Record of Cui Jian at Tiananmen Surfaced

During the later days of the hunger strike at Tiananmen in 1989, many prominent people had visited the hunger strikers to express their sympathy, support, as well as persuasion to stop the strike. None of them matched that of Cui Jian (崔健), the undisputed king of rock n roll in China. His impromptu concert at Tiananmen was an unforgettable scene highlighted both in the documentary The Gate of Heavenly Peace and my book Standoff at Tiananmen.

Sipping through some of the historical records, however, I was never able to pinpoint the exact date when he did the performance. Until now.

Danwei reported on a recently surfaced audio tape of Cui Jian's concert. At the beginning of the recording, a voice clearly stated that "it is the seventh day of the hunger strike...," which places the event at around May 18, a day before the hunger strike was finally called off with an impending martial law.

In the recording, Cui Jian altered some of the lyrics to dedicate his songs to the hunger strikers. Curiously, this recording is missing his most famous song, "Nothing to my Name." (一无所有)

Danwei also summarized the conversations during the performance which showed Cui Jian's reluctance to perform the boisterous music out of the concern of the condition of the hunger strikers. He was then persuaded by the crowd to continue. From the tape, voices could be heard in the background appealing for Cui Jian to stop, but it was overruled by the enthusiastic crowd in the foreground, which is most likely made up by those who did not participate in the hunger strike.

I had heard personal accounts from hunger strikers at the scene describing that the music was unbearable for their much weakened heart.

In the background of the recording, one could also hear the sirens of ambulances.

Reviews of Books About Tiananmen

Reviews of books about Tiananmen, more to come...

1. Chai Ling: A Heart for Freedom, October, 2011 
2. Li Jinjin: From the Square to QinCheng, June 2011
3. Tang Baiqiao: My Two Chinas, March 2011
4. Phillip J. Cunningham, Tiananmen Moon, November, 2010
5. Zhao Ziyang: Prisoner of the State, June 2009
6. Wu Renhua: The Martial Law Troops in the June 4 Event, May, 2009
7. Wu Renhua: Inside Story of the Bloody Clearance of Tiananmen Square, June, 2007 
8. George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, September, 1998

Book Review: Zhao Ziyang Falls Short in Telling His Story

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre, the book Prisoner of the State, the Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang was published with great fanfare. There have been many instant reviews in the mainstream media hailing for the importance of the book, especially that it tells the "real story of Tiananmen."

According to the book's publishers and editors, Zhao Ziyang had spent parts of his last years recording his thoughts in secret. The audio tapes were only discovered after his death. He left no words on the purpose and intention of these tapes. Bao Pu, the son of Zhao Ziyang's long-time political assistant Bao Tong, led the efforts in transcript the tapes and make them into this book, published separately in Chinese and English versions.

Bao Pu has since refused to make the tapes themselves available to the public, other than a few excerpts. So there are no independent means to assess the authenticity of the book material. As memoirs of Chinese leaders are usually non-existent, it is also almost impossible to cross-examine the content against other similar books.

Nevertheless, I did not have high expectations when I started reading the book and yet still came away disappointed. I did have a few questions related to the 1989 student movement that I had hoped to find the answers from Zhao Ziyang's own words, for example,

1. Did he actually agree and approve the infamous April 26 People's Daily editorial before its publication while he was away in North Korea?
2. During the critical period in early May when he was personally in charge and conducting dialogues with the public to defuse the tension, why did he not make any such efforts to reach out to the protesting students before the hunger strike?
3. After the hunger strike, did he direct and/or authorize Yan Mingfu's dialogue with student leaders? What was the strategy for that dialogue?
4. Why did he disclose the "state secret" that Deng Xiaoping was still the supreme leader in China during his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev?

Actually, the 306 pages long book only has its first part, merely 49 pages, dealing with the 1989 student movement. That certainly could not, and did not, do justice to the greatest event which would dominate Zhao Ziyang's historical legacy.

That short passage read in a very defensive, and indeed self-pity, tone. Zhao Ziyang tried to blame a conspiracy, led by then Premier Li Peng and supported by Deng Xiaoping, which undermined his strategy and led to the martial law and the eventual massacre. But it was unclear what his strategy or leadership was. Being the General Secretary at the time, the book showed a leader who was lost, soft, and lack of ideas or willingness to take any meaningful action on his own.

More specifically, on the questions I was looking for answers:

1. Zhao Ziyang did confirm that he had approved the publication of the editorial. He attempted to explain that he could not have done anything else because he was away and did not know all the facts.
2. Zhao Ziyang blamed Li Peng and other leaders not to contact student leaders. There was no words explaining why he did not try to do it himself.
3. The book did not mention Yan Mingfu's dialogue attempts at all. It was as if that important facets of the movement had never happened.
4. The book did dedicate a whole short chapter to the Gorbachev meeting. He tried to downplay its significance. But the rationale presented there sounded contrived and weak. It also contradicted to Bao Tong's own testimony that Bao Tong had intentionally inserted the statements at last minutes.

As far as the Tiananmen is concerned, this is a rather uninformative book. It is not surprising since the "real story" of that magnificent movement did not happen within the walls of the government compound. It happened on the campuses, on the streets, and in Tiananmen Square. That is a story that Zhao Ziyang, or any other government leaders at the time, is unable and unwilling to tell.


Books about Tiananmen

Liu Xiaobo Formally Charged

After being detained in early December and spending the months since in isolated confinement, Liu Xiaobo is now finally being formally charged for the crime of subversion. Reuters reported that

State news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday that prosecutors approved Liu's arrest on Tuesday for "alleged agitation activities aimed at subversion of government and overthrowing of the socialist system."

There had been hope that Liu Xiaobo's detention would end after the passing of the June 4th anniversary. Liu Xiaobo had played a key role in the later stages of that movement. His current arrest stemmed from his leadership in the "Charter of 08" activities last winter.

Standoff at Tiananmen: Chinese Version

For those who are more comfortable in reading Chinese, I have started to translate my book Standoff at Tiananmen into Chinese version and decided to post its rough draft in a new blog: 天安门对峙.

The entire translation work probably will take months, and hopefully not years. They will be posted as installments as they are available.

In the meantime, I will continue to build up this blog/web site with more resources for the 1989 student movement and updates on related news.

If you have liked my book, please tell your friends. :)

"So you've got a tank?"

Danwei brought to us this fascinating magazine back cover (above) from the June issue of So Rock!, Under the tank picture on the T-shirt, the Chinese inscription says "So you've got a tank?"

The front cover of the same issue, below, is equally provocative. Just in time for the twentieth anniversary.

This Day in 1989, June 5

On June 5, 1989, as the martial law troops consolidated their control of the city of Beijing, one lonely individual left us with an icon of personal courage and hope.


Days of 1989