The 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ended on July 18th, and shortly after that, there was an unusual situation on the Chinese internet. Netease published an article about former CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, but it was quickly censored.
On July 21st, Netease’s account “New Perspective” released an article titled “The ‘Little-Known’ Communist Party Member Zhao Ziyang”. Mainland dissident Jifeng and overseas scholar Wu Zuolai both reposted this article from Netease’s account on X platform on July 22nd.
Wu Zuolai commented, “What does it signify to publish such an article after the 3rd Plenary Session? So, this article needs to be observed to see if it will be deleted. If it is deleted, it means it is the personal interest of the author and the website, as the relevant department does not allow the promotion of Zhao Ziyang. But Xi Jinping’s mother and Xi himself have feelings towards Zhao and his family. Li Shulei must be aware of this. Let’s cherish this article. The relevant department will soon start working, and this article was published on a Sunday.”
Later that day, independent commentator Cai Shenkun and Laodeng commented on Wu’s post saying, “It’s been deleted.” Wu Zuolai calculated, “It didn’t last more than ten hours.”
Upon reviewing the leftover information of the article on the internet, it showed it was from “Impressions of Ziyang”, authored by Zhou Qiren, with approximately 8100 words. The introductory text of the article reads, “A year ago (referring to 2005), on the day when Mr. Zhao Ziyang passed away, worried that Du Lao (Du Runsheng) would be overly shocked, I went to visit his home.”
Currently, there is no trace of this article on Weibo, and even searching for Zhao Ziyang yields no results.
Former CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was forced to step down in 1989 due to sympathizing with the Tiananmen Square protests. He was subsequently put under house arrest until his death in 2005. After the events of June 4th, both Zhao Ziyang and the Tiananmen incident remained taboo topics in mainland China.
The censored article titled “Communist Party Member Zhao Ziyang” was used, but Zhao Ziyang’s son, Zhao Wujun, disclosed to the media that his father had undergone significant ideological changes in his later years, no longer believing in the Communist Party and considering one-party rule reform as impossible.
Veteran commentator Lin Baohua pointed out in a commentary on “Radio Free Asia” in 2005 that Zhao Ziyang’s passing left several regrettable and indignant aspects. The first being that Zhao Ziyang did not renounce the CCP in his will. If he had renounced the party, it would have enhanced Zhao Ziyang’s image and further exposed the Communist Party’s repulsive nature. Lin believed that what Zhao Ziyang failed to do, other elderly Communist Party members could still achieve by leaving behind a will renouncing and condemning the Party before departing from this world.
In November 2004, the Epoch Times published a series of editorials titled “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” exposing the evil nature and sinful history of the CCP, as well as the destructive impact of the CCP on traditional Chinese culture, bringing profound disasters to the Chinese nation. This sparked a global wave of quitting the Party.