The Free China Movement (FCM) has published a proposal calling for October 1, currently observed by the People’s Republic of China as its National Day, to be reconsidered by a future democratically authorized legislature as a national day of remembrance under the proposed name “National Day of Suffering and Freedom.”
The proposal is linked to FCM’s research paper, From Mao to the Party-State: October 1, the Constitutional Evolution of the PRC, and the Restoration of Constitutional Democracy. The paper reviews the 1949 Common Program, later PRC constitutions and amendments, and the relationship among constitutional text, party leadership, state institutions and citizens’ rights.
FCM says its proposal would make remembrance, archival access, documentation of victims and due-process-based accountability central to any future reconsideration of October 1. The associated policy proposal describes possible measures including a national victim registry, digital archives, an independent truth commission, public education, memorialization, and remedies for verified victims.
FCM states that these are its own policy proposals and are not current law or the policy of any government. It also states that permanent arrangements should be made only through lawful, public and democratically authorized procedures following a transition.
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Simplified Chinese counterpart: Chinese policy-paper announcement