The Fifth Modernization

"The Fifth Modernization" is an essay by human rights activist Wei Jingsheng, originally begun as a signed wall poster placed on the Democracy Wall in Beijing on December 5, 1978.

Summary

The poster called on the Chinese Communist Party to add democracy to the list of the Four Modernizations, which already included industry, agriculture, science and technology, and People's [Liberation Army|national defense]. It openly stated democracy was an additional modernization that needed to be pursued if China truly wanted to modernize itself.