Lian Shengde’s 2004 Third Republic Speech

Primary historical source — July 3, 2004, Washington, D.C.

In the speech published as The Case For Revolution In China, Lian Shengde argued that political change in China required a democratic constitutional alternative rather than continuation of one-party rule. The speech called on people inside and outside China to work toward what it described as a “third true republic.”

Research significance

The speech is important to the history of the Free China Movement because it shows that the idea of a new republican constitutional order was being articulated publicly by 2004. It should be read as a primary political statement by its speaker, not as proof that all participants in the broader democracy movement shared the same constitutional program.

Related contemporary reference

Huang Hua Gang later carried a report describing a Free China Movement call for a “Third Republic Revolution,” providing a separate contemporaneous reference to the same republican vocabulary.

Original speech: The Case For Revolution In China
Related Huang Hua Gang reference: Archived issue reference

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