On May 4, 1919, students from Peking University took to the streets, demanding democracy and challenging the rule of Beijing warlords. Today, 70 years later, carrying forward the tradition of the May Fourth Movement, students from Peking University once again marched through the capital, seeking "Mr. Democracy" and "Mr. Science," whom intellectuals in China have been looking for since the turn of the century.
History advances in the West, but appears to repeat itself in China. How many more times must we march?
An excuse, not a reason
The new wave of demonstrations was caused by the death of Hu Yaobang, an open-minded communist who was regarded by many as a protector of intellectuals. But as one protester explained: "Hu Yaobang's death is not the reason for the demonstration. It is the excuse." And he is right. A man of some integrity, Hu was by no means a hero. Unlike Wei Jingsheng, a leader of the prodemocracy movement at "Democracy Walk" until his imprisonment in 1979, Hu at best was an upright official who lost his battle in the political arena. But why is Hu so honored and Wei so very much ignored? The answer is simple: It is safer to mourn a communist saint that to support a "counterrevolutionary." Even in their rebellion, it seems, people in China follow a double standard. As long as this type of double standard exists, democracy is unlikely to come to China.
To borrow a phrase from Mao: China, a pile of dry wood, now needs a match. Hu's death provided people with such a match: It gave students a legitimate reason to oppose the system. But that Hu should become such a match was not totally coincidental, for Hu was a man of conscience; he indeed was more liberal than most of his colleagues.
In retrospect, the reason Hu is respected by Chinese people is not so much due to his efforts to rehabilitate old cadres in 1978-79 as to his conscience and moral courage, qualities which are so rare among China's leaders. During the 1986-87 student demonstrations, Hu supported the students and consequently was forced to resign in the meeting of the Politburo on January 16, 1987. He was at odds with Deng, his lifelong patron, because he felt Deng betrayed the Chinese people, especially the students who had so much faith in him and his reform promises. Hu also witnessed Deng's imprisonment of Wei Jingsheng. As many in China still recall, Hu was one of the most active supporters of the Democracy Wall; he not only met young democrats in his home but also encouraged them to spread the ideas of the Wall. By keeping silent in 1979, Hu might have owed something to those who were betrayed, but he certainly had paid his debt.
What students want
"Long live democracy! Long live freedom!" shouted students in Tiananmen Square. Perhaps some demonstrators do not know how to define democracy or freedom academically, as Western professors do. But they do know what they want: They want to speak freely, they want to live without fear, and they want to walk without being followed. A year ago, when a Chinese-American told her audience at Beijing University, after blasting Reagan and his policies, that there was really no true democracy in the United States, a student stood up and said: "You criticized your president, and now you
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