A la Recherche d'une Ombre Chinoise: Le mouvement pour la democratie en Chine (1919-2004).

A LA RECHERCHE D'UNE OMBRE CHINOISE: Le mouvement pour la democratie en Chine (1919-2004). By Jean-Philippe Beja. Paris: Editions du Seuil. 2004. 266 pp. Euro 21.00, paper. ISBN 2-02-051051-0.

In his book, Jean-Philippe Beja, like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), chases democrats. His aim, however, is not to track down people, but to capture a political current which, like a Chinese shadow, has made appearances on the historical stage for more than a century. Although this rather elusive current never managed to impose itself durably, it has, nonetheless, never ceased to reappear over the years, causing headaches to the various despotic regimes which have succeeded one another at the helm of the country.

Beja offers both a useful historical panorama of the ideas and movements inspired by the democratic ideal and a reflection on the meaning, the weight and the future of this political current. Although the main focus of the book is the reforms era, the prologue deals with the period starting from late Qing until Mao's death, which allows the author to highlight the recurrence of certain debates. Thus the contradictions in the 1980s between the proponents of a liberal socialism, close to Hu Yaobang, and those of a technocratic type of neo-authoritarianism, close to Zhao Ziyang, evoke the debate of the 1920s between the liberal Hu Shi and reformers of the Kuomintang, who advocated imposing a "political tutelage" on a society considered to be immature.

The proponents of democratic ideas were mainly to be found among the intellectuals who, most of the time unwillingly, took over the role of the Confucian literati: they criticized the leaders whenever their acts were in contradiction with their own principles, and they endeavoured to protect the interests of the country and of the people. In doing so, they took some risks and gained support for their struggle from some sectors of society. But, unlike the developments in Eastern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, Chinese intellectuals never helped workers or peasants to organize themselves autonomously in order to protect their interests against the regime. To be sure, the task would have been particularly risky, given the extreme vigilance of the CCP in these matters. But one must also acknowledge that the Chinese intelligentsia, even among the advocates of democracy, has only limited confidence in the people. As Beja says, "the intellectuals are caught in a contradiction: although they are convinced (as democrats) that the people should be allowed to express themselves, they think that they are in the best position to give them a voice" (p. 114).

Since the Communist regime came to power, one of the main weaknesses of the democratic movement has been its inability to accumulate experience and rely on a collective memory. Due to the monopoly of the Party on the recording of history, each democratic movement has had to start from scratch. The author makes this observation in relation to the opposition movements under Mao, but it is still valid today, a quarter of a century after the death of the Great Helmsman. The students during the 1989 movement knew nothing about the 1978-1979 "Democracy Wall" movement, and a large proportion of today's youth have a conception of the 1989 events which is totally distorted by official propaganda.

The description of the various trends of the democratic current during the 1980s is particularly interesting. It is the most detailed account, and is based in part on interviews and written memoirs of some active intellectuals of the time. What was most promising at that time was the convergence between forces inside and outside the system. On both sides, some people were aware of the necessity not only to relax political and ideological constraints but also to develop a civil society. Details are given about the various autonomous "salons," research centres and editorial committees of the time. This relative autonomy was to disappear after 1989 with the elimination of the liberal faction from the higher spheres of the Party. Having lost all hope for a rapid democratization after the Tiananmen massacre, and being satisfied with the economic progress of the 1990s, most intellectuals have more or less accepted the status quo, though some of them are still expressing dissent or trying to exert some liberalizing influence in their field of expertise.

The general conclusion is lucid and rather balanced, though a bit optimistic if compared with the preceding chapters. The author notes that there is now a general trend toward a decline of politics, which has affected the whole world since the end of the Cold War. Chinese post-totalitarianism is in keeping with the globalized "governance" which replaces political and civic debate with the fragmented management of various concrete problems. Thus China is jumping over the democratic stage to directly enter the "postmodernist" stage, which gives the CCP an opportunity to avoid political reform and maintain its hegemony by moving towards a "post-political authoritarianism" based on a pact between the various elites: political, economic and intellectual (reference is made to Adam Michnik). Beja, however, notes that demands for democracy are still expressed in spite of severe repression. During the last years, some punctual actions have succeeded in uniting people of different horizons and in exerting some political influence, thanks to the Internet and to the support of the international, and even national, press. This was the case, notably, during the "contaminated blood" affair in Henan, as well as in the Sun Zhigang case, which resulted in the abolition of the practice of administrative internment of people who did not possess the requested residency permits. Though small gains in the defence of underprivileged groups do not necessarily mean progress towards democracy, the author wants to keep some faith in the possibility of seeing the "Chinese shadow" get to the front stage. According to him, even if the democratic movement is now weak and disorganized, it is nonetheless still alive. Therefore, the political future of China is not yet sealed.

MICHEL BONNIN

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France