Freedom of speech has been a highly valued right for many Chinese over the years. This holds true of people of widely different political persuasions, ranging from Li Dazhao (see Text 12), to Luo Longji (see Text 22), to Hu Ping in this article. Hu Ping published his first piece on freedom of speech during the Democracy Movement of 1978–79. Although this article was far-reaching and quite radical in its defense of the freedom of speech, Hu Ping did not then make use of the language of human rights when describing it, nor did he refer to international human rights documents. His language and approach reflected the political situation of the time and the theoretical framework within which most Chinese were still operating. In 1986, a revised version of this article was published in an official magazine where it drew a lot of attention and positive comments. In 1986 Hu Ping went to the United States to study, where he has lived since and edits Beijing Spring, an influential Chinese-language magazine. Hu is an active and thoughtful contributor to the intellectual and political debate of Chinese in exile, and has published extensively, including both theoretical works and more political pieces. In this article Hu refutes the Chinese government’s view on human rights point by point, strongly defending the idea that human rights are universal. He argues the case for the right to freedom of speech as the most important of human rights, both by using examples from Chinese history and by drawing on the views of non-Chinese scholars, such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.
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