Over the past half-decade, freedom of speech and other civil liberties have been rolled back while a radical movement devoted to the People's Republic's authoritarian founder Mao Zedong has flourished. Over the past five years, however, He has come under relentless attack online from defenders of the ruling Communist Party and even more extreme Maoists who've held public demonstrations denouncing He's liberal views, which are considered "rightist" on China's political spectrum. Other prominent liberals have been systematically silenced since Xi ascended to power in 2012, ushering in a deep-seated suspicion of liberal Western values and thought. For years, He singled out the lack of judicial independence as a fundamental fault in China's political system. In January he took aim at China's top judge, Zhou Qiang, after Zhou dismissed an American-style separation of powers and independent courts as "mistaken Western concepts."