The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries
| The Critical Moment | |||
| Traditional Chinese | 李鵬-六四日記 | ||
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| Simplified Chinese | 李鹏-六四日记 | ||
| Literal meaning | Li Peng- June Fourth Diaries | ||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||
| Traditional Chinese | 關鍵時刻 | ||
| Simplified Chinese | 关键时刻 | ||
| Literal meaning | Critical Moment | ||
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The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries is a book issued in 2010 in the United States by West Point Publishing House, a small publisher established by Zheng Cunzhu, a former 1989 pro-democracy activist. The book contains entries from a diary believed to be written by the former Chinese Premier, Li Peng, covering the events leading up to and shortly after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Soon after the 21st anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in early 2010, a diary widely believed to have been penned by Li Peng was leaked onto the Internet. A copy of the original manuscript was given to New Century Press run by Bao Pu, son of Bao Tong, a former aide of General Secretray Zhao Ziyang. Although New Century authenticated the manuscript through months of research, the Chinese edition of the book by New Century was stopped on the basis of supposed copyright issues. US-based West Point Publishing subsequently took up the publication.
A 279-page manuscript, entitled The Critical Moment and subtitled Li Peng Diaries, started to circulate on the Internet in the run-up to the 21st anniversary of the crackdown. Bao, the publisher, said that a middleman had approached him with the manuscript because of the success in publishing Zhao's memoirs, entitled Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang. Bao said that after months of research, he and other editors agreed the book "should be authentic" and "it was very unlikely it was a fake". He nevertheless had some reservations, which he had been prepared to set out in a footnote.
The South China Morning Post had verified that substantial sections of the book were identical to the Internet manuscript. The newspaper said that Li's book had probably been ready for publication in early 2004 to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the 1989 protests. The SCMP cites the Yazhou Zhoukan saying that the manuscript was submitted for Politburo approval in autumn 2003; he was told several months later clearance had been denied. In June 2010, the diary was leaked onto the Internet.
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Wikipedia