{"id":39420,"date":"2009-05-24T17:07:40","date_gmt":"2009-05-25T00:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=39420"},"modified":"2009-05-24T17:08:32","modified_gmt":"2009-05-25T00:08:32","slug":"can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/","title":{"rendered":"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On East Asia Forum<\/strong><\/a>, Richard Rigby <\/a>of Australian National University, reviews Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs:<\/p>\n

\nThe fascination of the book, though, goes much further than Zhao\u2019s account of the June 4 events.<\/p>\n

It will be mined in great detail by many for the insights it provides into the evolution of the economic reform program, the twists and turns of internal party struggles, the paramount role of Deng Xiaoping (but even his power was not unlimited), the serious differences within the reform camp over political reform (and in Zhao\u2019s case, the way his thinking on this issue changed, and continued to do following his removal from power), Zhao\u2019s insightful pen-portraits of his erstwhile colleagues, and his frank admissions of various policy mistakes (in particular the mishandling of the price reform of 1988).<\/p>\n

Most of all, the book stands out as the sole account of how things worked \u2013 and in some, but not all ways, presumably still do \u2013 at the very top of the Chinese political system, by one who was there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On East Asia Forum, Richard Rigby of Australian National University, reviews Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs: The fascination of the book, though, goes much further than Zhao\u2019s account of the June 4 events. It will be mined in great detail by many for the insights it provides into the evolution of the economic reform program, the twists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,100],"tags":[5899,318,301,5933],"class_list":["post-39420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-politics","tag-1989-protests","tag-ccp","tag-political-reform","tag-zhao-ziyang","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nCan China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang\u2019s-memoir\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On East Asia Forum, Richard Rigby of Australian National University, reviews Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs: The fascination of the book, though, goes much further than Zhao\u2019s account of the June 4 events. It will be mined in great detail by many for the insights it provides into the evolution of the economic reform program, the twists […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang\u2019s-memoir\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-25T00:07:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-05-25T00:08:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\"},\"headline\":\"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-25T00:07:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-05-25T00:08:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/\"},\"wordCount\":180,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"1989 protests\",\"CCP\",\"political reform\",\"Zhao Ziyang\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human Rights\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/\",\"name\":\"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-25T00:07:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-05-25T00:08:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\",\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"description\":\"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang\u2019s-memoir\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?","og_description":"On East Asia Forum, Richard Rigby of Australian National University, reviews Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs: The fascination of the book, though, goes much further than Zhao\u2019s account of the June 4 events. It will be mined in great detail by many for the insights it provides into the evolution of the economic reform program, the twists […]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang\u2019s-memoir\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2009-05-25T00:07:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-05-25T00:08:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":186,"height":177,"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sophie Beach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophie Beach","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophie Beach","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663"},"headline":"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?","datePublished":"2009-05-25T00:07:40+00:00","dateModified":"2009-05-25T00:08:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/"},"wordCount":180,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"keywords":["1989 protests","CCP","political reform","Zhao Ziyang"],"articleSection":["Human Rights","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/","name":"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-05-25T00:07:40+00:00","dateModified":"2009-05-25T00:08:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/can-china-embrace-its-history-and-zhao-ziyang%e2%80%99s-memoir\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can China Embrace its History and Zhao Ziyang\u2019s Memoir?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663","name":"Sophie Beach","description":"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.","sameAs":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net"],"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}