🚀 go-pugleaf

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             * C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t *

		    (ND Canada Service)

                       -- Jan. 18 (II), 1990


Table of Contents
                                                                 No.  of Lines
1.  New Issue about FR .............................................. 26
2.  A Letter from Beida ............................................. 74
3.  CNN received ACE Award for China Coverage ....................... 15
4.  Chinese Government Illegally Confiscated My Letter To My Family . 50
5.  Another Post about Letter to China .............................. 36
6.  Interview with Hou Dejian ....................................... 144

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1. New Issue about FR
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by Ti Wang, From: wangt@math.toronto.edu

Dear netter:

The   enclosed   is   the   reply   from  the  director  of  ISC,
Mrs.E.Paterson  regarding to a recent issue of China News Digest.
(Jan. 17 (II), News Digest)

Please attend this meeting if you can.

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                   Letter from E. Paterson   Jan. 18, 1990
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I  don't know where the Federation gets its information but it is
wrong!  There is no general meeting in Ottawa. There is a meeting
here  for U of T students!  (3 pm at ISC) I had logged on to rem-
ind  you in fact. I am pleased to report that representatives of
External  Affairs  and  Immigration  will be coming from Ottawa.
Also  someone  from  Ont Region Immigration and a local official.

They  will  be  able  to discuss policy in China as well as here.
Also  I  think  students will be pleased with the procedures that
have  been  worked  out locally for managing applications. Please
remind all interested students to attend.

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2.  A Letter from Beida
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From: LXL4@PSUVM.BITNET
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
 
                     A Letter from Beida
 
The following is the text of a letter recently received from a Beijing
student:
 
Jan. 1, 1990
 
Dear ...:

(.....)
 
With this letter, I hope to give some good news to you.  Perhaps it is
not good news at all.  But anyway I think it is.  On the day the news
of the pitiful downfall of Romanian dictator reached China, Yuan Mu
[the government spokesman], the professional liar, went to Beida to
"have a dialog" with Beida students.  Yuan first delivered a speech
which was full of platitudes, and was hissed to a stop by the students
present.  Then, an interesting dialog followed, in the process of which
the students brought many embarrassing questions to Yuan, such as,
"why we sent a delegation to Romania to flatter the dictator shortly
before his downfall?  Do you think this would contribute to the
prestige of our country?";  "would you please give some comments on
the dictator of North Korea?  What do you think of him?";  "Is our
state again the only state that carries the banners of Marxism and
Leninism in the whole world?  Shall we again wage battles against
imperialism and revisionism?";  "you say Zhao Ziyang [the ousted
party chief] monopolized the floor when he was in power.  But then
we could at least hear some different voices, and now there is only
one voice in our media.  What do you think of that?";  "why you
simply keep Wang --- [referring to Wang Dan] and others in jail
without bringing them to trial?  Don't you think it's against law?";
"Will you try them openly?";  "Is Wang still in jail?  Is he well?  As
friends of his, can we visit him and send something to him?"
Barraged with such questions, Yuan Mu and Yuan Liben had a very
difficult time indeed.
 
I have listened to the recording of the meeting, and I am deeply
moved by the brave students who dared to show their sympathy
with Wang and others at this time.  And I feel a bit relieved that at
least now the champions for democracy haven't been forgotten.
 
Another piece of good news is that recently somebody has got a
reliable message that Liu --- [referring to Liu Gang, another jailed
student leader] is all right inside, and that he has been kept with
some other political offenders instead criminal offenders.  It is said
that he is writing a short story inside.  Those who are imprisoned
with criminal offenders are having a much harder time.  It is said
there is one arrested in June who was brutally beaten inside and had
one of his legs broken by his ward-mates.
 
Well, still we should remember that they are in danger.  I hope that
it will be proved that they haven't done anything detrimental to our
nation.  Our nation!  It is very difficult to find it.
 
(......)
 
It is still winter here, both in terms of whether and metaphor.  We
have got very little snowfall.  And it is unusually warm.  This year
we may have a drought.
 
Next time when you write to me, try to use some round-about
expressions in reporting your activities.  You know why, so I will not
give any explanations herewith.  Well try to use as many
abbreviations as I can understand.  You know, brevity is the soul of
wisdom.
 
(......)
 
Sincerely
 
 
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3.  CNN received ACE Award for China Coverage
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From: Q0W3898@TAMVENUS.BITNET
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
 
              CNN received ACE Award for China Coverage
 
It's reported CNN won top two ACE awards about the coverage of Tianmen Democrati
c movement and subsequent bloody massacre. CNN anchor Bernard Shaw also won
the ACE award for his lively report on TAM square.
 
What deeply moved me is Bernard Shaw's reception speech. In his conclusion he
said in Chinese:"Ren Min Yong Yuan Bu Hui Wang Ji Ni Men" (People will never
forget you).
 
Hopefully we Chinese students can still remember.
 
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4.  Chinese Government Illegally Confiscated My Letter To My Family
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From: duan@caen.engin.umich.edu (Jiwen Duan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
 
      Chinese Government Illegally Confiscated My Letter To My Family
                  (University of Michigan, Duan Jiwen)
 
June 8, 1989.  I sent a letter to my mother and brothers, which had contents
about the "June 4" massacre.  My family received it at the end of June.  My
family is in  Xi'an township, Taoyuan County, Hunan Province.
 
July 13.  In the Morning, two public security agents went into my villiage to
investigate.  In the afternoon, my 3rd brother (who had highest education in
my family except me: elementary school graduate)  was ordered to go to the
township government to submit my letter.  My brother refused.  Four officials
interrogated him from afternoon to the night. At about 1:30am after midnight,
my brother gave in.
 
October 6.  I knew part of the facts. I wrote a letter to the Hunan Public
Security Bureau and the PRC Embassy in Washington. I asked the government to
return my letter and apoligize to my family, because they violated Article 40
of the "PRC Constitution", which protect the freedom and privacy of citizens'
correspondence. I also cited words from Chinese government, which repeatedly
promised that overseas Chinese students will not be punished for their
participation in democracy movement. I said I will publish this story two
months later if they do not respond.  A copy of this letter was sent to the
PRC Consulate in Chicago.
 
October 26.  I received a letter from the Chicago Consulate. They said they
knew nothing about this case before receiving my letter. They had written to
the Hunan Public Security Bureau and the Embassy in Washington and asked the
governemnt to deal with this case seriously.
 
November 16.  I knew more facts and wrote to the government in my township.
A copy of this letter was sent to Hunan Public Security Bureau, PRC Ambassy,
and Chicago Consulate.
 
December 4.  I received a message.  The government has not yet returned my
letter but instead on November 16 investigated my brothers and sisters and
my previous letters to them.  The officials asked my brother to transfer a
message to me:  Do not make hard time to the government.
 
If the government do not return my letter to my family, I will publish the
story in news media in a few months. The title will be: "In Mainland China,
son does not have freedom to write to his mother".   In order for China to
have democracy, we need to fight within the system.  If more Chinese fight
for their own rights, China has hope.  Protecting individuls' rights could
be more important than protesting or demonstration in some instances. From
November I only need two weeks to receive letter from my family, which is
in a remoted mountain area (before it took four weeks).
 
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5.  Another Post about Letter to China
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From: Anonymous Sender
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
 
      Re: My private letter was confiscated by the Chinese government
 
Yes, I can tell you this is not an incident situation.  My brother who is
working in one of Beijing colleges on Xue(2) Yuan(4) Lu(4) didn't get
two letters I wrote him after 6.4 even though I avoided talking any
sensitive topics.
 
Another brother of mine is an army officer.  At least two letters from me
and another friend in US were lost somewhere -- I believe -- in his local
public security office regardless the fact that we talked nothing political.
He knows what is happening. In every letters I got from him recently, he
never forgot to put in this sentence: "Hey brother, you know how much I
want to get letters from you. But you should only write letters which I
can RECEIVE".  I know the implication was the farthest he can go in THE
LIMIT.
 
I adore your courage, my friend. But I do not understand why you brought your
family in such a trouble, if not dangerous.
 
People leant something from their parents. After they grew up, friends
can always recognize some of their behaviors as inherited. One day,
I sit there wondering what I got from my father. I found that among other
things, one habit I leant is to completely burn every unnecessary documents,
personal letters, and whatever you suspect can be used to against you when
another "culture revolution" comes. I have been here for a long time but I
still feel uneasy to simply tear a letter before I throw it away.
 
To some people, China is concerned as a big market, a cheap labor source,
a strategic card, a place to find a mystery culture, a place he/she was so
lucky of getting out and is doing hard to try to forget it, etc.
But to how many people, it means a quarter of human being that must be
cared of ?
 
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6.  Interview with Hou Dejian
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>From the New York Times, January 16, 1990
By Nicholas D. Kristof, Special to the New York Times
 
          Stilled by the Unthinkable, a Singer Tries His Voice
 
BEIJING, Jan. 15 - Like a thick carpet of snow, silence has settled over
China. In muffled voices, among friends, some people still mock their
leaders and dream of change, but despite the lifting of martial law last
week they are quiet in public, or they are in jail.
 
Everyone except Hou Dejian.  Seven months after violence erupted around
him on Tiananmen Square, five months after he came out of hiding in the
Australian Embassy in Beijing, Mr. Hou has decided that it is time to
shatter the silence.
 
"I hate violence," Mr. Hou, one of China's best known pop-singers and
songwriters, said in an interview in his apartment here. "I don't think
it's good to take a gun and shoot Deng Xiaoping, or to use violence to
overthrow the Li Peng Government.  But I can't keep quiet.  I want
peaceful changes in China, and I want to help that process."
 
The Rumanian Factor
 
"There has to be change," Mr. Hou added somberly. "Otherwise we will
face what happened in Rumania.
 
"If nobody speaks out, and the economy deteriorates, and the Li Peng
Government goes on treating the people as if they're enemies, then the
people will be turned into the enemies of the Government.  In Chinese,
we have a saying: 'You force us to overthrow you.'  So now I'm telling
the Li Peng Government, 'Don't force the people to overthrow you.'"
 
In private, many young Chinese are bitterly critical of Mr. Deng,
China's senior leader, and especially of Mr. Li, the Prime Minister.
But what makes Mr. Hou unusual is that in the last few days he has de-
cided that he is willing to voice criticism publicly, even to foreign
journalists.
 
'I'm Prepared for This'
 
When a reporter asked him if it was really possible to quote him saying
such things, he scarcely paused.
 
"I'm afraid to die, and I would hate to be imprisoned," he said. "But
I'm prepared for this.  I've made up my mind to make noise."
 
A lean 33-year-old with an easy laugh, Mr. Hou has always been an icon-
oclast.  A native of Taiwan, he defected to the Chinese mainland seven
years ago, and his songs were banned on Taiwan.  His independent way of
thinking wore out his hero's welcome from the Communist authorities,
and these days his works are banned here - although they are again al-
lowed on Taiwan.
 
In a song written during the democracy movement last spring, Mr. Hou re-
ferred to the oppressive political atmosphere and asked:
 
        What is the weather today?
        The sky drops lower and lower.
        Why is it still not raining?
        What is the weather today?
        Tell us, how can we breathe?
 
On the night of June 3 and June 4, Mr. Hou was in the center of Tianan-
men Square, in a hunger strike with three other intellectuals to gal-
vanize opposition to martial law.  When tens of thousands of army troops
battled their way to Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds and wounding
thousands of protestors along the way, Mr. Hou negotiated with the
troops to allow the students in the center of the square to leave.
 
According to Mr. Hou's account, much of which is confirmed by others
who were there, he and other protest leaders first appealed to those
around the monument to give up anything that might be used as a weapon.
After 20 minutes, one worker was finally persuaded to give up a machine
gun with which he had planned to defend the aquare from troops.  Mr. Hou
said Liu Xiaobo, another hunger striker who is now in prison, smashed
the machine gun to make it inoperable.
 
Refuge with Australians
 
And so, at about 5 A.M. on June 4, the 3,000 students remaining in the
center of Tiananmen Square marched out.  Mr. Hou said that he was in the
rear and did not see anyone remaining, but that a small number could
have stayed without his necessarily seeing them.
 
Two days later, Mr. Hou learned that his friend and fellow striker, Mr.
Liu, had been arrested.  So Mr. Hou sought refuge in the Australian Em-
bassy, and stayed there for more than two months.  He finally left after
receiving a written guarantee that he would not be punished and that he
would be allowed to travel freely to and from China.
 
Immediately after he left the embassy, Mr. Hou gave interviews to the
official press in which he asserted that he had seen no one killed in
Tiananmen Square.  The interviews were used by the Chinese Government to
back up its asertion that there had been no massacre in the square.
 
Some young Chinese felt betrayed after seeing those interviews, and
there was speculation that Mr. Hou bought his freedom by backing the
Government line.  In his defense, Mr. Hou says that Communist officials
told him he had to give interviews, and that in any case he told the
truth.
 
Shortly after June 4, there were reports of a massacre of thousands of
students in the center of Tiananmen Square.  Now those reports are wide-
ly though not universally discounted, partly because of the testimony of
Mr. Hou and others who were there.  The consensus is that while troops
fired on crowds in many parts of Beijing, including the Avenue of Etern-
al Peace, at the north end of the square and that hundreds were slain,
there was little or no killing of those students gathered in the center
of the square.
 
Mr. Hou says he has no idea whether anyone died in the center of Tianan-
men Square.  Asked about reports that students were killed shortly after
leaving the square, he says he was told by a witness that 11 were killed
several hundred yards to the west, as they tried to make their way home.
What is important, he said, is not where people were killed but that
they were killed at all.
 
Cannot Give Concert
 
These days Mr. Hou is unable to give concerts or make records, and des-
pite assurances from the authorities, he has been told to "wait for a
while" before leaving China.  So Mr. Hou spends his time with his music,
singing blues and writing songs.  In one written on June 3, just before
the troops attacked, he says:
 
        Everything can be changed.
        Nothing is too far away.
        Let's prick our ears like a dog,
        And nobody can lie to us any more.
        Let's pry open our eyes,
        Nobody can distort the truth again.
 
"Before June 4, I wasn't a dissident or a protestor," Mr. Hou said. "Now
I'm training to become one."
 
=========================================================================
Also printed: an Associated Press picture for the New York Times of Hou
holding a guitar and singing in a studio, with the caption:
 
        "I've made up my mind to make noises," said Hou Dejian, one of
        China's best-known pop singers and songwriters.  Despite the
        risk, he has started to voice his criticism of the Government
        publicly.
 
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Editor: Yongdong Wang          E-mail: ywang@postgres.berkeley.edu    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
News       Transmission    chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca   (or)
-----------------------    ---------------------
NDCadada Editor: Bo Chi    chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu    
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Thu Jan 18 11:15:05 EST 1990