Readings on Reform-Era China

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The quotes written in the reading #2 compiled by Clay Dube reflect how the 1989 events in Tiananmen Square had progressed over time starting in 1979 when the Democracy Wall Movement was beginning. "Democracy Wall Movement, 1979", Democracy Movement and Response: 1986-1987", and "Deng Xiaoping on Suppression of Tiananmen Square Protest" show how pro-Democracy activists and hard-lined Communists Leaders reacted to each other's views since the start of the Democracy Wall Movement. What hits me the most was the Poster at Beijing that said "The Marcos Government Was Overthrown by a Mass Uprising of the People."--12/31/86, LA Times. This quote refers of course to the People Power movement in the Philippines which occurred in the early part of 1986; the culminating result of the movement was the Ferdinand Marcos regime losing power in the Philippines. I myself have relatives who were there on the streets of Manila/Edsa protesting the Marcos regime and showing the 90 degree index finger/thumb sign(don't want to call it the "Loser/L" sign), and chanting "Cory!! Cory!! Cory!!" for the Presidential candidate, Corazon Aquino. On my last trip to the Philippines, my relatives gave me as a souvenir an authentic green People Power t-shirt with an image of martyr Benigno Aquino. Regarding the poster that referred to Marcos/the People Power movement in the Philippines, I feel hope that those events in the PI had inspired the pro-democracy activists in China. The Philippines was established as the first democracy in Asia on July 4, 1946; thus, the PI is the oldest democracy in Asia. Nevertheless, the Philippines' lack of progress in economic development and honesty in government/politics saddens me. What do we tell other non-democracies in Asia when the first and oldest democracy in Asia has progressed very little since its 1946 establishment? Anyways, I hope economic and democratic progress continues in the Asian sphere, especially in China, the Philippines, and in the largest democracy in the world India.

[Anonymous]

As I read reading # 4, the segment from "Cries for Democracy", I am reminded from the Tiananmen Square Posters and the subsequent June crackdown on the protesters that during that same summer of 1989, in fact that same month, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Texas v. Johnson case that desecration of the American flag was protected free speech. At the time, having grown up in conservative Navy town, San Diego, I was against the ruling of Texas v. Johnson, yet when I had entered Berkeley that summer of 1989, a political cartoon in the Daily Californian, had a drawing of a People's Republic of China flag burning in flames; the caption underneath that burning Chinese flag asked whether the burning of that PRC flag should be banned by the PRC government. That cartoon got people thinking about the issues of free speech not only for Americans, but for young Chinese students censored, persecuted...even killed in Tiananmen Square. Despite the down feeling I felt from reading Deng Xiaoping's remarks in response to the Tiananmen Square Crackdown, I was given hope when I read about the Chinese Migrants from Reading #5. Though the plight of the migrant workers and the crackdown on protesters and media seemed disheartening, I felt inspired that people in China, amidst economic changes/reform, are still demanding freedoms/free speech which we in America unfortunately take for granted. The hope for Change in China is reflected best in Leslie T. Chang's "Gilded Age, Gilded Cage" from reading # 7. Amidst the problems that China is facing within its economic expansion, the changes from the Chinese girl in the reading, Bella, reflect a generation of young people in China who will demand drastic changes in the future once their individualistic ways of thinking clashes with the aging "Old Guard" who will inevitably hand over responsibilities, if not ruling powers, to the younger individualistic generation. As a teacher of high school students, these reading will no doubt inspire my students to think about the freedoms they have in America and to think about the lack of freedoms that still exist in places like China

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