趙紫陽（一九一九 －－ 二○○五），中共建國後第二代政治家。於文革之後進入中央領導層，先後出任國務院總理、中共中央總書記，成為中國社會空前的轉型期的領導人。在任十年，推行「改革開放」路線，奠定今日中國經濟崛起的基礎。趙紫陽的政治生涯在一九八九年驟然結束。在當年的北京學運及六四事件中，他一反共產黨的傳統，站在學生一邊，反對武力鎮壓而被黨內元老派罷黜。那年他七十歲。

　　在其後長達十六年的晚境中，趙紫陽遭到嚴厲的軟禁，被剝奪一位公民和黨員應有的政治權利和人身自由直至病逝。在此期間，趙紫陽對他的經歷，國家和黨的歷史、政策乃至意識形態，作了深刻的回顧與反省。這些反思的成果，透過他的一位同鄉和摯友宗鳳鳴先生記錄下來。宗鳳鳴比趙紫陽小三個月，他們在日本入侵的少年時代，投身中共革命，長期在中原地區共同工作。一九四九年後，宗轉入科技部門，曾任航空航天大學黨委領導，從國家體改委顧問職位離休。對八九學運和趙紫陽命運的同情，使他成為趙軟禁中的常客。他以「氣功師」的名義，從一九九一年起，至二○○四年，探望趙紫陽上百次。兩位經歷了半個多世紀殘酷鬥爭的老戰友，在北京富強胡同的院子裡，解除心障，探討真理。每次談話由宗鳳鳴記錄整理。

　　回憶錄作為知名的從政者向歷史告別的一份交待，在封閉的極權體制中，尚未形成慣例。共產黨的領袖們，在位時緊張得天天吃安眠藥，自然無暇顧及；即使下台或退休後，也囿於主客觀的種種局限，很難提筆著書。蘇共在斯大林去世後失勢的馬林科夫、莫洛托夫等人都沒有寫回憶錄，赫魯曉夫在西方出版的口述回憶錄，生前也不敢認帳。中共情況更為嚴峻，不僅毛澤東、周恩來、劉少奇等一代巨頭，沒有留下任何正式的遺言，毛後鄧小平、陳雲、彭真等強人，也都沒有留下可稱為回憶錄的文字。其他大量的「革命回憶錄」都由官方寫手製作，經審批而後出版，史料價值微乎其微。趙紫陽在軟禁中有意記下若干往事，不只一個人建議他寫回憶錄。他也曾向當局要求提供有關他任職期間的（非機密）檔案資料，以備參考，但遭到拒絕。因此，宗鳳鳴整理的談話錄，就成為回憶錄的一種替代方式。

　　這本談話記錄顯示趙紫陽內心自省的深度和廣度。八十年代激烈的中共高層權力鬥爭和政策分歧，特別是趙和鄧小平、胡耀邦的三角關係，是書中多次闡述的話題。趙對傳說紛紜的一系列事件提供證詞，進而交待自己在八九年六四事件中的角色。這是研究八十年代中國真相的一份具權威性的材料。在對中共體制的歷史回顧中，趙紫陽是毛時代以來，第一個毫不含糊地批判專政教條的中共領袖。他認為列寧關於無產階級專政是通過最有威望的領袖來實現的論斷，只會導致個人專政與專制制度。不放棄「無產階級專政」，民主與法治便沒有希望。但是，趙的一切判斷更多的是來自數十年的政治實踐，尤其在經濟領域，他對中外管理體制的熟悉與研究，處處可見。他主張政策的依據只能是實效和民意，而不是理論，更不是什麼終極的目標。他在軟禁中坦承，他已從過去「經濟的改革者，政治的保守者」開始轉變。趙紫陽晚年的世界觀，顯然已經很大程度地從中共正統轉向認同當代普世的價值標準，推崇民主、法治、人權，還政於民。對中共數十年的苛政，他有痛心的懺悔：「我們欠老百姓的太多了。」基於對國情的憂慮，他不贊成政治上激進的西方化。

　　宗鳳鳴不僅是趙紫陽談話的記錄者，也是趙與外部世界的聯絡者，他不斷地給趙提供最新的各種資訊，並聽取趙的評論。我們可以看到趙對軟禁期間國內外重大事件及知名人物，包括中共各屆領導人的直率看法。趙紫陽一改身居高位時的謹言慎行，平靜而有條不紊地侃侃而談，經驗與睿智、膽略與習慣的話語分寸交織。這是歷史提供的一個僅存的空間，讓中共權力鏈接上，一個將永遠消失的世代——以胡耀邦、趙紫陽為代表的、有使命感也有國際觀的一代得以表露他們被扼殺的抱負。

　　對於出版者而言，這三十萬字的書稿記錄的趙紫陽，不僅是不計權力得失堅持獨立思想不屈服的前總書記，還是一位身陷囹圄、打破沉默，敢於背叛傳統的言者。出版這部談話錄對於言禁森嚴的中共體制更有突破意義，也為趙紫陽生平增添一段傳奇。

　　宗鳳鳴先生為了書稿的嚴肅性，以十餘年不懈的努力，處理素材，一稿再稿，終於成書。期間，書稿曾交予趙紫陽審閱。徵求過多位趙生前好友、同事的意見，獲得深切的支持。趙紫陽去世後，出版談話錄的消息不脛而走，引致國內外廣泛關注和期待，甚至在香港出現風波。中共當局更是力圖阻撓談話錄的出版。

　　本書是著作者宗鳳鳴先生授權的最後修訂的完整版本，前四十七篇，是一九九一年七月至一九九七年九月的諸次談話記錄。「續篇」是談話因趙上書中共十五大而中斷數月後，一九九八年五月重開，至二○○四年十月（即趙臨終前兩個多月）的三十四篇記錄。書中穿插數篇私下安排的對趙的訪問記，大部分都是首次正式發表。

　　　　　金鐘 二○○七年一月九日　香港

Preface to “Zhao Ziyang: Captive Conversations”

Zhao Ziyang (1919-2005) was part of China 's Second Generation of leadership under the Chinese Communist Party. He joined the communist leadership after the Cultural Revolution, eventually serving as premier, and then moving up to the top post of Party general secretary during an era of unprecedented social transformation. During his 10 years in power, he pursued the line of “reform and opening up to the world,” laying the foundation of China 's present economic boom.

Zhao's political career was terminated abruptly in 1989. During the student movement in Beijing that year, he acted against Party tradition by siding with the protesters, and was deposed by the Party's octogenarian leadership for opposing the use of force against the students. He was 70 years old at the time.

In the 16 years that followed, Zhao was kept under tightly guarded house arrest, stripped of his political rights and personal freedom as a citizen and party member, and finally died of natural causes while still a captive. During his captivity, Zhao reflected deeply on his personal experience, on the history of the country and party, and on official policy and ideology. The results of this reflection were recorded by a hometown friend, Zong Fengming.

Mr. Zong is three months younger than Zhao. They joined the communist revolution as teenagers during the Japanese occupation, and served together for a lengthy period in the Chinese hinterland. After 1949, Zong was dispatched to the science and technology sector, serving in the Party leadership of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics before retiring in 1990.

Sharing Zhao's sympathy for the 1989 student movement and deploring his fate, Zong became a frequent visitor to Zhao in his captivity. On the pretext of providing Zhao with traditional Qigong treatment, Zong paid Zhao more than 100 visits from 1991 to 2004. The two comrades-in-arms, who had witnessed more than 50 years of cruel political infighting, discarded their mental reserve and searched for the truth in Zhao's home in Beijing 's Fuqiang Hutong. Each of the conversations was recorded by Zong.

It is not customary in a closed totalitarian system for well-known politicians to bid farewell to history through personal memoirs. Communist leaders live under so much tension while in power that they become dependant on sleeping pills, and have no time for keeping journals. After they are deposed or retire, they find it difficult to pick up a pen under all sorts of constraints. Malenkov and Molotov, who fell from power following the death of the Soviet dictator Stalin, never wrote memoirs; Khrushchev published an oral memoir in the West but never acknowledged it. Chinese communist officials are even worse: the first generation of leaders, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi, left no official last words, and those who died after Mao, namely Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun and Peng Zhen, also left nothing that might be called a memoir. The large number of “revolutionary memoirs” circulating in China were penned by Party writers and published only after heavy censorship, and they have little historic value.

Zhao deliberately jotted down some memories during his captivity, and more than one person suggested that he write a memoir. He actually asked the authorities for unclassified files from the period of his service to use as reference materials, but was refused. As a result, Zong's notes of their conversations become a substitute for Zhao's memoirs.

This collection of conversations reveals the depth and breadth of Zhao's reflections. The fierce power struggle and divergence of policies within the top echelon during the 1980s, especially the triangular relationship between Zhao, Deng and Hu Yaobang, the Party general secretary before Zhao, is a recurrent theme of this book. Zhao gives his account of a series of incidents that have been the subject of wide speculation, and lays bare his role in the 1989 “June 4 th ” incident. This is authoritative material for understanding the real China of 1980s.

In looking back on history, Zhao was the first communist leader since Mao's era to criticize the dogma of the dictatorship. As Zhao saw it, Lenin's view that proletarian dictatorship could only be achieved under the leadership of the most prestigious leader inevitably resulted in autocracy and a dictatorial system; there could be no hope for democracy and rule of the law without giving up proletarian dictatorship. Zhao's judgments mostly resulted from his several decades of hands-on political experience, especially in economics. His knowledge and study of the management systems of both China and the West are scattered throughout the book. He advocated that policy be based on actual effectiveness and public opinion, not on theory, and that it should never become a goal in itself. He admitted in captivity that he had begun to move away from his previous attitude of “economic reformist, political conservative.” Zhao's world outlook in his later days very clearly shifted to a large extent from communist orthodoxy to a universal standard of values, advocating democracy, rule of law and human rights, and returning governance to the people. In referring to China 's oppressive governance, Zhao was deeply repentant: “We owe the people too much.” At the same time, in his concern over China 's situation, he opposed radical westernization of politics.

Zong did not only record Zhao's conversations, but also served as his liaison with the outside world. He constantly supplied Zhao with information about external events, and listened to Zhao's responses. This book lays bare Zhao's candid view of key events and well-known figures, including various generations of communist leaders. Shedding the caution he had embraced while in power, Zhao calmly and systematically expressed the views borne of his experience and wisdom. This is the only space history has provided for revealing the pent-up ambitions of a lost generation of communist leaders with a sense of mission and world vision, as exemplified by Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang.

As publisher, I would note that the Zhao Ziyang revealed in this 300,000-character volume is not only a former general secretary who put aside personal gain or loss to unflinchingly uphold his independence of thought, but also someone who in his captivity dared to break silence and part with tradition. The publication of this book is also a breakthrough in the heavy censorship of the communist system, and adds a legendary chapter to accounts of Zhao's life.

In order to uphold the quality of this book, Mr. Zong spent more than 10 years sorting out the original materials and continuously rewriting the manuscript. During this process, the manuscript was reviewed by Zhao himself, who also sought the suggestions of friends and former colleagues and received warm support from all of them. After Zhao passed away, there were widespread reports of publication of his reflections, raising strong interest both inside and outside of China , and causing a stir even in Hong Kong . The communist authorities tried hard to suppress publication of this book.

This book is the complete and final version authorized by Mr. Zong Fengming. The first part, consisting of 47 chapters, records conversations from July 1991 to September 1997. The conversations were then interrupted for several months because of the 15 th Party plenum. The second part, consisting of 34 chapters, includes conversations from May 1998 to October 2004, about two months before Zhao passed away. We have also included several private interviews with Zhao, most of which have never been published before.

Jin Zhong, January 9, 2007 in Hong Kong