Beijing Spring
On January 3, 1979, a "People's Daily" editorial, declared: "Let the people's say what they wish. The heavens will not fall." On January 14, a crowd of Cultural Revolution victims marched from Tiananmen Square to Zhongnanhai calling for food, work, democracy and human rights. A China Human Rights Association was formed and distributed 19-point declaration demanding the freedom of speech and right to evaluate state leaders. The gatherings and public challenge to authority alarmed party conservatives who pressed Deng to take a harder line and he did so after consolidating control of the party. In late March, the city government restricted public postings and gatherings to only Xidan. Wei Jingsheng was arrested, and convicted and sentenced in October to 15 years in imprisonment for leaking state secrets about China's war with Vietnam. In December 1979, postings at the Xidan Wall were banned and instead consigned to the Temple of the Moon. In 1980, the State Constitution (1978 version) was amended to eliminate the right to post big-character posters. Although Beijing Spring ended, the tensions within the party between liberals and conservatives over the toleration of dissent continued into the next decade.