1. Why wasn’t there a ‘fifth modernisation’ in China? L/O – To identify the key features of the democracy movement and to examine why political modernisation failed to develop

2. The Four Modernisations At the 3 rd Plenum of the 11 th Central Committee of the CCP in late December 1978, the ‘Four Modernisations’ of agriculture, industry, national defence and science and technology was agreed upon. Deng believed that market-based economic modernisation could transform China without the need to reform the Leninist political system. Yet many Western and Chinese observers believed that economic reforms would fail without political changes. Deng himself had previously talked about ‘socialist democracy’.

3. The Four Modernisations In unleashing market-based reforms onto the centrally-controlled economy, Deng’s China faced growing societal pressures by the mid-1980s. Corruption, job losses and price inflation combined with growing exposure to Western political and social ideas, as well as a weakening of totalitarian control. This led to growing societal pressures and calls for political reform which became increasingly difficult to contain.

4. The Four Modernisations Thus from 1978 to 1989, China saw a rise in large scale protests by various groups for greater ‘democracy’ and progressive reform. This was opposed by conservative forces within government who labelled this ‘Western bourgeois liberalism’ as ‘counter- revolutionary’. The divisions within government between political progressives and conservatives would come to a head during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, which marked the end of the Democracy Movement.

5. The Democracy Wall Movement The origins of the democracy movement in China can be traced back decades, even centuries. The Late Qing Reforms, May 4 th Movement of 1919, the 100 Flowers Campaign 1956, and even the Cultural Revolution were all expressions of societal demands for greater democracy. The Deng era movement really began during the funeral protests of Zhou Enlai in April 1976. Thousands of people had spontaneously protested against the government of the Gang of Four in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

7. The Democracy Wall Movement As part of the Deng era reforms, on 15 th November 1978 the Beijing Municipal CCP Committee announced that those protests should be viewed favourably as a ‘completely revolutionary action’. This seemed to sanction protests and free speech. Combined with the growing atmosphere of political relaxation, the re-evaluation of Mao’s excesses and growing Western influence, wall posters began to emerge in Beijing that were openly critical of the government.

8. The Democracy Wall Movement Between December 1978 and January 1979, this ‘Democracy Wall’ movement grew as a spontaneous reaction to the reforming changes in government. Wei Jingsheng’s 5 th December poster entitled, ‘the Fifth Modernisation’, challenged the CCP and called for direct democracy: ‘What is true democracy?’ "It means the right of the people to choose their own representatives [who will] work according to their will and in their interests. Only this can be called democracy. Furthermore, the people must also have the power to replace their representatives any time so that these representatives cannot go on deceiving others in the name of the people."

9. The Democracy Wall Movement Wei argued that without the fifth modernisation of ‘Democracy’, economic reform would be impossible. Small scale magazines were quickly published and circulated like Explorations ( 探索 ), Enlightenment and China’s Human Rights which all criticised government corruption. This was followed by protests in Beijing in January by over 30,000 young people who had been forced to work in the countryside. These protests spread to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

10. The Democracy Wall Movement By mid-January 1979, the authorities had decided to crackdown on the Democracy Wall. Writers like Wei Jingsheng had attacked Deng Xiaoping personally, calling him a ‘dictator’. Many writers and protesters were arrested and charged with ‘aiding foreigners’. In March Wei was arrested and sentenced for 15 years in jail for ‘espionage’, having supposedly leaked sensitive information about the Sino- Vietnam War! In April, the government ended the right to hang wall posters and the Democracy Wall movement had ended.

11. The Democracy Wall Movement In response to this outburst of public protest, Deng outlined his views of political reform in his ‘Four Cardinal Principles’ speech of March 30 th, 1979. Principle of upholding the Socialist Path Principle of upholding the people’s democratic dictatorship Principle of upholding the leadership of the CCP Principle of upholding Mao Zedong Thought and Marxism-Leninism. This was a way of reassuring conservatives that market-based reform wouldn’t undermine the CCP, whilst making it clear to radicals that Western style ‘bourgeois liberalism’ wouldn’t be tolerated.

12. The University Protests By 1986, despite rising incomes for the majority of the rural population, Deng’s modernisations were causing increasing problems in urban areas. Many urban citizens, workers and students wanted a greater say in government decision making. In 1986 Deng had promised political reforms towards ‘socialist democracy’. This was an attempt to make the government more responsive. Plans were introduced to allow direct votes in elections for local people’s congresses.

13. The University Protests Yet in reality, candidates had to be vetted by the CCP and the Party would propose a ‘slate’ of candidates that could stand. On 5 th December 1986, over 3,000 students at the University of Science and Technology in the city of Hefei in Anhui launched a rally against the lack of real choice in their local and university elections. They called for democratic electoral processes, ‘no democracy, no modernisation’. They were supported by the Astrophysics Professor Fang Lizhi, one of China’s most famous scientists.

14. The University Protests Fang had supported the students by postponing the university elections to enable students to put forward their own candidates. A further protest was scheduled for 9 th December – the anniversary of the 1935 ‘resist Japan’ protests. News spread and soon, similar protests were taking place in Wuhan, Shanghai, Beijing, and Chongqing. By 20 th December, over 30,000+ students, joined by 30-40,000 workers were marching in Shanghai.

15. The University Protests Fears of a Polish solidarity-type alliance between the intellectuals and workers were growing amongst the government. On 25 th December, a People’s Daily article attacked the protesters, comparing them to students during the Cultural Revolution in an attempt to smear the movement. The government quickly banned marches and wall posters as ‘counter-revolutionary’ and by January 1987, the protests had petered out.

16. The University Protests The movement was blamed on older intellectuals and the government released many arrested students. In retaliation, the government blamed ideas of ‘bourgeois liberalisation’ for the protests. Leading advocates for greater democratisation were arrested like Fang Lizhi, Liu Binyan and Wang Ruowang, who were removed from the Party membership but allowed to carry on teaching. Conservative elements in the CCP also used this as an opportunity to remove progressive rivals from within the government.

17. The University Protests CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang was forced to stand down in January 1987 for permitting ‘bourgeois liberalisation’. The decision was made ultimately by Deng, who had opposed Hu’s efforts to democratise the CCP and his links to reform-minded intellectuals. He was allowed to remain a member of the Politburo and its Standing Committee. He was replaced as Party Secretary General by Premier Zhao Ziyang, a pro-Deng market reformer. The Soviet-trained Li Peng, a conservative, was appointed as Premier.

18. The University Protests For Deng and conservatives, it seemed that the University Protests had been dealt with successfully. However the protests were highly ominous. The students involved had come from the most elite universities and had ties to many government and CCP members. The protests had been stopped without major violence, yet the desire for political change had not gone away. In 1989 this would reach breaking point.

19. The Tiananmen Square Protests The year 1989 marked the 40 th anniversary of the founding of the PRC and 70 th anniversary of the May 4 th movement. Clearly, this was felt by many intellectuals who starting with Fang Lizhi on 6 th January 1989, wrote an open letter to Deng Xiaoping. Fang called on Deng to free all political prisoners, including Wei Jingsheng, as an appropriate way to celebrate the anniversary year.

20. The Tiananmen Square Protests This was followed in February by an open letter to the National People’s Congress by 33 intellectuals and artists like Wang Ruoshui and Li Zehou. They repeated the call to free political prisoners with further letters addressed to CCP General-Secretary Zhao Ziyang and Premier Li Peng. This public expression of dissatisfaction from intellectuals, whilst ignored, served to increase popular resentments against the CCP, especially from Marxist intellectuals who couldn’t be labelled as ‘bourgeois’.

21. The Tiananmen Square Protests In the midst of this debate, Hu Yaobang died suddenly from a heart attack on 15 th April 1989. Hu had represented the pro-democracy wing of the CCP and his death triggered another wave of student protests. On 17 th April, a rally was held in Tiananmen Square to mourn for Hu. But the mourners also publically called for an end to corruption and greater democracy. In the run-up to his official funeral on the 22 nd April, students organised sit-ins near the Great Hall of the People, and at the senior leaders residences in the Zhongnanhai compound.

22. The Tiananmen Square Protests On the 22 nd itself, protesters entered Tiananmen Square before police could cordon it off. They knelt on the steps of the Great Hall, begging to speak to Premier Li Peng to hear their concerns. By 24 th, students across Beijing organised a mass boycott of classes in an attempt to pressure the government into meeting them. By the May 4 th anniversary, teachers, journalists and ordinary workers had joined in, with over 100,000 marching in Beijing.

23. The Tiananmen Square Protests With the government still not responding, over 3,000 students went on a public hunger strike in the Square. Calls for Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng to resign were heard. By 17 th May, the protesters had grown to over 1 million. The government was divided between hardliners such as Li Peng and sympathetic reformers like CCP Secretary General Zhao Ziyang. Zhao visited the hunger strikers on the 19 th May. Visibly crying, he urged them to end their strike and to clear the square.

24. The Tiananmen Square Protests On 20 th May, Premier Li Peng and President Yang Shangkun declared martial law, ordering the PLA to clear the Square. Yet for over two weeks, the PLA units in Beijing were prevented from clearing the square. The people of Beijing had risen up and constructed road blocks and surrounded army convoys. At this point, Deng Xiaoping ordered hard- line troops to Beijing. On 3 rd June, crack PLA units with tanks moved into Beijing.

25. The Tiananmen Square Protests On the morning of the 4 th June, PLA troops spearheaded by tanks moved into the square, killing protesters without caution. Hundreds were killed and thousands wounded, including PLA soldiers killed by angry residents. The crackdown spread to other cities like Chengdu. In the resulting news blackout, it was unclear how many exactly were killed. But the protests were over.

26. The Tiananmen Square Protests In the aftermath, media campaigns blamed ‘counterrevolutionaries’ and ‘hooligans’ for the violence. Thousands more students were arrested. CCP Secretary-General Zhao Ziyang was dismissed from office for his inability to deal with the protests. He was replaced by Jiang Zemin, the Party Secretary of Shanghai. On 9 th June, Deng gave a speech, blaming ‘bourgeois liberalisation and spiritual pollution’ for the protests. It was clear that the democracy movement was over.