China Spring Research Articles

The Exit, Voice, and Struggle to Return of Chinese Political Exiles

T NTIL RECENTLY, the Communist government of China imposed Li severe emigration restrictions upon its citizens as part of the partystate's control over the physical mobility of its population. Between the late 1940s when the regime was established and the late 1970s when the government adopted an open door policy, very little legal emigration occurred.' Because of difficult living conditions in China, the desire to emigrate has far exceeded the available opportunities, resulting in large numbers of illegal emigrants and refugees. Once leaving the mainland, Chinese emigrants and refugees become members of the overseas Chinese community, which has now a total population of about 27 million.2 Before the 1980s, very few of them could be considered political exiles, because they seldom organized or were involved in political activities that aimed at changing or overthrowing the home regime in order to facilitate their return. As will be discussed later, such political activities are essential to the definition of political exiles. In 1983, however, China formally entered an era of exile politics when a group of students from mainland China studying in the United States established the Chinese Alliance for Democracy (Zhongguo minzhu tuanjie lianmeng). As a continuation of the China Spring Pro-Democracy Movement in the late 1970s, which was suppressed by the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping after his return to power, the alliance aimed at transforming China's system of dictatorship, and fighting for democracy, rule-by-law, freedom, and human rights in mainland China.3 Chinese exile politics reached a climax in the summer of 1989, when a

Dixi: Chinese Farmers' Theatre

During China's Spring Festival, the villages around Anshun city in Guizhou province in southwest China are filled with the sounds of gongs, drums, and firecrackers attesting to the happiness of entering a new year and a new spring. The villagers use this festival to enjoy and relax. A crowd surges through the village roads, paths, and earth dikes dividing the rice paddies, toward the village gate where the grain is dried after harvesting. Various colorful flags flutter in the stiff wind. The people crowd around in a big circle at whose center flies a pennant imprinted with the large character, Yang. Those familiar with dixi (literally, theatre played on the level ground) know this signals that the day's performance is Yang Jia Jiang (Tales of the Military Officers of the Yang Family). The performers, all male, are the fathers, brothers, lovers, or husbands of those gathering to watch. The audience-standing or sitting-chats, giggles, and warmly criticizes the actors. The open circle has a diameter of about I2 feet, which serves as the stage-battlefield so central to dixi. Accompanied by a gong and drum, the performers-in battle dress with about four or five pennants attached to their backs and or two pheasant tails on their heads, their faces covered with a black gauze kerchief, and wearing lianzi (masks) on their foreheads-manipulate spears and sticks. Today's story is about the loyal Yang father and sons who fought for their country during the Song dynasty (960-1279 C.E.). There is no stage set, not even the one table and two chairs sees in many Chinese traditional theatres. Two cloth screens at two sides of a circle and a chair in front of each screen symbolize a mountain, a camp, or a court. The king or the commander sits on the chair to show his power and prestige while the generals stand on each side, forming two semicircles. Behind and around the actors are the spectators. The circle made by the audience creates the performance space. The effect could never be reproduced on a built stage outdoors or indoors. There is real audience involvement. The villagers are either performing or watching.

Warlordism Versus Federalism: The Revival of a Debate?

For anyone who studies modern Chinese political thought, the revival of interest in federalism is one of the most striking features of the current scene. It has been particularly visible abroad in the wake of the Tiananmen massacre, and its most conspicuous spokesman has been the former director of the Institute of Political Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yan Jiaqi. In remarks delivered to the First Congress of Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States, held in Chicago in July 1989, Yan proposed a Chinese “federation” (lianbang guojia) having a democratic system as the best hope both for reforming China's internal politics and ultimately for resolving the problems of Hong Hong, Taiwan and Tibet. He made similar remarks in other speeches in America and at the founding meeting of the Federation for Chinese Democracy, of which he was elected president, held in Paris in September 1989. Some other mainland Chinese intellectuals, among them Ge Yang, former editor-in-chief of Xin guancha, have supported such views, as have members of the China Spring movement. A recent official denunciation of such views is testimony to their growing influence.These are surprising developments. Federalist programmes for China have long been seen as little more than relics of an era which ended in the 1920s. As the Cihai entry for liansheng zizhi (one of the phrases for the idea in Chinese) puts it, while certain warlord politicians of the 1920s believed that federalism was the appropriate political system for China, “after the Guangdong revolutionary government launched the Northern Expedition in 1926, no one advocated federalism again.”

China Spring and the Chinese Alliance for Democracy

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the development of China Spring, a dissident monthly journal founded by Chinese students in the United States. The appearance of China Spring is closely related to the political and economic situation in China, and to the growing numbers of Chinese students studying abroad. China Spring is the organ of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy. Mild rather than violent means have been advo cated by the Alliance towards the present government. The points of view of the journal on major issues concerning Chinese politic, such as economic reform, Taiwan, and Tibet, are also introduced.

Harsh end to China's Spring

Harsh end to China's Spring

China Spring

The aims of the Democracy Movement are promoted by China Spring, a magazine started by Chinese students in the USA which also circulates among students in China

China Spring in North America

China Spring in North America