Former Communist Chief's Memoir Outlines Tiananmen Struggle

"Prisoner of State: The Secret Journal of Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang," to be officially released this month in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster, is based on 30 hours of tapes recorded by Mr. Zhao before his death in 2005 and smuggled out of China. The Wall Street Journal purchased a copy from a bookstore in Hong Kong.

The book marks the first time a former top Chinese leader has spoken so openly about his experiences at the center of power. Mr. Zhao, a proponent of economic reforms, was general secretary of the Communist Party when students and others held pro-democracy protests in April and May of 1989 centered in Beijing's massive Tiananmen Square. In the book, Mr. Zhao discusses how he opposed the imposition of martial law, as well as the ultimate use of armed force to quell the largely non-violent demonstrations on the night of June 3 and the morning of June 4, 1989.

(...) On Wednesday, the family of Zhou Yongjun, an exiled participant in the 1989 democracy movement and permanent U.S. resident, said he was detained while entering China in November and has been held without charge since then, according to the Associated Press.