Five: Fatuous And Cruel 1: Disguising Massacre Before Tian An Men Massacre, Jiang Zemin as newly appointed General Secretary, from the time of late May, began reading and approving official documents. He was a key figure in the tragedy and the one who benefited the most from it. After the Massacre, the days grew long and challenging for Jiang. Much is blood that stained Jiang’s hand. ...
Four: Villain Holding Sway 7: Murder, They Said After Yang Shangkun was forced to step down, Jiang Zemin was still very much afraid of him. Zeng Qinghong expressed his view, that if Yang was not done away with, he could eventually cause trouble. But it’d be risky for Jiang and Zeng to take action against Yang, while Deng Xiaoping was still alive. When Deng passed away in Feb. 1997, 92-year-old ...
Four: Villain Holding Sway 6: The Corrupted Fighting Corruption Under Jiang Zemin’s reign, corruption in the bureaucracy reached unprecedented levels. The irony is that, corrupted officials have been among the most vocal in China’s fight against corruption. The Yuan Hua case has a long history behind it. The main culprit was the board chairman of the Yuan Hua Group, Lai ...
Four: Villain Holding Sway 5: The “Core Leader” After fixing the Yang brothers and Chen Xitong, Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong often schemed together as to how they could strengthen their position. Two things they identified were to win over more officials through bribery, and to place their trusted men in key posts. Jiang Zemin, in the process, discovered another useful trick of corruption: to get ...
Four: Villain Holding Sway 4: A Turf War After the 4th Plenary Session of the CCP’s 14th Congress, now that Jiang Zemin indeed secured his political power, he proceeded to get rid of dissidents. Beijing had always been the target of power struggles. Without controlling the Beijing Garrison, the Beijing Municipal Government and the Central Security Guard Regiment, a top CCP leader could never feel secure. ...