The Serious Mistake That Wasn't

The paucity of coverage, at least here in the West, is interesting:

during the great wave of the 1989 China democracy movement, Zhao was pro-democracy and resolutely opposed the leadership’s decision to use violence on Chinese people who took peaceful and rational measures to pursue freedom and democracy.

In fact, this “serious mistake” is actually Zhao’s contribution to history. This serious mistake involved the pursuit of fundamental political reform to push China into democracy. This serious mistake was opposition to mobilizing the army to kill civilians.

Did he help push China on a path that will lead to democracy? Time will tell. R.I.P.