Granted, I wouldn’t have been able to pull his name out of my head if you had asked me several days ago, but now things are different. Google News and Bloglines keep me posted with whats news around the world. This news story, and its followups, keep coming up as more and more people discover it. Thats good. From Wikipedia’s portrayal, and from Time, it seems that he was a good guy who cared about the people.
Of course, who knows, perhaps there’s a flip side to this guy that isn’t as easily known. Or maybe he was genuinely a good guy who was too far ahread of his time.
Only time will tell.
The more people who remember him and what he did, the better. Officially, China is suppressing all news of his death as much as possible. However, after nearly 15 years of house arrest, after having his title and position stripped, Zhao Ziyang is still, in death, commanding private visits from “high level leaders” in the Chinese government. He may not be trumpeted or widely mourned in China, due to the suppression.
But that doesn’t mean he should be forgotten.
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