Years of Poems and Spirits

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 …

Had a busy first half of June. Trying to keep up with John M’s work. Started with Marketfish last week. A lot uncertainty for sure: the startup’s future, my own performance as the data guy. But there is anything that still excites, it is knowledge discovery. So I am looking forward to the challenge.

Notes from the usual water hole:

NYKr 2009.5.4 issue, “Money Talks”: A glowing profile of Peter Orszag.

Overall impression: a wunderkind, a master of budgetary details with a keen sense of politics and a eye for public communications. The author seems to be framing the Obama administration in much the same way as the term “The Best and the Brightest” did to the Kennedy administration.

Some highlights:

• Orszag tried hard to refine his message after being grilled by Jon Stewart. Another example, when called upon to explain the difference in budget proposal from the Congress, said if not twins, “they are brothers that look an awful lot a like”
• Harry Reid called him not a resident bureaucrat but a political “natural”
• A product of New England elite who interned for Tom Daschle while he was on the bench in Senate

Key: “Orszag has turned the OMB into something of a behavioral economics think tank“  Is B.E. to Obama what the Supply-side was to Reagan, or the Keynesian Roosevelt?

Why the Obama era is so different from the Clinton era:

• New assumption: deficit and GDP – the government can live with deficit indefinitely (a depart from the core Clinton legacy) Healthcare reform is deficit reduction.
• Rahm Emanuel vs. Being B.T.U.-ed: how the W.H. screwed up Congressional allies with a half-baked legislative push
• Advisers: Orszag vs. Stiglitz – Norway resumed commercial whaling but negotiated the 93 Middle-East accord. Stiglitz proposed alternative to trade sanction: to boycott Winter Olympic. W. Christopher: “Joe, do you realize that you are equating the killing of four ninke whales with the invasion of Afghanistan?” “You know, you are right. How about we just boycott those events we won’t win?” (the story that made my day)

Follow up on the 1989.6.4 thought:

This blurb garnered a surprisingly many accolades (three), so I thought it is worth noting:

I come to believe 1989 as a tragedy made up of a collection of mistakes.  It should serve as a collective lesson for the Chinese nation. Undoubtedly, the suppression of memories (of the massacre)  deprived my people of a historical opportunity to look into ourselves  and to move beyond past mistakes. However, I think some of us are  missing the obvious here: the key lessons from 1989 have been learned.

… (the usual challenge to the false promise of nationalistic revolution)

If one looks at 1989 in this historical context, it became less destructive in the long run. In a way, together with the Cultural Revolution, 1989 successfully eliminated any remaining fantasy on revolution in Chinese political thought. It forcefully transformed an intensively political nation to one that is more focused on economic development. Even the new political life, dare I say, is in general less violence-prone than the old one: the ruling are more sensitive to the dissatisfaction from below. The ruled are forced into other, more peaceful ways to alter the political course.

Just Being Flippant:
NYT calls the 邓玉娇 case a “Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online” Apparently, the writer doesn’t know anything about China, nor does he know the basics of civic society. A true civic society is based on trust, on solid foundation of widespread civic association (social capital). What happens in China nowadays is akin to moral vigilantism.  In other words, what happened to 邓玉娇 and what happened to 王千源 is just two sides of the same coin. We Chinese are “Judgmental Bastards” (thanks, Jay Leno).

The State of Chinese Elite:

Didn’t know there is someone actually studying the Chinese intellectual elite (Merle Goldman).  Really like to read her work and ask her assessment/characterization of contemporary Chinese “elite”.

Two stories really pissed me off:

1. The 方静事件. Lisa C has an excellent writeup on her blog. A news anchorwoman was suddenly accused of espionage by a journalism professor. And one of her guest on the show, an admiral in the navy no less, joined the rumor war from his blog.
2. Another terrible translation incident:
   

   “费尔班德”、“林T·C”、“赫萨”，这串洋味十足的名字，其实对应的都是学术圈名 人：费正清、林同济、夏济安。… 最近，一篇署名“高山杉”的文章在网上引起热议，它把中央 编译出版社于2008年10月出版的清华大学历史系副主任王奇所著《中俄国界东段学术史研究：中国、俄国、西方学者视野中的中俄国界东段问题》一书中几十 处名字谬误公之于众。其中最荒唐不过的，当属蒋介石(Chiang Kai-shek)被改名为“常凯申”。

更有甚者，孟子被译成“门修斯”

Here is what I wrote Lisa C:

I am totally astounded by the free-wheeling-ness of some of the elites. They are considered as elites because they are supposed to be experts in what they do. And yet they would go so far off what they are paid to do and to chase a 15min fame. There is a profound lack of professionalism, don’t you think? Here whether it is Drudge or Page Six, they do tabloid but they do their job really well. How many times you see an American army general engage in this type of speculation? That is totally absurd.

More – what do those stories tell us? Some hypothesis:

1. People venture out their profession because they don’t feel fulfilled at their job. In other words, the journalism professor and the naval admiral don’t feel like they are being compensated for what they can fetch in an open market
2. Can a State’s capacity being measured by the competency of its elites? Is there an index can track that? Or is it even trackable? If it ever is, my hunch is that the two are pretty strongly correlated.

Watching Iran

Looks like a train wreck. So many commentators have mentioned June 4th in the same breath. It will really hurt to see another June 4th happen again.

So much conflicting information … as I am writing, my mind drifted back to the days when we were on horseback in Brazil … wished life could have less conflict, violence, more appreciation and above all stand still.

What I don’t like:

• A movement that is made up of relatively homogeneous demographics: urban, secular, students, Tehran only. Similar pattern also found in Beijing 1989, Venezuela, Bolivia and Thailand

What I like:

• Obama’s handling of the situation. Someone said the politicians like to grandstand in moments like this. True professionals know better and wait. No question Obama has resisted as far as he can
• I am reasonably convinced that the election is rigged. The outrage on the street is genuine (not something made up by the lefties here)

About This Blog:

After a lengthy discussion with the Boston couple, I suddenly realized that this blog is my alter ego.  No wonder all this mess …

前一段突然想起在科大时的一个朋友，叫杨雷。他在89年学运后吃了不少苦。虽然有些人受的打击比他要大，但他们都熬过来了。可杨雷却不幸早逝。

杨雷也是科大的，比我高几届。我们认识得很晚。第一次认识是在一个学习小组会上。那时几个积极分子经常聚在一起，谈论时事和新的思想。有一个朋友知道我在读一本美国史（William Manchester: The Glory and the Dream A Narrative History of America)， 就叫我过去“给大家说说”。

我早听说杨雷是那个小组的发起人之一，见到他时，先头倒是没看出来他是个带头的。整个过程中，他很安静，似乎一直在沉思。直到讨论快结束，要准备以后的活动时，我才感到好像大家的意见都很自然地要经过他。那次我讲得十分的糟糕，越说越没底。我想大家都看出来了。杨雷不仅没怪我，还邀请我继续参加他们的活动。

等学运开始后，我们交往反而少了。我们不在一个校园上，我又经常往北京跑，所以彼此很少见到。只是在北京开枪以后的第二天，我们几个领头的带着大家去合肥钢铁厂组织罢工，轰轰烈烈地折腾了一天。在工厂里游行时，他几乎是个旁观者。我见到他时，他站在路边树荫下。当时，我是full of myself，可杨雷好像还是那么安静。当时的印象是杨雷不是那种举起拳头喊口号的人。

之后的一年是最无聊的：杨雷，龙波和李亚都被抓去上学习班。不知怎么没有我的事。于是我就专心准备出国。我一边考着TOEFL，一边消息传来说不少人受了处分。后来龙波和杨雷都被勒令退学了。当时杨雷还有一年就要毕业了，离开学校，没机会拿到文凭，又没关系出国，他一下子就成了上海上万的待业青年之一了。

我和杨雷谈得最多的一次是我第二次去上海签证的时候。签证批下来了，我知道总算走成了。但不知道为什么要走。1984年是我”coming to age”的一年。当时35周年大庆，又是阅兵又是普天同庆，把我搞成一个热血的国家主义者。似乎我活着的目的是”经世治国“。不到五年，我的世界好像倒了一个个儿。我虽然也愤怒，也漫骂，但心里我知道我走错了路。可是为什么错了，怎么是对的，我一点没有谱。好像又回到了那次在学习小组上发言时的感觉，越想越没底。

我本没想见杨雷。但杨雷对我却十分的热情，拉我去他们家坐。好像他那时已经结婚了。可还没有工作，加上身上背着个诺大的政治包袱，要是我担心还来不及。他倒好，和我谈了好久，说了不少事情，只可惜我已经都不记得了。后来从他们家出来，路过一家小酒吧，他拉我进去了。

那时上海的酒吧和街上的小餐馆差不多。里面放满了桌子，铺着桌布，上面再压块玻璃。虽然是大白天，但里面黑得很，照明靠墙上混合在一起的霓虹灯和点亮的广告牌。我们挑了一张桌子坐下来之后，杨雷问我要些什么，说他请客。我竟然答应了。

我记得我点的是”施格兰冰酒露”，没意识到里面有烈酒。所以一会儿就头晕脑胀。记得好像谈到在来上海以前，我刚在电影院里看了个电影，其中有直升飞机的镜头。我说我当时叫了出来：“这不是运尸体的飞机吗”。我的朋友马上掐住我叫我住嘴。可周围坐得满满的人，没有一个出声。好像我真是在说给我自己听的。

也许酒喝的太多了，我们渐渐地都说不下去了。等从酒吧出来时，竟然仍天光大亮。我们都意识到是分手的时候了，杨雷突然说了一句，“出去吧，这样也好。你在外头见见世面，学些东西，等你回来的时候，好多事情也许会变了。那时正好需要你这样的人。”

我带着这句话离开了中国，带着这希望过起了打工求学的日子。毕业后万幸找到了一个工作。之后又熬啊熬地等到了绿卡。年薪一下涨了一倍。又从一个穷人中的公寓搬到自己家的房子，渐渐地在他乡异地扎下了根。89年，学运，坦克，游行，罢工，都在记忆中淡漠。杨雷的话也渐渐忘了。

过了七八年，有一次下班回家，突然接到龙波从广东打来的电话。告诉我杨雷刚刚去世。我愣了一下，好像一切突然又回到眼前。

20年了。我一直觉得生死之间不过像在悬崖边上往下看：活着的人只要仔细找，总能找到他想找的灵魂。我并没好好找过杨雷，但是20年以来我觉得我有些地方倒是和杨雷无意中越来越像了。我不会再在电影院里叫出声了，更不会去组织罢工了。

前一段，当我想起杨雷的时候，我曾经在Google，Baidu上猛搜索了一把，想找出点蛛丝马迹来证明他的存在。可是一点线索也没找到。这里写下几笔，替他在历史上留个存根。龙波报丧的时候提到杨雷夫妇有一个孩子。也许有一天他的孩子想起父亲，但愿他能找到这篇博客。