China's party hardliners want the last word
By Verna Yu
In an incident which highlights growing internal tension in the Chinese
Communist Party, the most outspoken political magazine on the mainland has been
put under pressure to get rid of its prominent publisher after it printed an
article praising ousted former party chief Zhao Ziyang.
It is also evident the authorities are trying hard to keep a tight lid on
anything that could possibly remind people of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen
crackdown on student-led pro-democracy demonstrations, as next year will mark
the 20th anniversary of the bloody tragedy.
The monthly magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu (Annals of Emperors Huang and Yan) whose
editorial board and contributors include reformist-minded former party
heavyweights, retired officials and former state media journalists, has long
been seen as a thorn in
the side of the conservative faction of the communist government.
The memoirs and essays by these influential advocates of democratic political
reform, including Mao Zedong's one-time secretary Li Rui and former vice
premier Tian Jiyun, are highly rated by China watchers and history scholars
because they offer rare glimpses of historical reality which differ from the
party’s official version.
Its liberal stance has often fallen foul of official censors, and insiders said
a story in its September issue reminiscing over Zhao’s popularity as Sichuan
provincial party chief in the late 1970s drew the ire of a former top leader -
widely speculated to be former president Jiang Zemin.
Since Zhao was toppled for sympathizing with students in the Tiananmen
pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989, his name has been categorically banned
from the Chinese media. He was replaced by the politically conservative Jiang
and remained under house arrest until his death in 2005.
But Yanhuang Chunqiu broke the silence in July last year by printing an article
which mentioned his name. The September feature on Zhao was the first in
mainland China which wrote at length about the liberal-minded former leader.
"The article praised the works of Zhao Ziyang from beginning to end - this has
made someone very angry," said a senior staff member of the magazine.
Last Friday, an official visited publisher Du Daozheng at his home, conveying a
message from the Ministry of Culture seeking his retirement, said chief editor
Wu Si. "They said he was quite elderly and must be quite tired, so it was time
he stepped down," Wu said.
Du, 85, was head of the General Administration of Press and Publication from
1987 to 1989. He was sacked after the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown after being
accused of being sympathetic to the student-led demonstrations. He then began
to publish Yanhuang Chunqiu. It was said that Zhao Ziyang read every issue of
the magazine sent by Du while under house arrest.
Du is now seldom involved in the day-to-day work at the pro-reform publication,
but remains the figurehead and oversees its overall editorial direction.
The order for him to step down is seen by insiders as the first step of a wider
purge of the magazine, which has already been warned several times for
publishing essays which touched on sensitive topics seen as tacitly critical of
the present leadership.
It was suspended for two weeks in 2005 after it published essays from 15
retired cadres which commemorated the 90th anniversary of the birth of Hu
Yaobang, a former party general secretary who as a relative liberal lost his
position and was blamed for inspiring the protests.
Last year, it was criticized again for publishing an article by Xie Tao,
retired deputy head of the prestigious People’s University, which called for
"democratic socialism".
By raising his age as an issue, Du said, authorities are hoping to weaken the
editorial line of his magazine. The offending article on Zhao was just the
latest example of the kind of writing loathed by the conservative forces in the
party, he said.
"This is the ninth time that we have encountered [pressure] in our 17 years,"
Du said in a phone interview. "Now they have found an opportunity to target us,
but they can't say it directly."
"Their aim is to change the direction of the publication," he said. Du said he
had resisted pressure to step down. "In our 17 years, the state has never given
us a penny … the magazine is not a state publication and there is no law on
retirement age," he said, adding that four out of six of its editors are under
the age of 60.
Moreover, he said he represented the voices of more than 100 party luminaries
and authors. "They told me: Comrade Du, you do not have the right to make a
decision yourself because you were chosen by us," he said.
Du said the magazine’s editorial policy would not waver, even if more
interference came along. "If they want to fight, let the fight go on ... it is
a contest of strength," he said. "It is like a game of chess, it’s interesting
to watch what the next step is."
"Our magazine is truly concerned about China, we’re only seeking the truth and
trying to be objective and impartial," he said. "For the sake of the future of
our people and our country, we have to struggle against things that are wrong."
Zhang Lifan, an historian formerly with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
said the incident was a test of the current leadership’s strength against the
conservative faction.
"This is a landmark incident. The fact that a magazine’s fate can be at the
mercy of the will of a certain leader just shows that China’s current speech
freedom situation is full of problems. It is a test of wisdom and courage of
the current leadership… If they do not handle this wisely, there will be a very
negative impact," Zhang said.
Verna Yu is a journalist based in Hong Kong.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about
sales, syndication and
republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
