“He’s a pioneer”
On Fuzhou Road, Shanghai, which is full of bookstores, new book posters with the head portrait of Qian Qichen, the former vice premier of the State Council and the former foreign minister for ten years, can be seen everywhere.
In Beijing, this memoir of Qian Qichen’s diplomacy, named “ten records of diplomacy”, has been printed five times since it went public on November 5. According to the data provided by the publisher, the total number is more than 150000 copies.
“He (Qian Qichen) is indeed a pioneer.” Wang Chengjia, former Chinese ambassador to Cuba and Chile, said. He thinks this is the first memoir of historical events that Chinese national leaders have published after retirement. Wang Chengjia is currently the world affairs Press president who published the book.
One month after the publication of the ten records of diplomacy, the memoirs of Li Lanqing, another national leader who had just retired in March, were also placed on bookshelves in bookstores around the country. In a short period of time, Memoirs of the two retired state leaders were published one after another, breaking the “convention” that almost no one wrote memoirs after the retirement of Chinese political leaders “.
For Chinese readers, the inside story or truth of diplomacy has always been a subtle and provocative topic. “Ten records of diplomacy” is remarkable, which is taken for granted.
From serving as Chinese Foreign Minister in 1988 to retiring as vice premier of the State Council in 2003, Qian Qichen took charge of China’s diplomacy for 15 years. These 15 years are also the most complicated in China’s diplomatic history, A period of frequent changes. Starting from March this year, Qian Qichen began to write a book. It took five months to write a manuscript of more than 20 million words, reviewing the normalization of relations with the Soviet Union, the settlement of Cambodia issues, the mediation on the eve of the Gulf War, the resumption of diplomatic relations with Indonesia, the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea, the game of Sino-US relations after 1989, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, diplomatic relations with Africa, there are ten themes in the two struggles related to Taiwan diplomacy and the return of Hong Kong and Macao. The book also contains five speeches delivered by Qian Qichen at the School of International Relations of Peking University.
Wang Chengjia, the “old subordinate” who knew the news early, took the initiative to contact the publishing right. As a publishing house of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was natural to get the copyright world affairs Press.
The purpose of publishing a book is to get the source of the original book.
Qian Qichen called his memoirs “only for truth and accuracy, not for history”.
“I think Qian Qichen has his own consideration in writing this book. He told me that there are many versions of some things abroad. If we don’t express the real things, many years later, those unreal things will become facts.” Wang Chengjia said, “In my opinion, this is actually a positive history.”
Recalling the chapter of “black clouds pressing the city to be indestructible” in the game of Sino-US relations after 1989, both ordinary readers and professional scholars regard it as a brilliant chapter of the book. Qian Qichen revealed in the book that Bush, the president of the United States at that time, sent a Secretary-General skokrov to Beijing to talk with Deng Xiaoping on July 1, 1989, hoping to obtain China’s understanding of the relevant actions of the White Palace. Interestingly, skokroff and Bush senior described the story that they were almost beaten down by the Chinese military after entering China’s airspace by special plane in the book “a world of change” co-authored later. Qian Qichen corrected in a relaxed tone that it was just the artificial imagination of Mr. Secretary. Before that, China and the United States had fully communicated with this secret visit, and the air passage was green.
“Instead of avoiding complicated historical events, he told history to the public with his own political and diplomatic wisdom. He has mentioned many times that what can be made public must be understood by people.” A teacher from the School of International Relations of Peking University told the reporter that Qian Qian Qian had to give a speech every year before he retired, “he was enlightened and advised diplomats to say as little as possible when answering questions, because this sentence cannot solve the problem at all.”
However, Qian Qichen specially emphasized to dilute his personal color. The original proposal of the publishing house was called “memoirs of Qian Qichen”, which was rejected. Qian Qichen personally liked the books “six notes of floating life” and “six notes of cadre school” very much. He hoped that the book he wrote was also plain, so he changed it to the title of “ten notes of diplomacy. Qian Qichen also did not want to put his avatar on the cover of the book. Wang Chengjia once joked, “In fact, you can also write a book” diplomatic fun “.” But Qian Qichen also rejected this proposal.
No longer mysterious retirement life
“Chinese politicians seldom have the habit of writing memoirs publicly, so many Chinese biographies are actually written by foreigners, which is really a pity.” A scholar from the history department of Nanjing University said. In the eyes of ordinary people, the life of national leaders after retirement has always maintained a very mysterious color.
Under this background, the news that Qian Qichen published memoirs more than half a year after retirement stimulated the interest and imagination of the public and the media.
On November 15, Qian Qichen’s memoirs met the public in Xidan Book Building in Beijing in the form of a free photo. Wang Chengjia said: “Due to the special identity of the author, it is impossible for him to sign and sell books on the spot or attend reader meetings.” On this day, rare edition signed and sealed by Qian Qichen was bought by a Beijinger surnamed Gong. Later, the charity shooting was held in Wuhan and other cities. All the money for the charity shoot will be donated to the education of poor children.
As early as early as the beginning of November, “Ten records of diplomacy” had formed a “whirlwind” in the media of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and newspapers began to reprint a large number of contents, especially those related to Hong Kong and Taiwan. The challenge facing world affairs press now is how to suppress the endless piracy everywhere.
In fact, after retirement, Qian Qichen continued to do something in the diplomatic field except reading books and writing books. President Wang Chengjia said, “he often does something for the country in the United Nations.” Just when “ten records of diplomacy” was put on the bookstore, Qian Qichen was in Houston of the United States to attend the Sino-US relations seminar hosted by former US President George W. Bush.
Wang Chengjia thought: “Qian Qian Qian’s memoirs were the first to write, and their value should be very far-reaching. I believe that after him, there will certainly be other national leaders Publishing books one after another.”
In Li Lanqing’s educational interview, we can see the value of memoirs written by retired politicians. Li Lanqing said, “working in the leadership position of the State Council for ten years, it is really necessary to make a report to the people. Considering repeatedly, it is better to talk about some experiences and experiences of my work in the State Council in the form of interviews with reporters, so as to let readers understand the formation process of national public policies and important decisions”
“I hope this is a new beginning,” a scholar commented, “this kind of writing provides a personal perspective of major historical events, which itself is a part of the history of faith. At the same time, it also expands the social discourse space.”
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“He opened the first river” on Fuzhou Road, Shanghai, which was full of bookstores, new book posters with the head portrait of Qian Qichen, the former vice premier of the State Council and the former foreign minister for ten years, can be seen everywhere. In Beijing, this memoir of Qian Qichen’s diplomacy named “ten records of diplomacy” has been published since 1