CHINA: THE ANTI-BOURGEOIS LIBERALIZATION CAMPAIGN IN THE PROVINCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90T00114R000200780001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 22, 1987
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/20: CIA-RDP90TO0114R000200780001-1
DATE 7ZZ7-7 rl
DOC NO %;'a /Y7 n-ZO/Jo
OIR 3
P & PD I
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
22 July 1987
China: The Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign in the
Provinces
Summary
Since the ouster of party General Secretary Hu Yaobang last
January, the conservatives' campaign against "bourgeois liberalization" in
the provinces has produced mixed results. We believe many proreform
provincial leaders, taking their cue from Zhao Ziyang, are only paying lip
service to the campaign. Nevertheless, the drive probably has had an
intimidating effect on many local cadre, factory managers, and well-to-do
peasants, and encouraged more conservative party cadre to reassert
themselves in some regions. If Zhao and other reformers regain the
initiative at this fall's party congress, we believe the anti-bourgeois
liberalization campaign will fade; but, until the balance of power at the too
is clearer, many provincial officials will continue to hedge their bets.
This memorandum was prepared by I (Office Of East Asian Analysis.
Information available as of 16 July 1987 was used in its preparation. Comments and
queries are welcome and may be directed to the Chief, Political Assessments Branch,
China Division,
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For the past six months, since the fall of Hu Yaobang, conservatives have pressed
to expand and reformers to contain the anti-bourgeois liberalization campaign. Having
failed earlier to check the antireform drive, Premier and acting party General Secretary
Zhao Ziyang--we believe with Deng Xiaoping's implicit support--has resumed the
offensive, to blunt the campaign and rekindle reform.
Although the evidence is thin, we believe the effect of the battle between
reformers and conservatives has been to sow confusion and fear among many provincial
and lower level party and government officials. As long as things appear unsettled
among top party leaders in Beijing, provincial officials probably will conduct the
anti-bourgeois campaign according to either which side of the struggle they are on or
which way they see the tide running. We doubt, for example, that many provincial
governors--most appointed by Hu and Zhao and, therefore, presumably proreform--are
enthusiastic supporters of the campaign. In provinces, in fact, that have traditionally
been more independent from Beijing, and where economic reforms have brought
substantial material benefits, the campaign appears to have had little effect. Such
resistance appears to be strongest in the south and central coastal provinces, which
have greatly benefited from the open door policy, and where the campaign is viewed
almost with contempt:
? In Guangzhou, entrepreneurs told reporters that they ignored the leadership
changes in Beijing and that the campaign had not affected business there. One
entrepreneur reportedly said "the only freedom we want is the freedom to make
money."
? According to a Hong Kong press report, Yuan Geng, who is in charge of the
industrial region of Shekou within the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, flatly
refused to go along with the hard line pushed by conservatives and told
subordinates, "There is no bourgeois liberalization here, nor will I fight it even if
there were."
We suspect the campaign has had a more chilling effect in some more insular
provinces such as Sichuan, Hubei, and Shanxi. fear of
reprisals has spread in these areas among many small entrepreneurs, managers, and
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wealthy peasants who have benefited most from those reforms conservatives regard as
"capitalist:"
? In Sichuan many private businessmen who opened small, often lucrative,
enterprises under the economic reforms tried to turn in their operating licenses
for fear of being accused of bourgeois liberalism.
? Two officials in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, recently told a Consulate officer that many of
the people in their city who had benefited financially from recent economic
reforms tried to hand over their hard-earned property to local governments or
collectives, fearing it would be confiscated.
? Peasants in Hubei tried to turn vehicles belonging to private transportation
companies into their collectives, according to Embassy reporting.
Local officials also have felt conservative pressure from Beijing to crack down on 25X1
liberal publications and promote the campaign in local universities:
? A Nanjing University administrator recently admitted that a February rally was
organized only to cover the university until the extent of the campaign became
clear.
? Although Liaoning universities were virtually unaffected by the student unrest last
year, in March the provincial party secretary attacked the "problem" of bourgeois
liberalization in Liaoning campuses.
? Also in March, Hubei propaganda officials suspended a journal noted for its liberal
views under pressure from conservative Deng Liqun. According to Hong Kong
press, the Hubei leaders were hedging their bets, complying with the
conservatives' request; but if the reformers resurge later in the year, the journal
could reopen.
? Guangxi's party committee suspended all 39 of its literature and art journals.
Beijing has criticized Guangxi publications in the past, and Guangxi officials may
have acted to avoid renewed criticism.
Local officials in Shanxi appear to have initially taken the campaign the most
seriously, perhaps because the province is the home of conservative leader Peng Zhen.
According to provincial radio in Shanxi, provincial leaders organized a conference in
February that called for full mobilization and continuous combat against
counterrevolutionary criminals--carrying the charge of promoting bourgeois liberalism to
an extreme. The Shanxi Daily ran a simultaneous commentary that could well have been
intended to justify a purge of opponents of conservatives. Whether such a purge
occurred is unclear.
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And Shanghai
The campaign has engendered a mixture of contempt and caution in the more
cosmopolitan Shanghai, traditionally a center of political activism and the site of the
largest student demonstrations last winter. Proreform intellectuals there have
said that they have been disgusted by the attacks on fellow writers and journalists like
Liu Binyan and are refusing to support the anti-bourgeois liberalization campaign. Some
writers even boldly continued to press for further reform right after Hu Yaobang's fall,
especially those connected with the Shanghai World Economic Herald, which enjoys the
However, many other intellectuals, as well as university students, under pressure
from local officials feeling the heat from party conservatives in Beijing, have trimmed
campuses in Shanghai were quiet on anniversaries of previous protests this spring.
Heavy political indoctrination has been introduced at local universities for both the
faculty and students. A middle school teacher complained to US Consulate officials that
colleagues at his school found the emphasis on opposing bourgeois liberalism annoying,
Similarly, self-censorship among artists appears to have increased:
? No film projects in Shanghai have been cancelled, but some films in production
are being revised to strengthen their ideological line.
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? Staff members of Shanghai's People's Art Theater decided not to restage a
controversial Chinese play that was considered very liberal a year ago.
withdrawn from a showing of abstract oil paintings at the Shanghai Art Gallery.
Chinese artists were used to such ideological swings and would continue
to paint privately without exhibiting their works.
We suspect the fallout in the provinces from the anti-bourgeois liberalization
campaign has been largely negative. Every such campaign tends to resurrect memories
of the Cultural Revolution, generating fear and confusion, as well as resentment and
disillusionment with the party. At a minimum it has forced many officials to adopt a
timid posture instead of aggressively pushing ahead with reform. Officials who have
staked their careers on promoting reforms, particularly governors appointed during Hu's
tenure, no doubt have been encouraged by Zhao Ziyang's recent stinging rebuke of
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conservative propaganda themes. But we believe most lower level officials are likely to
continue to hedge their bets until the new balance of power at the top in Beijing
becomes clearer. That means implementation of reforms will probably remain sluggish
at least until after the outcome of the party congress this fall.
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Subject: China: The Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign in the
Provinces
White House and National Security Council
1 - Don Gregg, Special Assistant to the Vice-President, NSC, Room 298,
White House
1 - Doug Paal, Director of Asian Affairs, NSC, Room 302, OEOB
Department of State
1 - Stapleton Roy, Deputy Assistant Secretary, East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, Room 6205
1 - Richard Williams, Director, Office of Chinese Affairs (EAP/C),
Room 4318
1 - Joan Plaisted, Deputy Director of Economic Affairs, Office of Chinese
Affairs (EAP/C), Room 4318
1 - John Danylyk, Chief, INR/EC Communist Economic Relations Division,
Room 8662
1 - G. Eugene Martin, (EAP/CH), Room 4318
1 - Richard Solomon, Director Policy Planning Staff, Room 7311
1 - Tom Fingar, Chief, INR/EAP/CH, Room 8840
1 - Chris Clarke, INR/EAP/CH, Room 8840
Department of Defense
1 - Rear Admiral Baker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia, ISA,
Room 4E817, Pentagon
1 - Ed Ross, OSDISA, 4C840, Pentagon
China Plans and Policy, FESA J-5, Room 2E973, Pentagon
Major Ron Tom, China Staff Officer, Hq Dept. of the Army, DAMO-SSA,
Room 3B516, Pentagon.
1 - Chris Madison, Office of the Army, Assistant Chief
of Staff for Intelligence, DAMI-Fli, Room 2A474, Pentagon
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Central Intelligence Agency
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D/DCI/DDCI Executive Staff (7D60)
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