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China's New Wave
| Article
# : |
15290 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1989 |
1,908 Words |
| Author
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Shengping Feng
Shengping Feng, a Chinese student at Princeton University, is
an officer of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy. |
On May 4, 1919, students from Peking University took to the streets, demanding democracy and challenging the rule of Beijing warlords. Today, 70 years later, carrying forward the tradition of the May Fourth Movement, students from Peking University once again marched through the capital, seeking "Mr. Democracy" and "Mr. Science," whom intellectuals in China have been looking for since the turn of the century.
History advances in the West, but appears to repeat itself in China. How many more times must we march?
An excuse, not a reason
The new wave of demonstrations was caused by the death of Hu Yaobang, an open-minded communist who was regarded by many as a protector of intellectuals. But as one protester explained: "Hu Yaobang's death is not the reason for the demonstration. It is the excuse." And he is right. A man of some integrity, Hu was by no means a hero. Unlike Wei Jingsheng, a leader of the prodemocracy movement at "Democracy Walk" until his imprisonment in 1979, Hu at best was an upright official who lost his battle in the political arena. But why is Hu so honored and Wei so very much ignored? The answer is simple: It is safer to mourn a communist saint that to support a "counterrevolutionary." Even in their rebellion, it seems, people in China follow a double standard. As long as this type of double standard exists, democracy is unlikely to come to China.
To borrow a phrase from Mao: China, a pile of dry wood, now needs a match. Hu's death provided people with such a match: It gave students a legitimate reason to oppose
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