Deposed Chinese leader's memoir out before June 4
18 mins ago
BEIJING – The memoir of a former Chinese leader who fell from power for sympathizing with 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrators has given intimate details of an event the ruling Communist Party wants erased from history.
The 300-page book, based on nearly 30 hours of audio tapes that Zhao Ziyang managed to make while under tight surveillance, chronicles the events that led to the demonstrations and gives rare insight into the inner workings of the Communist Party during a critical time.
"Prisoner of the State" was originally scheduled for release worldwide — except in mainland China — on May 19. But several book stores in Hong Kong have broken the embargo and have been selling it since April, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown that ended the protests.
The book was crafted over four years from tapes recorded in secret by Zhao, who lived under house arrest for 15 years in a tree-lined street in Beijing before dying in 2005.
While the book is likely to raise eyebrows among the Communist Party leadership, it is unlikely to renew political infighting. The leaders who took over after Zhao's ouster have marginalized his liberal wing of the party.
But Bao Pu, one of the book's editors, said the memoir will "restore some of the history that has been intentionally erased or distorted."
"The man himself did not leave any instructions on how these recordings should be used. But there is no doubt in my mind that he wants his version of the story to survive," said Bao, whose father, Bao Tong, was Zhao's top aide. "He's in the position to tell the truth. It's the only thing he's got."
A former premier and a protege of the then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping, Zhao helped launch China's economic boom in the 1980s.
But because he clashed with other party factions over the Tiananmen protests — centered around calls for more political freedom and an end to corruption — and was sympathetic to the demonstrators, he was accused of "splitting the party" and was purged on June 24, 1989.
Two weeks later, on June 3-4, the military crushed the dissent, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of people. Beijing has never offered a full accounting and has made virtually all public discussion taboo.
Zhao describes the chaos and political tussle surrounding the party's decision to impose martial law to quash the protests. Zhao says he told Deng in a May 17, 1989, meeting that "if we take a confrontational stance with the masses, a dangerous situation could ensue in which we lose complete control."
In the end, Deng decided on his own to start a military crackdown, he says.
Zhao says he left the meeting "extremely upset."
"I told myself that no matter what, I refused to become the general secretary who mobilized the military to crack down on students," he says.
18 mins ago
BEIJING – The memoir of a former Chinese leader who fell from power for sympathizing with 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrators has given intimate details of an event the ruling Communist Party wants erased from history.
The 300-page book, based on nearly 30 hours of audio tapes that Zhao Ziyang managed to make while under tight surveillance, chronicles the events that led to the demonstrations and gives rare insight into the inner workings of the Communist Party during a critical time.
"Prisoner of the State" was originally scheduled for release worldwide — except in mainland China — on May 19. But several book stores in Hong Kong have broken the embargo and have been selling it since April, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown that ended the protests.
The book was crafted over four years from tapes recorded in secret by Zhao, who lived under house arrest for 15 years in a tree-lined street in Beijing before dying in 2005.
While the book is likely to raise eyebrows among the Communist Party leadership, it is unlikely to renew political infighting. The leaders who took over after Zhao's ouster have marginalized his liberal wing of the party.
But Bao Pu, one of the book's editors, said the memoir will "restore some of the history that has been intentionally erased or distorted."
"The man himself did not leave any instructions on how these recordings should be used. But there is no doubt in my mind that he wants his version of the story to survive," said Bao, whose father, Bao Tong, was Zhao's top aide. "He's in the position to tell the truth. It's the only thing he's got."
A former premier and a protege of the then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping, Zhao helped launch China's economic boom in the 1980s.
But because he clashed with other party factions over the Tiananmen protests — centered around calls for more political freedom and an end to corruption — and was sympathetic to the demonstrators, he was accused of "splitting the party" and was purged on June 24, 1989.
Two weeks later, on June 3-4, the military crushed the dissent, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of people. Beijing has never offered a full accounting and has made virtually all public discussion taboo.
Zhao describes the chaos and political tussle surrounding the party's decision to impose martial law to quash the protests. Zhao says he told Deng in a May 17, 1989, meeting that "if we take a confrontational stance with the masses, a dangerous situation could ensue in which we lose complete control."
In the end, Deng decided on his own to start a military crackdown, he says.
Zhao says he left the meeting "extremely upset."
"I told myself that no matter what, I refused to become the general secretary who mobilized the military to crack down on students," he says.
:p
