Misleading: Popular freedom of speech quote in China and Hong Kong is not from Plato

The quote does not belong to Plato, who believed the ideal state was a republic with a top-down hierarchy of philosopher kings, soldiers, and lower class producers. Plato is often accused by academics <a href="https://www.iep.utm.edu/platopol/#H1" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">of propagating totalitarianism</a> in his advocacy for a single ruling class without opposition. Annie Lab found that the passage was likely to be taken from <a href="http://post.blogchina.com/p/2630838" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">a 2015 essay by Zhang Xuezhong</a>, an outspoken Chinese legal scholar who has criticized the political oppression and lack of rule of law in mainland China. Zhang’s essay was <a href="https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=W7HEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT118&lpg=PT118&dq=%E5%BC%A0%E9%9B%AA%E5%BF%A0+%E4%BF%A1%E5%8A%9B%E5%BB%BA%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%B0%B1%E4%B8%8D%E8%83%BD%E6%8A%93&ots=DhW57jOMjs&sig=ACfU3U0VTs5n1ufzGjnoGVDEriS3oKhkaA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjynNSs2tPpAhXbdd4KHQZrAt4Q6AEwA3oECBMQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E5%BC%A0%E9%9B%AA%E5%BF%A0%20%E4%BF%A1%E5%8A%9B%E5%BB%BA%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%B0%B1%E4%B8%8D%E8%83%BD%E6%8A%93&f=false" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">influential</a> and cited by <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=%E5%BC%A0%E9%9B%AA%E5%BF%A0+%E4%BF%A1%E5%8A%9B%E5%BB%BA%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%B0%B1%E4%B8%8D%E8%83%BD%E6%8A%93" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">many others</a> at the time. Although his writing does not use the exact words and phrases found in today’s popular quote, the wording and structure of his expression parallel the passage entirely. An <a href="https://archive.vn/R07yj" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">article written by a geography professor in Nanjing</a> also reached the same conclusion about the quote’s origin. <a href="https://medium.com/annie-lab/misleading-popular-freedom-of-speech-quote-in-china-and-hong-kong-is-not-from-plato-4822de402ad9">Learn More</a>