TORONTO—Toronto resident Guoda Zheng praised the “Nine Commentaries” for detailing how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has distorted traditional Chinese culture and thought, joining hundreds of others at a rally commemorating the 20th anniversary of the book’s release.

“When I first read the ‘Nine Commentaries’ in 2004, I found it to be the first book in the decades since the CCP came to power in China that systematically clarified how the party twisted the thoughts of the Chinese people, and it serves as a renaissance of traditional culture and thought,” he told The Epoch Times in Mandarin on Nov. 2 at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto.

After the CCP defeated the Nationalist government in the Chinese Civil War and took control of the mainland in 1949, it launched a series of social movements, most notoriously the Cultural Revolution, that dismantled traditional culture rooted in Confucianism and suppressed religious beliefs including Buddhism and Taoism. In their place, the CCP established an atheistic ideology throughout Chinese society.

“['Nine Commentaries’] corrects the false historical narrative, distorted culture, and misguided moral values established by the CCP. This is why it is strictly banned in China—because once people read it, the regime’s disinformation and lies lose their grip on society,” Zheng said.

Social Awakening

Shortly after its release, the “Nine Commentaries” spurred a grassroots movement in China called “Tuidang,” or “Withdrawals” in English, which refers to quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations, specifically the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers. Joining these organizations is common among children and adolescents in China as a way to demonstrate loyalty to the regime.

Yi, who faced harassment and intimidation from the CCP for circumventing the regime’s internet censorship and sharing pro-democracy information, noted that the “Nine Commentaries” also has significant implications for Western society, as it sheds light on the CCP’s tactics of interference and other malign activities.

“By reading the ‘Nine Commentaries,’ people in free democratic countries can truly recognize the evil of the Communist Party. Many in the West do not understand the methods and tactics employed by the CCP to do harm. The CCP has countless ways to target their adversaries, using one approach to deal with one opponent and a different one for another. It is a very cunning and wicked party,” he told The Epoch Times in Mandarin.

Yi also said the “Nine Commentaries” could facilitate global sanctions against the CCP for human rights violations, particularly regarding the regime’s persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, as detailed in the editorial series. He cited ongoing efforts by Canadians to address this issue, including the work of human rights lawyer David Matas, who was among the first to expose the CCP’s practice of live organ harvesting as well as other forms of torture against Falun Gong prisoners of conscience.

As part of the commemoration event, participants marched in a parade through downtown Toronto, featuring a band performance and displaying banners noting that more than 430 million Chinese people have quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations to date.