Editing Zhao Ziyang (section)

==Tiananmen Square protests==
{{Main|1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre}}

Zhao was general secretary for little more than a year before the death of Hu Yaobang on 15 April 1989, which, coupled with a growing sense of public outrage caused by high inflation and economic uncertainty,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pak|first=Jennifer|date=5 June 2019|title=Economics helped spur Tiananmen Square protests|url=https://www.marketplace.org/2019/06/05/economics-helped-spur-tiananmen-square-protests/|access-date=29 June 2021|website=Marketplace|language=en-US}}</ref> provided the backdrop for the large-scale protest of 1989 by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. The Tiananmen protests initially began as a spontaneous public mourning for Hu, but evolved into nationwide protests supporting political reform and demanding an end to Party corruption.<ref name="independent" />

Student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, reacted to a variety of causes of discontent. The diverse demands of protesters included greater economic liberalization, political democracy, media freedom, freedom of speech and association, rule of law, and to have the legitimacy of the movement recognized. Some protest leaders spoke against official corruption and speculation, price stability, social security, and the democratic means to supervise the reform process.<ref>[[Wang Hui (intellectual)|Wang Hui]]. ''China's New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition''. Ed. Huters, Theodore. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-674-02111-8}}. pp.56–57.</ref> Ironically, some of the original invective was also directed against Zhao. Party hard-liners increasingly came to the conclusion that the demonstrations were due to Zhao's rapid pace of reform, which they believed caused a sense of confusion and frustration among college students. The protesters may have also been encouraged by the [[Revolutions of 1989|imminent collapse of other Communist governments in Eastern Europe]].<ref name="Newrop" />

Zhao treated the protesters sympathetically. While the protests were dying down on 26 April, Zhao was obliged (as the [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|Party General Secretary]]) to leave for [[North Korea]] on a state visit. While he was away, Premier Li Peng organized a meeting between Deng Xiaoping and the Politburo Standing Committee, in which Li and his allies convinced Deng that the protests were threatening to the Party. Following the meeting, Li had the ''[[People's Daily]]'' publish [[April 26 Editorial|an article]] (which he attributed to Deng), which criticized the protests as "premeditated and organized turmoil with anti-Party and anti-socialist motives." Following the publication of Li's article, the protests grew to over 10,000 and spread to cities across China,<ref name="Pomfret">Pomfret, John. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051400942.html?sid=ST2009051401023 "In Posthumous Memoir, China's Zhao Ziyang Details Tiananmen Debate, Faults Party"]. ''Washington Post''. 15 May 2009. p.2.</ref> notably including Shanghai and Guangzhou.<ref name="Newrop" />

Zhao attempted to mollify the protesters by engaging in dialogue with student groups. He attempted to institute numerous government reforms, including the creation of a special commission to investigate government corruption; but, according to Zhao, the commission was ineffective because "Li Peng and others in his group actively attempted to block, delay and even sabotage the process." Zhao attempted to arrange a meeting with Deng in order to convince him to retract Li's "April 26 article". He was granted a meeting with Deng on 17 May; but, instead of the private meeting he expected, he found that the entire Standing Committee was present. When Zhao advocated modifying the editorial, President [[Yang Shangkun]] proposed declaring [[martial law]] according to the decision of [[National People's Congress]],{{Sfn|Pan|2008|p=4–5}}<ref name="Pomfret" /> which Zhao refused.{{Sfn|Pan|2008|p=4–5}} The next day, Zhao wrote a letter to Deng, suggesting he retract the 26 April editorial to reduce tensions between protesters and the government. In the letter, Zhao also warned that "imposing harsh measures while a majority of people are adamantly opposed may result in serious repercussions that threaten the fate of the Party and the state." He did not receive a reply.<ref name="Prisoner" />{{Rp|30–31}}<ref name="SCMPSon">{{Cite web|date=19 May 2014|title=Son of purged reformer Zhao Ziyang tells of China's 'shame', 25 years after Tiananmen|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1515862/son-purged-liberal-leader-zhao-ziyang-tells-chinas-shame-25-years-after|access-date=7 July 2021|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref>

Deng eventually decided on declaring martial law. According to [[the Tiananmen Papers]], the standing committee vote was split 2–2 with one abstention, and retired CCP veterans were called in to determine the vote. According to Zhao however, there was no vote, and the decision to declare martial law was illegal according to the Party's rules.<ref name="Pomfret" />

===Speech to students===
Shortly before 5&nbsp;am on 19 May, Zhao appeared in Tiananmen Square and wandered among the crowd of protesters. Using a [[megaphone]], he delivered a now-famous speech to the students gathered at the square. It was first broadcast through [[China Central Television]] nationwide, and reported on by the [[Xinhua News Agency]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Kristof|first1=Nicholas D.|last2=Times|first2=Special To the New York|date=19 May 1989|title=CHINESE PREMIER ISSUES A WARNING TO THE PROTESTERS|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/19/world/chinese-premier-issues-a-warning-to-the-protesters.html|access-date=29 June 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Below is a translated version:

{{Blockquote|text=Students, we came too late. We are sorry. You talk about us, criticize us, it is all necessary. The reason that I came here is not to ask for your forgiveness. What I want to say is that you are all getting weak, it has been seven days since you went on a hunger strike, you can't continue like this. As time goes on, your body will be damaged beyond repair, it could be very life-threatening. Now the most important thing is to end this strike. I know, your hunger strike is to hope that the Party and the government will give you a satisfying answer. I feel that our communication is open. Some of these problems can only be solved through certain procedures. For example, you have mentioned the nature of the incident, the question of responsibility; I feel that those problems can be resolved eventually, we can reach a mutual agreement in the end. However, you should also know that the situation is very complicated, it is going to be a long process. You can't continue the hunger strike longer than seven days, and still insist on receiving a satisfying answer before ending the hunger strike.

You are still young, we are old, you must live healthy, and see the day when China accomplishes the [[Four Modernizations]]. Unlike you, '''we are already old, and do not matter.''' It is not easy for this nation and your parents to support your college studies. Now you are all about 20, and about to sacrifice your lives so easily. Students, can't you think rationally? Now the situation is very serious, you all know, the Party and the nation is very anxious, and our society is very worried. Besides, Beijing is the capital, the situation is getting worse and worse everywhere, this cannot continue. Students, you all have good will, and are for the good of our nation, but if this situation continues, loses control, it will have serious consequences elsewhere.

In conclusion, I have only one wish. If you stop this hunger strike, the government won't close the door for dialogue, never! The questions that you have raised, we can continue to discuss. Although it is a little slow, we are reaching some agreement on some problems. Today I just want to see the students, and express our feelings. I hope students could think about these issues calmly. This situation cannot be sorted out clearly under illogical circumstances. You all have that strength, you are young, after all. We were also young once, we protested, laid our bodies on the rail tracks; we never thought about what will happen in the future back then. Finally, I beg the students, once again, to think about the future calmly. There are many things that can be solved. I hope that you will all end the hunger strike soon, thank you.|author=Zhao Ziyang<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theasiamag.com/cheat-sheet/zhao-ziyangs-tiananmen-square-speech |title=Zhao Ziyang's Tiananmen Square speech |last=Chua |first=Dan-Chyi |date=February 2009 |periodical=Asia! Magazine |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716222958/http://www.theasiamag.com/cheat-sheet/zhao-ziyangs-tiananmen-square-speech|archive-date=2011-07-16|access-date=23 June 2009 }}; also available in the original Chinese at {{cite web |url=http://www.chengmingmag.com/t285/select/285sel06.html |title=Cheng Ming Magazine articles |access-date=23 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523155929/http://www.chengmingmag.com/t285/select/285sel06.html |archive-date=23 May 2009}} (broken link)</ref>}}

After a bow, people began to applaud and some students burst into tears. That was Zhao's last public appearance, for Zhao had been ousted by party elders just before coming to the square.{{Sfn|Pan|2008|p=4–5}} The phrase "We are already old, and do not matter" ({{lang|zh-hans|我们已经老了，无所谓}}) and Zhao's speech, have since become a well known part of the protests.<ref>{{Cite news|title=他是一名中国的改革先锋，但政权却要忘记他|language=zh-hans|work=[[BBC News]] 中文|url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-46977041|access-date=29 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|date=18 June 2009|title=Top 10 Quotes of 1989|language=en-US|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1905167_1905168_1905156,00.html|access-date=29 June 2021|issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Zhao Ziyang|url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/ZhaoZiyang/Home.html|access-date=29 June 2021|website=[[Radio Free Asia]]}}</ref> What motivated Zhao's visit remains, even today, a topic of debate. According to [[Wu Guoguang]], Zhao's former speechwriter, some say he went into the square hoping a conciliatory gesture would gain him leverage against hard-liners like Premier Li Peng. Others believe he supported the protesters and misjudged the risk of breaking with the leadership.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wu|first=Guoguang|author-link=Wu Guoguang|date=29 April 2002|title=The Sacrifice That Made a Leader|url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/heroes/zhao.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612084206/http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/heroes/zhao.html|archive-date=12 June 2009|access-date=30 June 2021|website=[[TIME Magazine]]}}</ref>

=== Aftermath ===
The protesters did not disperse. A day after Zhao's 19 May visit to Tiananmen Square, Premier [[Li Peng]] publicly declared [[martial law]], leading to the deaths of hundreds of protesters on the 4th of June. At the same day, Deng held another meeting with senior leaders, where he decided to remove Zhao as General Secretary, replacing him with [[Jiang Zemin]].{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=233}}

Around two weeks later, from 19 to 21 June, an enlarged meeting of the Politburo was held to make decisions on the upcoming Fourth Plenum of the 13th Central Committee.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=247}} The meeting included the Party's most influential elders, and aimed to shape the government's response to the events of 4 June, by consolidating support for the armed crackdown and removing Zhao from office.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Buckley|first=Chris|date=31 May 2019|title=New Documents Show Power Games Behind China's Tiananmen Crackdown|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/world/asia/china-tiananmen-crackdown.html|access-date=30 June 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Johnson|first=Ian|date=27 June 2019|title=China's 'Black Week-end' {{!}} by Ian Johnson {{!}} The New York Review of Books|language=en|work=[[The New York Review]]|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/27/tiananmen-chinas-black-week-end/|url-access=subscription|access-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606180214/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/27/tiananmen-chinas-black-week-end/|archive-date=6 June 2019|issn=0028-7504}}</ref> Participants were invited to display their loyalty to Deng by endorsing two documents: Deng's [[June 9 Deng speech|9 June speech]] which justified the use of military force, and a report issued by Li Peng criticizing Zhao's handling of the crisis.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Nathan|first=Andrew J.|author-link=Andrew J. Nathan|date=30 May 2019|title=The New Tiananmen Papers|language=en-US|work=[[Foreign Affairs]]|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-05-30/new-tiananmen-papers|url-access=subscription|access-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603110125/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-05-30/new-tiananmen-papers|archive-date=3 June 2019|issn=0015-7120}}</ref> Zhao was also allowed to leave his home on 20 June to speak in his own defense. Zhao acknowledged "shortcomings, errors, and mistakes" in his work, but defended his economic work, and refused to accept that he "supported the unrest" and "split the party". He also called for political reforms to remain a priority. Beijing Mayor [[Chen Xitong]] attacked Zhao by saying "I feel that Comrade Ziyang is making excuses".{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=248}}

Party hardliners that had opposed Zhao's reforms took the opportunity to criticize him, with elder [[Wang Zhen (general)|Wang Zhen]] stating that Zhao lacked ideological toughness and was bringing China closer to the West. Zhao likewise received no support from his political allies, who wanted forgiveness from the leadership. [[Hu Qili]], who was then a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, acknowledged he had sided with Zhao in opposing martial law, but said that Deng's 9 June speech made him realize his "thinking was not clear in the face of great issues of right and wrong affecting the Party's and the state's future and fate".<ref name=":0" /> Hu was subsequently purged from his position, but held several ministerial and ceremonial positions in the 1990s, along with the benefits granted to retired leaders.<ref name=":0" /> Zhao himself later described some of the speeches at the meeting as "entirely in the style of the Cultural Revolution", saying his opponents engaged in "reversing black and white, exaggerating personal offenses, taking quotes out of context, [and] issuing slanders and lies".<ref name="Prisoner">{{Cite book|last=Zhao|first=Ziyang|url=https://archive.org/details/prisonerofstates00zhao|title=Prisoner of the state : the secret journal of Zhao Ziyang|publisher=Simon & Schuster|others=Bao Pu, Renee Chiang, Adi Ignatius, Roderick MacFarquhar|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4391-4938-6|location=New York|oclc=301887109|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{Rp|43}} The full details of this meeting were not made public until 2019, when transcripts from the meeting were published by New Century Press in Hong Kong, who had obtained copies from a party official.<ref name=":1" />

After the fourth plenum of the 13th Central Committee on 23–24 June, Zhao was dismissed from all his positions.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=253}} The plenum praised Zhao for his economic reforms, but accused him of "[making] the mistake of supporting the turmoil and splitting the party", and that he had "unshirkable responsibilities for the development of the turmoil".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ap|date=25 June 1989|title=Excerpt From Statement on Zhao's Dismissal|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/25/world/excerpt-from-statement-on-zhao-s-dismissal.html|access-date=5 July 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Zhao was subsequently placed under house arrest, but was allowed to maintain his party membership.<ref name="BBC1" /> Following Zhao's dismissal, Jiang Zemin replaced Zhao as General Secretary of the CCP and successor of Deng Xiaoping.<ref name="independent" /> Over thirty ministers were dismissed as Zhao loyalists, and Zhao was widely criticized in the Chinese media.<ref name="Du1">{{Cite news|date=16 October 2009|title=Selections From an Interview With Du Daozheng|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/world/asia/17du-transcript.html|access-date=30 June 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the end, mentioning his name in the media was severely restricted, and he was [[Photograph manipulation|airbrushed]] from photographs and [[Damnatio memoriae|deleted from textbooks]].{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=262}}{{Sfn|Pan|2008|p=4–5}}

Zhao's rival, Li Peng, later accused Zhao of fomenting the Tiananmen Protests exclusively for political gain. According to Li, "Zhao liaised with [[Bao Tong]] immediately after his arrival in Beijing (from Pyongyang). Bao gathered some other of Zhao's supporters to hash out the situation. They feared that Zhao's political future was at stake: Zhao did not succeed in [managing] the economy, was not stellar politically, does not have a power base of his own, and his son was suspected of illegal business dealings. As such, it was likely that Zhao would become the 'scapegoat' of the student movement. These advisors suggested to Zhao that he maintain distance with Deng Xiaoping [and] attempt to win the people's hearts in order to save himself; there were no other options."<ref>Li Peng.  ''[[The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries]]'' [Paperback]. Au Ya Publishing. 2010. {{ISBN|1-921815-00-0}}, {{ISBN|978-1-921815-00-3}}. p.3</ref> Because Zhao was never formally charged with any wrongdoing,<ref name="BBC1" /> it cannot be known what evidence Li had to support his claims.