We’re also checking to see if Zhao invented the Internet
It turns out that Zhao Ziyang, China’s Communist Party chief during the Tianamenn massacre (and who was outsted for opposing a violent crackdown), secretly recorded a memoir of his time in power. This is very exciting — as the New York Times’ Erik Eckholm observes, "In a sharp break with Chinese Communist tradition, even for ...
It turns out that Zhao Ziyang, China's Communist Party chief during the Tianamenn massacre (and who was outsted for opposing a violent crackdown), secretly recorded a memoir of his time in power.
It turns out that Zhao Ziyang, China’s Communist Party chief during the Tianamenn massacre (and who was outsted for opposing a violent crackdown), secretly recorded a memoir of his time in power.
This is very exciting — as the New York Times’ Erik Eckholm observes, "In a sharp break with Chinese Communist tradition, even for dismissed officials, Mr. Zhao provides personal details of tense party sessions." In other words, there’s some good dirt here for China scholars.
One little thing nags me about Eckholm’s story, however:
One striking claim in the memoir, scholars who have seen it said, is that Mr. Zhao presses the case that he pioneered the opening of China’s economy to the world and the initial introduction of market forces in agriculture and industry — steps he says were fiercely opposed by hard-liners and not always fully supported by Mr. Deng, the paramount leader, who is often credited with championing market-oriented policies….
Roderick MacFarquhar, a China expert at Harvard who wrote an introduction to the new book, said it had given him a new appreciation of Mr. Zhao’s central role in devising economic strategies, including some, like promoting foreign trade in coastal provinces, that he had urged on Mr. Deng, rather than the other way around.
“Deng Xiaoping was the godfather, but on a day-to-day basis Zhao was the actual architect of the reforms,” Mr. MacFarquhar said in an interview.
I’m not a China expert, but I am a seasoned reader of political memoirs. And, in my experience, memoirists do tend to paint a picture of their deeds that magnifies their accomplishments at the expense of others. I see no reason why Chinese political memoirs should be any different from American political memoirs on this score. So I’m going to take Zhao’s claims on this point with juuuust a small grain of salt.
[Hmmm…. note to future version of you — compile top ten list of best political memoirs–ed. So noted.]
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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