Du Daozheng, 85, helped preserve Zhao's memoirs.
In his memoir, Zhao confesses that political reform had not occurred to him during his political career, but after years of contemplation, he believed that only parliamentary democracy could help China develop a healthy and modern market economy.
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Zhao wrote book as a ‘historic gift’ to China’s future generations
Josephine Ma
22 May 2009
Ousted party secretary Zhao Ziyang and four retired party heavyweights worked against all odds to record Zhao’s memoirs as a historic legacy for future generations.
According to the preface titled “History is written by the people” by Du Daozheng for the Chinese-language edition of Zhao’s memoir, Zhao only agreed to write his account and reflections on the bloody June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown after Du told him in 1992 that he had a responsibility to leave a historical record.
Du, now 86, was former director of the General Administration of Press and Publications and one of four party veterans who co-operated to help Zhao outmanoeuvre the Communist Party’s security apparatus and record his memoirs.
Zhao took his mission and the need for accuracy so seriously that he once sent his secretary to the general office of party’s Central Committee for some published party documents.
“He was very hurt when he was turned down,” Du writes.
A veteran journalist and editor, Du carefully chose the title of his preface to echo a famous saying by ousted party chairman Liu Shaoqi , who was labelled by Mao Zedong as a traitor and died under torture and harsh treatment during the Cultural Revolution.
Liu was “rehabilitated” by the party in 1980, 11 years after his death, and his widow Wang Guangmei said Liu always had faith in his belief that “fortunately history is written by the people” - and that he would be vindicated one day because party propaganda could not dictate how history was written.
The preface by Du also provides important details concerning why Zhao was prepared to pay the price for not taking a hard-line approach against the students gathered in Tiananmen Square weeks before the crackdown.
“If the conflicts [between the government and students] intensify, it would not be acceptable to history. Since I am sitting in this position, I will not agree [to the government’s line],” Du quoted Zhao as telling his wife and children on May 17.
“But I may be jailed because of that and you may be implicated.
“You will have to be psychologically prepared.”
After the bloody crackdown, the party twice sent Zhao’s associates, including former deputy premier Wang Renzhong, to persuade Zhao to support the party’s stance publicly in return for keeping his seat in the Politburo. But Zhao turned down the offers, Du said. He said Zhao, a practical man who had worked his way up through local government administration, had repeatedly expressed regrets at being politically too conservative during his tenure in the party after years of soul-searching under house arrest.
“He told me several times in a very sincere manner: ‘Old Du, you know I was very conservative in the past. But now I really regret it and I want to take a new path,’” Du writes.
In his memoir, Zhao confesses that political reform had not occurred to him during his political career, but after years of contemplation, he believed that only parliamentary democracy could help China develop a healthy and modern market economy.
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