"Despite his growing importance as Deng's right-hand man, however, he failed to make much of an impression on ordinary Chinese. Many, particularly intellectuals mocked his foppish dress, his jovial, often coarse manner, and reputation as an ageing playboy. For many he was a buffoon, a powerful one but hardly a man of weight. Then, in June 1989, the joking stopped. Overnight, Yang Shangkun became perhaps the most hated man in China. He had performed the ultimate act of loyalty - when Deng said open fire he obeyed."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Andrew Higgins, "Obituary: Yang Shangkun" in The Independent (15 September 1998)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yang_Shangkun
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Yang Shangkun
Yang Shangkun (Chinese: 杨尚昆; 3 August 1907 – 14 September 1998) was a Chinese politician who served as the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Vice Chairman of the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He served as President of the People's Republic of China from 1988 to 1993, and was and one of the "Eight Elders" that dominated the Communist Party after the death of Mao Zedong.
31 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Yang Shangkun →
Related Quotes
"First of all, I fully support the report and the various demands that Comrade Li Peng has made on behalf of the Stand…"
"The arrival of PLA troops in the vicinity of Beijing is definitely not aimed at dealing with students. They have not …"
"That is to say that the PLA troops are compelled to enter the capital in order to restore the normal order in Beijing…"
"Strengthening the building of a modernized army is a basic task of our army during the new historical period. It is a…"
"To build a Chinese-type modernized and regularized revolutionary army, we should promote the revolutionization, moder…"
"Taking the modernization of our army as the key task is determined by the history and practical conditions of our arm…"
"We stress the key task of modernization. Does this mean that we are allowed to neglect and weaken the revolutionizati…"
"The modernization of an army is closely related to the political system, economic strength, military strategy, and sc…"
"If we are divorced from the realities in our country, even though we are armed with new weapons and equipment, these …"
"The Military Commission has decided to convene an emergency enlarged meeting and has asked the principally responsibl…"