Here we tell the story of those in a neighboring country, Japan.
When discussion comes round to Chinese pro-democracy activists in Japan, many people will mention the names of Yang Chung-mei and Hao Yi-sheng it Tokyo and Chi Wei-tung in Kyoto.
Each of these three has his own distinctive qualities and a completely different background.
Yang Chung-mei, who is completing his Ph.D. at Tokyo's Rikkyo University, is an "old hand" of the pro-democracy movement. He came to Japan in 1971 and has studied for M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in modern Chinese history at Rikkyo University.
His involvement in the pro-democracy movement began some time ago, and well before the June 4 massacre he already had extremely close contacts with the China Democratic League, a mainland China opposition group in Japan.
When the student movement began in earnest in Peking on May 3, he organized 14 delegates from eight universities into the "United Alliance of Chinese in Japan." This group later became one of the main supporters in the Tokyo area of the 1989 pro-democracy movement.
Hao Yi-sheng is chairman of the Japanbranch of the Federation for a Democratic China. In December last year it was he who urged the Federation's vice chairman Wu-erh K'ai-hsi and its secretary general Wan Jun-nan to visit Japan. The establishment of the Federation's Japan branch, in such proximity to mainland China, has not only beefed up the previously neglected pro-democracy movement overseas but is also proving a considerable embarrassment to the mainland Chinese "embassy" in its efforts to mend relations with Japan and stamp out the pro-democracy movement.
Like most Chinese residing in Japan, Hao Yi-sheng's original aim was not to travel abroad to engage in pro-democracy activities. When he arrived in Japan a year ago his main purpose was to be a visiting scholar in economics at Tokyo University, where he hoped to gather data and ideas that would be of use in his ongoing research project at the Social Science Institute at Tientsin into Japan's role in the international economy. But as soon as the massacre took place in Peking he put his entire project on ice.
The third Chinese pro-democracy activist best known in Japan is Chi Wei-tung, who is reading for a Ph.D. in law at Kyoto University. Chi was originally from Peking University, and he makes no secret of his staunch opposition to the present regime.
On May 23, the day martial law was declared in Peking, Chi Wei-tung mobilized a protest march of 70 local Chinese overseas students on the campus of Kyoto University as an expression of their concern. This was the first protest action in the Kansai region of Japan. On May 28 he held a seminar at Kyoto University entitled "Where is China headed?", partly to voice a protest and partly to call upon Japanese friends to support the student movement in Tienanmen Square.
On June 10 he and 22 fellow students produced wide-ranging shock waves with a joint declaration of their withdrawal from the Communist Party in protest at the Peking massacre.
"In Chinese history there is a tradition of admonishing the emperor. Even suicide was used as a way of warning the emperor that he was in the wrong. If this tradition can be realized among the modern generation of intellectuals and we can at least say 'no' under the powerful ideology of the authorities, then it would be very meaningful," says Chi Wei-tung.
Yang, Hao and Chi are three of the most prominent pro-democracy activists among the mainland Chinese students in Japan. They are prepared to hold meetings and discussions anywhere in Japan, and since the formation of the Paris-based Federation for a Democratic China they may sometimes have to travel to attend meetings abroad. This charmed life may be admired by their fellow Chinese overseas students, but they all know that behind it lies a genuine anxiety.
This has to do with the special circumstances of life in Japan.
"Japan must be one of the most difficult places to carry out pro-democracy activities," Yang Chung-mei explains. Western countries such as America view human rights as a central issue on the political scene and have opted to lend direct support to the Chinese pro-democracy movement. But this is not the case in Japan.
Japan's close economic ties to mainland China and the Japanese government's habitual equivocation in foreign affairs do not bode well for the pro-democracy movement.
"One indication of their attitude is the way the Japanese government hesitated over whether or not to extend Chinese students' visas in the wake of the Peking massacre," says Yang Chung-mei.
Things like this, added to Chinese Communist pressure, have made their problem more acute.
Hsu Kai-ch'in, a Ph.D. student from Tohoku University, pointed out on a recent visit to Taiwan that the mainland Chinese "embassy" originally issued them with five-year passports, but without explanation their validity was reduced to one year. At the time of the Peking massacre, many overseas students reported receiving threatening phone calls. Yang Chung-mei and Hao Yi-sheng have several times been criticized by name in the People's Daily, and Chi Wei-tung's academic research has been placed on a blacklist circulated among high-level communist cadres, indicating that he is a marked man. Such actions prove how worried the Chinese Communists are by the pro-democracy activists in Japan.
In fact the Chinese Communists cannot afford to ignore the pro-democracy supporters in Japan, partly because of Japan's proximity to mainland China and partly because of the large number of Chinese students studying in Japan. As Yang Chung-mei points out, there are as many as 40,000 Chinese students in Japan, second only to the number in the United States. The Chinese community in Japan covers a wide range, including students, overseas Chinese, high level cadres and technicians. Thus the pro-democracy movement, if fully developed, will have a far-reaching influence.
In Wu-erh K'ai-hsi's view the role of pro-democracy movement in Japan is not to be underestimated. The problem is, what actions should the pro-democracy activists take?
Hao Yi-sheng thinks the most urgent task is to set up a sound organization to underpin the forces of opposition. "The very existence of the Democratic Federation is of great significance in itself," he says.
In Hao Yi-sheng's view there are two reasons why mainland China has gone the way it has. The first is the influence of autocracy, for with no factions within the Party and no opposition parties outside it the authorities have drifted inexorably into extremism. North Korea and Vietnam are examples of a similar case.
The other reason is the cult of personality, whereby the country is governed not on the basis of any system or rational process but on the basis of some individuals. "When Mao Tse-tung was okay the country was fine, but when he went off the rails the whole country suffered. This is absolutely not a reliable way to do things," says Hao Yi-sheng. In his view the main issues facing mainland China today are the establishment of an opposition force and the need for a thoroughly rational system.
The pro-democracy activists have no illusions about their future. "Let's just see how we get on!" Hao Yi-sheng admits frankly. The Chinese Communists have already suspended their grants and thei passports will expire in August this year. For Hao Yi-sheng the future may mean the start of a series of economic and political pressures.
At the moment he is busy writing his dissertation and may take his doctorate this year. As his student life draws to a close his worries about his one-year-old daughter left behind on the mainland can well be imagined.
How about giving up any idea of returning? "We cannot go back home at the moment but one day we certainly will," comes their unanimous response.
Chi Wei-tung would like to be a hero in the manner of the students and literati of old, but he isn't willing to sacrifice everything just yet. Still, as he says, "I couldn't bear to link my life to a regime which is going against worldwide trends and has been repudiated by its own people."
In the words of Chi Wei-tung, "This is an historic choice between light and darkness." These people are only doing what they consider to be right.
[Picture Caption]
Owing to Japan's close relations with the Chinese Communists, heavy pressure is placed on those who take part in the pro-democracy movement. The photograph shows a memorial ceremony held in Tokyo's Hibiya Park a hundred days after the Tienanmen massacre.
Yang Chung-mei, the director of the Japan chapter of the Federation for a Democratic China, is an eloquent speaker.
Hao Yi-sheng says that he is simply a person acting according to his conscience.
Scholarly and refined, Chi Wei-tung hopes to revive the ancient practice of "remonstrating the emperor" in the modern era.
Before the Japanese branch of the Federation for a Democratic China was set up, the main force supporting the mainland pro-democracy movement in Japan was the Fe deration for Solidarity Among Chinese in Japan. (photo courtesy of Ryugakusei Shimbun sha)
A large demonstration involving 4,000 to 5,000 people was held in Tokyo following the June 4 massacre. (photo courtesy of Ryugakusei Shimbunsha)
The Tienanmen Square movement has united pro-democracy supporters at home and abroad.
Yang Chung-mei, the director of the Japan chapter of the Federation for a Democratic China, is an eloquent speaker.
Hao Yi-sheng says that he is simply a person acting according to his conscience.
Scholarly and refined, Chi Wei-tung hopes to revive the ancient practice of "remonstrating the emperor" in the modern era.
Before the Japanese branch of the Federation for a Democratic China was set up, the main force supporting the mainland pro-democracy movement in Japan was the Fe deration for Solidarity Among Chinese in Japan. （photo courtesy of Ryugakusei Shimbun sha）
A large demonstration involving 4,000 to 5,000 people was held in Tokyo following the June 4 massacre. （photo courtesy of Ryugakusei Shimbunsha）
The Tienanmen Square movement has united pro-democracy supporters at home and abroad.
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