Prisoner of the State : The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang

by Zhao Ziyang; Adi Ignatius; Bao Pu; Renee Chiang; Roderick MacFarquhar

• ISBN13: 9781439149386
• ISBN10: 1439149380
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-19
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

"Zhao may be more dangerous in death than he was in life." --TimeHow often can you peek behind the curtains of one of the most secretive governments in the world? Prisoner of the State is the first book to give readers a front row seat to the secret inner workings of China's government. It is the story of Premier Zhao Ziyang, the man who brought liberal change to that nation and who, at the height of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, tried to stop the massacre and was dethroned for his efforts.When China's army moved in, killing hundreds of students and other demonstrators, Zhao was placed under house arrest at his home on a quiet alley in Beijing. China's most promising change agent had been disgraced, along with the policies he stood for. The premier spent the last sixteen years of his life, up until his death in 2005, in seclusion. An occasional detail about his life would slip out: reports of a golf excursion, a photo of his aging visage, a leaked letter to China's leaders. But China scholars often lamented that Zhao never had his final say.As it turns out, Zhao did produce a memoir in complete secrecy. He methodically recorded his thoughts and recollections on what had happened behind the scenes during many of modern China's most critical moments. The tapes he produced were smuggled out of the country and form the basis forPrisoner of the State. In this audio journal, Zhao provides intimate details about the Tiananmen crackdown; he describes the ploys and double crosses China's top leaders use to gain advantage over one another; and he talks of the necessity for China to adopt democracy in order to achieve long-term stability.The China that Zhao portrays is not some long-lost dynasty. It is today's China, where the nation's leaders accept economic freedom but continue to resist political change. If Zhao had survived -- that is, if the hard-line hadn't prevailed during Tiananmen -- he might have been able to steer China's political system toward more openness and tolerance. Zhao's call to begin lifting the Party's control over China's life -- to let a little freedom into the public square -- is remarkable coming from a man who had once dominated that square. Although Zhao now speaks from the grave in this moving and riveting memoir, his voice has the moral power to make China sit up and listen.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Foreword	p. xvii
The Tiananment Massacre	p. 1
The Student Protests Begin	p. 3
An Editorial Makes Things Worse	p. 8
Power Struggle	p. 15
The Crackdown	p. 25
The Accusations Fly	p. 35
The Campaign Against Zhao	p. 39
Zhao's Talk with Gorbachev	p. 45
House Arrest	p. 51
Zhao Becomes a Prisoner	p. 53
The Investigative Report	p. 63
Zhao's Lonely Struggle	p. 72
The Roots of China's Economic Boom	p. 89
Conflicting Views at the Top	p. 91
An Early Setback	p. 95
Opening Painfully to the World	p. 101
Finding a New Approach	p. 111
Zhao and Hu Clash	p. 114
Playing a Trick on a Rival	p. 119
One Step at a Time	p. 125
The Economy Gets Too Hot	p. 127
The Magic of Free Trade	p. 134
Freedom on the Farm	p. 138
The Coastal Regions Take Off	p. 145
Coping with Corruption	p. 155
War in the Politburo	p. 159
Hu Yaobang "Resigns"	p. 161
Zhao Walks the Line	p. 183
The Ideologues	p. 197
Preparing for the Main Event	p. 203
A Tumultuous Year	p. 215
After the Congress	p. 217
Panic Buying and Bank Runs	p. 219
A Series of Missteps	p. 223
The Problem with Prices	p. 226
Reforms Take a Hit	p. 229
Zhao in Retreat	p. 233
The Campaign to Overthrow Zhao	p. 237
How China Must Change	p. 245
Deng's View on Political Reform	p. 247
Hu's View on Political Reform	p. 254
How Zhao's View Evolved	p. 256
The Old Guard Fights Back	p. 261
The Way Forward	p. 269
Epilogue	p. 275
A Brief biography of Zhao Ziyang	p. 283
Who Was Who	p. 289
Acknowledgments	p. 305
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