Zhou Qing recalls Tiananmen: "Most Chinese people will go to democracy" | Books | '
Deutsche Welle: Zhou Qing, you were 24 when China was shaken by a wave of protests in the spring of 1989. You yourself have witnessed the Chinese movement in the metropolis of Xi'an. What was it really: a democracy movement, a student movement, a protest for better living conditions or for more individual freedom?
Zhou Qing: I think you have to look at it in many ways. The students were still basically in the tradition of patriotically perceived movements like those of May 4, 1919 (Student protests against the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War, which did not abolish Japan's special rights vis-à-vis China. Note d. Red.) and the anti-Japanese movement of 9 December 1935 (around 6000 students protested Japan's claim to northern China, Note d. Red.), Their movement went back to the same origins as the communist student movement and its patriotic complex.
In 1989, the students appreciated KP General Secretary Hu Yaobang as a functionary who respected the intellectuals. When he died in April 1989, it excited the minds of so many people.
The student movement began with mourning credentials for Hu Yaobang. On April 19, 1989, thousands gathered at the Martyrs' Memorial to honor the late party leader
One thing their protests were especially against was the corruption of the officials. In addition, the dissatisfaction of other social groups – such as peasants, workers and all sorts of people – also came into play. That had to do with economic reform. In 1988, "double pricing" was introduced (where the goods in the public shops had different prices than on the open market, editor's note), Prices exploded, causing great dissatisfaction in society.
And then there was the very small proportion of those who wanted to seize the opportunity to promote democracy and freedom in China and bring universal values to bear.
How extensive was the movement?
It is a mistake to believe that in 1989 everything happened only on Tiananmen, Tiananmen Square. There were protests in more than 200 cities, and besides Beijing, there was a lot of happening in Xi'an, Changsha, Chengdu and Shanghai.
They were arrested for their participation in the demonstrations and imprisoned under cruel conditions for almost three years. What did you, the young man, then have the strength to remain stubborn?
That's the way man is, he keeps everything up to the end. When I talk about why I have held on quite stably until today, I owe that power to reading and studying.
Zhou Qing in 1992 after being released from prison in Xi'an
The 1980s were a relatively free period of opening, during which many important Western works and, in addition, some important books by East European dissidents were published. Through these translations, we first realized that there was something quite different from what we knew, another social system. And we also learned about possibilities of resistance. That was really important. Many of the books that appeared in the eighties are banned in China today. The influence that the Western classics published in those years had on the '89 movement should not be underestimated.
After your detention, you worked for a long time as a freelance journalist and critical nonfiction author in China. Today you live as an author and documentary filmmaker in Berlin. Can you return to China?
I still have a Chinese passport, so I can go back.
The suppression of the democracy movement in China in 1989, exactly 30 years ago, shook the world. If you speak of "June 4th" in China today, is that more than a date for young people?
There is a sentence that fits very well here: who masters the past, dominates the future. The struggle for memory between the communist authorities and ordinary people is currently at its peak. The communist administrators are trying all the time, the events around June 4, along with the Cultural Revolution, the anti-dissent campaign of 1957 and the even earlier Yan'an orientation movement (with which Mao prevailed in 1942 against other high-ranking CP members and topped the Communists, editor's note) to disappear in the darkness of the past. Covering the past is the method by which they can strengthen their power and continue to govern.
The 1989 portrait of Hu Yaobang in Tiananmen Square, paired with the call for freedom, democracy and enlightenment
Is this anniversary in China in general awareness?
There are days of official commemoration and traditional mourning days in China. The fact that the 4th of June in the people could become something of a commemoration and mourning day makes the Chinese authorities extremely nervous.
Are there any approaches on the Internet to deal with these events? Is it talked about in forums, perhaps disguised with other characters, as sometimes happens with critical topics or terms?
The Chinese always know how to help. When the authorities "4. 6." prohibit, whether in numbers or Chinese characters, then they write for example June 1 + 3 or 35 May or they photograph somewhere the house number 64 (The month number is in Chinese before the day, Note d. Red.) and choose the picture as your icon. People come up with all sorts of things – and with a lot of humor.
Many Chinese intellectuals, writers, filmmakers and artists had to flee after June 4 and live in exile for years. Abroad they then processed the suppression of the democracy movement in their works. Most of them have since returned to China. Are their works available in China – whether online or via the shop counter – and do they still have influence?
I believe that their influence is extremely low. Human life is short, and if you have no hope that the balance of power changes, then you may be willing to compromise. Many of those who have returned to China have worked with the government. So there was nothing left that could have exerted influence.
Are there any writers or other intellectuals who make the events of that day their topic?
There is, of course. If these people did not exist, then the Chinese nation would be saddened.
Which people are they?
These are, for example, the "mothers of Tiananmen" or some of the "famous ancients" who were present during the 4th of June. Even more important are the people who were imprisoned for June 4, who were attacked and unable to find work, and who later worked for non-profit organizations or NGOs. I have highest respect for them. Such people let hope for China's future, they have sharpened their airy ideals at the practice.
Communist Party Secretary General Zhao Ziyang (3rd from left), one of the "great elders" who supported the movement. After June 1989, he was deposed and placed under house arrest until his death in 2005
Are there secretly even political forces that wish to be worked up?
I think that is extremely unlikely. Many people, especially Western Chinese scholars, distinguish reformers and conservatives in the KP elite – I think that's speculative. They have no motivation to reform or comment on the Tiananmen massacre. As high cadres they have all the privileges, also material, why should they give that up? At most, it will come to a review of 4 June, if it could help a group in an internal party dispute to gain power. That would be an option.
The writer and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo once wrote: "The future of freedom in China is civil society." How do you see the chances for a free Chinese society?
I believe that China is on the way to a democratic, free and constitutional society. I have not the slightest doubt about that. Because most of the Chinese have already experienced the bright light outside, and they will open in this direction – at any price.
Zhou Qing, born in 1964 in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, became known as a nonfiction author, political commentator, and documentary filmmaker. His 2004 book "What Kind of God: China's Food Safety" (What should our people feed on in the future – scandals about food) hit big waves in China. It has been published in ten countries and internationally bestseller. In 2006 he received the Lettre Ulysses Prize for the art of documentary. In 2017, the dissident published a documentary about the Cultural Revolution. Zhou Qing lives mostly in Germany since 2009, meanwhile in Berlin.
The interview was led by Sabine Peschel.
ليست هناك تعليقات