Then, as now, he regarded the charges as trumped-up retribution for his leaving the unit early.
After his release, Zhang said he traveled to find work, returning to Tengzhou in 2004 to deal in arts and antiques and help raise his 13-year-old daughter. In a dingy study adorned with his calligraphy and curio collection, he spends hours at the keyboard of his battered computer keeping in touch with other dissidents and surfing political discussion boards on the Internet.
Zhang, who retains the close-clipped haircut and restrained demeanor of a military man, said he came forward partly to seek redress for his jail camp term but that revisiting the Tiananmen events remained his main focus.
“Back then, we felt it would all be addressed in the near future. But ... democracy just seems further and further away,” Zhang said between puffs on an endless string of “General” brand Chinese cigarettes.
EXAMPLE
Zhang said he hoped his example would inspire more ex-soldiers to come forward and form a network, but appeared reluctant to cast himself as an organizer, perhaps wary of the party’s tendency to single out perceived opposition ringleaders for harsher punishment.
Already, his activities have aroused official attention. Visitors have been followed by police and Zhang said authorities who summoned him on Wednesday, a day after the AP interviewed him, ordered him to shun the foreign media.
Retired professor Ding Zilin (丁子霖), an advocate for Tiananmen victims whose teenage son was killed in the crackdown, said Zhang is one of only a few soldiers to speak up about the 1989 events. Many who took part in the crackdown continue to hide their involvement, refusing to wear the commemorative watch issued to all martial law troops, she said.
“Twenty years have passed, but if the soldiers still had conscience, there may be others who stand up,” Ding said.
Nicholas Bequelin, Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said testimony from those who took part in the crackdown was invaluable to forming a full view of the events.
That Zhang was willing to come forward, Bequelin said, simply reinforced the conviction among many that “in the long run, a reassessment of those events is inevitable.”
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