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Jun Mai

Doctored front pages and selective omissions are two of the techniques Beijing has used to filter out the reform legacy of late Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang from high-profile commemorations on the centenary of the reformist’s birth.
The most recent censorship was on the weekend when state broadcaster CCTV removed a photograph of Hu associate and late purged party leader Zhao Ziyang from footage of the front page of a 1982 edition of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece.
In an official documentary about Hu aired on Saturday, Zhao’s photo was replaced with that of a lower-ranked Standing Committee member.
Hu was sidelined in 1987 for tolerating “bourgeois liberalisation” and his death in 1989 sparked nationwide pro-democracy protests. Zhao was the party’s general secretary who was purged in the aftermath of the demonstrations. The pair were seen by many as liberals within the party.
“They are commemorating their Hu Yaobang, not ours,” one WeChat user wrote.
Read more: The battle of the century: Defining the legacy of China’s late liberal leader Hu Yaobang
That official line is in contrast to a ceremony a decade ago to mark the 90th anniversary of Hu’s birth.
In 2005, then-vice-president Zeng Qinghong praised Hu for his “democratic working style” and for “exploring reform” of the state and party leadership, a term that refers to broader involvement in decision making and democracy within the party. Zeng also mentioned some of Hu’s speeches which were seen by party liberals as critical of the Mao Zedong  era.
But none of those references were in Xi’s speech on Hu at the Great Hall of the People on Friday. Instead, Xi said the most important thing the party should learn from Hu was his firm faith in communism.

r was there any mention in Xi’s speech of a set of political rules that Hu helped draft in 1980.
Central Party School professor Wang Haiguang said those rules allowed for more voices within the party.
In an essay published two weeks ago in political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu, Wang wrote: “[The rules call for] no arbitrary decisions by individuals … the practice of internal party democracy … and different opinions in the party.
“How much of this have we achieved in the past 35 years [since the rules were published]? Did we forget about the pain after the scar was healed? ”
Two weeks before Wang’s article was published, the party passed a new set of rules banning “inappropriate comments about the Communist Party’s key policies” and vilifying party leaders, a move that many fear will silence even mild criticism in the party.
Read more: Son of reformer Hu Yaobang rues lost chance for change, 25 years after his father’s death
The change in the official line about Hu was significant, according to Wu Wei, a former researcher at Beijing’s top ad hoc think tank for political reform and who was dismissed after the pro-democracy protests in 1989.
“History has always been used for the present. They are using Hu Yaobang with the commemoration,” Wu said. “The use is based on political reality … A decade ago, the party still talked once in a while of carrying out political reform.”
Such discussions had dwindled under Xi, he said.
History has always been used for the present
Wu Wei
“If the party does not agree with Hu’s democratic style and opposition to the cult of personality, it’s natural for them to remove such lines, otherwise it would look ironic.”
Wu said Hu was one of the party’s few remaining assets and it was using the respect for Hu as a source of legitimacy for itself.
Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Lifan said Hu was being selectively portrayed as a man with firm communist beliefs and loyalty to the party line. “It can help legitimise the leadership role of the party.”


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(151120) -- BEIJING, Nov. 20, 2015 (Xinhua) -- Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping (C, rear), Li Keqiang (6th R, rear), Zhang Dejiang (6th L, rear), Yu Zhengsheng (5th R, rear), Liu Yunshan (5th L, rear), Wang Qishan (4th R, rear) and Zhang Gaoli (4th L, rear) attend a symposium to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Hu Yaobang at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 20, 2015. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) (zhs)

FILE - This Sept. 1982 file photo shows then Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang. China's ruling Communist Party has issued a collection of speeches and other works by reformist leader Hu, whose death catalyzed the 1989 pro-democracy protest movement that was brutally crushed on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The edition from the People's Publishing House commemorates Friday's 100th anniversary of Hu's birth and includes works from 1952 to 1986, some of which had never before been published. (AP Photo/File)

Communist Party leaders commemorate the centenary of the birth of Hu Yaobang at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

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