BEIJING — He was the reformist party leader whose death 21 years ago helped inspire the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. To a large extent, both the protests and the leader — the former Communist Party general secretary Hu Yaobang — have been missing from China’s official political lexicon ever since.
So tens of thousands of Chinese took note on Thursday when a long and emotional tribute to Mr. Hu — written by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao — was published Thursday in Renmin Ribao, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, otherwise known as People’s Daily.
“After all these years, finally someone is willing to say the right thing,” wrote a reader, one of more than 20,000 who posted comments on the article on the Chinese news portal Sina.com.
You can't just come out and publish this in the party's main paper, even if you are the No.2.
He recalled Mr. Hu’s work ethic, stoicism and determination to pierce the pleasing facades created by lower-level officials and grasp the true conditions of the people. “The greatest danger for those who assume leadership is to be removed from reality,” he quoted Mr. Hu as saying.
That's a pretty political statement to be fair..
“This is an attempt to co-opt those elements of the party and the party leadership who may be discontented with the pace of political reform,” said David Shambaugh, a George Washington University scholar who has written extensively on Chinese politics. “It is not a shot across the bow at anybody.”
Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that by paying tribute to the well-liked Mr. Hu, the party might hope to enhance its image and “derive some moral resources for itself.”
Personally I don't agree with them, both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao worked with Hu Yaobang and would clearly be part of his faction, aligned to his point of view. I think this is indicative of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao being in control of the party - given a move away from the legacy of Jiang Zhemin - and setting a course for the next generation.
It can be easy to imagine the Communist Party as a monolithic machine only doing things for calculated purpose but the Chinese can be a very sentimental people and I think this is a genuine move to make a statement along the lines of 'we were with this guy and we're not writing him out of history'
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world ... china.html
Do people think China is going in the right direction?