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RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGH #0277/01 1300246
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 100246Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5790
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1054
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0619
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0600
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0728
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0623
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0497
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 6186

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 000277 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, INR/B AND INR/EAP 
STATE PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD, WINTER, MCCARTIN, ALTBACH, READE 
TREAS FOR OASIA - DOHNER/CUSHMAN 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC - A/DAS MELCHER, MCQUEEN 
NSC FOR WILDER AND TONG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/10/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PINR EINV ECON CH
SUBJECT: SHANGHAI PEACE MUSEUM 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Mary Tarnowka, Section Chief, Political/Economic 
Section  , U.S. Consulate Shanghai. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary. During an April 24 visit to the Shanghai Peace 
Museum, Poloff received a glimpse of some of the limitations 
faced by private citizens interested in politics.  The museum 
houses a collection of letters and autographs from world leaders 
supporting peace and has been treated with suspicion from 
government officials, according to the museum's founder Chen 
Ren.  The museum was also marked for demolition since the 
neighborhood in which it was located was scheduled for 
redevelopment.  Chen was aware that he could only play a limited 
role in China and focused his energy on promoting dialogue and 
greater appreciation among the Chinese people for peace.  End 
Summary. 
 
----------------- 
Letters For Peace 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) On April 24, Poloff visited the Shanghai Peace Museum 
and met with its founder Chen Ren.  The museum is a private 
museum located on the second floor of Chen's house in one of 
Shanghai's oldest neighborhoods.  The one-room museum contains 
116 letters and/or signed autographs from leaders of 72 
different countries and organizations including former United 
Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Libyan leader Colonel 
Moammar al-Ghadafi, and former President George H.W. Bush. 
Poloff met Chen during this year's Barnett-Oksenberg Lecture on 
March 21, which featured a speech by former Deputy Secretary 
Robert Zoellick.  Chen was very impressed by Zoellick's speech 
and invited Poloff to visit the museum to see how regular people 
in China were trying to be "responsible stakeholders." 
 
¶3.  (C)  According to Chen, the purpose of the museum was to 
show that leaders from around the world, no matter what their 
background, all supported peace.  He collected the letters and 
autographs by writing to world leaders and asking them to 
contribute a letter or signed autograph in support of peace. 
Most of the letters in the collection were standard thank-you 
letters to Chen or signed autographs.  However, a few were 
rather lengthy statements about the importance of peace.  Chen 
explained that he began collecting these letters 22 years ago 
after he had he received a reply from the U.S. Postal Service to 
one of his letters.  He felt empowered by the incident and 
decided to write to world leaders for their comments on peace. 
Letters soon began to pile up and, in 2003, Chen decided to give 
up his bedroom and display the collection at his house. 
 
¶4.  Chen added that since few people knew about the museum, he 
also held a handful of exhibitions at universities and hotels in 
Shanghai and Nanjing to display his collection.  Chen also set 
up a website (www.peacedialogue.org) dedicated to the museum 
which included a history of the museum, scanned photos of some 
of the letters, and pictures of prominent visitors such as a 
Consul at the Egyptian Consulate, U.S. Consulate officers, and a 
Fudan University professor.  Chen said that his museum had 
received a great deal of coverage in the western press, but was 
largely ignored in the local press.  (Note:  Chen has been 
profiled by the South China Morning Post and by the English 
language Shanghai Daily. End Note.)  Chen acknowledged that 
there were few visitors to the museum. 
 
------------------- 
No Place for Peace? 
------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) According to Chen, the museum's future was very 
uncertain.  The neighborhood in which the museum was located had 
been marked for demolition and Chen had not been able to find a 
new location for the museum.  Chen, a civil engineer with no 
background in international relations or government, said he 
pleaded to the local government for assistance but was told that 
he should just give up.  He said government officials were very 
suspicious about the museum and did not understand why an 
 
SHANGHAI 00000277  002 OF 003 
 
 
ordinary citizen would be interested in such issues.  He added 
that one official told him to just give up the museum because 
citizens should not be involved in promoting peace, this was 
something best left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the 
central government.  He added that he had also tried several 
times to get a letter or picture from someone in the Chinese 
government without any success.  He was told that Chinese 
leaders were too busy to respond.  He said it was ironic that 
the three major countries not represented at the museum were 
Cuba, North Korea, and China. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Chen said that although the museum was rather 
innocuous, the government still monitored its website and 
activities.  When pressed, he acknowledged that his role in 
promoting peace was rather limited because he could not openly 
criticize the government or organize peace rallies like western 
NGOs dedicated to promoting peace.  In China, all he could do 
was to try to educate ordinary citizens about the importance of 
peace by displaying his collection and urging more dialogue 
between different countries. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Student Views on Peace, Democracy, and NGOs 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) While the peace museum was not very popular with the 
local government, it appeared to have attracted some interest 
among the local student population.  During Poloff's visit to 
the museum, she met with seven of the museum's student 
volunteers.  The students were all undergraduates and attended 
local universities including Fudan and Shanghai universities. 
It was unclear what the volunteers actually did at the museum. 
The students said they were attracted to the museum because they 
believed that peace was important and they wanted to get 
involved in promoting peace.  One of the law majors said that 
the biggest obstacle to peace was that many people did not value 
peace.  She noted that peace meant different things to different 
countries and said there should be more cultural exchanges and 
dialogue to foster greater understanding between nations. 
 
¶8.  (C)  The students also supported the concept of human rights 
but noted that every country was different and there were 
different definitions of human rights.  A student majoring in 
communications said that for China, economic rights were more 
important.  He said that China was not yet ready for democracy 
because most people did not understand what democracy meant.  He 
did not think that it would be possible for there to be 
democracy in China until his generation came to power.  He said 
his generation was more aware of the outside world and was more 
open than older generations.  All of the students had positive 
views about NGOs and said that NGOs played a positive role in 
society in alleviating social pressures.  They all wanted to 
become more involved in NGOs in the future. 
 
¶9.  (C)  Chen disagreed with many of the students' views on 
democracy and human rights.  Interrupting the students, he told 
them that there were universal human rights that every country 
must respect.  China should not ignore civil rights and 
concentrate solely on economic development.  This led to 
corruption and an unequal society.  He agreed that China was not 
yet ready for democracy, but said that the students should not 
just wait for it to happen.  It was important that people in 
China push the government and try to quicken the pace of 
political reform.  The students often nodded their heads in 
response to Chen and took careful notes.  Chen seemed to enjoy 
his exchange and noted that he would teach a class on peace at 
East China Normal University in the near future. 
 
------------------------------ 
A Future For The Peace Museum? 
------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (C) Chen said he was desperately trying to find a new venue 
for the museum and was in contact with several universities. 
Chen would like to house the museum in a university where 
students would have easy access.  He was reluctant to contact 
think-tanks and other foundations in Shanghai because many of 
these organizations had connections to the government and was 
 
SHANGHAI 00000277  003 OF 003 
 
 
worried that these organizations would force him to make 
changes.  He asked Poloff for assistance in contacting 
international NGOs and other organizations who would be 
interested in providing financial assistance to the museum.  He 
also requested that Poloff forward a letter to President Bush 
asking for his signature and comments on peace.  Poloff 
forwarded the letter to EAP/CM. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11.  (C) In different circumstances, one could imagine Chen 
leading peace rallies or engaging in substantive public 
discourse.  However, this being China, Chen is limited to 
collecting and displaying letters and trying to inspire a band 
of student followers to promote peace and human rights, and to 
work to promote political reform.  Even that appears to be too 
controversial for the Chinese government. 
JARRETT