Reflections on June-4th Incident (Three)

Populism or Democracy, which would decide the future of China.

By He Qinglian on June 14, 2012.

Sun Yat-sen had once referred “the People’s livelihood”, “the People’s identity” and “the People’s rights” collectively as the “Three Principles of the People”, which was at one point the main theme of the Chinese pursuit of a bright future in the 20th century. 

However, in authoritarian and totalitarian countries where there is a lack of civil awareness, “the People’s identity” theory could easily be turned into senseless xenophobia; “the People’s livelihood” theory, [a negative form of] populism; and “the People’s rights” theory, which is the prerequisite for protecting the people’s livelihood and ensuring both the state and the populace would grow rich, could be swept aside with extreme ease.

Reflections on June-4th Incident (Two)

Hope of Russia: The Middle Class’ awakening awareness of their rights.

By He Qinglian on June 14, 2012.

There is a feature in China’s foreign policy in recent years: whenever Western countries—the United States in particular—made any “unfriendly” actions, the Chinese government would definitely lodge a strong protest; yet however “unfriendly” Russia may be to China—whether it is the China threat theory that repeatedly emerges in Russia, or the unfair and inhumane treatments that Chinese traders and nationals in Russia have often been subjected to, the Chinese government would basically respond in a low key approach. Chinese media, too, turn a blind eye to them. Their attitude toward Vladimir Putin has been completely different from their attitude to heads of Western countries. They would spare no ink when they write about scandals that are connected to Western heads of state or government; yet when they write about Vladimir Putin, their reports comprise nothing but praise, and they generally do not criticize him.

Reflections on June-4th Incident (One)

Reflections on the June-4th Incident (One): why endogenous communist countries reject Western-styled democracy?

By He Qinglian on June 1, 2012.

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of the June-4th incident, and it has been more than  21 years since the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the Socialist bloc in Eastern and Central Europe. In most of the countries where the socialist system was imposed on them, for example Eastern European countries, the humiliation and pain caused by Communism gradually fades away after the generation(s) that personally experienced it has grown old. In endogenous communist countries like Russia and China, however, the former remains in the state of enlightened despotism, the latter has yet to reach that state.

It is interesting to compare the history and cultural background of the two countries.

On Vogel's book about Deng Xiaoping

Though Deng's era is over, his legacy is yet to be concluded.

Written by He Qinglian on June 18, 2012.

(Translated by kRiZcPEc).

The Chinese version of Deng Xiaoping and the transformation of China, written by Ezra F. Vogel, a professor at Harvard University, has recently been available. Although there are already various versions of biographies of Deng Xiaoping, including My father Deng Xiaoping by Deng Rong “Maomao”, and hardly any breakthrough could be achieved in terms of historical data, this book by Vogel is about a world class great man, and the author is a renowned China scholar who was once influential both in the politics and academic circles. These two factors per se are sufficient to attract the eyeballs of readers. 

In his recent interviews following the publication of the Chinese version of his book, Mr. Vogel made comments about Deng Xiaoping and gave a series of “if” that showed clearly how much he worshiped Deng. The most controversial and the hardest not to disagree was his defense for Deng Xiaoping's decision errors in squelching the “June-4th” Tiananmen movement.