--- description: Find out why Peng Lifa is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Peng Lifa: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f06792b837e8670/698a3bee096a94adc66ada83/Peng-Lifa-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Peng Lifa by Ai Weiwei  Photo of Peng Lifa, called the man who lighted the spark in darkness, the lone warrior and the Bridge Man, a reference to the Tank Man who stood in front of a line of tanks in 1989 during Beijing military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Peng is widely considered the person who inspired many people to participate in the recent protests, the biggest in China since then. (Weibo photo) Photo of Peng Lifa, called the man who lighted the spark in darkness, the lone warrior and the Bridge Man, a reference to the Tank Man who stood in front of a line of tanks in 1989 during Beijing military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Peng is widely considered the person who inspired many people to participate in the recent protests, the biggest in China since then. (Weibo photo)EyePress News/Reuters In October 2022, Peng Lifa unfurled two political banners in central Beijing calling on the Chinese government to put an end to the country’s restrictive zero-COVID policy and one-party authoritarianism. [Protests erupted](https://time.com/6237068/china-zero-covid-protests/ "undefined") throughout China using blank sheets of A4 paper as a symbol of dissent. As of today, Peng Lifa and many of the protesters involved have been detained or have disappeared from public view. Their personal courage and resistance under authoritarian rule represent a pivotal moment that must be remembered by history. It is only with such resistance that people may keep the flame of belief in truth and justice burning in their hearts. In the current era, the qualities of free expression and resistance, which come at a price, are exceedingly rare to find. Unfortunately, in most cases, what we consider to be expression lacks meaning. The true meaning of expression emerges only when individuals like Peng Lifa are willing to make sacrifices and pay the price. _Ai is an artist and activist_ Peng Lifa Is on the 2023 TIME 100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269835/peng-lifa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269835/peng-lifa/"},"headline":"Peng Lifa","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:07.201Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269835/peng-lifa/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","T100ICONS2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f06792b837e8670/698a3bee096a94adc66ada83/Peng-Lifa-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f06792b837e8670/698a3bee096a94adc66ada83/Peng-Lifa-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269835/peng-lifa/","name":"Peng Lifa"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269835/peng-lifa/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269835/peng-lifa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```