The Fifth Modernization Explained

"The Fifth Modernization" is an essay by human rights activist Wei Jingsheng, originally begun as a signed wall poster placed on the Democracy Wall in Beijing on December 5, 1978.^[1]

Summary

The poster called on the Chinese Communist Party to add democracy to the list of the Four Modernizations, which already included industry, agriculture, science and technology, and national defense.^[2] It openly stated democracy was an additional modernization that needed to be pursued if China truly wanted to modernize itself.

See also

• Beijing Spring
• Democracy Wall

External links

• The Fifth Modernization essay by Wei Jingsheng

Notes and References

1. Brook, Daniel. [2005] (2005). Modern revolution: social change and cultural continuity in Czechoslovakia and China. University Press of America., .
2. Schell, Orville. Shambaugh, David L. [1999] (1999). The China reader: the reform era. Random House, Inc., .