Is Du Daozheng Acting under Duress?

One of my old blog posts about the history journal Yanhuang Chunqiu has attracted unusually high traffic in the last couple of days.  This prompted me to conduct a search to find out what had happened.

A rumour about the shutting down of the Journal’s website came to my attention since early this week.  I first came across this news from the Radio Free Asia Mandarin Service.  Two days later, Jane Macartney of Timesonline also published a report about the ban.  This really puzzles me because, from where I am, I have no problem accessing the website.  I also checked with a few friends of mine who are working in China.  They confirmed that the website had been shut down for around 48 hours during the weekend.  However, for reasons unknown, the blockage was lifted on Monday.

But traffic for my Yanhuang Chunqiu blog post keeps surging.  And my search continues.

Finally, a shocking piece of news came to the surface this morning.  The Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao reveals that Du Daozheng, the former chief editor of Yanhuang Chunqiu, has withdrawn his support for the book Prisoner of the State, the English edition of Premier Zhao Ziyang’s secret journal.  The following is a partial translation of the Ming Pao report:

The CCP veteran Du Daozheng, who assisted Zhao Ziyang to record his memoir onto audio tapes, will publish a statement at the forthcoming June issue of Ming Pao Monthly Magazine to denounce the English version of Zhao’s memoir Prisoner of the State.  Du maintains that both the title and the preface of the book lack objectivity and have misrepresented Zhao’s original intention.  Du also points out that the comrades who were entrusted with the task of concealing the audio tapes have never handed over the tapes to people outside of the Zhao family.  He voices his strong objection to the publication of Zhao’s memoir at this point in time and claims that his view is “firmly shared” by the Zhao family.  The translator of Zhao’s memoir is Bao Pu, the son of Zhao Ziyang’s former secretary Bao Tong.  Bao Pu is also the owner of the New Century Publishing House, and the publisher of Gaige Licheng (or The Course of Reform) – the Chinese edition of the memoir.  The book will be available for sale in bookstores this Friday.  Ming Pao made a telephone call to Bao Pu last night to verify the report.  Bao Pu hung up on our reporter as soon as Du Daozheng’s name was mentioned.

Du Daozheng to Step Down as Proprietor of Yanhuang Chunqiu

There is a rumour circulating in the Chinese blogosphere, which claims that Du Daozheng 杜导正 will step down as the registered proprietor of the history journal Yanhuang Chunqiu.  Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese Service yesterday interviewed Wu Si 吴思, the Executive Head of the Journal, about this.  During the interview, Wu Si confirmed that the Journal’s Management Board had given in to pressure from the Chinese Ministry of Culture and had instructed him to replace Du as the registered proprietor of the Journal.  Du, however, will stay on as the Head of Editorial.  The filing of paperwork will take around two weeks to complete.  Wu does not expect the change to have any substantial impact on the content and style of the Journal.

The decision to replace Du was made in response to a CCP official document issued before the Chinese New Year.  

Beijing Police Stopped Liu Xiaobo from Attending Seminar

Beijing-based dissident writer Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波 was forcibly stopped by the Police when he was on the way to attend a Transition Institute 传知行研究所 seminar.  Liu was a guest speaker for the Institute’s regular Saturday meeting last weekend.  He planned to give a lecture on tragedy in literature.

A Radio Free Asia reporter attempted without success in his effort to verify the story with the Public Security Office in Beijing.

In a subsequent interview with RFA, Liu Xiaobo confirmed that he had been receiving phone calls from the Police since last Tuesday. 

The Unrelenting Du Daozheng Refuses to Retire

This is an update of a previous post about the journal Yanhuang Chunqiu.

Today’s Sydney Morning Herald published an interview with Du Daocheng.  Simon Elegant from the Time China Blog has also written a post to alert his readers about this report.

During the interview, Du confirms his intention to defy an order from the CCP leadership to force him to retire; he is determined to stay on as the Editor-in-chief of Yanhuang Chunqiu.

“I said the government’s official retirement age doesn’t apply to non-government enterprises like us; if I work until I’m 120 that’s got nothing to do with you.”

Yanhuang Chunqiu Editorial Board Facing Restructuring

An article published in the latest edition of Yanhuang Chunqiu 炎黄春秋 is said to have infuriated a former CCP leader, prompting speculation that the esteemed academic journal will be the next victim of China’s notorious censorship regime.  According to Yazhou Zhoukan 亚洲周刊 (used to be the Chinese edition of Asiaweek and  is now a Hong Kong based pro-China magazine), Beijing will impose a restructuring order on the Journal’s editorial board, in an attempt to neutralize the influence of a group of discontented Party veterans.

The article in question is a cover story about Zhao Ziyang 赵紫阳.  This is the first positive account of Zhao to appear in any PRC publications since he was removed from leadership in 1989.  The article was penned by Sun Zhen 孙振, the retired chief of Xinhua’s Sichuan branch.  Sun served under Zhao during the Cultural Revolution.  The article, which reaffirmed the popularity of Zhao among Sichuan peasants, was seen as a direct challenge to the official verdict of Zhao and of his mistakes in handling the Tiananmen Square incident.