From: jwh3@po.CWRU.Edu (Junwei W. Hou)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: The Next Revolution (By Shen Tong)
Date: 4 Sep 1992 06:05:38 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu



********
Note:  The following is two excerpts from the New York Times
(September 2, 1992).  (JWH)

DISCLAIMER:  The following text is reprinted from Lexis, a
subdivision of Mead Data Central, Inc..  The sole purpose of this
reprint is to inform the readers of this public bulletin,
especially those Chinese students who may be interested in the
political situation in China.   The use of this reprint is strictly
educational and noncommercial.  All rights reserved--- Copyright
1992 The New York Times Company, The New York Times.
*****************************************************************

                    The Next Revolution 
                         
                         Shen Tong   

(Shen Tong  is chairman of the Democracy for China Fund. He passed
this article to a friend on Monday, hours before he was arrested in
Beijing.) 
  
   I am back in China and I have found a China that the outside
world does not know about. For three years, I have yearned to
return to the land of my birth. I was forced to flee after the
bloody confrontation between tanks and people. I have come back to
touch, taste and smell the wonders of this beautiful place. I still
have the same dream of democracy my friends and I struggled for in 
Tiananmen Square. 
 
    I don't know what will happen to me. But I do know that no gun,
no tank, nor any attempt to buy people off by consumerism can
destroy the human spirit's need for freedom. 
 
    I returned to stand again with those I left behind after the
brutal crackdown of the democracy movement. I am here to strengthen
the bridge between those who were forced to flee and those who have
carried on the struggle from within -- the key forces in shaping
China's political future. 
 
   These past weeks I have found a country in confusion. China is
at a social, political and economic crossroads. It seems there is
little political activity, that parts of the Chinese economy are
bounding ahead, and that the Old Men have triumphed. But the truth
is far different. 
 
   In recent days, I have felt the scars of ex-political prisoners
who have been tortured. I heard of a retired man who starved to
death in custody.  I went into homes where parents grieve for sons
and daughters who are still in prison, or simply missing -- and the
terrible thing is that many are frightened even to talk about it. 
 
   In one village I said to a group of people that 10 years of
reform had apparently improved their standard of living. One person
spoke up and said, "But the Government does only two things: it
takes money and it takes lives." Far more than the world realizes,
corruption, strikes, dissent, hunger, violence and unbalanced
development are forming storm clouds over China. It needs to be 
modernized, everyone agrees. But to move toward that goal requires
not just economic development, but also progress toward a real
market economy, liberalization of society, the advent of cultural
pluralism and steps toward democratic politics. 
 
   Many forces of change swim below the seemingly calm surface.
People have gone beyond the stage of saying, "I don't give a damn;
I'm just going to make money." True, they have yet to seize on
issues that will build a new politics. But they are quietly
building a civil society independent of the decaying corpse of 
Marxist rule. 
 
   Some Communists believe that the 14th party congress this fall
will be a key event in charting China's future. Political positions
may be set, and the struggle for power at the top may be settled --
temporarily. 
 
   But some forces for political change are moving independently.
The vigor of south China exists in spite of the politicians in the
north. Because of contacts with the outside world, a limited but
impressive free society is coming into being. One day there will be
a new politics to match it, one that is combined with economic
development and relative social stability. 
 
   Nonviolent transformation is essential for this to occur.
Throughout Chinese history, violence has replaced violence, and the
people have gained little in the way of liberation. I believe that
crystal goals can only be reached by crystal means. 
 
   I call upon the current authorities to recognize that China's
future lies with pluralism. Dialogue between the current regime and
the opposition is the first step toward evolutionary change. 
 
   I call upon reformers in the party: create open opposition
within the establishment, using the limited freedom provided by the
existing system. 
 
   I call upon China's established political underground networks
to surface in a limited, organized fashion to create a larger role
for themselves. 
 
   I call upon prominent individuals who have profound social
influence -- liberal scholars, artists, entrepreneurs, religious
leaders -- to speak out within their spheres. By protecting
specific rights, such as freedom of creative expression, freedom of
religious worship, freedom of publishing, they can build a base for
pluralism and civil society. 
 
   These potential forces for change can no longer be silent. They
must accept responsibility for their own rights and the rights of
others. Rights, like power, must be taken; they are never given. 
 
   I have returned to China to encourage others to step forward.
China is not lacking the forces to transform its repressive,
authoritarian society. 
 
   A free China will be ours one day. 
 

*********************
Excerpt 2:
*********************
               
               The Torturers of Lingyuan 
 
                         Bai Yong

(Bai Yong is the pseudonym of the person responsible for smuggling
this document, which has been verified by Asia Watch, out of
Lingyuan prison.) 
  
   In the early evening of April 22, 1991, a prison van left the
Great North Prison in Shenyang, carrying 11 political prisoners who
were convicted for their part in the pro-democracy movement. Among
them were  Liu Gang,  a physicist, and Zhang Ming, an engineer --
Beijing student leaders on the most-wanted list -- and Tang
Yuanjuan, also an engineer. They were sent to the Lingyuan No. 2
Labor Reform Detachment in Liaoning Province, known to the outside
world as the Lingyuan Motor Vehicle General Assembly Plant. It
makes Linghe tractors and trucks under the brand name Huanghe
(Yellow River). 
 
   From April 22 to May 29, the authorities gave them an
"orientation course," requiring the prisoners to recite from memory
the "standards of conduct for criminals undergoing reform" -- in
essence, a way to instill "criminal consciousness" into them.  Liu
Gang  and 10 other new political prisoners refused to take the
memory test.  Liu Gang  and five others were shackled with leg
irons and thrown either into solitary confinement or a strict
regime unit. The other five were allowed to stay in the brigade to
be "corrected." For days, the authorities tried to break their
spirits. The inmates went on a hunger strike to protest the
brutality, only making conditions worse. 
 
    The electric baton used to torture Tang Yuanjuan ran out of
power. A guard wearing leather boots kicked him and broke two of
his ribs. Leng Wanbao remained silent as he was tortured. A guard
pried his mouth open and stuck in the baton.  An Fuxing became sick
and was hospitalized in a state of shock. But as soon as he was
released, he was tortured with electric batons by Yang Guoping (at
the time, he was the brigade commander, later promoted to be a
section chief of the prison administration) and others. 
 
   On June 4, 1991, Li Jie, a political prisoner from Jilin
Province, staged a one-day hunger strike. Yang Guoping assembled
the prisoners of the training brigade for a meeting. They dragged
Li Jie to the stage, stripped him naked while several common
criminals held him down on the floor. Yang Guoping then applied a
huge 50,000-volt baton repeatedly to the inside part of Li's leg.
Two guards used four 5,000 to 10,000-volt electric batons on his
head, neck, armpits, chest, belly and fingers. Li Jie sweated
profusely, went into spasms and then became motionless. 
 
   While torturing Li Jie, Yang Guoping blustered, "So you want to
pay homage to those who died on June 4? They died as they deserved.
If you are tired of living, just say so. Why ravage yourself? We
can help you. . . . We keep giving you the electric baton treatment
so you will be impressed. Let's see if you will make trouble again.
As long as you keep up your counterrevolutionary 
actions, we will never relent!" 
 
   Since June, prisoners of the training brigade have been forced
to make match boxes. Their quotas were set higher than those for
any other squad, and these were constantly raised, from 800 a day
to 1,700 a day, even as high as 2,000.  They labored from 8 A.M.
till 8 P.M. If the quotas were not fulfilled they were forced to
work until 9:30. Prisoners were not allowed to drink water or
smoke.  Having read the white paper on human rights in China,  Liu
Gang  and the others found their treatment nowhere close to that
described in official propaganda.  They decided to go on hunger
strike. 
 
   That evening, the authorities declared the hunger strike "an act
of resisting reform and even a prison uprising. All 13 participants
must be punished," they said. 
 
   On New Year's Day 1992, eight political prisoners in tiny
solitary confinement cells again went on a hunger strike and
demanded to see their loved ones. This was rejected.  That
afternoon, Zhang Ming wrote a poem on the wall.  Li Yang, the
commander, with a group of common criminals in tow, on the pretext 
of searching for knives, forced Zhang Ming to take off all his
clothing, beat and kicked him. Li declared fiercely, "So you want
to stage a hunger strike? Go right ahead. Labor reform detachments
aren't afraid of deaths! When one dies, we'll bury one. When two
die, we'll bury a pair!" 
 
   Political prisoners are getting the most inhuman treatment at
the No. 2 Labor Reform Detachment in Lingyuan. Even in these
terrible circumstances, they continue to cherish an ardent love for
freedom and refuse to be intimidated.  They are trying to preserve
their personal dignity. They are convinced that they are not alone.
The hearts of hundreds of millions are with them. Please pay close
attention to their fate. 
 

(END)
*******************************************************************
DISCLAIMER:  The above text is reprinted from Lexis, a subdivision
of Mead Data Central, Inc..  The sole purpose of this reprint is to
inform the readers of this public bulletin, especially those
Chinese students who may be interested in the current political
situation in China.  The use of this reprint is strictly
educational and noncommercial.  (JWH)
*******************************************************************