Gao Fei: Announcement on the Progress of the “Defend the Bottom Line of Life” Joint Signature Campaign as of April 15, 2026

As of April 15, 2026, the “Defend the Bottom Line of Life” joint signature campaign has received a cumulative total of 1,077 signatures, with 978 people included in the statistics (duplicate signatures and entries with incomplete names or phone numbers were removed during the review). Thank you to all fellow citizens for your support, solidarity and vigilance along the way.

As of now, regarding the initiative letter, letter urging a reply and second letter urging a reply that have been submitted successively, the five national bodies—the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the State Council, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Commission of Supervision—still have not provided any positive response.

By “no positive response” here, I do not mean that we have received no words at all, but rather that: to this day, not a single department has directly answered the core questions I have continued to raise; not a single department has directly responded to the social fear and public concerns triggered by this major life crisis; and not a single department has directly assumed the state responsibility it should bear.

Even the only contact and feedback concerning the second letter urging a reply submitted on March 29 consisted merely of asking me to raise the matter again with the “government organs and units with the authority to handle it.” This approach is not a response to the problem, but a continuation of shifting the problem; it is not an assumption of responsibility, but a continuation of severing responsibility; it is not facing the issue of life, but a continuation of evading the issue of life.

When a citizen has, through peaceful, public, rational and sustained means, repeatedly sent letters, urged replies, provided explanations, organized joint signatures and made public appeals to the relevant departments at the highest levels of the state, while the five national bodies have still collectively failed to provide any positive response to this day, this is no longer merely delay in the general sense, nor an ordinary procedural hold-up, but an overall failure to perform their duties regarding a major issue of life, a systematic sidelining of citizens’ legitimate appeals, and a serious dereliction of the state’s responsibility to protect life.

A question directly concerning life safety, life ethics, institutional responsibility and society’s basic sense of security has been treated by the five national bodies for a prolonged period through silence, referral, disavowal and evasion. This alone is sufficient to show that, on this major issue, state organs have still not adopted an earnest attitude commensurate with the seriousness of the problem, nor demonstrated the due recognition of and reverence for the lives, fears and concerns of the people.

But precisely for this reason, we must remain silent no longer.

Rights have never automatically arrived in silence, and justice will not naturally be realized through retreat. If a society wishes to hold the bottom line of life, it cannot rely only on a small number of people bearing the pressure alone; it also needs the civic consciousness of more and more ordinary people to return, and needs more people to understand that when state organs fail to provide a positive response to a major public issue for a prolonged period, citizens’ continuing to speak out, continue to ask questions, continue to sign jointly and continue to demand a reply is not meddling or overstepping, but fulfilling a citizen’s most basic responsibility.

The only way forward is to continue calling out: Please, more people, stand up. Do not regard this matter as unrelated to you. Do not hand the issue of life over to silence. Do not let the rights that should be pursued be exhausted in waiting.

Only when more people are willing to speak out, more people are willing to sign jointly, and more people are willing to truly shoulder their civic responsibilities will it become more difficult for state organs to evade the matter indefinitely; will society have a greater possibility of approaching a positive response; and will more basic rights and justice have a possibility of truly being reclaimed.

As of now, the five national bodies still have provided no positive response. This is not the end. It precisely shows that we must retreat even less.

Defending the bottom line of life must continue.

Please continue to join the joint signature campaign.

Please continue to persist in speaking out.

If you support our “Defend the Bottom Line of Life” initiative, you are welcome to sign in support. Please ensure that the information is as complete as possible when signing; filling in the address to the county level is sufficient (click the “Defend the Bottom Line of Life” QR-code image to enter the signature page).

Initiator of the “Defend the Bottom Line of Life” initiative: Gao Fei 19878794300(same number on WeChat)