Comrade Zhao Ziyang's Intervention Theory and the "New Epoch" of River Elegy

During his tenure as General Secretary of the Communist party, Comrade Zhao Ziyang had proposed a rather well-known point of view in the area of literature and art. He said: "There is one thing that I advocate as a basic principle of mine, and which comes from many years of experience and of lessons learned, and that is to interfere and intervene as little as I can. I will not easily praise something publicly or support something; at the same time, I will not lightly criticize something." "It is simply not my business to say anything about this or the other piece of literary work or art." Furthermore, he made a specific announcement: "I do not, and I am not going to, watch any film that is coming across my desk for inspection, and I shall not publish any opinion regarding such items." Yet, with regard to the production River Elegy, he not only did intervene, but he even did that repeatedly, and his intervention was concrete and specific. This has become a remarkably vivid contrast with his earlier declaration—a contrast that is pregnant with cynicism and satire

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