Democracy Party of China
political party
The China Democracy Party (CDP; simplified Chinese: 中国民主党; traditional Chinese: 中國民主黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Mínzhǔ Dǎng), also known as the Democracy Party of China (DPC), is a political party that started in the People's Republic of China, and was banned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The history of the DPC and its foundation date is unclear because it has many historical paths under different groups of founders. According to western sources, it is generally recognized to have assembled in 1998 by democracy activists and former student leaders from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
History
Foundation
While the earliest date listed for its founding is 25 June 1998, the group registered the party on 28 June when US President Bill Clinton was visiting China. Wang Youcai, one of the main activists during the 1989 Tiananmen protest along with Wang Donghai and Lin Hui went to the Civil Public Affair Hall of Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province to officially register the party. Their registration was declined. The fourth co-founder was Chen Shuqing.
Communist Party response
The next day on 25 June, Wang was arrested by the state police at his home. He was charged with creating opposition against the Chinese government. His trial began on 18 December, and as he had no lawyer defence, his trial lasted only a few hours.
“Democracy Party of China” enters the record as political party. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Democracy, Party and China can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Democracy Party of China” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Democracy, Party and China provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1186257. VIAF identifies the subject as 239213006. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998 and 1989.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Democracy Party of China”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Democracy Party of China primary sources, Democracy Party of China archive and Democracy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Democracy Party of China” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.