Chai Ling: then and now

Posted by stuart on May 5th, 2009
2009
May 5
Chai Ling: then and now

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/

Timesonline reports that Chai Ling, the contemplative figure on the left in this thought provoking photo taken in 1989, is suing the makers of a film about the massacre in Tiananmen Square. What makes this move so startling is that Chai Ling was one of the leaders of the ill-fated student uprising in Beijing that same year. Her critics are arguing that she has abandoned the principle of free speech, one of the very freedoms sought by the 1989 movement.
 
Beside her in the picture is a youthful looking Phillip Cunningham, who conducted a famous interview with Chai shortly before troops were ordered to fire on their own people. In that interview Chai Ling spoke ominously of what was to follow shortly after: 

“Only when the square is awash with blood will the people of China open their eyes. Only then will they really be united. But how can I explain this to my fellow students?”

“The students kept asking, ‘What should we do next? What can we accomplish?’ I feel so sad, because how can I tell them that what we are actually hoping for is bloodshed, for the moment when the Government has no choice but to brazenly butcher us?
Chai Ling: then and now

http://www.jenzabar.net/

Prophetic, chilling words.

Those that looked to her for leadership at that time, those loyal followers that protected her from the authorities and plotted her escape to the west, must be feeling a little abandoned at this moment. Assuming, that is, they survived the punitive backlash in the months that followed.

I think they could accept Chai Ling’s willingness to move on or her viewing the student uprising differently with the benefit of two decades’ reflection, but adopting a sweep-it-under-the-carpet approach more reminiscent of the CCP has got to leave a bitter taste.

Worse still, Chai Ling’s betrayal of her ideals helps to paint a false picture of the Tiananmen ringleaders as self-serving individuals who placed personal ambition before the people’s needs. Fortunately, other prominent student leaders of the time speak more openly about 6/4, as in the excellent recent article by Isabel Hilton at The Observer (well worth a read).

And what of Phillip Cunningham’s forthcoming book Tiananmen Moon? Cunningham was right there, in the thick of it, and perhaps more so than any other foreigner in Beijing at that time, as evidenced by his interview with Chai Ling that foretold of the coming tragedy. He hasn’t always endeared himself to the Sino-blogging community, and his obvious friendship with CCTV’s unctuous Yang Rui is off-putting, but I fancy we can rely on him to deliver a well-balanced analysis from 20 years ago in Tiananmen Moon (excerpts can be read at chinabeat).

It should also be a fascinating read given his proximity to the most important players in an event that shaped China’s last two decades like no other, as well as serving a timely reminder to Chai Ling that hundreds, possibly thousands, did not escape to the comfort of a free society.