Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1116-W748

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1116-W748

Release Date: June 10, 2018

发布日：2018年6月10日

Topic: The Intellectual Elite During the 1989 Democracy Movement in China -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：八九民运中的知识精英 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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The Intellectual Elite During the 1989 Democracy Movement in China

-- Wei Jingsheng

Recently I watched a TV drama called "The Intellectuals During the Era of Turmoil." The drama repeatedly emphasized the backbone of the intellectuals, with some examples. Many viewers of this drama may feel pity that the intellectuals nowadays are not as outstanding as they were before. However, I feel that at least during the 1989 democracy movement, the behavior of many Chinese literati intellectuals were no less than in ancient times. Especially those students and citizens who were not afraid of sacrifice did show the bones of strength and courage that the five-thousand-year-old Chinese culture has, which moves me to tears even as now.

In the West, that strength is called the independence of intellectuals, which is a spirit not influenced by power and money. It is an independent spirit that explores truth and is not afraid of sacrifice. This is the same concept as the "bones with strength" of the Chinese tradition, describing independence, pureness that is not speculation driven by the wind, yet strong and unbending, daring to stick to the truth, and not hesitating to sacrifice their lives. This is a noble character that is well respected in Europe and the United States, while the opposite character is called "TeRou" or "MianGua" in the Beijing dialect.

During the 1989 democracy movement in China, not only were there respectable bones of strength, but also there were indeed speculators who were driven by the wind and MianGua who were indecisive. The weights of these characters determined the direction of history. The millions of bones of strength on Tiananmen Square were unable to escape their fate of capsizing as the small sailboats in a rough sea, when there was no real leader and they lost direction. Yet, in the decision-making high levels of power, there was the steadfast and prudent strategy of the tyranny on one side, to turn the direction of history backwards and made blood flow like rivers.

As the biggest wave since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 1989 democracy movement has given us a lot of experience and lessons, as well as illustrating many issues. One of them is that under the eradication and screening of the dictatorship by the tyranny, the bones of the strength of the literati are rapidly degenerating. The independent intellectuals are becoming increasingly scarce, although this kind of bones of strength is abundant in the people. This kind of strength, or the independent spirit of the intellectuals, is a strong driving force for China to get rid of the tyranny and move forward.

The ethos of the literati or the spirit of independent intellectuals originated in the ancient gentry class and the noble knight class. Therefore, there are called noble spirits or gentlemen style. In the modern era, with everyone to be equal and political correctness, it has been changed to the spirit of an independent intellectual. However, the content has not changed much.

In ancient times, due to the constraints of economic conditions and difficulties in obtaining information, it was difficult for the slave classes and the civilian population to produce intellectuals, not to mention independent intellectuals. However, in the fierce international competition, the ruling classes in various countries have gradually realized the value of independent thinking. The wisdom of independent intellectuals in their own class that can accept knowledge without being plagued by fear and concerned of survival often determines the survival and development of that country.

After the Qin and Han dynasties, economic development and the spread of knowledge led to the emergence of talents from the civilian level; meanwhile the development of the imperial examination system allowed the rise of civilian intellectuals. In the West, along with economic development and knowledge diffusion, independent intellectuals from non-noble classes have also developed in modern times. However, their bones of strength and spirit are the same, and they all inherit the spirit developed by ancient literati. These bones of strength and spirit are exactly the values of the intellectuals to their countries and their society.

Of course, everyone's genetics and environment are different. There are also a large number of opposing products in the intellectual class, which was called in ancient times and is called today as speculators. In an autocratic environment, the dictators most favored of villains are those who are good at brown-nosing. The most valuable independent intellectuals are then eliminated, and social development stagnates or reverses.

The relatively free environment of ancient China was the key condition for the economic development and social stability of ancient China. The key reason was that the independent intellectuals had demonstrated their talents and wisdom in the political and economic fields. Yet, the continuous birth of tyrants and dictatorial politics were precisely the main reasons for economic stagnation and the eventual change of the dynasties.

In modern times, although Western democracy is not perfect, it has demonstrated the ability to resolve the chaos during the change of dynasties, which is better that the unstable free environment in ancient China. This is the most important reason why people with lofty ideals have learnt from the West in the past one hundred years. The autocratic slavery system learned by the Communist Party can only make China stay in a backward position, if it does not collapse immediately.

Original link of this RFA commentary:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-06112018165006.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2018/WeiJS180607on1989intellecturals.mp3

(Written and recorded on June 7, 2018. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1116-W748

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1116-W748

Release Date: June 10, 2018

发布日：2018年6月10日

Topic: The Intellectual Elite During the 1989 Democracy Movement in China -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：八九民运中的知识精英 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2018/report2018-06/WeiJS180610on1989intellecturalsA1116-W748.htm

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八九民运中的知识精英

-- 魏京生

最近看了一部电视剧，叫做乱世书香。剧中反复强调了文人的风骨，并且演出了一些范例。很多观众可能会感叹今不如昔了。我觉得至少八九民运期间，很多中国的文人知识分子，表现不逊于古人。特别是那些不怕牺牲的学生和市民，表现出了中国五千年文化带来的风骨和勇气，至今仍让我感动流泪。

风骨，在西方叫做知识分子的独立性。也就是不被权势和金钱所左右，独立探索真理并且不怕牺牲的精神。这和中国传统中的风骨是相同的概念。风就是不畏权势的独立性，纯粹性，不是随风倒的风派投机分子。骨就是强硬，宁折不弯，敢于坚持真理，不惜牺牲性命。这在欧美国家是被尊崇备至的高尚品格。相反的性格在北京话里叫做忒肉，面瓜。

八九民运时不仅有让人尊崇的风骨，也确实有见风使舵的投机和优柔寡断的面瓜。孰轻孰重，决定着历史的走向。广场上那成百万的风骨，没有领袖失去了方向，像惊涛骇浪中的小帆船一样，难逃倾覆的命运。而权高位重的决策层中，暴政一方的坚定和多谋善断，把历史大方向扭转向倒退，并且血流成河。

八九民运这场建国以来最大的风潮，给了我们很多经验和教训，也说明了很多问题。其中之一，就是在专制暴政的淘汰和筛选之下，文人的风骨在迅速地退化；独立知识分子越来越稀少，反而大量存在于民间。而这种风骨，或者说是知识分子的独立精神，是中国摆脱暴政向前发展的强劲动力。

文人风骨或者独立知识分子精神，起源于古代的士大夫阶级和贵族骑士阶级。所以也有说法叫做贵族精神或者君子之风。现代崇尚人人平等了，政治正确只好改为独立知识分子精神，但内容没有多大的变化。

古代由于经济条件限制和信息获得的困难，奴隶阶级和平民百姓很难产生知识分子，何况独立的知识分子。但在激烈的国际竞争中，各国统治阶级逐渐认识到独立思考的宝贵价值。而本阶级中可以接受知识，又不被恐惧和生存所困扰的人里，所产生的独立知识分子的智慧，往往决定着国家的生存和发展。

秦汉以后，经济的发展和知识的扩散，使得平民阶层人才辈出，并且发展出了使平民知识分子地位可以上升的科举制度。在西方也是随着经济发展和知识扩散，在近代发展出了非贵族的独立知识分子。但他们的风骨和精神却是相同的，而且都是继承了古代文人发展出的精神。因为这些风骨和精神，正是知识分子于国家和社会的价值之所在。

当然每个人的遗传和环境都不一样。知识分子阶层中也有大量相反的产品，也就是古人所说的奸佞小人，现代人所说的投机分子。在一个专制环境中，独裁者们最喜欢的是善于谄媚拍马的奸佞小人。最有价值的独立知识分子被淘汰，社会发展停滞或者倒退。

古代中国比较自由的环境，是古代中国经济发展社会稳定的关键条件。其中，独立知识分子在政治领域和经济领域得以发挥他们的才智，是关键的原因。而不断产生的暴君和独裁政治，恰恰是经济停滞倒退，最终改朝换代的主要原因。

近代以来西方的现代民主，虽然不够完善，但展现出解决改朝换代天下大乱的能力，优于中国古代的不稳定的自由环境。这就是近百年来仁人志士们学习西方的最主要的原因。共产党学来的专制农奴制，只能使中国停留在落后的位置上，如果不是立刻崩溃的话。

魏京生在自由亚洲电台评论的原始链接：

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-06112018165006.html