The True Face of Fang Lizhi

The True Face of Fang Lizhi was edited by the General Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and published by Law Press in July 1989.

Fang Lizhi was one of Beijing's most prominent intellectuals during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Democracy Movement. An astrophysicist, he was labeled a "rightist" in his earlier years. Starting in the autumn of 1988, he actively participated in political study groups at Beijing's universities and gave interviews to foreign media, openly criticizing the Chinese Communist Party's Four Cardinal Principles, which called for upholding socialism and the Communist Party rule. His views resonated with students in Beijing at the time.

On January 6, 1989, he penned an open letter to then-Central Military Commission Chairman Deng Xiaoping, suggesting that democracy activists like Wei Jingsheng be released that year for the National Day celebrations. In February 1989, Fang Lizhi wrote "China's Hope and Disappointment," which Wang Dan and others posted as a big-character poster at Peking University. In June 1989, the CCP authorities issued an arrest warrant for Fang Lizhi on charges of "counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement." Fang subsequently sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy and later sought exile in the United States.

This book serves as a propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party, compiling Fang Lizhi's what the book called "reactionary statements" where he "opposed the Four Cardinal Principles and advocated bourgeois liberalization." It also gathers articles from Chinese Communist Party newspapers that criticize Fang Lizhi for "inciting and organizing the June Fourth riots." From an official government perspective, the book offers insights into Fang Lizhi's ideas and sheds light on China's social and political thought environment before and after June Fourth.