Wake up（334）

 

334

 

Liu Xiaosheng said to Nan Yangsheng: The economic situation we are facing now has a lot to do with the economic structure. In fact, we only need to look back at the economic reforms in the Zhao Ziyang era to find the answer. If the contemporary Chinese can understand Zhao Ziyang's era in 1988, then they will also be able to understand the current economic situation, and perhaps the outcome will be the same.

1988 was an extremely ordinary year in the history of the People's Republic of China.

In 1988, Zhao Ziyang was in power for the only full year as the general secretary of the party and the first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

This year, for Zhao Ziyang himself, is of course of extraordinary significance.

What about other people? What about China's countless toiling masses? What is the significance of the existence of 1988 in the long river of history?

Time flies, and now it seems that few people can still remember 1988, and few people would think that this ordinary year has subtly affected the fate of countless Chinese people.

In 1988, former U.S. President Richard Nixon published a famous best-selling book-"1999: Winning Without Fighting". In this book, Nixon very frankly put forward the three conditions for the United States to support the "anti-communist revolutionary movement" within the socialist countries, the four guidelines for developing relations with non-Communist dictatorships, and the effective competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. The six key capabilities that must be strengthened, and it more accurately predicts that the United States will soon achieve "victory without a fight" in the "U.S.-Soviet hegemony." Therefore, even today, this book still has many readers.

As an American politician who is inextricably linked with China, Nixon certainly mentioned some of his views on China's political and economic development in this book. While expressing regret that Deng Xiaoping did not become a Thomas Paine-style "democratic revolutionist with the long-term goal of ending communist rule", Nixon specifically mentioned Deng Xiaoping who had just been elected as the main leader of the party and the people's army at the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Zhao Ziyang.

Nixon said: "Zhao Ziyang is a courageous and talented economist and a leader who understands technology, but he is also a witty and even a very charming person... Zhao Ziyang actively agrees with Deng Xiaoping's reform plan, and he even Some promising new steps have also been taken...the most important thing may be to formulate a new policy so that the Communist Party will not interfere in the daily affairs of the government....As for the century after Deng Xiaoping...whether this leader is Zhao Ziyang depends on his role whether the skill of a political strategist can be compared with that which he has successfully demonstrated as an economic strategist".

Obviously, Nixon placed high hopes on Zhao Ziyang's future development in China's political arena. To some extent, the former US president had pinned his hope of "winning without a fight" in the Sino-US game . So, how did Zhao Ziyang behave under Mr. Nixon's expectant eyes?

In January 1988, due to the sharp increase in the national retail price level for two consecutive years, the real income of the cadres and employees working in the front line was directly reduced, and a frenzy of buying goods began to appear in many parts of the country. Facing the grim situation, the State Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China, and the State Administration of Materials jointly submitted a report on measures to stabilize prices and the economy to Zhao Ziyang, who was then in charge of the frontline work of the central government. After reading this report, Zhao Ziyang said a famous saying: "Don't have a problem of prices and be full of prices. You only see the trees, but you don't see the forest!"

As a senior leader of the party and the country, Zhao Ziyang's remarks undoubtedly had a vital impact on the development of Chinese society and the lives of the Chinese people at that time. In 1988, when the inflation crisis was on the horizon, the country continued to issue an additional 67.96 billion yuan of currency, an increase of 44.3 billion yuan compared with 1987, making it the year with the largest currency issuance in the history of New China. Correspondingly, retail prices across the country continued to soar, and the overall level continued to rise by 18.5% compared with 1987, making it the fastest price increase since the reform and opening up. All of a sudden, the Chinese who have been accustomed to stable prices for many years were frightened, panicked, and at a loss when faced with such out-of-control prices. An understatement of General Secretary Zhao Ziyang of golf!

On March 25, 1988, the first session of the Seventh National People's Congress formally confirmed the decision on Zhao Ziyang's request to resign as Premier of the State Council. One month before the official announcement of this decision, on February 25, 1988, the State Council issued the "Implementation Plan for the Reform of the Housing System in Cities and Towns in China in Phases and Batches". The concept, for the first time clarified the reform and development trend of "making the big commodity of housing enter the consumer goods market", and made public for the first time "developing the real estate market, developing real estate finance and real estate industry, and promoting the development of real estate, construction and building materials industries" brand new idea. This plan, to the Chinese who were accustomed to the uniform distribution of housing at that time, and enjoyed the right to use the housing after paying low rent, was both curious and excited about the possibility of owning private property. Many years later, when Chinese people feel distressed about their status as "housing slaves" and are afraid of high housing prices, how many of them will still remember this ordinary document issued in 1988? And Who would remember the excitement and pleasure of becoming the owner of their own private property that floated up in their subconscious back then?

On June 16, 1988, after 30 years since its inception, the "Red Flag" magazine, which once had a circulation of 3.3 million copies in a single issue, quietly announced the suspension of publication after completing the publication of the last issue, and completely withdrew from the ideological position of New China. .

Just when the "red flag" landed, a TV series feature called "River Elegy" was spreading rapidly across the land of China. Warmly calling for conversion and obedience to the blue civilization, and mercilessly ridiculing the ignorance and backwardness of the Yellow River civilization, became the most important theme of this work, which claims to "enlighten Chinese people's thinking". To be honest, the theme of this TV film, even after more than 20 years, still seems to be so extreme and extreme, and there are a lot of flaws and debatable points. However, in September 1988, when Zhao Ziyang met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who was visiting China, he suddenly proposed to donate a videotape of the TV series "River Elegy" to Lee Kuan Yew. Facing Lee Kuan Yew with a slightly astonished expression, Zhao Ziyang said seriously: "This film is worth watching. I hope it can 'break out of Asia and go to the world'." All of a sudden, many people knew that General Secretary Zhao Ziyang's heart was closely connected with the hearts of the authors of "River Elegy".

This is Zhao Ziyang's 1988, a 1988 that is full of Zhao Ziyang's characteristics, whether it is in the economic field or in the ideological field, it is stubbornly expressing itself.

It should be said that Zhao Ziyang's hard work and efforts were not in vain. Many liberals with a keen sense of politics began to actively "drum and cheer" for Zhao Ziyang after they thoroughly understood Zhao Ziyang's ruling philosophy and political thoughts.

In September 1988, Li Yi, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong's "Ninety Years" magazine, published an article titled "Everyone Should Retire" in "The Economic Journal" under the pseudonym "Qi Xin". In this article, Li Yi publicly stated: "China must remove the obstacles of super-elderly politics, so that Zhao Ziyang has enough power." In another article in the "Nineties" magazine, someone even issued a call for Zhao Ziyang to become a "dictator."

In response to this, Beijing's "Economics Weekly" published a transcript of the conversation of Yan Jiaqi, a "political science" scholar who has close ties with Zhao Ziyang's "think tank". In this talk, Yan Jiaqi stated very clearly: "China is now facing a big problem, that is, it cannot repeat the mistakes of non-procedural power changes like Khrushchev and Liu Shaoqi." Many people understand that Yan Jiaqi's words are for Zhao Ziyang.

Liu Xiaosheng said to Nan Yangsheng: Zhao Ziyang behaved as aloof from these raging public opinions of "supporting Zhao", and he did not make any statement. In fact, in many cases, not expressing one's position is the best one.

Liu Xiaosheng sighed to young people such as Nan Yangsheng, Pan Tianliang, Nan Liwa, and Wanru: There are a lot of information on WeChat, but the information about celebrities or anecdotes accounts for most of them, and the rest of the information is about eating, drinking and beauty. ,Fashion. Young people who care about politics or economics are mostly complaining and complaining, and few are independent thinking and research. The new generation of old man politics is gradually controlling the minds of young people. These so-called rich and powerful are actually taking over from the super old man politics in order to stabilize the country.

Liu Xiaosheng sighed to Lao Pantou: You and I are old, and those workers, peasants, and soldiers of our age have become the leaders of the country. Their greatest ability is to copy the power control methods of the political veterans, and they have not revitalized China economically. Ability. Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang are all walk-on players in China's political stands, and they all play tragic roles. Where is China going? The big drama is behind.