FREE ESSAY ON TINANMEN DIARY

TINANMEN DIARY

Jeremy Richart
Tiananmen Diary Book Review
Asian Politics 345
Manju Parikh
May 18, 1999
Change is the dramatic art of survival. If one is to survive, one needs to adapt to
changing needs and desires. The Communist Party in China was started for just that
reason. The Chinese wanted a change from what was going on in the country at the time.
The student and worker protesters at Tiananmen Square wanted the same goal to be met.
They wanted a dialogue to discuss the need for an adaptation, a change in the way things
were being done in modern China. However, the bloody massacre at Tiananmen Square only
exemplifies the point that the Communist Party, born out of revolution, would not allow
another revolution to be born. In the book, Tiananmen Diary, Harrison Salisbury takes the
reader through a minute by minute account of the days leading up to the massacre and the
subsequent aftermath. In this review, I will explore the Tiananmen Square Massacre and
its affect on China through the eyes and ears of Harrison Salisbury. I will give my
opinion of Harrison and his revelations, while also exploring China and Tiananmen Square
using other authors from class.
Before reading a book on China, a foreigner needs to understand China, its history and
its beliefs. China is a country of legends and symbols, of tradition and heritage. As
Salisbury states, "China is...ruled by her three great symbols: the Yellow River, the
Great Wall, and the Dragon". Each of these symbols represents a way of life for the
Chinese. 
China is a very proud country with many natural wonders within its own borders. The
Yellow River is one such symbol for the Chinese people. These citizens turn inward in
order to cherish this particular river, rather then look outward toward the ocean. The
Yellow River, as a great emblem of who China is, is a tremendous rallying symbol around
which to look inward. The river is a symbol for the people that they need to rely upon
themselves. They must not look to the sea, to the outside for help. Everything that is
made or done for China must be accomplished from within China. The people have had to
deal with every invasion, attack, and aggression with only their countrymen to help.
China has always had to fight off invaders, including the Mongols, Japanese, Europeans,
and eventually Americans. One such example is the effort put up by citizens during the
Boxer Uprising. It was within this rebellion that a group of citizens took it upon
themselves to fight the Europeans and attempted to rid their country of this menace. The
rebellion had asked for assistance in the beginning, but none was given. The Chinese
people knew that they were on their own. Even though the rebellion failed in the end, it
gave the message that only China could help itself.
The Great Wall is another exceptional symbol that the Chinese people identify with.
However, while its purpose was to keep intruders out of China, in actuality it is a
symbol of what is wrong with China. "Not yet have the people and their rulers begun to
see that the Great Wall keeps the people in, as well as invaders out; that the
walls...confine minds as well as bodies". The Great Wall is a barrier to the outside
world. It is not supposed let anything in, whether it be people, armies, and on a more
symbolic level any ideas. With the Wall and a tremendous sense of emerging nationalism,
the elite in the government believe that new ideas from the outside world are invaders.
They think that they must keep other ways of thinking out of the country. The Wall also
represents a need to keep everything within its borders. The reason behind this is that
there is a belief that nothing should want to leave China. This belief has continued into
the present with the restrictions placed on citizens by the Communist Party and the
government. Movement of people, products, and information is restricted, especially to
sources outside of Mainland China. 
Finally, the Dragon is a representation of China's belief in its superiority, and the
belief that the dragon will protect the nation and its people "so long as they do not
threaten its order". The Chinese are very xenophobic. This belief has been a part of
Chinese culture ever since came into existence. "The Chinese defined themselves as the
'central country' and believed they were surrounded by inferior peoples and cultures".
The xenophobic feelings were furthered during the European era of trade. Events such as
the Opium Wars and the Treaty of Nanjing helped to foster a rise in the feeling of
xenophobia throughout the country. With the unfair treatment of citizens by foreigners,
people believed that outsiders were to be hated and treated as unfairly as possible.
These ideas have perpetuated through to modern China. In modern China, anything foreign
like people, equipment, or products is scrutinized and questioned before being allowed to
proceed into the country.
This was where Harrison E. Salisbury comes in. Salisbury was a world-renowned journalist
from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was born on November 14, 1908 and died July 5, 1993. He
was newspaper correspondent for most of his life and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955. He
wrote 29 books and spent most of his life traveling the world in search of stories for
the Minneapolis Journal, United Press, and The New York Times. Over the last thirty years
of his life, he has spent time traveling to, from, and in China. After he retraced the
path of the Long March taken by Mao Zedong's army during the years of 1934 and 1935, he
wrote a book entitled The Long March, which was listed as the number one book to read by
Chinese students in China. He has been referred to as having an "unending desire and
uncanny ability to be where the great news of this century was made". Harrison saw a lot
and had been to a lot of places. It is this knowledge, experience, and expertise that
makes his book a reasonable first source with which to gain an understanding of a
foreigners experience at Tiananmen Square at the time of the protests.
The diary starts on June 1, 1989, three days before the military crackdown. Salisbury's
purpose in going to China was not to cover the Tiananmen Square protest, but rather he
was on an assignment by NHK TV from Japan. He was hired to make a documentary on the
anniversary of forty years of the People Republic of China. He was in China to go around
the country and film and photograph significant artifacts and places, while making a
chronology of the last forty years of Chinese rule. 
For the first three days, he starts to make contact with some of his old colleagues. He
talks with these people about the current political situation. He concentrates on the
political figures, such as the heads of state and the leaders of the Communist Party. His
concern seems primarily about what is going on behind the close doors of the government.
He discusses the fall of Zhao Ziyang. The only real mention of the students is when he
drives by Tiananmen Square to and from dinner. 
On his third day in China, June 3rd, he manages to enter Tiananmen Square and observe the
situation. He goes into great detail to describe the layout of the compound, where
landmarks are located, what people seem to be doing, and gives an analysis of the lack of
the freedom of press in China. The rest of the day he spends in the Beijing Hotel,
consulting with old acquaintances and colleagues. He sorts through rumors and conveys
what he believes is true and what is fiction. 
The actual Tiananmen Square crackdown begins on Salisbury's fourth day in China, June
4th. His description of the events of the day go on for some thirty pages and continues
on with the events on June 5th. He describes the events from his window and from what he
hears on the radio, from rumors, and from other people. He never leaves the area of his
hotel until June 5th, when he is whisked off to the airport to fly to Wuchang. All during
June 4th, Salisbury talks about the tanks and convoys rolling up and down the street,
shots being fired repeatedly, and people lying on the sidewalk bleeding. He continues to
chronicle the sporadic fire and movement outside of his window. He presents numerous
conversations that he has with different people about what is going on, not only in
Tiananmen Square, but also throughout the city. He can not understand whom the army is
shooting at. He believes that everything should have been over hours ago, when the first
tank rolled into the square. He describes his drive through the city on his way to the
airport on the 5th, one day after the Tiananmen Square massacre started. He notes the
differences in what the state owned TV station is saying and what is actually happening.

The rest of book details his final seven days in the country. He travels from Beijing to
Wuchang, Jiujiang, Luchan, Nanchang, Canton, and finally Hong Kong to home. Throughout
his travels to these cities he hears about small rebellions, especially in Wuchang, where
supposedly a bridge was taken by students in order to protest the atrocities of Tiananmen
Square. He talks with local citizens to hear what they know of the happenings in Beijing.
Most of the people that he talks to support the state and therefore accept the state
controlled news information at face value. However, he does notice that in some places
that the combined students-workers movement that was started in Beijing had moved into
the Chinese provinces. Specifically, he describes a peaceful protest in Wuchang, where
students and workers had gathered together in order to mourn those that had died in
Beijing. 
One idea that he discusses repeatedly over the course of the last half of the book is the
possibility of a ripple effect. He comments several times how citizens would speak
amongst themselves about the consequences of the trouble in Beijing. "Trouble in Beijing
bothered [the peasants]. It had a way of developing into trouble for [the peasants]" .
People are worried about what the government will do in their cities. 
Another idea that he brings up over the last section of his book is the idea of
xenophobia. In the beginning he had believed that the people had settled their xenophobic
feelings; however, he realizes that he is wrong. He believes that the uprising in
Tiananmen Square will force the government to revert back to a philosophy of xenophobia.
He states evidence such as the firing on the US Embassy and a statement by a Chinese
diplomat that it was the US media who were changing the picture of what was actually
happening in China. The diplomat went on to say that the Chinese government had shown
great restraint towards the criminal elements that were influencing the students. 
In the last fifteen pages of the diary, Salisbury takes some time to put his thoughts in
order and to give his account of who is responsible, what he believes happened in
Tiananmen Square, why it happened, and what may happen in the future. He believes that it
started in 1986 when Hu Yaobang was expelled from the party. He also mentions that the
year after Hu resigned, the PLA started to perform riot control drills. In addition,
there was the death of Hu that set off massive demonstrations. He goes on to describe
Deng's attitude at the time, specifically how he felt betrayed by some of his
high-ranking officials, especially Zhao, and by the students. Deng had a negative
attitude of the students, calling them wa wa or children. Salisbury put almost all of the
blame onto Deng, claiming it was Deng's anger from the "loss of face and personal
humiliation" that had led him to order the final blow to the students on June 4th. He
also puts some blame on the ineffectiveness of the party to form a cohesive unit and
determine a collaborative plan to deal with the situation. Salisbury is perplexed by the
unwillingness of the Chinese government to enter into a dialogue with the students at
such an early stage. He feels that it will be a long time in coming before another effort
will arise that will again challenge the foundations of the Chinese Communist Party and
government.
For me, I believe that Salisbury was a great journalist. He understood the facts as they
were presented. However, I have trouble with some of his analysis of the situation in
Tiananmen Square. First, there is the fact that he did not know much of the reason behind
the protests. "What was going on?" "How had the standoff between the students and the
government come about?" , were questions Salisbury was asking while making observations
and speculations. Sure, he knew the history of China well; he knew all about the
revolutions, rebellions, and people involved, but he did not understand what was going on
at that time. It is this lack of comprehension that I find hard to by pass if I was to
read the diary and believe it as truth. Even in his conclusion, he is only scratching at
the surface of what went on leading up to the Tiananmen Square demonstration and
massacre. 
Salisbury also frustrates me a little when he gets to Tiananmen Square. In his diary, he
only describes the current setup of the compound. He makes some references to the people
around him, but nothing too in depth. I have a problem with the fact that he didn't stay
in the square for too long and try to talk to the students. All he did was take in the
scene and leave. He is only concerned with how he is going to complete his project. " .
For a man who has done so much on Chinese history and spent a considerable about of time
in the country, a person would think that he had picked up a little of language, but in
fact he had not. Salisbury even comments that it was an "Odd sensation-listening to
broadcasts coming from Washington D.C., to find out what's happening a block and a half
up the street. To me, he sounds like he is writing a book about something that he only
witnessed for a short time and had no vested interest in, only that it is related to
history. 
Throughout the book, there is sense of naivete. There are comments interspersed
throughout the book that reflect Salisbury's lack of understanding of the current
situation. Salisbury may know an extensive amount of Chinese history, but it doesn't
appear that he knows much the current atmosphere and views that are appearing at the time
of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. He doesn't appear to know what the students are
feeling or why they are demonstrating. For instance, "I am sure that a lot of those the
TV is now calling bandits are unemployed youth. They have nothing to do, and the
excitement of brisk rock throwing or setting buses on fire would attract them" . There is
also his statement that, "Frankly, I can't believe the country is that shook up" . This
blatant Western ignorance of the current Chinese situation should not have made it to
print. So why did it?
Ultimately, I believe that this book is worth reading for its detailed chronology and
portrayal of what was going on. This diary is not a summary, but an event by event
account of Tiananmen Square and the countryside reaction. He is able to give the reader a
timetable in order to orient themselves to the situation. He is also able to give a good
portrayal of what people outside of Beijing have heard and what they are feeling. This
point of view from outside the city, from the country, is often neglected in other
readings about Tiananmen Square. In addition, Salisbury was a distinguished writer and
his knowledge of Chinese history is helpful. However, his significant naivete of the
reasoning behind the demonstrations and his lack of major interest outside of his project
are drawbacks. Salisbury even comments that "I am going to take a shower and purge the
dust of China from my body" . In order to understand what happened in China during the
Tiananmen Square demonstrations, a person needs to understand the students. They need to
understand Mao's concept of constant revolution and how the Communist Party has seemed to
have forgotten that. China has to remember its entire past and not just what has been
told to them or what they want to remember. A true revolution will only occur when the
entire society is ready, but let us not forget that these nudges of demonstrations are
stepping-stones to the future and to change.