Prisoner of the State, The Secret Journal of Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang is a fascinating read for those of us Sino-Soviet history buffs..the rivetting insider story of Zhao Ziyang's appointment as General Secretary of the Peoples' Republic of China and head of the Politburo Standing Committee and eventual fall from grace during the internal power struggles of June 1989 when the Tiananmen Incident broke out, all told from his point of view for once..
I always thought that Zhao Ziyang was a capable man, much maligned by his peers and rivals..but now i seem to have found a new respect for the guy who, during the upheavals of June 1989, proved to be the true "good and honourable man" who refused to be coerced into sending troops into Tiananmen and refused to go down in history as the Premier who ordered Chinese troops to spill Chinese blood..
For this of course, he spent the rest of his life under house arrest and hidden from the world. The story of how this secret journal came about is a gripping tale in itself. Apparently, from about 1992, Zhao began taping over audio cassettes of songs and children's stories with sections of his reflections. These were then distributed separately to different trusted friends and family members, who, on his death, covertly began to compile the tapes and smuggle them out of the country. Thats how the world first came to know of his secret journal and heard his voice for the first time since 1989.
the most interesting part of this book is the close look we get of different leaders of the CCP and the other sides to their charcter than that commonly played before the world's media, from Deng to Jiang Zemin..and of course the behind-the-scenes account of how China reformed her economy from centrally planned, 5 Year Plan style socialist models to free market economy within the space of 10 years under Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, when the foundations were laid for the explosive and uncontainable growth after 1992 till today. Most intriguing of all is Zhao's final chapter on the way forward for China where a CCP member (he was never expelled even under arrest), experienced in the politics of the Politburo and Central Committee and a veteran of the Cultural Revolution states that only western style parliamentary democracy, with free elections, the rule of law and separation of Legislature, Executive and Judiciary will be able to curb the rampant corruption, excess and inequality in China today.
Agree with him or not, Zhao speaks from the grave and refuses to be put down, suppressed or silenced. He may have said to the students of Tiananmen, "we're old and what we say doesn't matter anymore. But you are young and should not throw your lives away so foolishly." In reality, Zhao is more current and up-to-date on China than we think.
Thats all folks,
Jono Chua
Closet Sino Analyst
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