Prisoner of the State: The Secret
Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang by
Zhao Ziyang
Re: Mr. Zhang
“Zhao may be more dangerous in death than he was in life.” —Time
How often can you peek behind the curtains of one of the most secretive
governments in the world? Prisoner of the State is the first book to give
readers a front row seat to the secret inner workings of China’s
government. It is the story of Premier Zhao Ziyang, the man who brought
liberal change to that nation and who, at the height of the Tiananmen
Square protests in 1989, tried to stop the massacre and was dethroned for
his efforts. When China’s army moved in, killing hundreds of students
and other demonstrators, Zhao was placed under house arrest at his home
on a quiet alley in Beijing. China’s most promising change agent had been
disgraced, along with the policies he stood for. The premier spent the last
sixteen years of his life, up until his death in 2005, in seclusion. An
occasional detail about his life would slip out: reports of a golf excursion, a

photo of his aging visage, a leaked letter to China’s leaders. But China
scholars often lamented that Zhao never had his final say. As it turns out,
Zhao did produce a memoir in complete secrecy. He methodically
recorded his thoughts and recollections on what had happened behind the
scenes during many of modern China’s most critical moments. The tapes
he produced were smuggled out of the country and form the basis for
Prisoner of the State. In this audio journal, Zhao provides intimate details
about the Tiananmen crackdown; he describes the ploys and double
crosses Chinas top leaders use to gain advantage over one another; and
he talks of the necessity for China to adopt democracy in order to achieve
long-term stability. The China that Zhao portrays is not some long-
lost dynasty. It is today’s China, where the nation’s leaders accept
economic freedom but continue to resist political change. If Zhao had
survived—that is, if the hard-line hadn’t prevailed during Tiananmen—he
might have been able to steer China’s political system toward more
openness and tolerance. Zhao’s call to begin lifting the Partys control
over Chinas life—to let a little freedom into the public square—is
remarkable coming from a man who had once dominated that square.
Although Zhao now speaks from the grave in this moving and riveting
memoir, his voice has the moral power to make China sit up and listen.
BAO PU, a political commentator and veteran human rights activist, is a
publisher and editor of New Century Press in Hong Kong. RENEE
CHIANG is a publisher and the English editor of New Century Press in
Hong Kong. As a teacher in Beijing in 1989, she was an eyewitness to the
Tiananmen Square crackdown. ADI IGNATIUS is an American journalist
who covered China for The Wall Street Journal during the Zhao Ziyang
era. He most recently served as Time magazine’s deputy managing editor.
ZHAO AT TIANANMEN BEFORE THE MASSACRE “I was trying to
persuade them to end the hunger strike . . . I felt it was a waste for these
young students to end their lives like this. [The students could not] imagine
the treatment in store for them.” ZHAO ON EVADING HIS JAILERS
“After I played at Chang Ping Golf Course, the news was released . . . Both
Jiang Zemin and Li Peng became extremely anxious. They condemned the
decision and began an investigation to find out who had allowed me to go
out to play golf.” ZHAO ON HOW CHINA MUST CHANGE “Not only
should [China] implement a market economy, it must also adopt a
parliamentary democracy as its political system.”
Personal Review: Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of
Premier Zhao Ziyang by Zhao Ziyang
"Prisoner of the State" is remarkable in that it is the only popularly
available publication I know that both details the political machinations
around the Tiananmen Square suppression, and also shines a light on
political life in China during the 1980's. The economic reforms envisioned
by Deng Xiaoping are evident by the appointment of Zhao Ziyang and Hu
Yaobang. Unfortunately, Zhao and Hu wanted to loosen and modernize
the Chinese political system; a view that wasn't shared by Deng. This
book is a must read for those who hope for a more democratic China. It is
obvious from reading this that the goal of democracy in a Western sense is

not something that will be realized anytime soon. While the gerentocracy
is gone, there is nothing in the present actions of China's current leaders
that give anyone the hope that democracy or multi-party rule is coming in
the near future. This book is interesting for its history. I was a bit shocked
when Zhao characterized Mao Zedong and Stalin as "great leaders." A
must read for China scholars. Zhao was truly a prisoner of his own faith in
communist party rules and any desire by the party to let the truth be
examined.
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