Last month I fulfilled a decade-long dream of going to China. In the pre-dawn hours of May 4, 2009, Curtis, Rosey and I went to Tiananmen Square to watch a flag raising on this national holiday commemorating the May 4 Movement (of 1919) when Chinese students gathered at Tiananmen Squire protesting China's perceived lack of proactive response to Japanese political policy. This event marked an intellectual turning point in China leading to a more serious study of communism. I don't subscribe to this ideology and especially how Mao Zedong led his country during his reign, so of course I felt no sense of excitement or pride seeing the flag raising, but given the country's relatively recent past history I was extremely intrigued to see such display of nationalism by Chinese citizens. By contrast, I felt a great sense of sorrow just thinking about the events of April-June 1989 that so closely followed the same protocol of the students in 1919. Except this time the students were promoting greater democracy. That I understood. I've read so much of this place and many personal eyewitness accounts of June 4, 1989. (One especially poignant account is Jan Wong's in her book Red China Blues.) Curtis says that the events of June 4, 1989 never happened as far as the Chinese government is concerned. According to the Red Cross, nearly 3000 students died that day -- by tanks, gun fire, and other means. I cannot believe that so many Chinese nationals, especially young adults and children, have NO idea or clear understanding of the events of that day. I think that's an atrocity. So, as it is, there we were walking around the Square, which in my view is a memorial to the students. But to almost every one else, it is a place to celebrate communism and to revere their beloved chairman mao. And so on this day while others were celebrating, I privately paid my respects to those innocents whose deaths by the government and military have been all but forgotten. It is sacred ground, and I'm grateful I could go there and try to honor the forgotten dead. On June 3, 2009, PRI's The World ran a profound and sobering story about this event. I encourage all to read it at http://www.theworld.org/node/26728.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Remembering Tiananmen
Last month I fulfilled a decade-long dream of going to China. In the pre-dawn hours of May 4, 2009, Curtis, Rosey and I went to Tiananmen Square to watch a flag raising on this national holiday commemorating the May 4 Movement (of 1919) when Chinese students gathered at Tiananmen Squire protesting China's perceived lack of proactive response to Japanese political policy. This event marked an intellectual turning point in China leading to a more serious study of communism. I don't subscribe to this ideology and especially how Mao Zedong led his country during his reign, so of course I felt no sense of excitement or pride seeing the flag raising, but given the country's relatively recent past history I was extremely intrigued to see such display of nationalism by Chinese citizens. By contrast, I felt a great sense of sorrow just thinking about the events of April-June 1989 that so closely followed the same protocol of the students in 1919. Except this time the students were promoting greater democracy. That I understood. I've read so much of this place and many personal eyewitness accounts of June 4, 1989. (One especially poignant account is Jan Wong's in her book Red China Blues.) Curtis says that the events of June 4, 1989 never happened as far as the Chinese government is concerned. According to the Red Cross, nearly 3000 students died that day -- by tanks, gun fire, and other means. I cannot believe that so many Chinese nationals, especially young adults and children, have NO idea or clear understanding of the events of that day. I think that's an atrocity. So, as it is, there we were walking around the Square, which in my view is a memorial to the students. But to almost every one else, it is a place to celebrate communism and to revere their beloved chairman mao. And so on this day while others were celebrating, I privately paid my respects to those innocents whose deaths by the government and military have been all but forgotten. It is sacred ground, and I'm grateful I could go there and try to honor the forgotten dead. On June 3, 2009, PRI's The World ran a profound and sobering story about this event. I encourage all to read it at http://www.theworld.org/node/26728.
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