Chinese Democratic Party, German Branch of the National United Headquarters (Overseas): “Ladder Speeches” on 1 October, as the Disobedience Movement unites resistance abroad and inside China; and a protest by the UK branch
On 1 October 2026, the 77th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, members of the German branch spoke from a ladder across from the PRC Consulate General in Frankfurt and rejected the legitimacy of Chinese Communist Party rule.
On 1 October 2026, the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, members of the German branch of the Chinese Democratic Party appeared outside the PRC Consulate General in Frankfurt to protest and to reject the legitimacy of Chinese Communist Party rule.
The protest took place in the afternoon at the corner of Kennedyallee and Thorwaldsenstraße, across the street from the consulate building. Members wore blue T-shirts and carried flags. A banner reading “梯子演讲 LADDER SPEECH” named the Chinese Democratic Party’s German branch as the organiser. An extendable ladder stood at the roadside; speakers climbed it one after another and, microphone in hand, addressed the consulate across the street.
Zhang Yadong (张亚东) said: “1 October is not a celebration; it is a day of national mourning.” He listed “from the Anti-Rightist Campaign to the Cultural Revolution, from June Fourth to zero-COVID,” and said: “We answer propaganda with silence, and tyranny with non-cooperation. We do not sing red songs, we do not wave false flags, we do not pretend to be happy.” He ended: “On 1 October we mourn a China that has been strangled, and we awaken hearts that will not bow.”
Zhao Zhize (赵志泽) said he was glad to take part in the “Disobedience Movement” and appealed: “Refuse lies, refuse fear, refuse to live on our knees. We want true patriotism. Let us turn this day into a day of awakening, not a day of revelry.” He closed with: “Chinese people will not cooperate until freedom comes.”
“End one-party dictatorship”
Xu Yingtao (许瀛涛), chair of the Chinese Democratic Party’s German branch, said that on 1 October 1949 the Chinese Communist Party “took power illegally”, and that its members’ demand is “very simple: end one-party dictatorship.” A government that has not been authorised by the people and does not protect their rights, he said, is one that “the people have the right to overthrow.”
Hu Jianhua (胡建华) read out the “Chinese Democratic Party Statement on Peaceful Protest”. The statement says that since 1949 the Chinese people have never decided through free, competitive national elections who should govern, and asks: “Who gave the Communist Party the power to rule the people?” It says the Party uses a firewall to restrict people’s access to information and tight controls to restrict their entry and exit; that people who call for universal suffrage or for officials to disclose their assets are detained or charged with “subversion of state power”; and it stresses: “The CCP is not China; loving your country does not mean loving the Party.”
Chen Xiaohong (陈小宏) said he opposes one-party dictatorship under Xi Jinping, and opposes restricting the basic rights of the Chinese people through censorship, blocking and repression. His demand is to “end one-party dictatorship and establish constitutional democracy”, so that people can choose, supervise and replace their government, and so that the Party withdraws from the army, the courts, the schools and the media. Cheng Jian (程建) listed land reform, the Great Famine of the three years, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the one-child policy and the pandemic, and said this government “has never done a single right thing”. He closed with “Long live freedom, long live democracy.”
Why a ladder
Xu Yingtao explained why the event is called “Ladder Speech”. A ladder, he said, can cross the wall the Chinese Communist Party has put up between those abroad and those inside China: “If we climb over this wall and unite, we can form a strong alliance of resistance.” Stepping forward, he said, “may not require heroic, heart-stopping deeds”, only a strategy of disobedience towards the Party’s narrative: “As long as you refuse to spread the false rumours the Chinese Communist Party has fabricated, you are already taking part in the resistance movement.” He also welcomed people inside China to get in touch with them.
Speaker Ma Yite (马一特) said his words would hardly reach people “inside the wall” because of the firewall: “Many people do not have the ladder in front of me.” He urged people inside the wall to learn how to get over the firewall and use VPNs, so that they can obtain more information and unite.
Jia Zhi (贾志) spoke directly to people inside the wall: “Don’t you know what kind of outfit the Communist Party is?” He said people at home and abroad, even inside the system, curse the Party. He understood that stepping forward is “terrifying”, but added: “Look at our faces. Whose children are they, whose parents are they? Are we not ordinary people? We are you, and you can become us.”
“49 million” and “disobedience”
A Hong Kong man, Zhu Rui (朱瑞), said he came across the event by chance and also climbed the ladder. Citing research on historical resistance movements by US scholars including Erica Chenoweth, he said non-violent movements are twice as likely to succeed as violent ones, and that once 3.5 per cent of a population stands up and persists, the great majority of such movements in history have ultimately succeeded. He calculated that 3.5 per cent of China’s population is 49 million, “not 1.4 billion”. Most people have not stepped forward, he said, because each thinks they are alone. He admitted he was “trembling and afraid”, but “being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of”, and closed with: “The secret of happiness is freedom; the secret of freedom is courage.”
Ding Yanjun (丁延军) said attention must be paid to the situation of Xinjiang’s Uyghur Muslims, of Tibetans and of other ethnic minorities, and that the language, culture, faith and dignity of every people must be respected. Xu Chunting (许春亭) said the society he hopes to see is not one of hatred and violence, but one of freedom, democracy, human rights and fairness before the law, where the elderly are cared for, the sick are treated and children receive a good education.
Ding Yanjun’s wife, Xu Chunting (许春婷), also climbed the ladder without hesitation and addressed the Chinese government in public: even the smallest citizen has a duty to take part in political affairs, because the country belongs to every citizen, not to the dictator Xi Jinping.
Zhao Lang (赵浪) spoke the longest. He recalled watching, in the streets of Hong Kong years ago, as tear gas was fired at unarmed fellow citizens, and criticised the authorities for threatening the relatives of dissidents abroad, as well as the pension system and population decline. He called refusing to have children and similar “gestures of non-cooperation” the “quietest” form of resistance today. He ended by saying that he is a member of the Chinese Democratic Party and one of the initiators of the “Disobedience Movement”.
Li Qiang (李强) shares his name with the current Premier of the State Council of the Chinese Communist Party government, which is a coincidence. But unlike his namesake, he firmly stands against the Communist Party and Xi Jinping and wants to end the Party’s illegitimate rule through a resistance movement.
Cheng Jian spoke with great passion, saying plainly that the current government is not only ruling illegitimately but has, since the founding of the PRC, never done a single right thing and now only harms the people.
Li Yanlan (李彦岚), the only speaker who sat on the ladder, said that under Communist Party rule China is already full of cries of anguish, and that there is only one way out of the Chinese people’s predicament: Xi Jinping must step down, and the Communist Party must step down.
UK branch: ladder speeches across from the Chinese embassy in London
1 October | Day of National Mourning | Disobedience Movement · Ladder Speeches
Across from the Chinese embassy in London, we held a call-to-action “Disobedience Movement · Ladder Speech” event, marking the Day of National Mourning by speaking out in public and remembering those who lost their lives, freedom and dignity in history.
Thank you to everyone who spoke and took part:
- Han Yunxiao (韩云霄), Secretary-General, Chinese Democratic Party UK Committee
- Mr Liu Weimin (刘伟民), Chair, Europe Branch of the Chinese Democratic Party’s National United Headquarters (Overseas)
- Mr Shao Jiang (邵江), student representative and survivor of the 1989 June Fourth movement
- Ms Qian Baofen (钱宝芬), Hong Kong Parliament
- Mr Wen Zuotuan (温作团), chief convener in the UK of the China Parliament (中国议会)
- Mr Huang Jun (黄俊), Vice-Chair, Chinese Democratic Party UK Committee
- Pastor Guo Xiaohe (郭小鹤), senior pastor of Zhongfu Church (中福教会) and president of the Zhongfu Missions Association (中福差传协会)
- Mr Ding Chenguang (丁晨光), pastor of a Chinese house church and member of the Chinese Democratic Party in the UK
and other democracy activists whose names were not recorded.
The ladder is a symbol of crossing the high wall; speaking is the way to make a voice heard; disobedience is how ordinary people hold on to freedom and dignity. History does not disappear because of silence, and voices that are pressed down must not be forgotten. Remember history; cherish freedom. Let us keep speaking out, so that the world hears.
#NationalMourningDay #DisobedienceMovement #LadderSpeech #RememberHistory #Freedom #HumanRights #London
All Chinese people around the world, and all international friends who care about China’s democratic transition, are warmly invited to join!
1 October · Disobedience Movement Rally
London embassy and Frankfurt Consulate General, in parallel