair Great Leap Forward Great Chinese Famine Anti-Right Deviation Struggle Two Bombs, One Satellite Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Third Front Cultural Revolution Abolition of the presidency UN representation Richard Nixon visit 1976–1989 (Hua & Deng era) Gang of Four Boluan Fanzheng 1978 Truth Criterion Controversy New Enlightenment Reform and opening up Special economic zones China–United States relations Three Communiqués Four Modernizations Sino-Vietnamese War Beijing Spring Strike Hard Against Crime Campaign Sino-British Joint Declaration Campaign against spiritual pollution Bourgeois liberalization Opposition 863 Program 1986 Chinese student demonstrations Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre 1989–2002 (Jiang era) Shanghai Stock Exchange Pudong New District Deng's southern tour 1992 consensus One country, two systems Handover of Hong Kong Handover of Macau Xiagang 1998 floods US bombing of the Belgrade embassy Persecution of Falun Gong China Western Development Hainan Island incident APEC China 2001 Accession to the WTO Forum on China–Africa Cooperation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 2002–2012 (Hu era) 2002–2004 SARS outbreak Shenzhou 5 Visit of Lien Chan South–North Water Transfer Project Qinghai–Tibet railway 2008 Sichuan earthquake Three Links with Taiwan 2008 Summer Olympics Expo 2010 BRICS Three Gorges Dam West–East Gas Pipeline High-speed rail 2012–present (Xi era) Anti-corruption campaign Chang'e 3 Supercomputing Meeting with Ma Ying-Jeou Xiong'an Plan on reforming Party and state institutions 2025 China Victory Day Parade China–United States trade war Tiangong space station Global Leaders' Meeting on Women 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests 2020 Hong Kong national security law COVID-19 pandemic Zero-COVID 2020–2021 reform spree 2022 Winter Olympics 2022 COVID-19 protests in China Artificial Intelligence Cold War Belt and Road Initiative APEC China 2014 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit 9th BRICS summit China International Import Expo Constitution Beijing Shanghai Culture LGBTQ Feminism Economy Education Geography Politics China portal v t e

v t e Chinese democracy movements Mainland China Beijing Spring 1986 demonstrations 1989 Tiananmen Square protests 2011 protests (crackdown) 2022 Sitong Bridge protest 2022 COVID-19 protests 2025 Chongqing protest Hong Kong 1970s student protests 1 July marches December 2005 protest Anti-Express Rail Link movement 2010 protests New year marches Umbrella Movement / 2014 protests 2016 Mong Kok civil unrest 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill Movement Macau Transfer of sovereignty protest (2007, 2010)

The **Beijing Spring** ([Chinese](/source/Chinese_language): 北京之春; [pinyin](/source/Pinyin): *Běijīng zhī chūn*) refers to a brief period of political [liberalization](/source/Liberalization) during the "[Boluan Fanzheng](/source/Boluan_Fanzheng)" period in the [People's Republic of China](/source/People's_Republic_of_China) (PRC).[1] It began as the [Democracy Wall](/source/Democracy_Wall) movement in [Beijing](/source/Beijing), which occurred in 1978 and 1979, right after the end of the [Chinese Cultural Revolution](/source/Chinese_Cultural_Revolution).[1][2][3] The name is derived from "[Prague Spring](/source/Prague_Spring)", an analogous event which occurred in [Czechoslovakia](/source/Czechoslovakia) in 1968.

## History

See also: [New Enlightenment (China)](/source/New_Enlightenment_(China))

During the Beijing Spring, the general public was allowed greater freedom to criticize the government than the Chinese people had previously been allowed under the [government of the People's Republic of China](/source/Government_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China). Most of this criticism was directed towards the [Cultural Revolution](/source/Cultural_Revolution) and the government's behavior during that time. It was made public with the [Democracy Wall Movement](/source/Democracy_Wall_Movement), a [Chinese democracy movement](/source/Chinese_democracy_movement).[4]

### 1990s

The phrase "Beijing Spring" was also used during a more recent period of political thaw in the PRC from September 1997 to mid November 1998. During this 'new Beijing Spring' the Chinese authorities relaxed some control over political expression and organisation. The relatively trouble-free [handover of Hong Kong](/source/Hong_Kong_handover) to China from the United Kingdom and the death of [Deng Xiaoping](/source/Deng_Xiaoping) in early 1997 were precursors to this brief period of liberalisation.

It was during this second "Beijing Spring" that the [China Democracy Party](/source/China_Democracy_Party) was founded and legally registered by some local authorities. The Democracy Wall Movement dissident [Wei Jingsheng](/source/Wei_Jingsheng) was released and exiled, China signed the [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights](/source/International_Covenant_on_Civil_and_Political_Rights), and China was visited by US President [Bill Clinton](/source/Bill_Clinton) and UN Human Rights Commissioner [Mary Robinson](/source/Mary_Robinson) at this time. By the end of 1998 the government had again cracked down on leading dissidents and those involved in the fledgling opposition [Chinese Democracy Party](/source/Chinese_Democracy_Party).

## See also

- [China portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:China)
- [Politics portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Politics)

- [1976 Tiananmen incident](/source/1976_Tiananmen_incident)

- *[Beijing Spring](/source/Beijing_Spring_(film))* – 2020 documentary film

- [Bourgeois liberalization](/source/Bourgeois_liberalization)

- [Campaign against spiritual pollution](/source/Campaign_against_spiritual_pollution)

- [Chinese democracy movements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_democracy_movements)

- [Democracy Wall](/source/Democracy_Wall)

- [Hundred Flowers Campaign](/source/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign)

- [Scar literature](/source/Scar_literature)

- [Wei Jingsheng](/source/Wei_Jingsheng)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) Brodsgaard, Kjeld Erik (1981). "The Democracy Movement in China, 1978–1979: Opposition Movements, Wall Poster Campaigns, and Underground Journals". *Asian Survey*. **21** (7): 747–774. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/2643619](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2643619). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0004-4687](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0004-4687). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2643619](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643619).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Levine, Jill (2013). ["Deng Xiaoping, Dazibao and Dissent: A Critical Analysis of the Xidan Democracy Wall Movement"](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10673321.pdf) (PDF). *Senior Capstone Project*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190414001043/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10673321.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2020-05-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["frontline: the gate of heavenly peace"](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gate/). *www.pbs.org*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200508172348/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gate/) from the original on 2020-05-08. Retrieved 2020-05-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Opletal, Helmut (2021-12-30). ["The 1978–1981 Democracy Wall Movement and the Reformists in the Communist Party Leadership after Mao's Death"](https://journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/jeacs/article/view/6561). *The Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies*. **2**: 127–167. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.25365/jeacs.2021.2.127-167](https://doi.org/10.25365%2Fjeacs.2021.2.127-167). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [2709-9946](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2709-9946).

## External links

- ["Beijing Spring" – Memories of the Chinese Democracy Movement 1978–1981](https://pekinger-fruehling.univie.ac.at/en/peking-spring/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190411130738/https://pekinger-fruehling.univie.ac.at/en/peking-spring/) 2019-04-11 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Beijing Spring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Spring) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Spring?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.