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Why They Want Democracy
| Article
# : |
11770 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1987 |
1,316 Words |
| Author
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Wang Bingzhang
Wang Bingzhang heads the Chinese Alliance for Democracy. He
was interviewed by World & I editor Laurie Burras. |
Q: Why are the youth in China seeking democracy?
A: I think the basic reason is that Chinese young people are human beings. From childhood, the Chinese young people lived with suppression by the communist bureaucracy. They still cannot do what they want. They cannot express what they would like to. From their life-style to the [realm of] ideas, from their job to their daily activities, all these aspects are controlled by the huge bureaucracy. So if they have a chance, they must speak out and demand freedom.
Most demonstrators are grade one or grade two university students. They are around 20 years old. Most of them were born after the Great Cultural Revolution. They are a younger generation. Although most demonstrators on the street were from this younger generation, my generation (30- to 45-year-olds) played an important role in the student's demonstration. Even those from other generations, like Professor Fang Lizhi's generation, in their 50s, played an important role as organizers, behind the scenes.
While the members of the young generation have no [direct] experience with the Great Cultural Revolution, their parents had bitter experiences during that time. So from childhood the young generation was educated about those experiences by their parents. I think this is very important. The parents have been a very good influence.
I think another important factor is, after the open-door policy began, the young generation - actually, not only the young, but all generations - know what is happening outside China. They can compare China with other countries; particularly they can compare mainland China with Hong Kong and Taiwan. These have the same people, the same cultural background, and had the same [economic] base in the 1950s, but the results are different. They also compare the achievements of Chinese in the United States and other democratic countries with those of the Chinese people under communism. After this kind of comparison, we realize the reason that mainland China has fallen behind other countries is basically the system. This is why so many Chinese people want to change the system in China.
The next point is about Marxism-Leninism. As early as 1980 some students in Shanghai and Beijing universities had surveyed university students. The most interesting question was "Do you still believe in Marxism-Leninism?" I think 70 percent of students answered with a question mark. Another interesting phenomenon in China is that
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