The 2026 Human Rights Essay Contest is open to students of all ages and offers $4,000 in prize money. The focus for this contest is on the sentencing of human rights activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison and how this sentencing should impact U.S.-China relations. The deadline to submit has been extended to July 15th. For more information, visit humanrights.catholic.edu
Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello, everyone. Thank you, Will.
W: Yeah. So as of recording this, it’s right around the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Guangcheng, can you tell us what year the massacre was and just a brief summary of what happened?
G: Yeah. This year is the 37th anniversary of Tiananmen Square’s massacre. 37 years ago, Chinese people saw a lot of corruption in the CCP because another leader, Hu Jiaobang, died. The students and the people went to Tiananmen Square to ask [the] CCP to check [on] why Hu Jiaobang died.
W: You said he was the leader, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, the leader.
W: So he was the party leader?
G: Yeah, party leader. The CCP’s party leader. And so they asked the CCP, you know, “You cannot keep the party-state system.” They demanded democracy, demanded the rule of law, demanded human rights, demanded free media and free speech. Of course, the CCP ignored them.
W: Guangcheng, why did they demand it after the death of this leader?
G: At that time, the young people [thought] Hu Jiaobang did a good job.
W: How long was he leader for?
G: Just 4 years, I remember.
W: Oh, wow. Okay.
G: Hu Jiaobang thought the Communist Party should not control the government.
W: Oh, wow.
G: Yeah. And Hu Jiaobang thought the government and the Communist Party should be separate. And, you know, now, the CCP’s mouthpiece always says the party equals [the] country, country equals party, like that. But Hu Jiaobang thought it should be separated. And you know, if the party [is] separate from the government, the party office only can spend money from the party members.
W: Gotcha, so they’d be cut off from their funding.
G: Yeah, they cannot steal the money from the country’s bank and use it, right? Now the party can use the money from [the] government.So that’s why a lot of people supported him.
W: So Guangcheng, how did he die? How old was he?
G: You know, CCP’s leaders are always older. At that time, you know, I think he was more than 70 years old. And the CCP said he had some heart problems. So he died.
So yeah, at that time, you know, Deng Xiaoping controlled the power. He was the real leader behind the CCP’s chairman. The CCP’s leader, Hu Jiaobang; he is the chairman, but he had to listen to Deng Xiaoping.
W: So Deng Xiaoping, was he like, was he the president or was he…?
G: Deng Xiaoping was an older leader. He worked with Chairman Mao. And so he had a lot of influence in the party.
W: So even though he wasn’t the current party chairman, he was still probably more powerful?
G: Yes, yes. Every chairman, like Hu Jiaobang, like Zhao Ziyang, and like Jiang Zemin; if some important things happened, they had to go to Deng Xiaoping’s house and ask his ideas.
W: Okay, gotcha. He was basically above the leader of the party. Wow.
G: Yeah, he [could] control everything in the party, but it looked like he’s not the official, but he controlled everything.
W: Yeah.
G: So the young people thought that because they [fought] in the party, so Hu Jiaobang died. So they asked them to check about this, and they asked them to stop the one-party system, to let the media be free and recognize the other parties.
W: So Guangcheng, did the young people think that the party may have killed…?
G: I think before, you know, the young people, they just asked the CCP to follow the Constitution. They didn’t think the CCP would kill them or hurt them. They [thought] the CCP will not use the military to suppress them.
W: So Guangcheng, up until that point, because this was 1989, right?
G: Yeah, yeah.
W: Up until that point, had the Communist Party used force?
G: Until April 26th, the CCP said the young people protest just because they love the country. And then, you know, on April 26th, the CCP’s mouthpiece, Xinhua, wrote an article and accused the students of treason. That is not true, you know.
The 2026 Human Rights Essay Contest is open to students of all ages and offers $4,000 in prize money. The focus for this contest is on the sentencing of human rights activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison and how this sentencing should impact U.S.-China relations. The deadline to submit has been extended to July 15th. For more information, visit humanrights.catholic.edu
