Zhao had close talk with Russian leader at the time.
Zhao said that he is open to multiple parties politic.
For the most part, he still believed the rule by CCP alone in China.
It was a critical juncture in 1989.
Deng and many other CCP members believed that CCP either make it or break it.
Jiang wrote some articles in Shanghai papers. He was the mayor of Shanghai. Jiang indicated the side of CCP rule than pro-student. Thus he was handpicked by Deng to be the successor.
People complained about inflation under Zhao. But he demonstrated that he is with the people all the time. He is pro-student, even appologized and said that I came too late. Uo Lai Wan Le.
This was what people remembered him.
And yes, there was a chance that China may follow Russia that year.
All the students in campuses accross China were out on the streets.
Nobody seemed to know what to do.
And yes, Deng came out and made decisions. Deng has 4 insistences. Insistence on the rule of CCP. Insistence on the path of socialism. etc.
Jiang has 8 points. Jiang Ba Dian.
And yes, Zhao has the hearts of the people.
Hu and Wen are technocrats than revolutionaries. They did a good job to keep everybody happy on Zhao’s burial.
Sixteen years ago I visited China and sat in the KFC by Tiananmen.
At that time even many chinese were fooled that things had changed.
I talked to some students.
They said many times:
“We must catch up, we are 30 years behind.”
But then another step backwards was taken.
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They wanted to know if the taste of the chicken was the same?
In my box, i had french fries, 2 pieces of chicken and a small breaded fried chicken @ss.
I guess that was an extra treat. Why be wasteful?
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I told them it was the same.
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Today people say “the mainlanders don’t care about politics, they only want money”.
But in that system power is above all, above money and above progress above the lives of all commoners.
Fang Lizhi the activist/physicist said “Don’t be fooled by their lies.”
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Premier Zhao was charged with treason.
What is the reason?
Not because he voiced some support for the protestors.
But because he told Gorbachav that “They (the politburo) deferred to Deng in all things”.
He told Gorbachav who was the Boss in China.
That was a state secret.
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That is what is totalitarianism.
You don’t see it, you don’t see how it works.
It works in darkness.
Some may say Zhao tried to use the students to oust Deng.
Zhao was accused of “splitting the Party”. He was stripped of all powers. He was not even a citizen of PRC. No funds for repairing the house he resided in.
He had many people in his group, including US university professors, bankers and many talents. They were ousted at the same time.
Power politics are not what people “care”.
What if Zhao and his group did not lose power? Will China be more free or chaotic?
What CCP feared was the disintergration of CCP just like those in the eastern block and Russian Republics.
What Deng and hardliner feared was that Zhao may “destroy” the party and not the country. The students were demanding the resignations of all Party leaders. It meant to tell CCP to give up the power to rule. The students are not even listening to Zhao. Who are they going to listen to? themself?
In hardliners’ minds, the interest of the Party is above everything else.
“Zhao was endangering the survival of CCP and not the country.”
In the last minute, Zhao and Wen or Hu went to the square to warn them.
The students still had no clues. After that, Zhao was removed from the power.
If someone else in Zhao’s position, he or she may consider him or her self first and not risking everything to “warn” the students that were not listening to him.
On the one hand, the most powerful position in China, on the other hand, the lives and safety of the students?
Those days we could’t believe an entire city could be forced into silence.
It was the era of 'people power".
But how wrong we were.
They simply rolled into the square with tanks killling anything that moved.
People hid behind steel telephone poles and the bullets went right through.
They burned bodies in the square the next day.
They loaded bodies into buses and took them away to secret graves.
No one knows how many.
And the next day:
An old woman screamed from her balcony and they shot her down.
An old man tried to cross the street and they shot him down.
A crowd gathered from 2 blocks away and jeered.
They shot them down.
They fell admist their bicycles.
And long afterwards there was a mountain of unclaimed bicycles.
Anything that moved, walked, talked or breathed was shot at.
There were reports that the army groups had taken up positions against one another.
They had put on arm bands to distinguish themselves from the other units.
There were divisions from Wuhan, from Beijing, from Mongolia.
It had to be true!
Surely the Beijing troops would not tolerate such killings.
The revolution was on! The people were saved!
..
But 24 hours later… nothing.
There was no revolution.
Nobody was coming to save the people.
And still no one has.
No strong leader has risen.
Curses were written in blood on the Beijing walls.
Now only dead heros and ghosts remain.
And security.
Lots of security in Tiananmen Square.
Every movement is watched.
Zhao went on May 20 to warn the students of an impending crackdown. He insisted Li peng come with him.
Li Peng left and Zhao stayed awhile.
The students took a vote and decided to stay.
They were massacred on June 4th along with many workers.
Similarly in Chengdu and other chinese cities protesters were massacred.
An eyewitness from Chengdu described to me what happened there.
If you travel in China today , you might hear people say:
“Mao would not have allowed this toll gate on the highway.”
“Mao would not have allowed the destruction of this village.”
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Mao was the greatest mass-murderer of chinese history.
But the people have no leaders, so they look to the dead to help them.
Just as they rallied around Hu Yaobang when he died.
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How much of a Hero was Zhao?
He didn’t die in the square.
He was a dedicated CCP man.
He did not want democracy.
He replaced Hu Yaobang because Hu was too much in favor of democracy.
He was a good old boy, a made man, hand-picked by Deng Xiao-ping.
One does not rise in the party by being an Angel.
The party had many factions. They were at extreme odds over different economic and political solutions. But all were for maintaining power while advancing the economy.
He was in trouble with different factions. especailly the hardliners.
In the final end his line of proposals and the separation of Party and State were never followed.
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He hedged his bets, he didn’t side with the students but he played to them. So if they won he could pull himself out of his own trouble.
But he sat in the distance.
I am with the people who believe he tried to use the situation to his own advantage.
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He was alowed to live afterwards. He was even allowed to live at his home and not in prison.
The party still regarded him as one of their own. One of the nobility.
He will be buried with the party nobility.
If they really didn’t like him, if they thought he was really dangerous, he would have found his fate in an unmarked grave with no explanation given to the public.
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Sacrifice himself for the students?
A romantic notion. He did not do that.
He was trying to break the alliance of hardliners in the party.
He did not know that he was breaking ranks on may 20th and it would alienate him in the party.
Perhaps he thought his power greater than it was.
He had no idea of the great brutality to follow.
And perhaps the end result would have been the same anyway for him.
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The ones who sacrificed were the ones who stood in front of the tanks and wore headbands with “Dare to Die” written on them.
They deserve honor over all others.
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Zhao was the very first one that the protestors criticised.
Nonetheless Zhao was the only member of the government who listened to the protestors.
For that he is an authority,
A victory for the democratic movement.
For that he is a hero, a necessary hero.
To rally round the spirit of a dead leader.
Very much a chinese tradition
He is treasured for his symbolic worth in an ongoing struggle.
College students have unique places in Chinese history and politics.
They are the talents and the “power” of the China’s future.
Both Hu and Zhao were popular with the students. They represent movements toward the future. Out of the destruction of Cultural Revolutions.
Deng and Zhao were all persecuted during that period. Zhao had the power to order the military to retaliate against the Red Guards at the time. He did not.
What struck people is that, Zhao was invited by Deng to come back. Only he had to do is to confess that the students are wrong. No, he said that the students are right and should be pardoned. If not, he will not assume any public office.
Evaluation of characters of a leader or any man sometimes is based on the little things.