Beijing Spring

After the police forcefully shut down the Stars confrontational art show hung on a park fence and arrest activist Wei Jingsheng for posting an essay on Democracy Wall, thousands of citizens take to the streets near Tiananmen Square, marching in protest and demanding the right to free speech—the first such demonstration since the Communists seized power.

The authorities are provoked and threatened by the foreign media attention. They close Democracy Wall, imprison another editor Xu Wenli for over 15 years and force most of the Stars group into exile. Recording it all is a daring young filmmaker named Chi Xiaoning. Hidden for decades, footage from these daring acts of rebellion are now featured in Beijing Spring for the first time ever.