A Song was Heard in China
A Different Tiananmen
A Different Tiananmen
Preface
Hello everybody, I would like to present you my first TL - A Song was Heard in China. While I do unwillingly agree that China, without fundamental rights and democracy, continues to experience economic boom post-Tiananmen; China could never be a truly civilized nation without political modernization and respect for human rights.
Nowadays, the Hu Jintao regime has repeatedly emphasized the importance of a "harmonious society". Using this as an excuse, many online messages are censored for the sake of harmony. Chinese people call this kind of so-called harmony "River Crabs", which has the same pronunciation of "harmony" in China. Officials argue that dissident views must be suppressed in order to protect the economic achievements of the past 20 years, and to promote a so-called harmonious society.
Nevertheless, a truly harmonious society can never be achieved through suppression and white terror. Without free speech and basic human rights, deeply-rooted problems in society would only be deepened day by day.
Some may think that a successful Tiananmen was totally ASB, but I think otherwise. Things could still have been changed even after the April 26th Editorial. I am trying to make the latest possible POD in this TL, slightly AFTER the April 26th Editorial. At the same time, I tend to agree with Zhao Ziyang, as stated in his memoirs, that China would need a rather long transition to parliamentary democracy.
The gradual transition to democracy in this TL would be primarily based on Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang, and the ideas of Yen Jiaqi, an advocate of federal republicanism and an aide of Zhao who fled China after Tiananmen in OTL.
Preview
[Above: Chengdu, Sichuan, China (May 1989)]
"A song was heard in China
in the city of Beijing.
In the spring of 1989
you could hear the people sing.
And it was the song of freedom
that was ringing in the square,
the world could feel the passion of
the people gathered there"...
in the city of Beijing.
In the spring of 1989
you could hear the people sing.
And it was the song of freedom
that was ringing in the square,
the world could feel the passion of
the people gathered there"...
"For many nights and many days,
waiting in the square.
'To build a better nation'
was the song that echoed there.
For we are China's children,
we love our native land,
for brotherhood and freedom
we are joining hand in hand."
waiting in the square.
'To build a better nation'
was the song that echoed there.
For we are China's children,
we love our native land,
for brotherhood and freedom
we are joining hand in hand."
- Phillip Morgan
[Above: Beijing, China (May 1989)]
"That disillusionment came from a series of market-oriented reforms begun a decade earlier, in 1978. While the changes produced rapid economic growth, they also led to contradictions: opening the economy negated the moral authority of the Communist revolution and unleashed unbridled corruption in its place. The 1989 democracy movement had two slogans. One was "freedom and democracy", and the other was 'no official business dealings, no corruption.'"
- The Path to Freedom by Yang Jianli
- The Path to Freedom by Yang Jianli
"The Tiananmen movement has become the watershed of not just China, but the world’s contemporary history and politics. After the fall of Li Peng, the government of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Mongolia fell one by one. No one could halt the historical trend of democracy and freedom."
- Prof Joseph Cheang, Professor of Political Science, City University of Hong Kong
- Prof Joseph Cheang, Professor of Political Science, City University of Hong Kong
"In the spring of 1989, during their resistance on the streets, people started to communicate with each other freely. All of them suddenly found out that everyone else’s thought were the same as their own, thus their confidence was significantly boosted and the number of people demonstrating on the streets increased; the slogans against Communism became more and more in open. Afterwards the media also openly stood on people’s side, the democratic movement became a movement of all the people"
- Wei Jingsheng, former Chinese Prime Minister
- Wei Jingsheng, former Chinese Prime Minister
"Next year, we will be remembering the 30th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution. One more year later, it will be the 40th anniversary of the Anti-Rightist Movement. Thanks to the gradual reforms these years, we are allowed to carry out non-official research, and the people are getting to know more. Nevertheless, how many people in their early 30s could truly understand what has happened? As we are embracing the Beijing Olympics in 2000, it is now time for Beijing to declassify all relevant historical documents. Only when we can bravely face history, could China become a truly modernized nation."
- Governor Liu Binyan of Jilin (below), the first opposition governor in China, addressing the people of Jilin in May 1995
- Governor Liu Binyan of Jilin (below), the first opposition governor in China, addressing the people of Jilin in May 1995
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