Jiang Zemin: A Man Who Did Not Get The Recognition He Deserves – Mark Schaub

 

Mark Schaub

China lawyer Mark Schaub looks back at the achievements of President Jiang Zemin, who passed away last week. “A Man Who Did Not Get The Recognition He Deserves,” Schaub writes at his China Chitchat.

Mark Schaub:

I have always been a big fan of Jiang Zemin.

Jiang was already president of China (and more importantly CCP party secretary) when I arrived in Shanghai (the city where he had just been mayor) in 1993.

The Western newspaper reports about Jiang Zemin when he passed seem to underplay both his achievements and his playfulness – playfulness being a word seldom associated with senior politicians in an authoritarian state.

The Western media has portrayed Jiang as an unwilling reformer (goaded by Deng Xiaoping to move more quickly and then with Zhu Rongji doing much of the heavy lifting) and authoritarian in cracking down on the religious group Falun Gong and that when he was Shanghai mayor he brutally suppressed protestors in 1989.

On the first point GDP per head in 1993 was USD 377 went up by almost 350% to USD 1290 by 2003.  Accordingly, during Jiang’s tenure China went from being a very, very poor country to a poorer country poised to become a middle-income economy (i.e. USD 12,500 in 2022).

Jiang was extremely keen on attracting foreign investment. An early client of mine was the Rotterdam city representative office. They had opened several years before and we were just looking at some of their older records (not much to do in Shanghai in the early 1990s) we found a cache of their opening ceremony – and there he was Jiang Zemin with his beautiful, big glasses. It is unthinkable today but back in the late 1980s the Shanghai mayor was so keen on foreign investment that he would turn up to a rep office opening…

As to Jiang’s authoritarian streak this does not accord with my recollection – at least when discussing in Shanghai this back in the early 1990s the understanding was that Jiang Zemin was noticed by the upper ranks because he was able to keep the students calm without resorting to violence. As the students became restive Jiang went to Jiaotong University (his alma mater) and recited the entire Gettysburg Address to the students in English. I assume he then threatened the students that if they did not disperse, he would recite again.  They dispersed.

I also remember that from 1993 to 2013 the taxi drivers were much more forthcoming in providing their opinions. This may also be due in no doubt to improved comprehension on my part but in the late 1990s one did not feel that the taxi drivers were feeling particularly constrained.

More at the China Chitchat.

Mark Schaub is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking at more strategic experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

Jiang Zemin: An unprecedented charmeur at China’s helm – Zhang Lijiang

 

Zhang Lijia

Former president Jiang Zemin was not only known for his relaxed way of dealing with foreign leaders, he is also fondly remembered by many of the Chinese who met him, recalls author and journalist Zhang Lijia at China File. “Now he is gone. Amid economic downturn and political repression, the Chinese public are remembering his positive side, his warmth and color, and his many talents, such as singing. Nostalgia, like old wine, tastes better as time goes by,” Zhang Lijia writes.

Zhang Lijia

In February 1998, then Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and his wife visited my hometown of Nanjing during the Lantern Festival, which marked the end of the Chinese New Year. My sister, an official in charge of the Confucian Temple where the festival was held, got to meet Jiang.

“He was so easygoing as he happily went along with all the arrangements, even though he held the lofty position of leader of the whole nation. A benevolent leader!” she gushed to me in a telephone interview after Jiang died. Jiang shook hands and cracked jokes with everyone present. When they passed the former residence of Li Xiangjun, a well-known beauty of the early 17th century, he began to talk about the opera The Peach Blossom Fan, inspired by her story. A huge fan of opera, he started to sing a few lines, winning enthusiastic applause. “I was deeply impressed,” my sister said. “He was a man of knowledge, charm, and sophistication.”

Then she added: “If we still had him as our leader, or someone enlightened like him, then we probably wouldn’t have to endure the excessive lockdown measures.”

This kind of nostalgia is very common right now. Many Chinese citizens have left messages on social media, remembering Jiang fondly, or posted videos of memorable moments, such as Jiang conducting a choir singing “Graduation Song,” a popular patriotic tune. There is an implicit contrast with greyer figures (or leaders?) like Xi Jinping. People can’t help but compare the former leader with Xi, who is behind the increasingly unpopular zero-COVID policy, and who is seen as authoritarian and power-thirsty.

Jiang served as China’s leader from 1989 to 2002. During his reign, he stabilized the country, repaired the damage caused by the brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, and sought a warmer relationship with the West, especially the United States. It was a period of economic growth, which paved the way for China’s rise on the world stage. It was also a period of relative tolerance.

But it was not all a bed of roses. In the 1990s, to increase the efficiency of state-owned enterprises, economic reform measures were introduced which resulted in some 60 million urban workers being laid off. Many of my former colleagues at the rocket factory I had worked for lost their jobs. There was an undercurrent of resentment towards Jiang.

Now he is gone. Amid economic downturn and political repression, the Chinese public are remembering his positive side, his warmth and color, and his many talents, such as singing. Nostalgia, like old wine, tastes better as time goes by.

As they think of the past, many Chinese worry about their future. Ms. Yan, an old friend from Nanjing, is concerned that China will become isolated in the world and the yuan will devalue, eating up her modest savings. “Why can’t we have a sensible leader like Jiang?” she lamented. “When will we be able to choose our own leader?”

More stories about Jiang Zemin at China File.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more experts on cultural change at the China Speakers Bureau? Check out this list.

How Jiang Zemin dealt with Falun Gong – Ian Johnson

 

Ian Johnson

Many stories emerged about former president Jiang Zemin after he passed away last week. But the way he dealt with Falun Gong, a mostly forgotten uprising against China’s leadership, has been left out in most reports, says journalist Ian Johnson who focused in his writings on this touchy part of China’s history, he writes at China File.

Ian Johnson:

In comparison to Xi Jinping, Jiang Zemin is often seen as a reformer, and in many ways he was. But a key part of his legacy is the sometimes forgotten or downplayed destruction of arguably the largest and most widespread post-Tiananmen political protest movement: Falun Gong.

Falun Gong was what the scholar David Palmer calls “militant qigong.” In other words, a hard-edged version of the mystic martial arts movement that rose up in the 1980s and ’90s when qigong became hugely popular, with tens of millions regularly practicing its exercises and following the many gurus who led numerous schools of thought around the movement. The government was eager to prevent qigong from becoming too popular and limited the groups’ media exposure. Most groups acquiesced, but Falun Gong pushed back. When an atheist agitator named He Zuoxiu defamed Falun Gong in the media, the group staged a silent sit-down strike of more than 10,000 people outside the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing.

Premier Zhu Rongji reportedly met the protesters and they dispersed quietly, but Jiang essentially freaked out. On June 10, 1999, he banned the group and set up offices named after that date: 610. Every level of government, from province to village, had to set up a 610 Office and stamp out Falun Gong. This became extremely difficult because Falun Gong staged protests for well over a year in many Chinese towns and cities, dwarfing the scale and geographic spread of the recent COVID protests.

Many Falun Gong adherents made their way straight to Beijing, where they held up placards calling for their group to be legalized. Forbidden by their faith to renounce it, they were rounded up, detained, and beaten. Jiang organized a meeting of provincial officials and read them the riot act: they had to prevent people from coming to Beijing. The buck was passed down the chain of command, with careers made or broken on their ability to stop Falun Gong adherents from reaching the capital. Local authorities set up illegal holding centers and beat people to death…

In hindsight, Jiang’s crackdown on Falun Gong set the stage for the state’s reassertion of control over the rest of religious life and civil society. Interestingly, the significance of Jiang’s crackdown was not lost on China’s human rights lawyers. Terence Halliday and Sida Liu have documented how Falun Gong became a litmus test for rights lawyers. More than a decade after the crackdown, only the lawyers most committed to free speech and freedom of association dared to take on their cases.

More at China File.

 Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more political experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

What after eight years of harmonious society? - China Weekly Hangout

Back to Zhu Rongji's legacy? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Thursday November 1 the China Weekly Hangout will look back at eight years of harmonious society. When Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao replaced the Jiang Zemin/Zhu Rongji team, it tried to capture its mandate with this beautiful but very vague concept of a "harmonious society".

Eight years down the road, we will ask ourselves whether we have a better clue of this concept. Relations between the poor and the rich did deteriorate, but the straightforward fight for economic growth from Jiang Zemin has certainly become more nuanced. Or did a harmonious society mean the political elite would not go after state-owned companies, like Zhu Rongji sometimes did, and gave those SOE's a free ride?
What does China need in the upcoming eight years? And what is it likely going to get?

We are still working on the guest list, but you can start raising your hand, sending comments and questions both publicly here at this space, or by email.

The China Weekly Hangout is held almost every Thursday on 10pm Beijing time, 4pm CEST (Europe) and 10am EST (US&Canada)

On Thursday 18 October we will at the China Weekly Hangout welcome David Wolf, the author of Making the Connection: The Peaceful Rise of China's Telecommunications Giants and Andrew Hupert, author of The Fragile Bridge: Conflict Management in Chinese Business for a discussion on the future of China's telecom giant Huawei, after last week's devastating report by the intelligence panel of US Congress.

The options for the China Weekly Hangout for 25 October are still under debate and announcements will follow suit. One of the options: how did the position of foreign correspondents in China change over the past decade. Interested? Let us know. 

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Jiang Zemin still in the succession game - Victor Shih

Victor Shih

Former China president Jiang Zemin made a surprise appearance in Beijing last month and is certainly a complicating factor in the ongoing succession games, tells political analyst Victor Shih in Today Online.

He held a meeting ... with Starbucks corporate chief executive officer Howard Schultz, a person familiar with the meeting told Bloomberg. Mr Jiang led the Communist Party from 1989 to 2002. 

His presence in Beijing suggests he is taking part in the leadership transition, complicating the succession process, said Mr Victor Shih, a professor who focuses on Chinese finance and politics at Northwestern University in Illinois. 

"He has shown the world conclusively that he remains in good health and that he remains part of the equation for the 18th Party Congress," Mr Shih said. "This will make complete domination by any particular faction difficult, despite recent events."

More in Today Online.
Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Jiang Zemin joins leadership transition - Victor Shih

Victor Shih

Former president and party leader Jiang Zemin has made appearances last week, joining the mayhem surrounding China's leadership transition, later this year. Political analyst Victor Shih gives his take in this article for Bloomberg.

Jiang, who led the Communist Party from 1989 to 2002, met with [Starbucks CEO Howard] Schultz a week after former Chongqing Communist Party leader Bo Xilai was suspended from the ruling Politburo. Jiang’s presence in Beijing suggests he is taking part in the leadership transition, complicating the succession process in the world’s second-biggest economy, said Victor Shih, a professor who focuses on Chinese finance and politics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. 

“He has shown the world conclusively that he remains in good health and that he remains part of the equation for the 18th Party Congress,” Shih said in an e-mail. “This will make complete domination by any particular faction difficult, despite recent events.”

More in Bloomberg.

Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers'request form.

Victor Shih is also a financial analyst, looking at China's debts here at Storify.

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