REMARKS AT THREE STUDY MEETINGS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE MUNICIPAL PARTY COMMITTEE1
AUGUST 6, 1988; DECEMBER 20, 1989; AUGUST 24, 1990
1. August 6, 1988
Since coming to Shanghai, I’ve had a constant sense of uncertainty, with many things floating across my mind, especially in view of the many strands of work and the great pressures here. Even so, my heart is happy because Jiang Zemin and the members of the Municipal Party Committee’s Standing Committee have expressed full confidence in my work and have given me their full support since my arrival. In addition, retired colleagues have been very caring, which also warms my heart. Although the work wracks my brain and I sometimes think that I can’t go on, whenever I remember everyone’s continued support and understanding of my shortcomings, I feel the strength to carry on. Although I recognized from the beginning that this job in Shanghai is complicated, and that I was sure to collapse if I didn’t handle it well, I still have the confidence to do my work. So far, at least, I feel it’s still possible for my work to be done well, despite the many shortcomings revealed in my first six months of work. Although I’m often mindful of them, I still feel I haven’t corrected them sufficiently, and there are still flaws in my thinking.
First of all, I don’t rely enough on the [Party] organization and on the people to resolve problems. In particular, I haven’t done enough in terms of respecting the collective leadership of the Municipal Party Committee, asking for guidance more frequently, consulting more often, doing more research, and having more heart-to-heart talks. I recognize that the city government mustn’t unilaterally make important decisions—some serious policy issues should be jointly examined and monitored with the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee. On issues like wages and prices and fairly major policy decisions regarding some large projects, Huang Ju and I have taken care to present these to the Standing Committee for discussion, and they have indeed been very helpful to us, so that we avoided making many more mistakes. However, my thinking did sometimes become a bit lax. Because I was impatient about some matters, I would just decide on an approach after thinking about whether it would work. I truly haven’t done enough in this area and have therefore paid more attention to it recently. Henceforth, I will rely more on the collective leadership of the Municipal Party Committee, consult more often, and communicate more frequently.
Second, I haven’t encouraged democracy sufficiently within the city government’s leadership team. I haven’t consulted enough with the vice mayors, the secretary-general, and the deputy secretaries-general, to listen more to their views and to encourage them to express different opinions. Although I hope to hear different views, whenever someone voices a view, I often refute it, causing everyone to be afraid to express different opinions in the future. In other words, I’m a bit too sure of myself—this is something I must pay more attention to, because the tasks in Shanghai are so complex that just relying on my own ability, energy, and work won’t be nearly enough to handle them. That’s why the mayor and vice mayors will meet next week to say what’s on their minds, to mutually offer suggestions, and to speak out freely.
Third, I’m a bit brusque with my subordinates and always impatient with them. This is obviously due to anxiety over my work, but in fact everyone else feels just as anxious. I should add that the vast majority of our colleagues in the various bureau-level departments are working diligently and taking the directives of the Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government very seriously. They know that I have a bad temper and are a bit afraid when they see me. It’s really quite insensitive of me to criticize and mock people when they are working hard overtime. This is something I definitely need to address—it’s related to a long-standing flaw in my thinking and awareness. I recognize that if I let it go unchecked, eventually I’ll become detached from the people, many things won’t be achievable, and I won’t be able to carry on. There is great danger in such behavior, which is why I must put an end to it. I need to go through thick and thin together with those below me, listen humbly to the views of others, and go down to the grassroots to carry out some proper investigations and studies at that level. It’s very hard to solve problems in Shanghai without shedding a layer of skin.2 I’ve increasingly come to realize that this task calls for a spirit that remains undaunted by any setbacks as well as a determination to forge the closest possible ties with the people—which isn’t that easy. That’s why I must take an honest look at my own flaws, and I hope you will all help me.
There are two main flaws in my personal working style, or rather, in my thinking. First, I am too strict in my demands of cadres—which are truly excessive. This is not conducive to motivating them. Second, I don’t do enough to promote democracy,3 implement democratic centralism within the Party, and listen to different views. These two problems are related: I haven’t done a good job of overcoming these long-standing flaws in my thinking and awareness. On many issues, I feel I’m always right, viewing them from a subjective and sometimes skewed perspective. For the past year or more, these tendencies have really come to my attention. Some bureau chiefs have indicated that they’re rather afraid of me because even before I came to work here, the word all over Shanghai was that Zhu Rongji is as tough as can be, that he puts you on the spot as soon as he sees you, so they’re afraid as soon as they see me.
Later, after having some contact with me, they may realize that I don’t deliberately give people a hard time, and after I say what I have to say, that’s the end of it. Nonetheless, they really do feel that I’m hard to get along with. I suspect this weakness stems from my eagerness to get results in many areas of work. Also, I am often unable to put myself in my subordinates’ shoes and understand their difficulties. My demanding nature makes me very impatient whenever I discuss a problem, so it looks as though I expect others to arrive at a solution forthwith, putting them in a very awkward position. A bureau chief isn’t a low-ranking official—he’s had several decades of work under his belt, and if you put him on the spot in a face-to-face meeting, he will indeed be reluctant to voice differing opinions in the future. This blocks avenues for speaking freely and does not help the Party’s work. I’m afraid this weakness not only affects my subordinates but at times also offends some retired colleagues and really needs my attention.
Because democratic centralism is so important, I carry a very heavy burden, as has become clear ever since [Jiang] Zemin left Shanghai. Yet I lack the abilities and qualities to be a key leader, or the kind of seasoning this calls for. Although I work conscientiously and always try to promote democracy, synthesize the collective wisdom, do things more soundly, and listen to everyone’s opinions when making decisions—at least, this is what I want to do— I still have many shortcomings that I must pay a lot of attention to from now on. I should certainly be aware of the weight of my burden, of the enormity of my responsibility for keeping Shanghai stable, and make more rigorous demands of myself in terms of the behavior expected of Party members. Yesterday, [Chen] Guodong4 and [Zhao] Hangzhi5 phrased it so earnestly: we must be truly humble and cautious if we are to do a good job of taking over from our predecessors. I think that it isn’t just me—the entire Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee should be humble and cautious, but I am the main leader, so it would be even worse for me not to show humility. A lot of work remains to be done well in Shanghai. If it can be done better, it will go a long way toward stabilizing the overall situation and helping to ease some of the central government’s worries. We in fact haven’t done so well and should handle our work in Shanghai even more humbly and cautiously.
Speaking with participants at a meeting of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference, April 18, 1989. Front row: far left, Chen Mingshan, vice chair of the Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference; to Zhu’s right, Mao Jingquan, member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Party Committee, director of its United Front Department, and vice chair of the People’s Political Consultative Conference; Zhang Ruifang, vice chair of the People’s Political Consultative Conference; and Yan Dongsheng, vice chair of the People’s Political Consultative Conference. (Photograph by Guo Tianzhong)
To ensure that I handle the work well, I told Jiang Zemin, both in Beijing and when he came to Shanghai, that I should make the Municipal Party Committee the focus of my own work. My foremost concern should be to develop the Party and its work style, work with our cadres, listen more to the ideas of retired colleagues and of all other parties, build the Party up well, and do a good job of rectifying its work style. I therefore sought approval from Jiang Zemin and also discussed this with Huang Ju and [Wu] Bangguo,6 and today I’m discussing it with all of you in the Standing Committee and with our retired colleagues: I think that government work should be conducted primarily by having Huang Ju assist me, and in fact he will be the main person responsible for it. If I were to shift my focus primarily to the Municipal Party Committee and become immersed in all aspects of its work, however, I would be unable to think about broader issues. Moreover, I’m not as familiar with its work as Wu Bangguo, so I hope that he can assist me in taking overall charge of committee endeavors, which I hope will be his main focus. This way I would be able to rise slightly above [day-to-day matters] and do more investigations and research.
For example, I would like to visit rural areas tomorrow—and Hangzhi agrees with this—to look into how to develop the Party ideologically in one or two counties, how to develop their leadership teams and grassroots organizations. Song Ping7 discussed these three areas of development with me in particular, and I think this is extremely important. Many of the current rural problems are problems within the Party and have arisen because the leadership teams and grassroots organizations are ineffective. With more investigations into these areas, I should be able to make some suggestions about their major issues.
Because Shanghai will still face great difficulties next year, it won’t be so easy to keep it stable. An issue of deep concern is still how to improve Party conduct, so I hope to rise a little [above day-to-day matters] to focus on this. Clean government is the main component of better Party conduct. Clean government is in fact the minimum ingredient, the minimum requirement if Party conduct is to take a turn for the better. A foundation for clean government is already emerging in Shanghai, but to fully establish clean government, we still have to focus on improving Party conduct as well as on developing the Party, leadership teams, and ideology.
3. August 24, 1990
The Municipal Discipline Commission’s inquiry garnered somewhat fewer comments about me when it came to the question of clean government. This is not to say that I don’t have many shortcomings. Honestly speaking, I haven’t done enough and need to keep paying attention to this. Today, you’ve all made comments about my way of thinking, about my leadership style, and about democratic centralism. As I learned from one response to the commission’s inquiry: “We feel that at some of the meetings we attended, we often heard Zhu Rongji severely criticizing someone and saying he would have him removed from his post. This has a negative effect, and sounds as if his authority was boundless.” It was also pointed out that criticisms should be tailored to specific people and should stay within certain limits.
Right now it seems as if within the Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government, only Mayor Zhu’s words matter. This would not be a good sign if it goes on for a long time. Many people don’t dare to speak when they see Mayor Zhu: no matter what, I’ll just do whatever he says, and whether things turn out for better or for worse, it’s all due to Mayor Zhu. Zhu Rongji recently said he would pay attention to correcting this shortcoming. Some others also pointed out that at the same time that he focuses on clean government, he should also show concern for the lives of cadres who work at government agencies and have more heart-to-heart talks with the top leaders at bureau-level departments.
When I looked up the records of our last internal study meeting, I found that everyone had spoken their minds, and that my own remarks about my failings centered on two points. The first was that I criticize cadres too frequently, sometimes too severely and excessively, which is not conducive to motivating them. However, it appears that the demands I make of myself are still not rigorous enough and that my self-criticism does not go deep enough. People noted that some of my reproaches were inappropriate, unrealistic or, you might say, unfair. This is very hard for cadres to accept and it also reduces their motivation. During my self-criticism last year, I said I wasn’t doing enough to promote [intraparty] democracy, to implement democratic centralism within the Party, or to listen to opinions from all sides.
Upon self-examination today, I fear this shortcoming hasn’t been corrected since my last self-examination. Chen Guodong and Zhao Hangzhi have made many earnest criticisms of me, and I too see that this problem requires attention. Letters I receive from the people also contain quite a few criticisms of me. Because our work ran into a considerable number of difficulties this year, sometimes I became too eager for results and sometimes I became rather irritable when I felt I didn’t have many ways to deal with the problems before me. As a result, my criticisms of cadres were rather harsh. It’s also true that I started sounding proud and self-satisfied, feeling I was always right and not being humble and cautious enough on many issues. At one point a great many reporters wanted to interview me or ask me to write articles, but I declined all such requests, did not permit any personal interviews, and did not write any pieces for them. Yet our newspapers still printed quite a lot about me. I used to pay attention to [not letting them report about me] until recently, when there was a rumor in Shanghai that I had run off to the United States and wasn’t coming back, so subsequently I allowed the papers to carry news about me every day for a few days. I’ve now taken note: this shouldn’t go on any longer and mustn’t happen again in the future. In particular, there absolutely must not be any reports like “Such-and-such a problem was resolved as soon as Mayor Zhu issued a directive on it.” Otherwise, people will ask whether nothing can get done in Shanghai without a directive from Mayor Zhu. Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m both impatient and somewhat smug, and as a result I criticize my subordinates too much and exchange views with the Standing Committee and core leadership of the Municipal Party Committee too infrequently.
In short, your criticisms of me are all very valid. From last year to the present, I haven’t tried hard enough to correct this shortcoming and I need to be more alert to it. I also haven’t been forbearing enough. Just now Wang Liping8 offered a criticism of me that I immediately countered. It’s not good for you to send me a note and for me to send one back to you—wouldn’t it be better to send it in some other setting? Just now I pointed out to Mao Jingquan9 that he didn’t do much self-criticism. Actually, I don’t do much self-criticism either, and I should be alert to this. Chen Guodong said I need to rise above things a bit, and I indeed haven’t done enough in this area as well. I focus on economic work, on government work—I focus more on concrete tasks and am more familiar with these because I started off in economic work. To tell you the truth, I can see these issues a bit more clearly than others and therefore focus more on them, and somewhat less on work involving the Municipal Party Committee and policy research. Yet policies and tactics are the Party’s lifeline, and I haven’t focused sufficiently on them—I must work harder on this.
At the same time, I still want to make one thing clear: Huang Ju will be in charge of the government’s day-to-day work and Wu Bangguo will be in charge of the Municipal Party Committee’s day-to-day work. This isn’t because I’m telling you to do it; it’s something I asked Jiang Zemin’s permission for in person, and it’s something the Municipal Party Committee has agreed to, so you have the legal authority to do it. Now you’ll be in charge and acting on my behalf, but I should be creating conditions for you—that’s only right. Sometimes I don’t create enough conditions for you, and in the future we’ll have to have more frank talks and more consultations. All the other members of the Municipal Party Committee’s Standing Committee must also be responsible for their respective areas of work. On the one hand, I won’t shirk my responsibilities and ought to have more frank talks and more exchanges of views with others; on the other hand, I hope you will all boldly and independently take up your responsibilities and focus on your work. If mistakes are made, I will take the blame. I absolutely will not put the blame on you.
So much for today. [Vice Mayor] Ye Gongqi and Xu Wenyi,10 let’s find another occasion to discuss what’s on our minds.
1. These are Zhu Rongji’s main remarks at three study meetings of the members of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee.
2. Translator’s note: to “shed a layer of skin” is to pay a price.
3. Translator’s note: this refers to intraparty democracy, that is, encouraging those in the Party to speak out.
4. Chen Guodong was then chairperson of the Advisory Commission of the Shanghai Party Committee.
5. Zhao Hangzhi was then vice chairperson of the Advisory Commission of the Shanghai Party Committee.
6. Wu Bangguo was then deputy secretary of the Shanghai Party Committee.
8. Wang Liping was then a Standing Committee member and secretary-general of the Shanghai Party Committee.
9. Mao Jingquan was then a Standing Committee member of the Shanghai Party Committee, director of its United Front Department, and vice chairperson of the Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference.
10. Xu Wenyi was then the Shanghai garrison commander.