Toward a Democratic China: The Intellectual Autobiography of Yan Jiaqi (review)

290 China Review International: Vol. ?, No. ?, Spring 1994 scattered in journal articles. We might quibble with the trendy title and the absence of an index, but the book will prove an enduring resource for graduate students , upper level undergraduates and all workers in this field. Paul Clark The University ofAuckland, New Zealand Yan Jiaqi. David S. K. Hong and Denis C. Mair, translators. Foreword by Andrew J. Nathan. Toward a Democratic China: The IntellectualAutobiography ofYan Jiaqi Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992. xviii, 285 pp. Hardcover $34.95. Paperback $15.95. copyrighti994 by University of Hawai'i Press This intellectual autobiography traces Mr. Yan Jiaqi's intellectual journey from the time he was a leading advocate ofDeng Xiaoping's reform platform to his becoming a champion ofthe pro-democracy movement ofexiled Chinese dissidents . The original book was published in Chinese in 1989, before Mr. Yan's exile. It was subsequently translated into English, with four more chapters added, namely chapters 7, 15, 19, and 20, after Mr. Yan left China because of the 1989 Tiananmen Square tragedy. In the book,Yan's actual autobiography takes up twenty chapters; this is nicely supplemented by a selection ofhis own essays and interviews with him at relevant stages ofhis life (chapters 21-32). These essays and interviews are pertinent and helpful to our understanding of Mr. Yan. The English translation of the book has been professionally done, not only capturing the subtle and complex ideas of an "establishment intellectual" who was confronted with difficult choices of reform, but also depicting the dynamics ofthe tension-ridden situation when China was taking its first painful steps in the democratic transition in the post-Mao era. The translators are able to convey the intense feeling ofa Chinese intellectual who was articulating his views on concrete political problems at the major twists and turns during the first decade of reform in China. On the whole, the translations on the topics related to the history ofWestern political philosophy, science, and Chinese literature appear better than those on public administration, management, and economics. The title of the book, Toward a Democratic China: The Intellectual Autobiography ofYan liaji, is slightly misleading because the author devotes most of this autobiography (say, eighteen out of twenty chapters, not including the attached essays and interviews from chapters 21 to 32) to a portrayal ofhimself as an active member of China's think tanks, such as China's Academy of Social Sciences and the Office for Political Reform of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Reviews 291 For one decade of reform from 1979 to 1989, he spent most ofhis time and energy working with and for the establishment, but it is still fair to say that his writings during this period showed considerable sympathy for a wider sharing of political power as well as for the protection ofhuman rights: Take, for instance, his role in publishing the first book about the April Fifth Tiananmen Incident of 1976 (chapter 5), and his role in the commemoration ofthe thirtieth anniversary of the "hundred flowers campaign" (see chapter 12). He has been an open advocate ofdemocracywithout anyreservation since his exile after 1989. Trained in the field ofphysics at the Chinese University ofScience and Technology , Mr. Yan changed his specialization and gained admission to the Philosophy Institute of the China Academy of Science (CAS). Later, his interest in political philosophy and contemporary issues led him into the study of politics. His contributions at several crucial moments in post-Mao politics must have been noted by the CCP ruling circle. As a result, he was appointed first to be the founding Director ofthe Institute of Political Science of the China Academy of Social Sciences, and later to be a member of the Office for Political Reform of the Central Committee, of the CCP. From late 1978 onward, Mr. Yan's principal writings closely paralleled Deng's major political initiatives. These initiatives included the debate on the "criterion for the truth" (chapter 6), the attack on the cult ofpersonality (chapters 6, 13), the réévaluation of Mao and the Cultural Revolution (chapters 3, 4, 13), the abolishing ofthe life-tenure system for high-level cadres (chapter...