Wei Jingsheng

Wei Jingsheng is a Chinese democracy activist and dissident who became a leading figure in the 1978–79 Democracy Wall movement. His essay “The Fifth Modernization” argued that democracy was essential to China’s modernization, challenging the Communist Party’s emphasis on economic and technological development without political reform. Arrested in 1979, Wei spent more than 18 years in prison and later continued his advocacy for human rights and democratic change from exile.