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Monday 8 June 2009
Bitterness and betrayal for writer let down by best friend
“My life has been ruined since June 4, 1989, and there are too many like me, who pursued democracy out of pure motives for this country but suffered by having to live humble lives afterwards. It’s time for the country to apologise.”
Bitterness and betrayal for writer let down by best friend
Vivian Wu 5 June 2009
Like other participants in the June 4 movement, Ye Fu feels agony in recalling his life’s ups and downs over the past 20 years.
There are bitter memories of losing his parents and other loved ones, and generally of a life in ruins.
Without going to Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of students were killed the night before, he resigned as a police officer as his way of breaking with an authority that, as he put it, “lost all legitimacy after the crackdown”.
Even more unbearable, says Ye Fu, 47, is the fact that he was betrayed by his best friend, who conspired with authorities to trick him into committing the crime of “leaking state secrets”, for which he served four years in prison from 1991.
Last month, Zheng Shiping, better known by the pseudonym Ye Fu among mainland liberal writers, broke a decade-long silence and wrote an article that disclosed his friend Xiong Zhaozheng’s betrayal.
Mr. Xiong is now a successful businessman and deputy chairman of the Writers’ Association of Hubei Province, and has avoided making any public explanation of his behaviour.
Ye Fu’s article caused a bombshell, arousing a wave of discussions about the informant culture on the mainland among liberal academics and on the internet.
“I wrote to tell the truth at this time, one month ahead of June 4. It’s time we, who went through this bloody period, recollect what happened in this nation and to its ruling party, whose legitimacy has disappeared since the night before,” said Ye Fu, sitting in the sunshine in a cafe in Yunnan province , where he leads a secluded life. “I want revenge against Xiong, whose betrayal of me was a result of the autocratic system of this country, which forced people to bow down and sell their souls for money and a safer life - one without dignity or a clean conscience.”
Last month, Ye Fu was awarded the 2009 Free Writing Award by the Beijing Institute for Modern Chinese Studies, known for its liberal stance. Its previous awards have gone to such top dissidents as Liu Xiaobo , Wang Lixiong and Hu Ping .
Born into an ethnic Tujia family of cadres, with his mother labelled a rightist in 1957 and his father suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, Ye Fu said he was aware of the Communist Party’s persecution of dissidents and free-minded academics from his childhood. After graduating from Wuhan University’s writers’ training programme, he was assigned to the Hainan Public Security Bureau and worked as a secretary to the Haikou police chief.
Ye Fu was outraged by the crackdown on the night of June 3 and became the first person in the police system to resign in protest.
Returning to Wuhan, he helped protect and transport many student leaders who fled overseas.
In July, he went back to his hometown in rural Hubei . One day he was approached by Mr. Xiong, who claimed he had quit the Communist Party and encouraged him to “organise some underground pro-democracy movements”.
An old friend, Li Yujian , who worked in a military factory in Yichang and was sympathetic to the students on June 4, told Ye Fu he had stolen a set of secret documents to give to an overseas pro-democracy organisation, as a way to support the democratic movement.
Mr. Xiong agreed to help pass the documents to overseas groups and arranged a meeting at a Guangzhou hotel. But when Ye Fu and his friends arrived, only Mr. Xiong was there. The frame-up became apparent, as police arrived and arrested everyone. Ultimately, though, the court took no action against Mr. Xiong.
Ye Fu was sentenced to six years in prison in December 1991 for leaking state secrets, which turned out to be plans for building a navy submarine launch vessel. He ended up serving four years in Wuhan. His humiliated father died waiting for his son’s release, which came six months later, and his mother drowned herself just after his release to reduce the economic strain on him.
After his release, Ye Fu struggled to make a living. His articles have never been published on the mainland because of their sharp expression, their treatment of the dark side of the June 4 period, and their painstaking challenge to the vices of both society and authorities. He said his reclusive lifestyle was his choice.
“I am telling my personal tragedy, not only as revenge for Xiong’s betrayal of me as part of his official success, but I also want to alarm the public to what a totalitarian mechanism we suffer under,” Ye Fu said.
“My life has been ruined since June 4, 1989, and there are too many like me, who pursued democracy out of pure motives for this country but suffered by having to live humble lives afterwards. It’s time for the country to apologise.”
2 comments:
Bitterness and betrayal for writer let down by best friend
Vivian Wu
5 June 2009
Like other participants in the June 4 movement, Ye Fu feels agony in recalling his life’s ups and downs over the past 20 years.
There are bitter memories of losing his parents and other loved ones, and generally of a life in ruins.
Without going to Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of students were killed the night before, he resigned as a police officer as his way of breaking with an authority that, as he put it, “lost all legitimacy after the crackdown”.
Even more unbearable, says Ye Fu, 47, is the fact that he was betrayed by his best friend, who conspired with authorities to trick him into committing the crime of “leaking state secrets”, for which he served four years in prison from 1991.
Last month, Zheng Shiping, better known by the pseudonym Ye Fu among mainland liberal writers, broke a decade-long silence and wrote an article that disclosed his friend Xiong Zhaozheng’s betrayal.
Mr. Xiong is now a successful businessman and deputy chairman of the Writers’ Association of Hubei Province, and has avoided making any public explanation of his behaviour.
Ye Fu’s article caused a bombshell, arousing a wave of discussions about the informant culture on the mainland among liberal academics and on the internet.
“I wrote to tell the truth at this time, one month ahead of June 4. It’s time we, who went through this bloody period, recollect what happened in this nation and to its ruling party, whose legitimacy has disappeared since the night before,” said Ye Fu, sitting in the sunshine in a cafe in Yunnan province , where he leads a secluded life. “I want revenge against Xiong, whose betrayal of me was a result of the autocratic system of this country, which forced people to bow down and sell their souls for money and a safer life - one without dignity or a clean conscience.”
Last month, Ye Fu was awarded the 2009 Free Writing Award by the Beijing Institute for Modern Chinese Studies, known for its liberal stance. Its previous awards have gone to such top dissidents as Liu Xiaobo , Wang Lixiong and Hu Ping .
Born into an ethnic Tujia family of cadres, with his mother labelled a rightist in 1957 and his father suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, Ye Fu said he was aware of the Communist Party’s persecution of dissidents and free-minded academics from his childhood. After graduating from Wuhan University’s writers’ training programme, he was assigned to the Hainan Public Security Bureau and worked as a secretary to the Haikou police chief.
Ye Fu was outraged by the crackdown on the night of June 3 and became the first person in the police system to resign in protest.
Returning to Wuhan, he helped protect and transport many student leaders who fled overseas.
In July, he went back to his hometown in rural Hubei . One day he was approached by Mr. Xiong, who claimed he had quit the Communist Party and encouraged him to “organise some underground pro-democracy movements”.
An old friend, Li Yujian , who worked in a military factory in Yichang and was sympathetic to the students on June 4, told Ye Fu he had stolen a set of secret documents to give to an overseas pro-democracy organisation, as a way to support the democratic movement.
Mr. Xiong agreed to help pass the documents to overseas groups and arranged a meeting at a Guangzhou hotel. But when Ye Fu and his friends arrived, only Mr. Xiong was there. The frame-up became apparent, as police arrived and arrested everyone. Ultimately, though, the court took no action against Mr. Xiong.
Ye Fu was sentenced to six years in prison in December 1991 for leaking state secrets, which turned out to be plans for building a navy submarine launch vessel. He ended up serving four years in Wuhan. His humiliated father died waiting for his son’s release, which came six months later, and his mother drowned herself just after his release to reduce the economic strain on him.
After his release, Ye Fu struggled to make a living. His articles have never been published on the mainland because of their sharp expression, their treatment of the dark side of the June 4 period, and their painstaking challenge to the vices of both society and authorities. He said his reclusive lifestyle was his choice.
“I am telling my personal tragedy, not only as revenge for Xiong’s betrayal of me as part of his official success, but I also want to alarm the public to what a totalitarian mechanism we suffer under,” Ye Fu said.
“My life has been ruined since June 4, 1989, and there are too many like me, who pursued democracy out of pure motives for this country but suffered by having to live humble lives afterwards. It’s time for the country to apologise.”
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