Since June 3 and 4 of 1989 -- when the Chinese government forcefully removed protesting students from Tiananmen Square -- the world has focused primarily on student accounts of the event.
Until now.
Professor Andrew Nathan and his colleague Perry Link published The Tiananmen Papers, a compilation of confidential Chinese government documents, in January 2001. And according to New York Times book critic Jonathan Spence, it is "the first attempt to analyze the events that occurred... through intensive exploration of the Chinese Communist Party's side of the story."
The book, which has been compared to The Pentagon Papers, contains various government reports on the events, minutes from several high-level party meetings and myriad other documents, which Nathan obtained through his very own "Deep Throat" close to the Chinese government who goes by "Zhang Liang."
Nathan, an esteemed Chinese specialist who has taught at Columbia University since 1971 and is the author of numerous works on China, spoke about the writing process and the book's aftermath in Stiteler Hall yesterday afternoon.
"Our goal is to host speakers, to address contemporary issues in East Asia that are of interest to a diverse cross-section of the Penn Community," said Paula Roberts, coordinator for the Center for East Asian Studies. Over 60 students and professors attended.
Authenticity and editing were two major facets of the project.
"It was chiefly I that had to authenticate the material," Nathan said. "There was an impressive amount of confirmation... some had to do with the cross-examination of the compiler and... checking things out with people who had no idea we were doing this."
Nathan and his colleagues intended for the book to provoke Chinese government reaction and reform. And, as they hoped, it did incite response.
Two weeks before its publication, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the book, threatening that "any attempt to create disunity within the government by fabricating materials will be in vain," according to Nathan.
To date, the Chinese government has taken several actions which, in Nathan's eyes, confirm the validity of the records. It has threatened death to all who reprint the book and issued inspections at customs. China has launched a comprehensive investigation to uncover the anonymous source's identity.
"My impression is that they have been pretty thorough in preventing the spread of this information," Nathan said. However, "the game is not over yet."
The "compiler" continues to secretly publish more documents in the hopes of someday creating a split within the party and prompting political reform in China, Nathan added.
Audience members lingered after the talk, to discuss the issue on their own.
"I thought it was great," said Chris Lew, who is working towards his masters degree in History at the School of Arts and Sciences. "I came here because I wanted to see the other side [of the story], the political side."
The lecture -- part of a series geared towards addressing current political, historical and social sciences in East Asia -- was sponsored by Penn's Center for East Asian Studies.
