Go Zhao!

Zhao Ziyang, rumoured to have died on the 8th, is still alive according to the Communist Party. Shades of Arafat.

For those who aren't familiar with Zhao's name (Shame on you!) this is one of the few genuine reformers to have ever made it to the top of the CCP's hierarchy - holding the posts of Premier and General Secretary of the Party. He was vocal in advocating for political, not just economic reforms, and made a desperate appearance to the crowds at Tiananmen to try and get them to go home before it was too late. It's said that, before he left Tiananmen, he told the protesters "I waited too long to come. I should have come sooner."

The tanks and soldiers rolled in to Tiananmen later that day. Zhao hasn't been seen in public since.

It's hard to know what to say about Tiananmen that hasn't already been said. It's worth noting that the soldiers who eventually killed so many people were probably never given explicit orders to fire, only to clear the square using any means necessary. At some point, it seems like a crowd started pushing back against the army, and a jeep went over the edge of a bridge. As with any army, once the soldiers felt their lives were in danger, they opened fire, and the killing started. This isn't to excuse what happened, just to say that any use of a military force against civilians carries this risk. If things had gone differently during the October Crisis, Pierre Trudeau could well be remembered today with the same feelings as Deng Xiaopeng.

Anyway, alive or not, Zhao is over 80 by now, so probably doesn't have long to live. It's sad that he was never able to see through his reforms, but I would be surprised if history doesn't show his influence to last long after his death. In many ways, some of the noises coming from the Party in the recent past sound Zhao-ish. In it's last Congress, the CPC called "governance" a "life-and-death" issue for the Party. Similarly, Zhao called political reform "the biggest test facing socialism." This probably has to do with the fact that Wen Jiabao, the current Premier, was Zhao's chief assistant before 1989, and Wen has somehow survived the post-1989 purge to his current post.

Actually, if you want a quick capsule lesson, read the Wikipedia articles on Zhao, Hu, and Wen. They're surprisingly good, as Wikipedia is in general. Open Source knowledge!