Free China
Free China ( Chinese 自由 中國 半月刊 , Pinyin Zìyóu Zhōnggúo Bànyùekān ) also known as Zìyóu Zhōnggúo (自由 中國) for short , was a magazine published twice a month in the Republic of China (Taiwan) between 1949 and 1960 .
tasks and goals
The first issue of the magazine, whose publisher Hu Shi and its editor-in-chief Lei Zhen belonged to the so-called liberal opposition, appeared on November 20, 1949. The magazine was a political magazine that had set itself the goal of spreading liberal and democratic ideas and the prevent further spread of communist currents. Hu Shi, who in addition to his role as editor can also be seen as the spiritual leader of the magazine, set out the goals of the newspaper in the first issue:
- "We have come to a place which the Communist Party can enter at any moment by force of arms and which lies behind a very thick iron curtain . Behind this iron curtain there is no more news in the newspapers. Freedom of expression is completely lost gone and other fundamental freedoms of the people no longer exist. This is the purest policy of dumbing down the people, a policy that autocratic monarchs of antiquity did not dare. Indeed, we cannot watch this dreadful iron curtain spread across China. Therefore Let us take the initiative with this union and start the "Free China" movement.
- Our goals we intend to work on are:
- (1) We want to propagate freedom and the true values of democracy for the people of the whole country; We also want to ensure that the government carries out practical political and economic reforms and strives to build a liberal and democratic society.
- (2) We want to support the government and urge it to oppose with all its might the totalitarian politics behind the communist iron curtain, which deprives all freedom, and not to allow it to expand its sphere of influence.
- (3) We will do everything in our power to provide assistance to our compatriots in the occupied territories and to support them in the early restoration of freedom.
- (4) Our ultimate goal is to ensure that the undivided Republic of China becomes a free China. "
The four goals mentioned were mostly printed on the first pages of all future issues of the magazine. Accordingly, until October 1956, the magazine mostly contained articles that were anti-communist, directed against Russia and the communists on the mainland and dealt with questions relating to democracy and liberalism .
Conflict with the government
When in October 1956 President Chiang Kai-shek rejected a nationwide celebration for his 70th birthday and instead called on the public to criticize the government's policy, the magazine "Free China" published a special issue in November 1957 to celebrate Chiang's birthday . With this special issue, the magazine opened its sharp criticism of the political development and current government policy, which, according to the authors, were in conflict with the constitution. The authors of this very successful edition - there were a total of nine editions - were among others the well-known intellectuals Lei Zhen, Hu Shi, Tao Baichuan and Xu Fuguan .
In subsequent editions, the authors accused the national government of deliberately trying to keep Taiwan under control by dictatorial means. Yin Haiguang , for example, in his article Tell me what it's like before the government, held arguments such as 'national interest', 'basic national policy', 'unusual times', 'critical situation' and 'either nationalist or communist' as trump cards in the government To use control of freedom of expression. If the people's opinion criticized the government, Yin continued, it would not go against national interests, even if they ran counter to basic national politics. This government attitude, in his opinion, was the cause of the unrest of the previous decade.
The demands made on the central government in further articles from 1957 to 1958 can be summarized in these points:
- Reunification should be placed on the list of long-term tasks.
- Liberalization of the economy.
- Repeal of martial law.
- New elections for the representative bodies.
- Democratization of the political system in order to differentiate itself more clearly from the communist rulers on the mainland.
- Fairer electoral law and the admission of opposition parties.
- Protection of freedom of expression and the press, as well as protection of all other individual freedoms.
- Separation of the party ( Kuomintang , KMT) from the military, police and public institutions, such as B. Schools.
- Independence of the judiciary.
- Reform and liberalization of the educational system.
The Lei Zhen Case and the End of the Journal
Lei Zhen, the magazine's editor-in-chief, came under the government's crosshairs again in September 1960. After he had already been dismissed as a government advisor in 1952 and had also been expelled from the KMT in 1955, he was arrested by the government on September 4, 1960, which with this action led to the establishment of an opposition party called the Democratic Party of China ( Chinese 中國民主黨 , Pinyin zhōngguó mínzhǔ dǎng ) tried to prevent. Lei Zhen, who was slated to serve as the party's general secretary, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the subsequent trial. The magazine "Free China", which had tried to continue the tradition of criticism of the liberals of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 in Taiwan, had to cease publication in November 1960.
swell
- ↑ 胡適 (1949), 自由 中國 的 宗旨, in: 自由 中國, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 2
- ↑ Hua-Yuan Hsueh: 《自由 中國》 全 23 卷 總 目錄 暨 索引 . Ed .: Yuan-Liou Publishing. tape 1 , p. 73 .
- ↑ 殷海光 (1957), 令 日 的 問題 (一): 是 什麼, 就說 什麼, in: 自由 中國, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 2-3
- ↑ see below a. Reinhardt, Monika (1989): Political Opposition in Taiwan 1947–1988: The Democratic Progressive Party , Bochum.