Party veterans' final plea for democracy

Every time one of Du Daozheng's friends passes away, he feels a growing sense of loneliness. At 89, the former propaganda chief is becoming increasingly isolated in his quest for political reform under the communist regime's one-party leadership.

"My old friends are leaving one after another … we are like fragile leaves falling in the winter. But this is the law of nature," said Du, the publisher of the mainland's most outspoken political magazine, Yanhuang Chunqiu.

With a once-in-a-decade leadership change in the Communist Party looming, Du and his surviving friends - mostly retired officials in their late 80s and 90s - are making what could be their final appeal for the party to introduce more freedoms and take its first steps towards democracy.

Du's relationship with the Communist Party began some 70 years ago when, as an idealistic teenager, he joined to fight against the corrupt and authoritarian Kuomintang regime.

But now - almost a lifetime later - many feel frustrated they may never live to see their dream of democracy fulfilled.

In the past two years alone, several prominent figures in their circle such as Li Pu , Zhu Houze , Xie Tao and Peng Di have died.

Those left still remember times of great action. Many helped liberal leaders Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang launch political reform initiatives in the 1980s.