Pottinger of the US DNI addresses Chinese citizens directly in Mandarin. One of the most remarkable speeches I have ever heard.

Matt Pottinger (deputy head of the DNI) delivered this remarkable speech in Mandarin a couple days ago, building on his study of Chinese history before the Communists took over.  He calls for Chinese populism to recognize their home grown yearning for government for the people, not just for the elites.  He starts with the May 4th Movement of 1919 and ends today.   Although I'm linking to the English transcript, you are going to want to listen to the video with english subtitles to understand how powerful it is.

The leaders of the May 4th Movement gave decisive input to the UN's Declaration of Universal Human Rights.  They also led the change from an elite Chinese that no common people spoke to one that the governed actually spoke and understood.     Pottinger updates the story with Dr Li who was suppressed for reporting the Wuhan virus and with Hong Kong peaceful demonstrations.

"One final thought, from a U.S. perspective: Hu Shih famously preferred solving concrete problems to wallowing in abstract political theory. But let me break his rule against discussing “isms” to ask whether China today would benefit from a little less nationalism and a little more populism. Democratic populism is less about left versus right than top versus bottom. It’s about reminding a few that they need the consent of many to govern. When a privileged few grow too remote and self-interested, populism is what pulls them back or pitches them overboard. It has a kinetic energy. It fueled the Brexit vote of 2015 and President Trump’s election in 2016. It moved the founder of your university to pen a declaration of independence in 1776. It is an admonition to the powerful of this country to remember who they’re supposed to work for: America first.
Wasn’t a similar idea beating in the heart of the May Fourth Movement, too? Weren’t Hu Shih’s language reforms a declaration of war against aristocratic pretension? Weren’t they a broadside against the Confucian power structure that enforced conformity over free thought? Wasn’t the goal to achieve citizen-centric government in China, and not replace one regime-centric model with another one? The world will wait for the Chinese people to furnish the answers."

Lead taken from a reference in "American Thought Leaders" Jan Jekeliek interview of  Steve Yates