Another high-profile banner protest unfurls in China’s capital as the CCP’s Fourth Plenary Session wraps up.

By Eleanor Zhang for Three Gorges Probe | Editor: Probe International

For the original Chinese-language version of this article, see the publisher’s website here.

On Oct. 25, 2025, two bold anti-Communist banners appeared in Beijing’s bustling, upscale Sanlitun district, condemning the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “an anti-human cult” and calling for a “new China founded on freedom, humanity, and the rule of law.”

The high-risk protest, which coincided with the conclusion of the CCP’s Fourth Plenary Session, highlights ongoing dissent against the regime amid heightened political control. Despite swift removal by security, images of the banners sparked widespread discussion online.

According to reports by The Epoch Times, Vision Times, and Chinese art student turned activist “Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher” (@whyyoutouzhele), a protester unfurled two banners reading:

“The essence of the Communist Party is an anti-human, anti-humanity cult that will bring endless disasters to China.”
“Lift the ban on political parties, allow free competition and free choice—build a new China of freedom, humanity, and the rule of law.”

Photographs that circulated online show a person standing above the banners with a loudspeaker, although what was said remains unclear.

The protest’s reference to the CCP as a “cult” echoed a 2014 post from the official Weibo account for China Central Television (CCTV), which was intended to teach the public how to identify cults. Ironically, the five characteristics listed by the CCP and included in the CCTV post read as follows:

1. Cults exhibit extreme exclusivity and always claim to be the greatest;
2. Cults rely on coercive brainwashing and self-glorification to assert their correctness;
3. Cults oppress others for their own gain;
4. Cults maintain internal networks through nepotism and favoritism to preserve their interests;
5. Cults preach virtue but commit the most despicable acts in practice.

A number of Chinese netizens mocked the post at the time as an inadvertent self-portrait of the Communist Party. In the wake of the Oct. 25 protest, that same 2014 post has resurfaced, with users re-sharing it alongside images of the Sanlitun banners for comparison.

Since the landmark Sitong Bridge protest in 2022, when democracy activist Peng Lifa called for Xi Jinping’s removal and free elections just days before the CCP’s 20th Party Congress, similar acts of individual defiance have sporadically appeared across China. Both the Sitong Bridge and Sanlitun incidents occurred during periods of heightened political control in the capital, underscoring the courage and risks of dissent under China’s highly intense “stability maintenance” environment.

According to subsequent posts by “Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher” on X, the Sanlitun banners were quickly removed by a security guard. Images of the protest nevertheless spread online, igniting discussion among Chinese-speaking communities worldwide.

One X user commented, “These small acts of courage may seem insignificant, but they break the isolation created by fear and allow people to see one another—laying the foundation for collective awareness.”

Another wrote, “Though China has suffered under tyranny for decades, courage and hope persist. Each heroic act rekindles the will of millions to resist dictatorship.”

Others responded with dark humor, remarking, “After the Sitong Bridge protester, the government will now have to hire guards for every public overpass.”

For many observers, the Sanlitun protest represents another instance of silent, nonviolent resistance—an act that, though individual, reflects the growing undercurrent of discontent and the enduring voice of ordinary citizens yearning for freedom.

Further Reading

After the Fourth Plenum, Large Banners Appeared in Beijing Calling the CCP a Cult