What Tiananmen Means to Me
As a college student, I'll never forget a visit from Tiananmen Square dissident Chai Ling to my university, where she spoke of her activities in the student protests.
I had just seen the brilliant documentary "The Gate of Heavenly Peace" and was troubled at how Chai could have uttered these words in an interview with an American journalist:
"The students kept asking, 'What should we do next? What can we accomplish?' I feel so sad, because how can I tell them that what we are actually hoping for is bloodshed, the moment when the government is ready to brazenly butcher the people. Only when the square is awash with blood will the people of China open their eyes."
At that time, many Chinese who were studying in the United States had began to question Chai's motivations, some even called her opportunistic. Her visit led many of the Chinese students in attendance to openly challenge her role as a self-proclaimed leader in the protests. And after the talk, I sat with many of them, as they relived and recounted their own tales of the Tiananmen Square protests.
As a young professional, living for the first time in Beijing, I visited Tiananmen Square on June 4, 2003, just to see what was going on. Aside from increased security and Western tourists taking pictures, not much.
The Tiananmen crackdown was a horrible event. A massacre. Innocent civilians were killed. But to use it as a constant criticism of the Chinese regime would be unfair. Simultaneously, Chinese citizens who are so willing to forget the idealistic, though perhaps misguided, optimism of the student protesters, should question why such memories so easily fade.
The changes taking place in China, economically, politically, and yes, democratically, are far from uniform. But they are taking place. Does more need to be done? Absolutely. Should we take time each year to remember the hundreds, perhaps thousands, killed? Yes. Should the government acknowledge and apologize for the event? I believe so, but I also believe it will take time.
China's self-recognition of its faults are rarely announced with fanfare. But it does happen. In 2005, the Chinese leadership honored Hu Yaobang, the ousted reformist Communist Party leader whose death ignited the student protests in 1989. After years of silence, a memorial for Hu was held with his family members in attendance. In rehabilitating Hu's name, the Chinese leadership sent a signal that perhaps the military crackdown in the spring of 1989 was a mistake.
After the ceremony, a member of Hu's family said in the Washington Post:
"No matter how you look at it, this was still a breakthrough from nothing after so many years. It makes it possible to hold deeper discussions in the future."
Lets hope the future comes soon.
Comments
Dear Ms Chiu,
Using Tiananmen as a constant reason to criticize the government of the PRC is not misguided or unfair. The government has remained the same since the massacre. The party still has not found any way to appeal to the people of the PRC except through economic development. Politics is still a forbidden subject for public comment. There is still corruption on a scale which makes Tammany Hall look like a bunch of amateurs.The emperor is still called the chairman of the communist party of China. The government is still prepared to do anything to preserve its grip on power.
So, one wonders, since there has been no change,why it is not appropriate to level an unchanging charge of massacre and unfitness for government against the boys in Beijing.
Joseph Reilly
Dear Mr. Reilly,
I don’t know how many Chinese people you know but I know many through contacts on the internet and even through my own wife. I can tell you that by and large the majority of citizens of the PRC are happy and trust their government. Misguided? I ask you what happened at Kent State in the 60’s and remind you that not one government on this earth the USA would willingly surrender it’s power to a group of students. Yes change will come slowly in China as it does every where but I urge you to consider the lies our own government recently told us to meet it’s goals (I supported him in two elections) before you quickly cast stones at our brother nations.
Hello Dear Lisa,
My name Ishaq Muhammad, I am the resident of Pakistan. my native village is Skardu, which is near the China Bordar. That’s Why I love to the people of China, B-Coz China is also loving nation in the world. So, when I saw urs blog, urs pic on it is very qute. that’s why I want to make friendship with u, if u do not mind, I am 40 years old man, and want to where thing about china’s Culture Please Help me.
Hoping for reply
Ishaq Muhammad Baltistani
Producer Sports,
PTV-Centre, Lahore
Pakistan
Lisa,
Well said. I live in China now. I am slow to become accustomed to the culture. But the time it takes to admit mistakes is true. Again, a very well written article. Keep up the good work! Thanks for all your hard work and effort!
Mr. Peterson,
It was not my intention to say that the USA is any better than the PRC, especially when it comes to trustworthiness. My point was simply that the government of the PRC is not a good one and that it has not shown and does not show any sign of changing. Your points are quite valid. I did not vote for the shrub in either election, but that is a matter of small import. The fact that the USA is not wonderful does not mean that the PRC is wonderful or even tolerable. The comparison of two countries is not what I had in mind.
So, I accept most of what you say as true, but irrelevant to my point.
Live Long and Prosper.
Joseph Reilly