In the Face of Courage and Cowardice

A Tale of Resilience and Sacrifice

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

These words, spoken by the English literary figure Shakespeare, aptly measure each and every one of us. Most of us align with the first half of this statement, for the majority are indeed cowards, succumbing to fear and compromise—each surrender akin to a death. Yet, the latter half of this quote finds greater resonance in the figure of Navalny, a Russian dissident akin to the Chinese Republic's Tan Sitong, who has never yielded; he remains in constant battle. Even after surviving an assassination attempt, he persists, unflinchingly returning to Russia until the day of true death—having died only once, a true exemplar of courage.

According to recorded accounts, on a cold winter day in China in the year 1970, a crowd gathered on an open field in the northern outskirts, awaiting the execution of two condemned prisoners. As the audience anxiously pondered their fate, the peculiar behavior of one of the convicts caught everyone's attention.

They were Wang Yongzeng and Wu Bingyuan—ordinary workers who should have led peaceful lives. However, their thirst for the unknown led them down a path of darkness.

Their shared passion was reading and listening to foreign radio stations, expressing discontent with the scarcity of information. Consequently, they began secretly perusing banned books and even producing underground publications to spread subversive content. Their crimes were exposed by their own kin, leading to their apprehension by the authorities.

Despite their capture, both men stubbornly maintained their innocence. They believed that a civilized society should accommodate diverse voices. Ultimately, they were sentenced to death and promptly executed on charges of independent thinking and disseminating misleading information.

On that cold winter day, the execution site was packed with a crowd, their voices booming in the air. As life withered away, Wu Bingyuan struggled to keep his eyes shut, murmuring words of absurdity that couldn’t be concealed. With a few gunshots, they fell deeply into the grass, and the onlookers erupted in a chilling cheer, scrambling to grab blood-soaked steamed buns.Once the crowd departed, theplace returned to tranquility, as if nothing had occurred. Only the blood-red sunset remained, casting its glow upon the silent plain, while history maintained its silence at that very moment.

On this day that makes me sad and angry, allow me to greet and mourn Alexei Navalny.