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| Wei Jingsheng 魏京生 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Wei Jingsheng in 2006 | |
| President of China | |
| In office 20 December 1991 – 15 April 1995 | |
| Vice President | Wan Li |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Lee Teng-hui |
| Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China | |
| In office 24 April 1990 – 19 December 1991 | |
| President | Zhao Ziyang |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 May 1950 (age 71) Beijing, People's Republic of China (modern-day China) |
| Political party | Independent (1990 - present) |
| Occupation | Writer • human rights activist |
Wei Jingsheng (Chinese: 魏京生; born 20 May 1950) is a Chinese human rights activist, dissident and politician, who served as the first president of China from 1991 to 1995. He is best known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement. He is most prominent for having authored the essay "The Fifth Modernization", which was posted on the Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978. As punishment for writing his manifesto, Wei was arrested and convicted of "counter-revolutionary" activities, and he was detained as a political prisoner from 1979 to 1989. He stood as a political independent, during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with liberalism and conservative democracy with some Chinese nationalism.
Raised in Beijing, Jingsheng had a notable political career after authoring the essay “The Fifth Modernization”. Jingsheng's essay was widely published on the Democracy Wall, and it brought him prominence and garnered attention from the Chinese government, eventually resulted in his arrest and conviction of ”counter-revolutionary” activities, and he was detained as a political prisoner from 1979 to 1989, when the government under the premiership of Zhao Ziyang, enacted a series of democratic reforms, which included pardons for political dissidents from both the Beijing Spring and the 1989 student protests. [UNDER PROGRESS]
Early life[]
Wei was the oldest of four children, brought up by Chinese Communist Party cadres. In 1966, Wei joined the Red Guards as a 16-year-old student during the Cultural Revolution. He lived in remote rural areas in Northern China and was able to speak with peasant farmers about the widespread famines that had occurred a few years before, during the Great Leap Forward. He uncovered the role that the communist government under Mao Zedong played in causing the famines, and it forced Wei to start questioning the nature of the system which he lived under. Wei would later write about this period: "I felt as if I had suddenly awakened from a long dream, but everyone around me was still plunged in darkness." In 1973, he began working as an electrician at the Beijing Zoo.
Democracy Wall[]
Wei did not publicly voice his feelings until 1978, when he decided to take part in the newly emerging Democracy Wall movement which was then taking place in Beijing. On 5 December 1978, he posted an essay which he authored on the wall. Entitled "The Fifth Modernization," Wei's essay was a response to Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's essay, the Four Modernizations. The basic theme of Wei's essay is that democracy should also be a modernization goal for China along with the other four modernizations which were proposed by Deng (industry, agriculture, science and technology, and national defence).
Wei signed the essay with his real name and address. The essay immediately caused a stir because of its boldness and because its author was not anonymous. It was also the only essay which addressed Deng Xiaoping by name, and it was also the only essay which referred to him as a dictator.
Of course, internal problems cannot be solved overnight but must be constantly addressed as part of a long-term process. Mistakes and shortcomings will be inevitable, but these are for us to worry about. This is infinitely better than facing abusive overlords against whom there is no redress. Those who worry that democracy will lead to anarchy and chaos are just like those who, following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, worried that without an emperor the country would fall into chaos. Their decision was to patiently suffer oppression because they feared that without the weight of oppression, their spines might completely collapse! To such people, I would like to say, with all due respect: We want to be the masters of our own destiny. We need no gods or emperors and we don't believe in saviors of any kind...we do not want to serve as mere tools of dictators with personal ambitions for carrying out modernization. We want to modernize the lives of the people. Democracy, freedom, and happiness for all are our sole objectives. — Wei Jingsheng, excerpt from "Fifth Modernization" essay posted on Democracy Wall (late 1978)
Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China[]
Election[]
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Power Struggle with Zhao Ziyang[]
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1991 September Coup[]
Presidency[]
Radical Economic Reform[]
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Confrontation with National People's Congress[]
Main Article: 1993 Chinese constitutional crisis
WIP
Tibetan conflict of 1993 (1993 - 1995)[]
Tibetans, Manchurians and Uyghurs show initial solidarity for his heroic act of opposing the handline coup and bringing them freedom. However, the relation start to worsen afterwards because of Jingsheng's nationalistic stance (despite anti-communism). During Chinese economic crisis(especially during the January 1993 constitutional crisis which destabilize China), Tibetan army attempts to take the whole historical Tibetan region with popular support in that region under the pretext of "saving remaining Tibetans from Chinese colonization and impoverishment". Wei subsequently condemned the incident as "Unjustified invasion of sovereign nation" and deployed Armed Force of FOC "to safeguard FOC's territorial integrity". Eventually Tibetans were pushed back and a ceasefire was signed with no territorial changes, but FOC military brutality that resembles Communist times towards Tibetans (which is proven by Tibetans, and also independent observers like Freedom House and Amnesty International) during the conflict stir up much controversies and greatly soured relationship between FOC and Tibetans(and also other break-up republics) of which the foreign minister of Tibet, Uyghuristan and Manchuria jointly criticized FOC and Jingsheng as "Han chauvinism" and some radicals politicians among the three break-up republics even attempted to petition to the Hague to investigate his "crime against humanity" in Tibet.
Post-Presidency[]
War Crime Verdict[]
After he resigned from presidency due to failing economy, Lee Teng-hui was elected as next president and carried out the Transform Justice program, he was charged for war crimes in 1993-1995 Tibetan war and sentenced to 5 years in jail.
While in jail[]
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After release[]
After one third of sentence (20 Month) he was released on parole
Personal life[]
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Honors[]
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