Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A105-W46
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A105-W46
Release Date: Jan 29, 2005
发布日：2005年1月29日
Topic: On Mr. ZHAO ZiYang's Death - by Wei Jingsheng
标题：赵紫阳先生的去世与1989民运及1976年的四五运动的对比 -- 魏京生
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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On Mr. ZHAO ZiYang's Death
- By Wei Jingsheng
On January 17, 2005, Mr. Zhao ZiYang departed this world at an age of 85 years old. The Chinese Communists are so nervous about his departure that they dispatched massive numbers of military, police and plain-clothed police to the "sensitive areas" such as Zhao's residence and Tiananmen Square. Zhao's departure also piqued the interest of many who want to see the end of the Chinese Communists' rule. Many asked: Will this death lead to a massive scale of protest, as did the deaths of ZHOU EnLai and HU YaoBang? Or put in this way, why are there no massive protests yet, do not you Chinese like to condemn the living in the name of the dead people?
We Chinese have to admit that within our culture and tradition, we indeed have this character that is somehow close to cowardice. When people want to say something yet do not dare, they will take a detoured way of expression such as "borrowing the corpses to catch the spirits", "Pointing at the mulberry trees to condemn the Chinese Scholartrees" and "throwing the sand into the shadows". In comparison to either a complete silence and or a loud explosion, there seems to be more choices for us, something in the middle that does not make us the complete coward, nor lose our gentlemen's courtesy. Who knows, maybe that is an advantage? The most noticeable characteristic of these middle-road approaches is that there is room for both forward and backward options. Yet the pre-condition for such a middle approach is that people will still consider retreating one step backward for the hope of a peaceful resolution. Otherwise, there is only the resolution of stepping forward without any courtesy offered.
April 5 is the Chinese Memorial Day. Twenty-eight years ago on the Chinese Memorial Day after Zhou EnLai's death, the famous April 5 Movement developed on Tiananmen Square when people used his death as an excuse to gather together. At that time people has not thought of abolishing the Communist system; instead their slogans were to get rid of some people inside the Party, while supporting others. Specifically they wanted to get rid of the successors of Mao ZeDong lead by Mao's widow, Jiang Qing, and supported Deng XiaoPing's faction that seemed to be against Mao. That time, the mainstream opinion of the Chinese was: the Communist system is good, but not Mao's policy. If we could get rid of Mao's policy, everything will turn out all right. The Chinese still held their great hope to the Communist Party. To claim that these people who participated in the April 5 Movement are "anti-revolutionaries" is indeed a wrongful verdict. So after Deng XiaoPing and Hu YaoBang came to power, it was a natural and intelligent move that fits the Communism Party's rules for them to over-rule the verdict. There was not much dissidence within the Communist Party for that over-rule.
In 1989, a big fight broke out in a meeting between Hu YaoBang and the conservatives within the Chinese Communist Party. The result was it triggered Hu's heart attack during the meeting and he died in the hospital shortly after. At that time, the democracy movement was developing rapidly, with the people's sympathy to this brave leader who dared to not just speak up but also to take action. The movement moved forward. The main slogans of the 1989 democracy movement were still not of anti-communism, but the request to exchange the one-party dictatorship for democracy, human rights and freedom. This desire was fundamentally different from that of 1976's April 5 movement. Judging by the standard of the Chinese Communists, this was truly "anti-revolutionary". This move was not just against some faction within the Communist Party, but against the whole system of Communism. Thus, it was impossible for the Chinese Communists to "over-rule" the 1989 democracy movement. However, the initial designers of this movement still planned their strategy to be similar to 1976's mode. They took the approach of choosing Zhao ZiYang against Deng XiaoPing in an effort of to change the course of the Chinese Communist Party. Their goal was reform, rather than changing the system completely. The development of the movement shifted off the designers' target, because the mainstream ideology of the Chinese was not to be satisfied just simply at the level of reform. Most people think that the one-party dictator system needs to be abolished for the Western style democracy.
The first movement 28 years ago was smashed by the sticks held by "the militant workers", so the second movement 16 years ago mobilized people of almost the whole society. However, this time, the military came in with tanks to kill the unarmed citizens. What was smashed was not just the confidence of the few, but also the little hope the whole society had left for the Chinese Communists. Without that hope, most people will not bother to waste their lives. Without hope, there is no middle ground of the formalities of "preferring George as a way to be against Tom", and "Borrowing the corpse to catch the spirits". This is the real reason that people's reaction is so calm after Zhao ZiYang's death today.
This cold reaction is not a good sign to the Chinese Communist Party because it reflects that the mainstream thought of our Chinese has only two extremes to take: one is to suffer through the shame and keep the silence, the other is not to be afraid of take risks anymore.
In reality, various forms and various scaled protests in which people took action "without fear of risk" has been the main manner the Chinese people have opposed the dictatorship of Chinese Communism in the last a few years. The suppression ability of any government is limited, even with modern equipment and high technology. Under these circumstances, it is indeed stupid enough for the Communist Party to decide to abolish the "appeal to the higher-up system" which has been acting as the minimum buffer zone in the past. This action is just like digging one's tomb for oneself. The fact that they do not even dare to use the reputation of Zhao ZiYang to cheat on the Chinese people now reflects the weak and cowardly character of the Communist Party. They will not survive when the big wind comes and the big waves hit.
-- Wei Jingsheng
(Written on January 17, 2005. Partially broadcasted by Radio Free Asia. The Wei Jingsheng Foundation is responsible for the accuracy of this version of the English translation.)
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中文版
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A105-W46
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A105-W46
Release Date: Jan 29, 2005
发布日：2005年1月29日
Topic: On Mr. ZHAO ZiYang's Death - by Wei Jingsheng
标题：赵紫阳先生的去世与1989民运及1976年的四五运动的对比 -- 魏京生
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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赵紫阳先生的去世与1989民运及1976年的四五运动的对比
-- 魏京生 （于2005年1月17日）
赵紫阳先生于1月17日离开这个世界，终年85岁。他的去世，引起了中共极大的恐慌。中共当局派出了武警、便衣和军队，封锁了赵紫阳住宅附近和天安门广场等敏感地区。赵紫阳的去世也引起了一大批希望中共下台的人士的关注。他们都在问：会不会像周恩来、胡耀邦去世那样引发大规模的群众抗议？或者问：为什么没有引发大规模群众抗议，你们中国人不是喜欢借死人骂活人吗？
咱们中国人必须承认，中国的文化传统中确有这种近乎懦弱的习俗。当人们想说而又不敢说的时候，借尸还魂，指桑骂槐，含沙射影等等曲折的表达方式就成为通常的选择。但这在西方人的完全沉默或者大肆发作之外，似乎又多了一些选择，多了一些中间的方式——既不是完全的懦弱又不是完全翻脸。这似乎成为一种优点。这几种中间选择的最大优点就是给向前或向后都留有余地。而留有余地的前提是人们对向后退一步抱有能解决问题的希望，或者说对和平解决抱有希望。否则就只有向前一步撕破脸皮对抗的选择了。
清明节是咱们中国人悼念死者的节日。28年前周恩来死的那个清明节，人们借口悼念周恩来，在天安门广场聚众闹事，引发了著名的“四五”运动。那时候的人们还没有考虑要不要共产党的制度，主流的口号是不要共产党内的一些人，而支持共产党内的那些人。具体说就是打倒以江青为首的毛泽东的继承者，支持似乎是反毛的邓小平集团。当时中国人的主流看法是：共产党的制度是好的，毛泽东的政策搞坏了。所以反掉毛的政策，一切都会变好。当时的中国人民对共产党仍给予极大的希望。说那些参加“四五”运动的人士反革命，的确是极大的冤枉。所以邓小平、胡耀邦上台后，首先给“四五”运动参加者平反是顺理成章，合乎共产党思维的明智之举。实际上这种平反并没有在党内引起多大的异议。
16年前的1989年，胡耀邦在会议上与党内保守派激烈争吵时心脏病发作，住进医院后不久就去世了。当时正在轰轰烈烈蓬勃发展中的民主运动，借着人们对这位敢说敢做的领导人遭遇的同情，达到一个高潮。89年的民主运动的主流口号仍然是不反共，但要求改变一党专制，要民主，要人权，要自由。这和1976年的四五运动有本质的区别。用中共的标准来衡量是货真价实的反革命。因为他反的不是中共的某个派别，而是反对中共的制度，所以中共不可能给89民运平反。但是这场运动的最初设计者，仍然在仿照1976年的模式设计他们的策略。企图用拥护赵紫阳打倒邓小平的方式改变中共的路线，来达到改革而不是彻底改变制度的目标。运动的发展偏离了设计者的目标，是因为当时中国人的主流意识已不仅仅停留在要求改革的水平上。多数人认为应该改掉的是一党专政的制度，目标是实现西方式的民主。
28年前的第一次运动被“工人民兵”的棍棒击溃了。 16年前的第二次运动就动员了几乎全社会的人上街。但这次当军队开着坦克进来屠杀手无寸铁的人民的时候，被击溃的不仅仅是少数人的信心，而是全社会对中共尚存的一点希望。没有希望就不会有那么多人去白白浪费自己的生命，也就没有了中间选择——拥谁反谁，借尸还魂之类的形式了。这就是赵紫阳死后人们反应冷淡的真正原因。
这种反应冷淡对中共来说并不是什么好消息。因为它说明中国人的主流想法只有两种选择：或者忍辱继续沉默，或者忍无可忍铤而走险。实际上不同方式不同规模的铤而走险，恰恰是最近几年中国人民反抗中共暴政的主要形式。任何政府镇压的能力都是有限的，现代化的武器装备也无法改变这个现实。在这种形势下中共还取消了能起到一点缓和作用的“上访制度”，的确是自掘坟墓，愚不可及。他们不敢利用赵紫阳在人们心目中的地位去欺骗人民，拉拢人民，则说明了他们虚弱和怯懦的性格——中共已很难经受任何大的风浪！
-- 魏京生
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