"The Chinese government may have taken away the ‘Bridge Man,’ but his arrest ignited widespread support for a free and democratic China,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “Two years since Peng Lifa was taken into police custody and forcibly disappeared, his message continues to resonate.”

On October 13, 2022, a man in a construction outfit unfurled two banners on Sitong Bridge in Haidian district in Beijing. One read: “We want food not Covid testing; we want freedom not lockdowns; we want dignity not lies. We want reform not the Cultural Revolution; we want to vote not a leader; we are citizens not slaves.”

And another read: “Go on strike, depose the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping.” The police immediately took him away and he has not been seen since.

[…]

Peng’s protest was rare in a country where police closely monitor all public spaces and dissidents. Control was especially tight in the capital ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress at the time of the protest. While authorities quickly censored all news about it, Peng’s messages nonetheless spread.

[…]

On July 30, 2024, a 22-year-old activist who participated in the White Paper movement, Fang Yirong (方艺融), put a Peng-inspired banner on a bridge in Loudi City, Hunan province, and posted a video online saying that he “hope[s] that the Chinese will get rid of autocracy and live a better life as soon as possible.” Police arrested Fang in early August and his current condition is also unknown.

[Edit typo.]