Higher Education in Post-Mao China

19. The Limits of Political Loosening: CCP Restraints on Student Behaviour in the Spring of 1989

19 The Limits of Political Loosening: CCP Restraints on Student Behaviour In the Spring of 1989' Teresa WRIGHT INTRODUCTION In many ways, CCP control over college campuses decreased in the 1980s. Indeed, the CCP's Education Reform Document of 1985 expressly stated that the PRC's educational problems derived from 'excessive government control'.2 A major component of the CCP's proposed solution was decentralization; specifically, universities were given more power over curricula and teaching methods.3 In addition, political education in CCP ideology was de-emphasized as the goal of education shifted from the production of loyal communists to the production of 'advanced specialists' fit to serve the Four Modernizations.4 Concomitantly, political education became less doctrinaire and more tolerant of individual beliefs.5 Yet, as evident in the 'anti-spiritual pollution' campaign of 1983 and the 'anti-bourgeois liberalization' campaign of 1987, events of the spring of 1989 again illustrate that the post-Mao decrease in CCP control over education is neither cumulative nor irreversible. Indeed, the events of the spring of 1989 demonstrate that despite the educational reforms of the Deng era, the CCP continues to exert a profound influence over student life. This chapter provides a detailed description of this influence by illustrating the specific ways in which student behaviour and organization in the spring of 1989 were shaped by continued CCP domination of the political structure, 376 Teresa WRIGHT the media and the campus. In particular, student activities at Beijing University (Beijing Daxue, hereafter Beida) and Beijing Normal University (Beijing Shifan Daxue, hereafter Shida) will be emphasized.6 As will be shown, fear of repression was a major consideration in virtually all student actions and decisions throughout the movement. Importantly, this fear-laden environment rendered student decision-making and organization increasingly anarchic. First, in this risky situation, students were extremely fearful of infiltration and thus tended to trust only those with whom they were well acquainted prior to the movement. Second, as the risks involved in student miscalculation were quite high, student leaders found it difficult to compromise with one another. Many students feared that yielding to the will of the majority could result in an action which would incur the wrath of the authorities. Consequently, dissenting student leaders often opted to 'exit' the group, rather than bow to majority rule or negotiate a compromise. The culture of fear also largely explains why the two campus movement organizations at Beida and Shida initially were formed by only a handful of students. In an environment where all student activities were closely scrutinized by campus authorities and where any autonomous student organization would be likely to meet with oppression, few students dared to step forward publicly and establish a non-Party student protest group. After these few students made this dangerous step, many others joined and supported these groups. However, very few were willing to risk being charged with initiating such an action. More importantly, those who were willing to take this first step earned an enormous amount of respect from their fellow, less courageous, students. This trend continued as the movement progressed. In such a perilous atmosphere, those students willing to take the greatest risks received the most respect and enjoyed the most legitimacy, whereas those calling for moderation were branded cowards lacking true devotion to the cause. Consequently, this fear-laden environment engendered a radicalizing trend in student behaviour. Further, student demands reflected the continued dominance of the CCP. Throughout the movement, student activists did not question singleparty communist rule. At no point did student activists call for the establishment of alternative political parties or for the overthrow of the CCP. Instead, student demands consistently reflected a desire to reform the existent single-party political system. For example, many student complaints revolved around Party corruption; the students' proposed solution to this problem was not to eliminate the CCP, but rather to 'clean it up'. Similarly, throughout the movement students consistently called for 'dialogue' with the CCP, thus implicitly assuming that the CCP could CCP Restraints on Student Behaviour in the Spring of 1989 377 ameliorate their dissatisfaction. Finally, student activists demanded that the government acknowledge that the movement was a patriotic and loyalist expression of the wishes of the people. Thus, rather than questioning the fundamental legitimacy of CCP rule, the students consistently sought its validation. PRECURSORS TO THE 1989 MOVEMENT Continued CCP control over the college campus was also evident in student...