Jun 21 2009
Text of Zhao Ziyang’s Book
Keywords: 改革歷程，改革历程，prisoner of the state, zhao ziyang, 赵紫阳
赵紫阳 温家宝 1989 6.4 天安门
After some digging, finally got the Chinese version of Zhao Ziyang’s book. The text only PDF version is here (smaller size, easier to read too), and the book scan is here (not how I would normally do it but this is really an important book).
Very interesting book. Will definitely buy one once it is available on the market here.
The recount of what happened in May/Jun 1989 was fairly detailed but nothing came to me as a shock. What fascinated me the most was his reflection on the Reform period pre-June 1989. Despite a nagging feeling that his story might be a little self-serving, I found the following points very interesting -
- Zhao’s portrait of Deng: not the visionary “architect” of the Reform but more of a party senior who had a lot faith in the frontline guys he hand-picked. In other words, I didn’t see a lot places where Deng made the tough calls himself, rather he was largely behind Zhao on some key decisions. But this relationship is largely confined in areas concerning economy Politically Deng was pretty clear from the start that the students needed to be put down.
- The senior leaders were very direct in their communications. Often I read about so-and-so openly criticized so-and-so in high-level meetings, or so-and-so made self-criticism after others pointed out his mistakes in front of other senior cadres, etc. In other words, the fractional battle was intense yet quite open too
- On the one hand, Zhao was the tragic hero of the 1989. On the other, he was somewhat responsible for it. His price reform was clearly the culprit of mass discontent that led to the protests. He seemed to be quite aware of it and spent a lot pages/recordings to defend himself
Will add more once I am done with it …