The first connection of the mainland of the People's Republic of China with the Internet was established on 20 September 1987 between ICA Beijing and Karlsruhe University in Germany, under the leadership of Prof. Werner Zorn and Prof. Wang Yunfeng. Since then the Internet in China has grown to host the largest base of net users in the world. The first email attempt was successfully sent out on 14 September 1987 with the contents "Across the Great Wall, we can reach every corner in the world" (越過長城，走向世界). In the past decade, the Internet has emerged as a new cultural phenomenon in mainland China, much like in the West.

Development[link]

China had 485 million Internet users by June 2011. It is projected that China's Internet population will hit 718 million by 2013, accounting for 52.7 percent of the total population.

A majority of broadband subscribers are DSL, mostly from China Telecom and China Netcom. The price varies at different provinces, usually around US$10 – $20/month for a 1M DSL with unlimited downloads.

As of June 2011, Chinese Internet users spent an average of 18.7 hours online per week, which would result in a total of about 472 billion hours spent online in 2011.

Broadband makes up the majority of Internet connections in China, with 363.81 million users at this service tier. The price of a broadband connection places it well within the reach of the mainland Chinese middle class. Wireless, especially the mobile phone Internet access has developed rapidly. 277 million are accessing the Internet via cell phones. The number of dial-up users peaked in 2004 and since then has decreased sharply.

By the end of 2009, the number of Chinese domestic websites grew to 3.23 million, with an annual increase rate of 12.3%, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. As of first half of 2010, the majority of the Web content is user-generated.

Structure[link]

The first four major national networks, namely CSTNET, ChinaNet, CERNET and CHINAGBN, are the "backbone" of the mainland China Internet. Later dominant telecom providers also started to provide Internet services. Public Internet services are usually provided by provincial telecom companies, which sometimes are traded between networks. Internet service providers without a nation-wide network such as the Information highway could not compete with their bandwidth provider, the telecom companies, and often run out of business.

The interconnection between these networks is a big concern of Internet users, since Internet traffic via the global Internet is quite slow. However, major Internet services providers are reluctant to aid rivals.

Users[link]

In 2003, Internet activists and journalists led an online uprising that eventually forced the abolishment of the Custody and repatriation procedure, and the establishment of the constitutional committee in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. In June, 2006, New York Times reported the online throngs and Internet hunting fought corruptions but also led to violence.

The June 2007 China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) report states that 54.9% Internet users are male, 57.9% are unmarried, and 51.2% are under 25 years old. The majority of Internet users have at least a college diploma. Among the users, 36.7% are students, and 25.3% are enterprise staff. 33.9% users earn more than 1500 yuan a month, however, if student users are left out, this percent goes rises to 53.6%. By the end of 2010 China had over 300 million mobile internet users. China's Internet is highly internally referential, with fewer than 6% of China's websites linking to outside the country.

Based on CNNIC, at the end of 2011 China had 513 million internet users with internet population only 38.3 percent, while the U.S. has 78.2 internet penetration. 69.3 percent of China's internet users connect to the internet via mobile devices.

Content[link]

Most users go online to read news, to search for information, and to check email. They also go to BBS or web forums, find music or videos, or download files.

Content providers[link]

Chinese-language infotainment web portals such as Sina.com, Sohu, and 163.com are quite popular among Internet users. For example, Sina claims it has about 94.8 million registered users and more than 10 million active users engaged in their fee-based services. Other Internet service providers such as the human resource service provider 51job and the electronic commerce web sites such as Alibaba.com are less popular but more successful on their speciality. Their success led some of them to the make IPOs.

Because the PRC government blocks many foreign websites, many homegrown copycats of foreign websites have appeared.

Search engines[link]

{| class = "wikitable" style = "float:right; font-size:85%; margin-left:15px; width:30%" |- style="background:#efefef;" |+ Top ten most popular search sites in ChinaAs of November 2007By Unique visitors aged 15+, excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or mobile phonesSource: comScore qSearch ! China !! Share of searches (%) |- | Baidu || 54.6 |- | Google || 17.7 |- | Alibaba || 8.7 |- | Yahoo|| 7.9 |- | Sohu|| 7.9 |- | TENCENT|| 2.8 |- | SINA|| 0.7 |- | ZHONGSOU.com || 0.6 |- | Bing Search Engine|| 0.3 |- | 372.com || 0.2 |}

Baidu is the leading search engine, while most web portals also provide search functionality. Google China has also entered the Chinese market.

Online communities[link]

Although Chinese write fewer e-mails, they enjoy other Internet communication tools and form their communities based on different interests. Bulletin boards on portals or elsewhere, chat cvrooms, Instant messaging groups, blogs and microblogs are very active, while photo-sharing and social networking sites are growing rapidly. Some Wikis such as the Baidu Baike are "flourishing"; and until 2008 the Chinese Wikipedia could not be accessed from mainland China. But since 2008, the government unblocked the Wikipedia, but blocking off other certain areas that is sensitive to the government.

Online shopping[link]

The rapidly increasing number of Internet users in China has also generated a large online shopping base in China. A large number of netizens have even been branded as having an "online shopping addiction" as a result of the growth of online shopping; according to Sina.com, Chinese consumers with Internet access spend an average of RMB10,000 online annually.

Online payment[link]

Driven by prevalent Internet usage and the increase online retail sector, online payment services have also grown rapidly. In 2009, the online payment utilization rate reached 24.5%, with 94.06 million users and an annual growth rate of 80.9%.

Adult content[link]

Although restrictions on political information remain strong, several sexually oriented blogs began appearing in early 2004. Women using the web aliases Muzi Mei (木子美) and Zhuying Qingtong (竹影青瞳) wrote online diaries of their sex lives and became minor celebrities. This was widely reported and criticized in mainland Chinese news media, and several of these bloggers' sites have since been blocked in China to this day. This coincided with an artistic nude photography fad (including a self-published book by dancer Tang Jiali) and the appearance of pictures of minimally clad women or even topless photos in a few mainland Chinese newspapers, magazines and websites. Many dating and "adult chat" sites, both Chinese and foreign, have been blocked. Some, however, continue to be accessible although this appears to be due more to the Chinese government's ignorance of their existence than any particular policy of leniency.

Censorship[link]

The Golden Shield project was proposed to the State Council by Premier Zhu Rongji in 1993. As a massive surveillance and content control system, it was launched in November 2000, and became known as the Great Firewall of China. However, the blocking of websites can be circumvented and is generally ineffective at preventing the flow of information to determined individuals. The effectiveness of the project is the limitation on access it creates for the majority of users who are not technologically savvy or intent on seeking information. Some argue that it is more effective at providing a Chilling effect rather than actually blocking content.

The Internet has provided some interesting tactics for the dissemination of news. In contrast to some early fears that the fluidity of web content would make it easy to rewrite history and strengthen the hand of the government, the opposite appears true. One common tactic in publishing sensitive topics is to post the article on a newspaper website, and then comply with government orders to take it down. By the time the article is removed, people will have read it negating the point of the censorship order.

However, in fear of closure, online service providers sometimes hire moderators known as ''big mama'' to monitor user-provided content. Nevertheless, some officially supported websites such as the Strong Country Forum hosted by the ''People's Daily'' are less restricted than others in discussing sensitive topics.

Forbes magazine featured an article entitled “Cracks In the Wall (27 February 2006):

Amnesty International notes that China “has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world.” The "offences" they are accused of include "communicating with groups abroad", "opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong", "signing online petitions" and "calling for reform and an end to corruption".

Memes[link]

The Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures, initially a humorous hoax, has become a popular and widespread internet meme in China. These hoaxes, ten in number, reportedly originated in response to increasingly online censorship and have become an icon of netizens' resistance to it.

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television issued a directive on 30 March 2009 to highlight 31 categories of content prohibited online, including violence, pornography and content which may "incite ethnic discrimination or undermine social stability". Many netizens believe the instruction follows the official embarrassment over the "Grass Mud Horse" and the "River Crab". Industry observers believe that the move was designed to stop the spread of parodies or other comments on politically sensitive issues in the runup to the anniversary of the 4 June Tiananmen Square protests.

Internet advertising market[link]

The size of China's Internet advertising market was RMB 3.3 billion in the third quarter 2008, up 19.1% compared with the previous quarter. Baidu.com Inc, Sina Corp and Google Inc. remain the Top 3 in terms of market share. Key-word advertising market size reached RMB 1.46 billion, accounting for 43.8% of the total Internet advertising market with a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 19.3%, while that of the online advertising site amounted to RMB 1.70 billion, accounting for 50.7% of the total, up 18.9% compared with the second quarter.

Currently, Baidu has launched the CPA platform, and Sina Corp has launched the advertising scheme for intelligent investment. The moves indicate the market trend of effective advertising with low cost. Online advertisements on automobiles, real estate and finance will keep growing rapidly in the future.

Online encyclopedias[link]

Hudong, 5.4 million articles

Baidu Baike, 3.5 million articles

Chinese Wikipedia, 365,000 articles

as of July 2011

See also[link]

China Internet Project

Human flesh search engine (HFSE)

List of Internet phenomena in the People's Republic of China

Media in the People's Republic of China

References[link]

External links[link]

Chinese Internet Network Information Center In Chinese and in English.

http://www.east-west-connect.com/15-years-chinese-internet-usage-13-pretty-graphs CNNIC data, reorganized and in English.

Blogging in China (Channel 4 News)

PBS article

China celebrates 10 years of being connected to the Internet

Structural maps of major networks in China

China Malware War Gets Personal

Website executives discuss China's Internet growth (''China Daily'')

The Curious Case of Jia Junpeng

Chinese Broadband Technologies Discussion Board

ar:الإنترنت في الصين de:Internet in der Volksrepublik China fr:Internet en République populaire de Chine ru:Интернет в Китайской Народной Республике zh:中国互联网

Name	Zhao Ziyang赵紫阳
Nationality	Chinese
Order	General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Term start	16 January 1987
Term end	23 June 1989()
President	Li XiannianYang Shangkun
Premier	Li Peng
Predecessor	Hu Yaobang
Successor	Jiang Zemin
Order1	Premier of the People's Republic of China
Leader1	Deng Xiaoping
Leader	Deng Xiaoping
President1	Li Xiannian
Term start1	10 September 1980
Term end1	24 November 1987()
Deputy1	Deng XiaopingWan Li
Predecessor1	Hua Guofeng
Successor1	Li Peng
Office2	Member of theNational People's Congress
Constituency2	Beijing At-large
Term start2	6 June 1983
Term end2	23 June 1989
Birth date	October 17, 1919
Birth place	Hua County, Henan, Republic of China
Death date	January 17, 2005
Death place	Beijing, People's Republic of China
Spouse	Liang Boqi
Relations	Zhao Daijun (eldest son)Zhao Erjun (second son)Zhao Sanjun (third son)Zhao Sijun (fourth son)Zhao Liang (daughter)Zhao Wujun (fifth son)
Party	Communist Party of China
Signature	Zhao Ziyang Sign.png }}

|t=|p=Zhào Zǐyáng|w=Chao Tzu-yang|poj=Tiō Chí-iông|order=st}} Zhao Ziyang (pronounced ; 17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China (PRC). He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989.

As a senior government official, Zhao was critical of Maoist policies and instrumental in implementing free-market reforms, first in Sichuan, subsequently nationwide. He emerged on the national scene due to support from Deng Xiaoping after the Cultural Revolution. He also sought measures to streamline the bureaucracy and fight corruption, which was severely affecting the Party's legitimacy in the 1980s. Zhao Ziyang was also an advocate of the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the separation of the Party and the state, and general market economic reforms. Many of these views were shared by then-General Secretary Hu Yaobang.

His economic reform policies and sympathies to student demonstrators during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 placed him at odds with some members of the party leadership, including Premier Li Peng. Zhao also began to lose favour with paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. In the aftermath of the events, Zhao was purged politically and effectively placed under house arrest for the next 15 years. He died in Beijing in 2005, but because of his political fall from grace he was not given the funeral rites generally accorded to senior Chinese officials.

Early career[link]

Zhao was born "Zhao Xiuye" (S: 赵修业, T:趙修業, P: ''Zhào Xiūyè''), but changed his given name to "Ziyang" while attending middle school. He was the son of a wealthy landlord in Hua County, Henan, who was later murdered by Communist Party officials during a land reform movement in the early 1940s. Zhao joined the Communist Youth League in 1932, and became a full member of the Party in 1938.

Unlike many Party members active in the 1930s and 1940s who later became senior Chinese leaders, Zhao joined the Party too late to have participated in the Long March of 1934-1935. He served in the People's Liberation Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the subsequent civil war, but his posts were largely administrative. Zhao's career was not especially notable before he emerged as a Party leader in Guangdong in the early 1950s.

Zhao rose to prominence in Guangdong from 1951, initially following a ruthless ultra-leftist, Tao Zhu, who was notable for his heavy-handed efforts to force local peasants into living and working in "People's Communes". When Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward (1958–1961) created an artificial famine, Mao publicly blamed the nation's food shortages on the greed of rich peasants, who were supposedly hiding China's huge surplus production from the government. Zhao's faith in Mao led him to take a leading role in a local campaign aimed at torturing peasants into revealing their imaginary food supplies. Through supporting the Great Leap Forward, Zhao was partially responsible for the millions of people who died from starvation and malnutrition in Guangdong between 1958 and 1961.

Zhao's experiences during the Great Leap Forward led Zhao to support moderate political and economic policies, including those supported by Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi. He led efforts to re-introduce limited amounts of private agriculture and commerce, and dismantled the People's Communes. Zhao's methods of returning private plots to farmers and assigning production contracts to individual households were replicated in other parts of China, helping the country's agricultural sector recover. After achieving senior positions in Guangdong, Zhao directed a harsh purge of cadres accused of corruption or having ties to the Kuomintang.

By 1965 Zhao was the Party secretary of Guangdong province, despite not being a member of the Communist Party Central Committee. He was forty-six at the time that he first became Party secretary, a notably young age to hold such a prestigious position. Because of his moderate political orientation, Zhao was attacked by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). He was dismissed from all official positions in 1967, after which he was paraded through Guangzhou in a dunce cap and publicly denounced as "a stinking remnant of the landlord class".

Return to government[link]

Zhao spent four years as a fitter in Hunan, at the Xianzhong Mechanics Factory. Zhao Wujun, the youngest of his four sons, worked with him (Zhao also had a younger daughter). While in political exile, Zhao's family lived in a small apartment close to his factory, with a small suitcase in the living room that served as a dinner table.

Zhao's rehabilitation began in April 1971, when he and his family were woken in the middle of the night by someone banging on the door. Without much explanation, the Party chief of the factory that Zhao was working at informed Zhao that he was to go at once to Changsha, the provincial capital. The factory's only means of transport was a three-wheeled motorcycle, which was ready to take him.

Zhao was driven to Changsha's airport, where a plane had been prepared to fly him to Beijing. Still unaware of what was happening, Zhao boarded the plane. He was checked into the comfortable Beijing Hotel, but wasn't able to get to sleep: he later claimed that, after years of living in poverty, the mattress was too soft.

In the morning, Zhao was taken to a meeting with Premier Zhou Enlai at the Great Hall of the People. Soon after they met, Zhao began a speech that he had prepared over the previous night: "I have been rethinking the Cultural Revolution during these years as a labourer..." Zhou cut him off, saying "You've been called to Beijing because the Central Committee has decided to name you as a deputy Party chief of Inner Mongolia."

After being recalled from political exile, Zhao attempted to portray himself as a born-again Maoist, and publicly renounced any interest in encouraging private enterprise or material incentive. Zhao's late conversion to Maoism did not last long, and he later became a "principle architect" of the sweeping, pro-capitalist changes that followed the death of Mao. Despite his important role in guiding the economy of China over the course of his career, Zhao had no formal training in economics.

Throughout 1972 Zhou Enlai directed Zhao's political rehabilitation. Zhao was appointed to the Central Committee, and in Inner Mongolia became the Revolutionary Committee Secretary and Vice Chairman in March 1972. Zhao was elevated to the 10th Central Committee in August 1973, and returned to Guangdong as 1st CPC Secretary and Revolutionary Committee Chair in April 1974. He became Political Commissar of the Chengdu Military Region in December 1975.

Zhao was appointed Party Secretary of Sichuan in 1975, effectively the province's highest-ranking official. Earlier in the Cultural Revolution, Sichuan had been notable for the violent battles that rival organizations of local Red Guards had fought against each other. At the time, Sichuan was China's most populous province, but it had been economically devastated by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, whose collective policies had collapsed the province's agricultural production to levels not seen since the 1930s, despite a great increase in the province's population. The economic situation was so bad that citizens in Sichuan were reportedly selling their daughters for food. Soon after taking office Zhao introduced a series of successful market-oriented reforms, leading to an increase in industrial production by 81% and agricultural output by 25% within three years. Zhao's reforms made him popular in Sichuan, where the local people created a saying: "''yao chi liang, zhao Ziyang''". (This saying is a pun on Zhao's name, which can be loosely translated as: "if you want to eat, look for Ziyang.")

Assassination attempts[link]

Since Sichuan province was a strong base of Maoist radicalism during the Cultural Revolution, the ardent followers of the Gang of Four vehemently opposed Zhao's reforms. However, Zhao's policy had huge popular support and the supporters of the Gang of Four turned to assassination after all other supposedly legal means failed. Over the years in Sichuan during the Cultural Revolution, there were no fewer than half a dozen attempts on Zhao's life, the most serious of which was an ambush of Zhao's jeep in a valley during one of his trips. He narrowly escaped death, but in an attempt to save Zhao's life, his driver/secretary was crushed and buried in the artificially induced landslide. This was the only fatality that resulted from attempts on Zhao's life. The last culprits were not caught until 1983, well after the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Reformist leader[link]

Political activities[link]

After ousting Hua Guofeng as China's "paramount leader" in 1978, Deng Xiaoping recognized the "Sichuan Experience" as a model for Chinese economic reform. Deng promoted Zhao to a position as an alternate member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China in 1977, and as a full member in 1979. He joined the Politburo Standing Committee, China's highest ruling organ, in 1982.

After 1978 Zhao's policies were replicated in Anhui, with similar success. In 1980, after serving under Hua Guofeng as vice-premier for six months, Zhao replaced Hua as premier with a mandate to introduce his rural reforms across China. Between 1980 and 1984, China's agricultural production rose by 50%.

Zhao developed "preliminary stage theory", a model for transforming the socialist system via gradual economic reform. As premier, Zhao implemented many of the policies that were successful in Sichuan at a national scale, increasingly de-centralizing industrial and agricultural production. Zhao successfully sought to establish a series of special economic zones in coastal provinces in order to attract foreign investment and create export hubs. Zhao's reforms led to a rapid increases in both agricultural and light-industrial production throughout the 1980s, but his economic reforms were criticized for causing inflation. Zhao promoted an open foreign policy, improving China's relations with Western nations in order to support China's economic development.

In the 1980s, Zhao was branded by conservatives as a revisionist of Marxism, but his advocacy of government transparency and a national dialogue that included ordinary citizens in the policymaking process made him popular with many. Zhao was a solid believer in the Party, but he defined socialism very differently than Party conservatives did. Zhao called political reform "the biggest test facing socialism." He believed economic progress was inextricably linked to democratization. Zhao was a fan of golf, and is credited with popularizing the game's reintroduction to the mainland in the 1980s.

While Zhao focused on economic reforms during the early 1980s, his superior, Hu Yaobang, promoted a number of political reforms. In the late 1980s Hu and Zhao collaborated to promote a series of large-scale political reforms with vaguely defined goals. The political reforms of Hu and Zhao included proposals to have candidates directly elected to the Politburo, more elections with more than one candidate, more government transparency, more consultation with the public on policy, and increased personal responsibility directed to officials for their mistakes.

Zhao and Hu also began a large-scale anti-corruption programme, and permitted the investigations of the children of high-ranking Party elders, who had grown up protected by their parents' influence. Hu's investigation of Party officials belonging to this "Crown Prince Party" made Hu unpopular with many powerful Party officials. In January 1987 a clique of Party elders forced Hu to resign, on the grounds that he had been too lenient to student protestors. After Hu's dismissal, Deng promoted Zhao to replace Hu as CPC General Secretary, putting Zhao in the position to succeed Deng as "paramount leader". One month before Zhao was appointed to the position of General Secretary, Zhao was interviewed by an American reporter, stating: "I am not fit to be the general secretary... I am more fit to look after economic affairs." Zhao's vacated premiership was in turn filled by Li Peng, a conservative who opposed many of Zhao's economic and political reforms.

In the 1987 Communist Party Congress Zhao declared that China was in "a primary stage of socialism" that could last 100 years. Under this premise, Zhao believed that China needed to experiment with a variety of economic reforms in order to stimulate production. Zhao proposed to separate the roles of the Party and state, a proposal that has since become taboo.

Western observers generally view the year that Zhao served as General Secretary as the most open in the history of the People's Republic of China. Many limitations on freedom of speech and freedom of press were relaxed, allowing intellectuals to freely express themselves, and to propose "improvements" for the country. Contrary to popular opinion, Zhao opposed the idea of expanding China's economy by allowing private individuals to purchase stock. The idea of opening China to the stock market remained taboo throughout Zhao's time in government, but was gradually implemented later, in the 1990s.

Zhao's proposal in May 1988 to accelerate price reform led to widespread popular complaints about rampant inflation and gave opponents of rapid reform the opening to call for greater centralization of economic controls and stricter prohibitions against Western influence. This precipitated a political debate, which grew more heated through the winter of 1988 to 1989.

Relationship with Party elders[link]

Because Zhao had risen to power through his work in the provinces, he never enjoyed strong connections among the Party leadership in Beijing. Because he had led the Communist Youth League in the 1950s, Zhao often relied on its former members for support, and Zhao's enemies accused him of promoting a "Communist Youth League faction" within the CCP. Among Beijing's Party elders, Chen Yun and Li Xiannian were notably critical of Zhao and his policies.

Despite his criticism of Zhao, Chen Yun was the Party elder most respected by Zhao, and Zhao would frequently attempt to consult with Chen before implementing new policies. Li Xiannian resented Zhao personally for Zhao's interest in foreign culture, and for Zhao's willingness to learn from economic models that had been successful outside of China. According to Zhao, Li Xiannian "hated me because I was implementing Deng Xiaoping's reforms, but since it was difficult for him to openly oppose Deng, he made me the target of the opposition."

Zhao wrote warmly of Hu Yaobang in his autobiography, and generally agreed with Hu on the direction of China's economic reforms. Although Deng Xiaoping was Zhao's only firm supporter among the Party elders, Deng's support was sufficient to protect Zhao throughout Zhao's career. As late as April 1989, one month before the dramatic end of Zhao's career, Deng assured Zhao that he had secured the support of Chen Yun and Li Xiannian for Zhao to serve two more full terns as Party General Secretary.

The second half of 1988 saw the increasing deterioration of Zhao's political support. Zhao found himself in multi-front turf battles with the Party elders, who grew increasingly dissatisfied with Zhao's hands-off approach to ideological matters. The conservative faction in the politburo, led by Li Peng and Yao Yilin, were constantly at odds with Zhao in economic and fiscal policy making. Zhao was under growing pressure to combat runaway corruption by rank-and-file officials and their family members. In the beginning of 1989, it was evident that Zhao was faced with an increasingly difficult uphill battle, and he may have seen that he was fighting for his own political survival. If Zhao was unable to turn things around rapidly, a showdown with the Party conservatives would be all but inevitable. The student protests triggered by the sudden death of former CPC General Secretary Hu Yaobang, widely admired as a reform-minded leader, created a crisis in which Zhao was forced into a confrontation with his political enemies.

The Tiananmen Protests[link]

Zhao was General Secretary for little more than a year before the death of Hu Yaobang on 15 April 1989, coupled with a growing sense of public outrage caused by high inflation, provided the backdrop for the large-scale protest of 1989 by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. The Tiananmen protests initially began as a spontaneous public mourning for Hu, but evolved into nation-wide protests supporting political reform and demanding an end to Party corruption.

Student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, reacted to a variety of causes of discontent. The diverse demands of protesters included greater economic liberalization, political democracy, media freedom, freedom of speech and association, rule of law, and to have the legitimacy of the movement recognized. Some protest leaders spoke against official corruption and speculation, price stability, social security, and the democratic means to supervise the reform process. Ironically, some of the original invective was also directed against Zhao. Party hardliners increasingly came to the conclusion that the demonstrations were due to Zhao's rapid pace of reform, which they believed caused a sense of confusion and frustration among college students. Protests also spread through many other cities, notably including Shanghai and Guangzhou. The protesters may have been encouraged by the imminent collapse of other Communist government in Eastern Europe.

The tragic events of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 sealed Zhao's fate and rendered impossible any further democratic movement. While he was paying an official visit to Pyongyang, the party hard-liners exploited the opportunity to declare the ongoing protests "counter-revolutionary." Upon returning from Pyongyang, Zhao made several attempts to steer the course toward what he called "a track based upon democracy and the rule of law". He opened up channels for direct dialogues between students and the government at multiple levels. He also ordered the news media to cover the student demonstrations with unprecedented openness. A number of legislative initiatives aimed at the reform of press, news media and education were also under way. However, Zhao's initiatives, along with his conciliatory attitude toward the students, were seen by the elders and other party hard-liners as hastened steps toward breaking free the party control. The evening of 16 May marked the point of no return of Zhao's political career. At the onset of his meeting with the visiting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Zhao made a stunning announcement declaring that Deng Xiaoping, though officially no longer a member of the party central committee, was still having final say in major decision-making. Zhao's move was interpreted by Party elders as an unmistakable sign of parting company with the aging paramount leader, his long-time political patron and mentor. The leadership would not purge Zhao while Gorbachev was still in Beijing. But on the night of 18 May, just after the Soviet leader left, Zhao was summoned to Deng's residence and a hastily called Politburo Standing Committee was called to endorse martial law with Zhao casting the lone dissenting vote.

Shortly before 5 A.M. on the morning of 19 May, Zhao appeared in Tiananmen Square and wandered among the crowd of protesters. Using a bullhorn, he delivered a now-famous speech to the students gathered at the square. It was first broadcast through China Central Television nationwide. Here is a translated version:

After a bow, people began to applaud, some students bursted into tears. That was his last public appearance." 我们已经老了，无所谓了。" (trad:我們已經老了，無所謂了。) - ''"We are already old, it doesn't matter to us anymore."'' became a famous quote after that.

House arrest[link]

The protesters did not disperse. A day after Zhao's 19 May visit to Tiananmen Square, Premier Li Peng publicly declared martial law. In the power struggle that ensued, Zhao was stripped of all his positions. Following Zhao's dismissal, Jiang Zemin replaced Zhao as General Secretary and successor of Deng Xiaoping. Jiang was notable for suppressing similar protests in Shanghai without any bloodshed.

What motivated Zhao remains, even today, a topic of debate by many. Some say he went into the square hoping a conciliatory gesture would gain him leverage against hard-liners like Premier Li Peng. Others believe he supported the protesters and did not want to see them hurt when the military was called in. After the incident, Zhao was placed under indefinite house arrest.

Zhao's rival, Li Peng, later accused Zhao of fomenting the Tiananmen Protests exclusively for political gain. According to Li, "Zhao liaised with Bao Tong immediately after his arrival in Beijing (from Pyongyang). Bao gathered some other of Zhao's supporters to hash out the situation. They feared that Zhao's political future was at stake: Zhao did not succeed in [managing] the economy, was not stellar politically, does not have a power base of his own, and his son was suspected of illegal business dealings. As such, it was likely that Zhao would become the 'scapegoat' of the student movement. These advisors suggested to Zhao that he maintain distance with Deng Xiaoping [and] attempt to win the people's hearts in order to save himself; there were no other options." Because Zhao was never formally charged with any wrongdoing, it cannot be known what evidence Li had to support his claims. Zhao himself addressed Li's claims as "slander".

Zhao remained under tight supervision and was allowed to leave his courtyard compound or receive visitors only with permission from the highest echelons of the Party. There were occasional reports of him attending the funeral of a dead comrade, visiting other parts of China or playing golf at Beijing courses, but the government rather successfully kept him hidden from news reports and history books. Over that period, only a few snapshots of a gray-haired Zhao leaked out to the media. On at least two occasions Zhao wrote letters, addressed to the Chinese government, in which he put forward the case for a reassessment of the Tiananmen Massacre. One of those letters appeared on the eve of the Communist Party's 15th National Congress. The other came during a 1998 visit to China by U.S. President Bill Clinton. Neither was ever published in mainland China.

After 1989, Zhao remained ideologically estranged from the Chinese government. He remained popular among those who believed that the government was wrong in ordering the "Tiananmen Massacre", and that the Party should reassess its position on the student protests. He continued to hold China's top leadership responsible for the assault, and refused to accept the official Party line that the demonstrations had been a part of a "counter-revolutionary rebellion". After his arrest, Zhao eventually came to hold a number of beliefs that were much more radical than any positions he had ever expressed while in power. Zhao came to believe that China should adopt a free press, freedom to organize, an independent judiciary, and a multiparty parliamentary democracy.

Zhao lived for fifteen years under house arrest, accompanied by his wife. The ''hutong'' in which Zhao lived had once belonged to a hairdresser of the Qing Dynasty Empress Dowager, Cixi, and was located in central Beijing, close to Zhongnanhai. Despite Zhao's house arrest, no formal charges were ever laid against him, and he was never expelled from the Communist Party. After his arrest, Deng and his successors continued to believe that Zhao and his subordinates had worked secretly to organize the nation-wide protests, and worried that his death might trigger protests similar to the protests sparked by the death of Hu Yaobang.

Death and muted response[link]

In February 2004, Zhao had a pneumonia attack that led to a pulmonary failure and was hospitalized for three weeks. Zhao was hospitalized again with pneumonia on 5 December 2004. Reports of his death were officially denied in early January 2005. Later, on 15 January, he was reported to be in a coma after multiple strokes. According to Xinhua, Vice President Zeng Qinghong represented the party's central leadership to visit Zhao at the hospital. Zhao died on 17 January in a Beijing hospital at 07:01, at the age of 85. He was survived by his second wife, Liang Boqi, and five children (a daughter and four sons).

After Zhao's death, China's leaders feared an episode of civil disturbance similar to that which followed the death of Hu Yaobang. In order to manage the news of Zhao's death, the Chinese government created an "Emergency Response Leadership Small Group", which declared "a period of extreme sensitivity", and placed the People's Armed Police on special alert. In order to prevent any mass demonstrations in the capital, the Emergency Group directed the Ministry of Railways to screen travellers headed to Beijing. Chinese newspapers carried a brief obituary, but Xinhua successfully directed China's domestic TV and radio stations not to broadcast the news. In order to prevent any public commemoration of Zhao, Chinese authorities increased security in Tiananmen Square and at Zhao's house.

Under the headline "Comrade Zhao Ziyang has Passed Away", Zhao's obituary stated, "Comrade Zhao had long suffered from multiple diseases affecting his respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and had been hospitalized for medical treatment for several times. His conditions worsened recently, and he passed away Monday after failing to respond to all emergency treatment." All Chinese newspapers carried exactly the same 59-word obituary on the day following his death, leaving the main means of mass dissemination through the Internet. Chinese Internet forums, including the Strong Nation Forum and forums hosted by SINA.com, Xinhua, and the People's Daily, were flooded with messages expressing condolences for Zhao: "Time will vindicate him", wrote one commenter; "We will miss you forever" wrote another. These messages were promptly deleted by moderators, leading to more postings attacking the moderators for deleting the postings.

The Chinese government was successful in keeping Zhao's death fairly low key within mainland China. Open, public response was absent, though some online commenters stated that they planned to buy wreaths to mourn his death, or had stood in three minutes of silence to honour Zhao's memory.

In Hong Kong, 10,000–15,000 people attended the candlelight vigil in remembrance of Zhao. Mainlanders such as Chen Juoyi said that it was illegal for Hong Kong legislators to join any farewell ceremony, stating ''"...under the 'one country, two systems' a Hong Kong legislator cannot care anything about mainland China."'' The statement caused a political storm in Hong Kong that continued for three days after his speech. Szeto Wah, the chairman of The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said that it was not right for the Communists to suppress the memorial ceremony. The twenty-four pan-democrat legislators went against the chairperson of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, who insisted that security be tightened at Tiananmen Square and at Zhao's house, and that the authorities try to prevent any public displays of grief. Similar memorials were held around the world, notably in New York City and Washington, DC where American government officials and exiled political dissidents attended. In the West, Zhao was editorialized as a martyr who died for democracy.

On 29 January 2005 the government held a funeral ceremony for him at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, a place reserved for revolutionary heroes and high government officials, that was attended by some 2,000 mourners, who were pre-approved to attend. Several dissidents, including Zhao's secretary Bao Tong and Tiananmen Mothers leader Ding Zilin, were kept under house arrest and therefore could not attend. Xinhua reported that the most senior official to attend the funeral was Jia Qinglin, fourth in the party hierarchy, and other officials who attended included He Guoqiang, Wang Gang and Hua Jianmin. Mourners were forbidden to bring flowers or to inscribe their own messages on the government-issued flowers. There was no eulogy at the ceremony because the government and Zhao's family could not agree on its content: while the government wanted to say he made mistakes, his family refused to accept he did anything wrong. On the day of his funeral, state television mentioned Zhao's death for the first time. Xinhua issued a short article on the funerary arrangements, acknowledging Zhao's "contributions to the party and to the people", but said he made "serious mistakes" during the 1989 "political disturbance". According to Du Daozheng, writing in the foreword to the Chinese edition of Zhao's memoirs, the use of the term "serious mistakes" instead of the former verdict of "supporting turmoil and splitting the party" represented a backing down by the party. After the ceremony, Zhao was cremated. His ashes were taken to his Beijing home, since the government had denied him a place at Babaoshan.

Push for rehabilitation[link]

After Zhao's death, there were a number of calls in China and abroad urging China to reconsider Zhao's role in history. Within China, these calls were largely led by Zhao's former secretary, Bao Tong. Outside of China, Zhao's death produced calls from the governments of Taiwan and Japan urging China to move toward granting the greater political freedoms that Zhao promoted. The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said as part of a statement on Zhao's death: "I want them to make efforts for democratization". A representative of the Taiwanese cabinet, Chen Chi-mai, stated that Beijing should "face the truth about Tiananment Square" and "push for democratic reforms". The White House praised Zhao, saying that Zhao "was a man of moral courage who suffered great personal sacrifices for standing by his convictions during difficult times."

Although some of his followers have occasionally attempted to push for Zhao's formal rehabilitation since Zhao's arrest, the Party has been largely successful in removing his name from most public records available in China. Government efforts to delete Zhao's memory from public consciousness include airbrushing his picture from photographs released in China, deleting his name from textbooks, and forbidding the media from mentioning him in any way. In 2005, former NPC Chairman Wan Li joined more than 20 retired Politburo members, including Tian Jiyun, former Vice Premier, in asking the Central Government to rehabilitate Zhao’s name and hold memorial services for him for his many important contributions to China. The Chinese government agreed to hold a ceremony to honor the late Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, but the response fell far short of satisfying the requests from both inside and outside the CPC.

Since 1989, one of the few publications that has dared to print a non-government-approved memorial praising Zhao's legacy has been the magazine ''China Through the Ages'' (''Yanhuang Chunqiu''). The magazine released the pro-Zhao article in July 2010. The article was written by Zhao's former aide, Yang Rudai.

Memoirs[link]

On 14 May 2009, a published edition of Zhao's memoirs was released to the public, under the English title ''Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang''. The 306-page book was crafted over four years from tapes recorded in secret by Zhao, who lived under tightly monitored house arrest for 15 years before dying in 2005. In the last chapter, Zhao praises the Western system of parliamentary democracy and says it is the only way China can solve its problems of corruption and a growing gap between the rich and poor.

Zhao's published autobiography is based on approximately thirty cassette tapes which Zhao secretly recorded between 1999 and 2000. The material in his biography was largely consistent with the information from the "Tiananmen Papers", an unauthorized collection of Chinese government documents published in 2001. The book was also consistent with material from "Captive Conversations", a record of conversations between Zhao and his friend Zong Fengming, which was published only in Chinese.

''Prisoner of the State'' contained minor historical errors, which commenters noted may reflect how out of touch China's leaders are with Chinese society. Although the Beijing populace did spontaneously attempt to block Chinese troops' entrance into Beijing, Zhao's assertion that "groups of old ladies and children slept in the roads" was not correct. Zhao noted that the astrophysicist Fang Lizhi (the Chinese government's most wanted dissident following the Tiananmen Protests) was out of the country in 1989 and publicly critical of Deng Xiaoping, when in fact Fang was living just outside of Beijing and deliberately kept silent about politics during the 1989 protests.

As of 2009 his memoir was being sold (in both Chinese and English) in Hong Kong but not in mainland China, though a Microsoft Word file containing the memoir's entire Chinese-language text became available on the Internet and was downloaded widely throughout mainland China.

The recordings highlighted Zhao's heavy Henan accent, making his Mandarin at times hard to follow.

See also[link]

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989

Politics of the People's Republic of China

History of the People's Republic of China

Censorship in the People's Republic of China

Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China

Human rights in the People's Republic of China

References[link]

External links and further reading[link]

Video of Zhao's May 19 speech to Tiananmen protesters

Zhao Ziyang. ''Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang''. Trans & Ed. Bao Pu, Renee Chiang, and Adi Ignatius. New York: Simon and Schuster. 2009. ISBN 1-4391-4938-0.

Pre-publication interview on Prisoner of the State with Bao Pu and excerpts from Zhao tapes (Radio France Internationale in English)

Alliance Introduction (profile by the democracy movement alliance; in Chinese)

News collections about Zhao Ziyang (China Digital Times)

赵紫阳同志逝世, Zhao Ziyang died at 85 (official Chinese news agency, Xinhua News Agency)

China's Purged Chinese leader dies (CNN)

Obituary: Zhao Ziyang (BBC)

Chinese media muted on Zhao death (BBC)

Online tributes to Zhao Ziyang (BBC)

The Prisoner of Conscience: Zhao Ziyang, 1919-2005 (''TIME'')

Chinese Leader Purged for Supporting Tiananmen Protesters Dies at 85 (''The New York Times'')

China Gives Zhao's Death Scant Notice (''The New York Times'')

Purged Chinese Leader Zhao Ziyang Dies at 85 (''The Washington Post'')

Zhao's Death Puts China in Quandary (''The Washington Post'')

The man who came too late (''The Economist'')

Media Barred from Covering Death of Former Communist Leader (''International Freedom of Expression Exchange'')

Zhao Ziyang: The Times obituary (The Times)

Retired Politburo Members Appeal for Zhao Ziyang’s Rehabilitation (''The Epoch Times'')

‎

Category:People from Anyang Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Chinese democracy activists Category:Leaders of the Communist Party of China Category:Governors of Guangdong Category:Governors of Sichuan Category:Premiers of the People's Republic of China Category:Prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China Category:1919 births Category:2005 deaths

bg:Джао Дзъян cs:Čao C'-jang de:Zhao Ziyang es:Zhao Ziyang eu:Zhao Ziyang fa:ژائو زیانگ fr:Zhao Ziyang ko:자오쯔양 io:Zhao Ziyang id:Zhao Ziyang it:Zhao Ziyang mr:चाओ झियांग ms:Zhao Ziyang cdo:Diêu Ciē-iòng nl:Zhao Ziyang ja:趙紫陽 no:Zhao Ziyang nn:Zhao Ziyang oc:Zhao Ziyang pl:Zhao Ziyang pt:Zhao Ziyang ru:Чжао Цзыян fi:Zhao Ziyang sv:Zhao Ziyang tr:Zhao Ziyang ur:زاؤ ژیانگ vi:Triệu Tử Dương war:Zhao Ziyang yo:Zhao Ziyang zh-yue:趙紫陽 zh:赵紫阳

name	Conan O'Brien
birth name	Conan Christopher O'Brien
alias	Coco
birth date	April 18, 1963
birth place	Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
medium	Television
nationality	American
active	1985–present
genre	Improvisational comedy, sketch comedy, physical comedy, surreal humor, self-deprecation
subjects	Self-deprecation, pop culture
influences	Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Robert Smigel, Pee-Wee Herman
spouse	Elizabeth Ann Powel (since 2002; 2 children)
notable work	''The Simpsons''(writer, producer, 1991–1993)''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''(host, 1993–2009)''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien''(host, 2009–2010) ''Conan'' (host, 2010–present)
education	Harvard University
signature	Conan O'Brien Signature.svg

}} Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted ''Conan'', a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the ''Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series ''Not Necessarily the News''. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of ''Saturday Night Live'', and later of ''The Simpsons''. He hosted ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'', the only person to serve as the permanent host for both NBC programs.

Early life[link]

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard, and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray. He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants. In a ''Late Night'' episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.

O'Brien attended Brookline High School, where he served as the managing editor of the school newspaper. In his senior year, O'Brien won the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest with his short story, "To Bury the Living". After graduating as valedictorian in 1981, he entered Harvard University. At Harvard, O'Brien lived in Holworthy Hall during his freshman year and Mather House during his three upper-class years. He concentrated in history and literature and graduated ''magna cum laude'' in 1985. His senior thesis concerned the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Throughout college, O'Brien was a writer for the ''Harvard Lampoon'' humor magazine. He also briefly served as the drummer in a band called "The Bad Clams". During his sophomore and junior years, he served as the ''Lampoon'''s president. At this time, O'Brien's future boss at NBC, Jeff Zucker, was serving as President of the rival ''The Harvard Crimson''.

Career[link]

''Saturday Night Live'' (1987–1991)[link]

O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's ''Not Necessarily the News''. He was also a writer on the short-lived ''The Wilton North Report''. He spent two years with that show and performed regularly with improvisational groups, including The Groundlings. In January 1988, ''Saturday Night Live'''s executive producer, Lorne Michaels, hired O'Brien as a writer. During his three years on ''Saturday Night Live (SNL)'', he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr. Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers"; the latter was first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch, "Nude Beach", with Robert Smigel, in which the word "penis" was said or sung at least 42 times. While on a writers' strike from ''Saturday Night Live'' following the 1987–88 season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow ''SNL'' writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called ''Happy Happy Good Show''. While living in Chicago, O'Brien briefly roomed with Jeff Garlin. In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow ''SNL'' writers received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.

O'Brien, like many ''SNL'' writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches; his most notable appearance was as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode. O'Brien returned to host the show in 2001 during its 26th season. O'Brien and Robert Smigel wrote the television pilot for ''Lookwell'' starring Adam West, which aired on NBC in 1991. The pilot never went to series, but it became a cult hit. It was later screened at ''The Other Network'', a festival of unaired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret; it featured an extended interview with O'Brien and was rerun in 2002 on the Trio network.

''The Simpsons'' (1991–1993)[link]

From 1991 to 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for ''The Simpsons'' and was credited as writer or co-writer of four episodes. Of all the episodes he wrote, he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite. Along with this episode, he has sole writing credits on "New Kid on the Block," "Homer Goes to College," and "Treehouse of Horror IV," on which he wrote the episode wraparounds. He was an active producer during seasons 4 and 5 as well, meaning he would frequently contribute to scripts from those seasons as well as come up with story ideas, plot points, and jokes. The style of the show's comedy during this period was also influenced by his sensibilities, with "Marge vs. the Monorail" being cited by several former writers as the turning point in the show's history where more absurd and visual comedy became acceptable. He also developed a reputation as a "room guy," or a writer who performs comedy bits throughout the day to entertain other writers.

In his speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000, O'Brien credited ''The Simpsons'' with saving him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his being hired for the show.

During his time at ''The Simpsons'', O'Brien also had a side project working with former writing partner Robert Smigel on the script for a musical film based on the "Hans and Franz" sketch from ''Saturday Night Live''. The film was never produced.

''Late Night'' (1993–2009)[link]

As executive producer, Lorne Michaels invited O'Brien to audition to host the successor show to ''Late Night with David Letterman''. Premiering on September 13, 1993, ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' received generally unfavorable critical reviews during its first few years. The show remained on multiweek renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. O'Brien later poked fun at the first three years of the show, when on his 10th Anniversary Special Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it. When O'Brien tried to point out that he had actually been on the air for ten years, Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool; but you've only been funny for seven!"

Beginning in 1996, O'Brien and the ''Late Night'' writing team were nominated annually for the Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, winning the award for the first and only time in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, he and the ''Late Night'' writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series. In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which subsequently shared in the production credits for ''Late Night''.

A long-running joke, which stems from the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", is that O'Brien resembles the first female president of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien traveled to Finland, appearing on several television shows and meeting President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.

O'Brien ad-libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4, 2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate webcam site. NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that the Federal Communications Commission would hold NBC liable for promoting inappropriate content if a third party were to register the domain and post such material. For a period of time, the website hosted material concerning Conan's initial manatee joke and other ''Tonight Show'' references, but today the site just redirects to NBC's main web page.

A popular recurring bit on the show was "Pale Force", a series of animated episodes in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their "paleness". As Gaffigan introduced each new episode, O'Brien protested the portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak, and impotent. , ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers. O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. When Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band appeared on the show as musical guests, O'Brien joined the 17-piece band, along with the Max Weinberg 7 and guests Jimmy Fallon and Thomas Haden Church, playing acoustic guitar and contributing backup vocals for the song "Pay Me My Money Down". On the June 13, 2008, episode of ''Late Night'', O'Brien simply walked onto the stage at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent ''Late Night'' guest, Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert ''Late Night'' moments. On February 20, 2009, NBC aired the last episode of ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. The show consisted of a compilation of previous ''Late Night'' clips and included a surprise appearance by former sidekick, Andy Richter. Will Ferrell, John Mayer, and the White Stripes also appeared. O'Brien ended the episode by destroying the set with an axe, handing out the pieces of the set to the audience, and thanking a list of people who helped him get to that point in his career. Among those thanked were Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and O'Brien's wife and children.

The Colbert / O'Brien / Stewart mock feud[link]

During the writers' strike in 2008, O'Brien staged a mock feud with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (of ''The Daily Show'') and Stephen Colbert (of ''The Colbert Report'') over a dispute about which of the three were responsible for giving a "bump" to Mike Huckabee's campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee. This feud crossed over all three shows during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.

''The Tonight Show'' (2009–2010)[link]

In 2004, O'Brien negotiated a new contract with NBC. As part of the deal, O'Brien would take over ''The Tonight Show'' from Jay Leno in 2009. O'Brien was a guest on Jay Leno's final episode of ''The Tonight Show''. On June 1, 2009, Will Ferrell became Conan's first ''Tonight Show'' guest on the couch and Pearl Jam appeared as his first musical guest.

During the taping of the Friday, September 25, 2009, episode of ''The Tonight Show'', O'Brien suffered from a mild concussion after he slipped and hit his head while running a race as part of a comedy sketch with guest Teri Hatcher. He was examined at a hospital and released the same day. A rerun was aired that night, but O'Brien returned to work the following Monday and poked fun at the incident.

Departure from ''The Tonight Show''[link]

On Thursday, January 7, 2010, NBC executive Jeff Zucker met with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien to discuss how to get Leno out of prime time, where his ratings were lackluster, and back into late night. A proposal was made that would see O'Brien remain as host of ''The Tonight Show'', which would be moved to 12:05 am with Leno hosting a 30-minute show at 11:35 pm On January 10, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin confirmed that ''The Jay Leno Show'' would indeed end at the start of the Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010, and be moved to 11:35 pm following the Olympics coverage. Sources familiar with the situation told the ''New York Post'' that O'Brien was unhappy with NBC's plan.

On January 12, O'Brien released this statement: "I sincerely believe that delaying ''The Tonight Show'' into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. ''The Tonight Show'' at 12:05 simply isn’t ''The Tonight Show.''" On January 21, 2010, it was announced that Conan had reached a deal with NBC that would see him exit ''The Tonight Show'' the next day. The deal also granted him $45 million, of which $12 million was designated for distribution to his staff, who had moved with Conan to Los Angeles from New York when he left ''Late Night''.

The final ''Tonight Show'' with Conan aired January 22, 2010, and featured guests Tom Hanks, Steve Carell (who did an exit interview and shredded Conan's ID badge), Neil Young (singing "Long May You Run"), and Will Ferrell. For Ferrell's appearance, Conan played guitar with the band and Ferrell sang "Free Bird" while reprising his ''SNL'' cowbell. Ferrell's wife, Viveca Paulin, together with Ben Harper, Beck, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, also joined the band for this final performance.

Jay Leno returned to ''The Tonight Show'' following NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Under the $45 million deal with NBC, Conan was allowed to start working for another network as soon as September 2010. Conan's rumored next networks ranged anywhere from Fox to Comedy Central.

After ''Tonight''[link]

On February 8, 2010, it was reported that O'Brien was attempting to sell his Central Park West penthouse in New York with an asking price of $35 million. He purchased the apartment in 2007 for $10 million. Two years earlier, O'Brien had purchased a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles for over $10.5 million. Some industry insiders have speculated that O'Brien had chosen to stay on the west coast in order to facilitate a return to late night television and because he did not want to put his children through another move.

On February 24, 2010, O'Brien attracted media attention for starting a Twitter account. His tweets, although primarily jokes, amounted to his first public statements since leaving ''The Tonight Show'' one month earlier. After about one hour, O'Brien's subscriber list had rocketed to over 30,000 members and approximately 30 minutes later, he was on the brink of passing 50,000 followers, already 20,000 more than the verified @jayleno account. After 24 hours, O'Brien had well over 300,000 followers. In late May 2010, he surpassed the one million mark for number of Twitter followers, and he has over 5.3 million followers.

O'Brien has been named to the 2010 Time 100, a list compiled by TIME of the 100 most influential people in the world as voted on by readers. After being prohibited from making television appearances of any kind until May, O'Brien spoke about the ''Tonight Show'' conflict on the CBS newsmagazine ''60 Minutes'' on May 2, 2010. During the interview with Steve Kroft, O'Brien said the situation felt "like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly. And I was just trying to figure out what happened." He also said he "absolutely" expected NBC to give him more of a chance and that, if in Jay Leno's position, he would not have come back to ''The Tonight Show''. However, Conan said he did not feel he got shafted. "It's crucial to me that anyone seeing this, if they take anything away from this, it's I'm fine. I'm doing great," said O'Brien. "I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous. And I don't regret anything."

The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour[link]

On March 11, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account that he would embark on a 30-city live tour beginning April 12, 2010, entitled "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour". Co-host Andy Richter, along with members of the former Tonight Show Band, joined O'Brien on the tour. Max Weinberg, however, was not able to join, except for a guest appearance at one of Conan's New York City shows. VIP tickets for $695 offered the opportunity to meet O'Brien in person. On the same day, teamcoco.com—an apparently official website—was launched.

On April 12, 2010, O'Brien opened his two-month comedy tour in Eugene, Oregon, with a crowd of 2,500 and no TV cameras. The tour traveled through America's Northwest and Canada before moving on to larger cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, where he performed on the campuses that house both of the NBC-owned studios he formerly occupied. The tour ended in Atlanta on June 14. With ticket prices starting at $40, "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" was effectively sold out.

''Conan'' (2010–present)[link]

On April 12, 2010, just hours before the start of his tour in Eugene, Oregon, O'Brien announced that he would host a new show on cable station TBS. The show debuted on November 8, 2010, and airs Monday through Thursday beginning at 11:00 pm ET/10:00 pm CT. O'Brien's addition moved ''Lopez Tonight'' with George Lopez back one hour to midnight ET/11:00 pm CT. Refusing at first to do to Lopez what had happened to him at NBC, O'Brien agreed to join the network after Lopez called to persuade him to come to TBS. In Canada, CTV will air the show and in Turkey, CNBC-e will air the show.

Other networks that were reportedly interested in O'Brien include TBS' sister networks TNT and HBO, Fox, FX, Comedy Central, Showtime, Revision3, and even the NBC Universal-owned USA Network.

On September 1, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account and Team Coco YouTube page that the title of his new show on TBS would simply be ''Conan''.

Television writer/producer (2002–present)[link]

In 2004, O'Brien apologized to Canadians for engaging in Quebec bashing, something which some felt reflected prejudice against Francophones. On March 7, 2006, NBC announced a new adventure/comedy series entitled ''Andy Barker, P.I.'', starring O'Brien's former sidekick, Andy Richter. O'Brien was executive producer and co-wrote the pilot. After six episodes and low ratings, the show was canceled despite being named by ''Entertainment Weekly'' as one of the Top Ten Shows of 2007. USA Network has handed out a 90-minute, cast-contingent pilot order to the medical-themed ''Operating Instructions'' from O'Brien's production banner. O'Brien will serve as an executive producer through his Conaco label. The script comes from ''Just Shoot Me'' veterans Judd Pillot and John Peaslee who will also executive produce." NBC ordered two pilots from Conaco in January 2010, the one-hour courtroom drama, ''Outlaw'', and a half-hour comedy. ''Outlaw'' was produced in eight episodes and premiered on September 15, 2010.

Voice work and guest appearances[link]

O'Brien's first guest appearance after beginning his late-night career was on the show he used to write for, ''The Simpsons''. He played himself in the season five episode "Bart Gets Famous", interviewing Bart Simpson during his rise to fame as a catchphrase comedian. The episode was produced after O'Brien's audition to replace David Letterman, but before he was hired for the show. O'Brien recorded his part after his own show went on the air, though he believed his show would be canceled by the time "Bart Gets Famous" aired. In 2006, he voiced himself in a short ''South Park'' scene as part of the opening of the 2006 Emmy Awards. In 2005, he provided the voice of Robert Todd Lincoln in the audio book version of ''Assassination Vacation'' by Sarah Vowell.

O'Brien has made multiple voice appearances on the Adult Swim series ''Robot Chicken'', including the specials ''Robot Chicken: Star Wars'', and ''Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II'' as the voice of the bounty hunter Zuckuss. On the TV show ''30 Rock'', O'Brien is depicted as an ex-boyfriend of lead character Liz Lemon, who works in the same building. In the episode "Tracy Does Conan," Conan appears as himself, awkwardly reunited with Lemon and coerced by network executive Jack Donaghy into having the character Tracy Jordan on ''Late Night'', despite having been assaulted in Jordan's previous appearance.

O'Brien made an appearance on ''Futurama'' in the second-season episode "Xmas Story". O'Brien plays himself as a head in a jar and still alive in the year 3000. O'Brien performs a stand-up routine at a futuristic ski lodge while being heckled by Bender the robot.

O'Brien also made a cameo appearance on the U.S. version of ''The Office''. In the episode "Valentine's Day", Michael believes that he spots former ''SNL'' cast member, Tina Fey, but has actually mistaken another woman for her. In the meantime, Conan has a quick walk-on and the camera crew informs Michael, when he returns from talking to the Tina Fey lookalike.

In January 2010, O'Brien appeared in ''The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!'' to honor the show he had written for in the early 1990s.

O'Brien created a superhero character with veteran DC Comics animator Bruce Timm during one episode of ''Conan''. Named "The Flaming C", the superhero bears a likeness to O'Brien, with a typically muscular superhero body and costume with chest insignia, but also with idiosyncrasies arbitrarily suggested by O'Brien like an oven mitt, a jai alai glove, marijuana leaf buckle, golf shoes, sock garters and fishnet stockings. O'Brien later aired a clip in which the character appears in ''Young Justice''.

In 2011, O'Brien hosted the ''Christmas in Washington'' special for TBS' sister network, TNT, featuring performances from Justin Bieber, Victoria Justice, Cee-Lo Green, The Band Perry and Jennifer Hudson; with a special appearance by the Obama family.

Emmy host[link]

O'Brien hosted the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, to critical acclaim. He had previously hosted the Primetime Emmys in 2002, and co-hosted in 2003.

Commercials and product placements[link]

According to Marketing Evolutions, the company that produces Q Scores measuring the familiarity and appeal of celebrities and brands, almost 74% of U.S. consumers are familiar with O'Brien. In spite of that high score, O'Brien hasn't done many commercials for corporate America; two recent examples are a 2009 appearance in a Super Bowl XLIII commercial for Bud Light, and one for American Express, which debuted on the same day as ''Conan''. He donated his proceeds from the Super Bowl commercial to the Fresh Air Fund, a charity which sends inner-city New York children to the country for vacations. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', O'Brien was paid more than one million dollars to do the American Express commercial, which required him to spend three days in Jaipur, India filming it.

While O'Brien has done few commercials, he "does do plenty of promoting, weaving product pitches into his show"; he has said "it's increasingly incumbent to help with tie-ins [but] if it can't be funny, I'd rather go hungry."

Comedy and mannerisms[link]

On ''Late Night,'' O'Brien became known for his active and spontaneous hosting style, which has been characterized as "awkward, self-deprecating humor".

Personal life[link]

O'Brien met Elizabeth Ann 'Liza' Powel in 2000 when she appeared on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' in an advertising skit involving Foote, Cone & Belding, where she worked as senior copywriter. The couple dated for nearly 18 months before their 2002 marriage in Powel's hometown of Seattle. O'Brien and Powel have a daughter, Neve (born in 2003) and a son, Beckett (born in 2005).

O'Brien repeatedly affirms his Irish Catholic heritage on his show. On a 2009 episode of ''Inside the Actors Studio'', he stated that both sides of his family moved to America from Ireland in the 1850s, subsequently marrying only other Irish Catholics, and that his lineage is thus 100% Irish Catholic.

He has been a staunch Democrat since casting his first vote for President in 1984 for Walter Mondale, although he considers himself a moderate on the political spectrum. O'Brien's longtime friend and former roommate at Harvard is Father Paul B. O' Brien, with whom he founded ''Labels Are For Jars'', an antihunger organization based in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and helped open the ''Cor Unum'' meal center in 2006. The two are not related.

In January 2008, after his show was put on hold for two months owing to the strike by the Writers Guild of America, he reemerged on late-night TV sporting a beard, which guest Tom Brokaw described as making him look like "a draft dodger from the Civil War." After leaving ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' on Jan. 22, 2010, O'Brien again grew a beard, which he kept until May 2, 2011, when it was partially shaved on the set of his TBS talk show, ''Conan'', by Will Ferrell with battery-operated clippers (and completely shaved off-screen by a professional barber). The event was dubbed on the show as "Beardocalypse," and included a contest for fan-submitted artwork.

O'Brien purchased a $10.5-million mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, to prepare for his move there in 2009 from New York City to host ''The Tonight Show'' at Universal Studios Hollywood. As part of a long running gag, he brought his 1992 Ford Taurus SHO with him to California, showcasing it on both the inaugural episodes of ''The Tonight Show'' and ''Conan''.

On October 21, 2011, O'Brien was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church, allowing him to perform a same-sex marriage while back in New York (where gay marriage is legal) to tape a week's worth of shows. The wedding, between a member of O'Brien's staff and his partner, was held on the stage of the Beacon Theatre on November 3, 2011, and broadcast on ''Conan''.

Conan vs. Bear[link]

Conan vs. Bear is a comedic website, lampooning the prospect of Conan O'Brien fighting bears. Artists from around the world have sent in images and videos with their own take on this theme. Currently the site boasts over 400 unique renderings, as well as several original videos inspired by the site. The website was noted by O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''.

Victim of stalking[link]

It was reported that since September 2006, O'Brien had allegedly been stalked by Father David Ajemian of the Archdiocese of Boston, who, despite multiple warnings to stop, had been sending O'Brien letters signed as "your priest stalker" and coming in contact with O'Brien's parents. Frustrated that he had been denied a spot in the ''Late Night'' audience, Ajemian sent a letter to O'Brien stating that he flew to New York "in the dimming hope that you might finally acknowledge me." He stated in another letter, "Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans??? You owe me big time, pal." In another letter, Ajemian seemed to make a death threat, saying, "Remember Frank Costello once dodged a bullet in your building and so can you." Ajemian then tried to forcefully enter a taping of ''Late Night'' but was caught and arrested. He was previously warned by the NBC security team to stay away from the studio. After a psychological evaluation, he was deemed fit to stand trial. He has since been bailed out of jail. He was then reported missing by his father on November 10, 2007. He was found and underwent evaluation at a hospital. It is known that the two had attended Harvard University at the same time. He was found fit to stand trial on April 4, 2008. On April 8, 2008, Ajemian pleaded guilty to stalking, stating that he "never meant to cause anxiety or to upset anyone." He was ordered to pay a $95 US$ court charge and to sign a two-year restraining order barring him from coming near O'Brien. On September 11, 2008, Ajemian checked himself out of his treatment at a hospital against the wishes of his bishop, Seán Patrick O'Malley. Cardinal O'Malley then released a statement saying that because he violated his bishop's wishes, Ajemian could no longer serve as a priest in the Catholic Church. As of late 2010, Ajemian has moved on to stalking Anthony Everett.

Nicknames[link]

Conan acquired the nickname "Coco" after its use in the first "Twitter Tracker" sketch during the second episode of his ''Tonight Show'' run. Guest Tom Hanks used the nickname during his subsequent interview, even getting the audience to chant it. In reaction to the moniker, Conan remarked to Hanks in jest, "If that catches on, I'll sue you."

In a March 23, 2011, interview with WWE Champion The Miz on ''Conan'', The Miz dubbed Conan "The Ginja Ninja", a reference to Conan's red hair and the fact that he came back fighting to get his new late-night talk show. A week later, "Team Ginja Ninja" T-shirts were available on TeamCoco.com.

Filmography[link]

;Appearances on talk shows: Guest appearance on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (1993, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Guest appearance on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (1993)

Guest appearance on ''The Jon Stewart Show'' (1993)

''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (1993–2009)

Guest appearance on ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' (2002)

Guest appearance on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2007, 2008)

Guest appearance on ''The Colbert Report'' (2007, 2008)

''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (2009)

''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' (2009–2010)

Guest appearance on ''Lopez Tonight'' (2010, 2011)

''Conan'' (November 8, 2010–)

Guest appearance on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (2011)

Guest appearance on ''Piers Morgan Tonight'' (2012)

Guest appearance on ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (2012)

;Other shows:

''Saturday Night Live'' (1991, 2001)

''The Simpsons'' (''as himself'') (1994)

''Space Ghost: Coast to Coast'' (''as himself'') (1999)

''Mr. Show with Bob and David'' (1995)

''The Single Guy'' (1996)

''Arli$$'' (1996)

''Spin City'' (1999)

''Futurama'' (1999)

''Storytelling'' (2001)

''Vanilla Sky'' (2001)

''Sugar & Spice'' (2001) ''(cameo in end credits)''

''Dr. Katz'' (''as himself'') (2002)

''Andy Richter Controls the Universe'' (2003)

''End of the Century'' (2003)

''Bewitched'' (''as himself'') (2005)

''Robot Chicken'' (2005)

''The Denial Twist (The White Stripes music video)'' (2005)

''O'Grady'' (2006)

''The Office'' ''(cameo)'' (2006)

''Queer Duck'' (''as himself'') (2006)

''30 Rock'' (''as himself'') (2007, 2009)

''Robot Chicken Star Wars'' (as ''Zuckuss'') (2007)

''Sesame Street'' (2008)

''Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II'' (as ''Zuckuss'', Star Wars nerd) (2008)

''The Backyardigans'' (2009)

''60 Minutes'' (interview) (2010)

''Eagleheart'' (himself) (2010)

''How I Met Your Mother'' (cameo) (2012)

Awards and nominations[link]

Year	Award	Work	Category	Result
1989	Emmy Award		Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1990	Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1991	Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1996	Emmy Award		Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
1998	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
People's Choice Award	Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host
Telvis Award	For the color spot of the year	Special Telvis
Writers Guild of America Award		Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
People's Choice Award	Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
2008	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
			Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	People's Choice Award	rowspan="4"	Favorite TV Talk Show Host
	Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
American Express	Outstanding Commercial
	People's Choice Award	rowspan="4"	Favorite TV Talk Show Host	Pending

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

in 2006 in 1998

I'm With Coco Facebook

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:American comedians Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American television writers Category:Emmy Award winners Category:The Groundlings Category:Harvard Lampoon people Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American comedians of Irish descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:Late night television talk show hosts Category:Late Night with Conan O'Brien Category:People from Brookline, Massachusetts Category:Writers from Massachusetts Category:Massachusetts Democrats

ar:كونان أوبراين bg:Конан О'Брайън ca:Conan O'Brien da:Conan O'Brien de:Conan O’Brien et:Conan O'Brien es:Conan O'Brien eo:Conan O'Brien eu:Conan O'Brien fa:کونن اوبراین fr:Conan O'Brien ga:Conan O'Brien id:Conan O'Brien it:Conan O'Brien he:קונאן או'בריין hu:Conan O’Brien nl:Conan O'Brien ja:コナン・オブライエン no:Conan O'Brien pl:Conan O'Brien pt:Conan O'Brien ru:О’Брайен, Конан sq:Conan O'Brien simple:Conan O'Brien fi:Conan O’Brien sv:Conan O'Brien tl:Conan O’Brien th:โคแนน โอ'ไบรอัน tr:Conan O'Brien zh:康納·歐布萊恩