China's rulers ignore a fallen leader, 25 years after his death sparked tumult
| Beijing
For clues about the future of democratic reform in China, read Tuesday鈥檚 鈥淧eople鈥檚 Daily,鈥� the official organ of the ruling Communist party.
Today marks 25 years since聽Hu Yaobang, an outspoken liberal and聽one of China鈥檚 most popular leaders, died in hospital after a heart attack. Social media networks are buzzing with admiring memorials to him. Yet the 鈥淧eople鈥檚 Daily鈥� ignores the anniversary.
鈥淭he mood among reformers is definitely less optimistic and less confident鈥� than it was a quarter of a century ago, says Zhang Jian, a professor of politics at Peking University. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 seen any serious reform in the last two years.鈥�
Indeed, since President Xi Jinping took office a year ago he has overseen an unusually harsh crackdown on perceived opponents, jailing social activists and political dissidents for voicing even the most moderate criticism.
That wave of repression has made liberals nostalgic for the optimistic idealism that fired Chinese youth in the 1980s as Mr. Hu, the General Secretary of the Communist party, steered China away from the dogmatism of Mao Zedong鈥檚 rule.
It was Hu鈥檚 death that sparked the Tiananmen protests in 1989, as crowds of mourning students transformed into the mass demonstrations that ended on June 4聽in a hail of gunfire. Political reform has been effectively stalled ever since.
One after another, Chinese leaders have made it plain that reformists鈥� dreams, such as press freedom or an independent judiciary, are not on the agenda. Mr. Xi has warned publicly that Chinese communists should not make the liberalizing mistakes of their former comrades in eastern Europe. In Beijing鈥檚 eyes, the Arab Spring offered further evidence of the dangers inherent in loosening the reins of political control.
Taboo nomenclature
Hu Yaobang鈥檚 name has been almost taboo for 25 years. Given how sensitive China's rulers are over the tumultuous events of 1989 and their subsequent scrubbing of history, this isn't surprising. The taboo remains in place not least 鈥渂ecause [Hu] represented a trend of reform and democracy,"聽says Wang Chong, an independent commentator.
Just last week, reports that former president Hu Jintao (no relation) had visited Hu Yaobang鈥檚 ancestral home were removed from Chinese websites by official censors.
But veteran liberals lament that they have more to contend with than a repressive government. Even more deadening, they say, is widespread public apathy.
鈥淚n the 1980鈥檚 people were quite idealistic,鈥� recalls Dr. Wang. 鈥淭he most challenging issue for China today is that there are no beliefs; nobody believes in Mao or Marx or 海角大神ity or Buddhism. Most people in their twenties today do not care about politics.鈥�
鈥淗u Yaobang represents a bygone age,鈥� wrote Deng Long 2014 on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform. 鈥淚n those days people were poor but passionate.鈥�
The personal isn't political
By contrast, says Li Chengpeng, a prominent social critic, 鈥減eople today are more worried about protecting their own personal interests than about whether the country is heading in the right direction.鈥�
Among those who are politically engaged, says Prof. Zhang, 鈥渕ore and more people are worried about the future and want the government to relaunch the sort of political reform that Hu Yaobang tried to do.鈥�
The 370,000 people who posted memorial messages to Hu on Weibo, he argues, 鈥渞eflect discontent about the delays and reversals of political reform.鈥�
But many of those posting, he suggests, 鈥渁re probably people in their 40鈥檚 commemorating their own youth. If it were a pop star鈥檚 birthday today, you鈥檇 have ten times that number of Weibo comments.鈥澛�
