Chinese journalist
Du Daozheng (simplified Chinese: 杜导正), né Du Yuzhi (杜毓芷) (born September 22, 1923) is a Chinese journalist who served as the head of National Press and Publication Administration in China and the founding director of the liberal journal Yanhuang Chunqiu.[1][2][3] He was also the editor-in-chief of Guangming Daily and Yangcheng Evening News.[1][4]
Biography
Du was born in 1923 in Dingxiang County, Shanxi, China.[1] He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1937.[1][4]
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he served as the branch director of the Xinhua News Agency in Hebei, and then in Guangdong.[1] He later became the chief editor of the Yangcheng Evening News.[1]
After the Cultural Revolution, Du served as the editor-in-chief of Guangming Daily during the first phase of the Reforms and Opening-up, which was launched by Deng Xiaoping and other reformists within CCP.[4][5] In 1987, Du became the head of China's National Press and Publication Administration.[1][4][5] Under Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, the liberal General Secretaries of CCP in the 1980s, media freedoms reached their height at that time.[4]
However, Zhao was ousted and detained amid the crackdown of Tiananmen protests in 1989, and Du only re-connected with Zhao privately in 1992 after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour.[5] He later published the book Du Daozheng Diary: What Zhao Ziyang Said in Hong Kong.[5][6]
In 1991, with the support of Xiao Ke, a liberal general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Du founded the Yanhuang Chunqiu journal in Beijing and served as the director of the publisher.[7] But the traditional version of the journal was cracked down by Xi Jinping's administration in 2016, with Du and other editors replaced by pro-Xi personnel.[2][3][4][8][9]
Daozheng turned 100 on September 22, 2023.[10]
See also
References