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HU, WEN AND WHY

Wu Zhong

Asia Times, April 21, 2010

HONG KONG - In China, the present is often talked about with reference to history. It is therefore no wonder that a eulogy written by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to the late reform-minded Communist Party chief, Hu Yaobang, has immediately drawn wide attention.

The article was published in the People's Daily, the party's flagship newspaper, on April 15 - the 21st anniversary of Hu's death. Speculation has been rife since about the hidden messages Wen intended to deliver.

There are unwritten rules of the party. For example, a senior official such as Wen, who is number three leader of the party and the state, cannot publish such articles without the collective consent of the power center - the politburo or its standing committee.

Thus, some analysts are interpreting the article's publication as the sign of a subtle change in the political climate. In China's officialdom, Hu Yaobang still remains a divisive figure even though he passed away 21 years ago.

Handpicked by Deng Xiaoping, Hu was named as head of the Chinese Communist Party in mid-1981. Deng once described Hu and Zhao Ziyang (then premier) as his "left and right hands" in economic reform and opening up. Hu quickly won popularity, especially among intellectuals, for his liberal thinking and down-to-earth work style. Today, he is remembered for his rehabilitation of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cadres and intellectuals purged during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and the anti-rightist campaign in the late 1950s.

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