Remembrance to a great leader from China

There are many people who don't know the life of Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽) This is one of the most influential leaders of all time. (In my opinion.) No leader the People's Republic of China did so much for the students. Warning of graphic picture and sad story.







Zhao Ziyang (17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China (PRC). He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989.

As a senior government official, Zhao was critical of Maoist policies and instrumental in implementing free-market reforms, first in Sichuan, subsequently nationwide. He emerged on the national scene due to support from Deng Xiaoping after the Cultural Revolution. He also sought measures to streamline the bureaucracy and fight corruption, which was severely affecting the Party's legitimacy in the 1980s. Zhao Ziyang was also an advocate of the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the separation of the Party and the state, and general market economic reforms. Many of these views were shared by then-General Secretary Hu Yaobang.






The last time the world saw Zhao Ziyang, he had a bullhorn in his hands and tears in his eyes. It was May 19, 1989, and for weeks students from around China had camped in Tiananmen Square calling for China's aging leaders to give them democracy. Many saw Zhao, the reform-minded General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), as their greatest hope. When he arrived shortly before dawn, hunger-striking students literally reached their arms out to him, thinking the government had backed down and that they had won. But Zhao brought a very different message. He had just left a meeting of China's top leaders and military commanders, and he was powerless to stop the imminent violence. "I have come too late," he told them.

Weeks later, as tanks rolled through Beijing, Zhao was already under house arrest, where he would spend the rest of his life.






He passed his days comfortably in a leafy back alley within walking distance of Tiananmen Square. He enjoyed frequent visits from his five children. With Party approval he played golf on occasion, and snapshots that leaked out over the years showed his body had grown stooped and his hair had grown white. He died in a hospital early this morning at age 85. "He is free at last," said his daughter



His economic reform policies and open sympathies to student demonstrators during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 placed him increasingly at odds with conservatives within the party leadership, namely Premier Li Peng, and also began to lose favour with paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. In the aftermath of the events, Zhao was purged politically and effectively placed under house arrest for the next 15 years. His name has been a taboo subject within China since 1989. He died in Beijing in 2005, without the funeral rites generally accorded to a senior Chinese official due to his political fallout.

"Websites I used for information."
www.time.com...
en.wikipedia.org...

Tell me what you guys think of this amazing leader from China. I believe the U.S should honor him in his struggle against oppression.

Thanks for your sharing,i think this is just the truth in that time,he is a man should be honoured.

reply to post by skyvia


Hey Thanks! I thought no body cared about this man. Such a great person.
Thanks again.