Remembering the Tiananmen Massacre: June 4, 1989
This will be a short blog before I take a little break for a few days.
This week marks 16 years since the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. Yes, my friends, it was a massacre.
The story a nutshell, was a culmination of decades and decades of oppressive communism.
On April 15, 1989, disgraced Communist Party chairman Hu Yao-bang passed on. He was a liberal reformer ousted in 1987 for not halting student demonstrations for democracy and human rights. His death triggered peaceful marches and protests from Beijing university students, who had largely viewed him as silent revolutionary in the Red party regime. They danced and debated politics in Tiananmen Square, and even erected the now famous ‘Goddess of Democracy’.
Supreme party leader Deng Xiaoping decided to take no shit. On May 20, martial law was declared. He ordered soldiers with machine guns, tear gas, tanks, shells, armoured vehicles to disperse the crowd.
The protesters resisted, retaliating with rocks and Molotov cocktails. They sincerely believed it was time to take a stand against the corrupt government and start a revolution to reforms. They thought they could succeed.
They were wrong.
On the night of June 3, soldiers opened fire on their fellow brothers with AK-47s, and tanks fired openly at the crowd, running over the students and innocent by-standers.
By the morning of June 4, 5000 were dead, and the square was swept clean. Hundreds and thousands are still kept in prison and torture camps or exiled to this day.
Beijing then declared victory against "counter-revolutionary insurgents".
The world reacted with shock and horror. Beijing ignored them and stood firm.
Now 16 years later, many people have forgotten. Or led themselves to believe that China is now a more politically open country than in 1989.
Right.
Back to main page.
This week marks 16 years since the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. Yes, my friends, it was a massacre.
The story a nutshell, was a culmination of decades and decades of oppressive communism.
On April 15, 1989, disgraced Communist Party chairman Hu Yao-bang passed on. He was a liberal reformer ousted in 1987 for not halting student demonstrations for democracy and human rights. His death triggered peaceful marches and protests from Beijing university students, who had largely viewed him as silent revolutionary in the Red party regime. They danced and debated politics in Tiananmen Square, and even erected the now famous ‘Goddess of Democracy’.
Supreme party leader Deng Xiaoping decided to take no shit. On May 20, martial law was declared. He ordered soldiers with machine guns, tear gas, tanks, shells, armoured vehicles to disperse the crowd.
The protesters resisted, retaliating with rocks and Molotov cocktails. They sincerely believed it was time to take a stand against the corrupt government and start a revolution to reforms. They thought they could succeed.
They were wrong.
On the night of June 3, soldiers opened fire on their fellow brothers with AK-47s, and tanks fired openly at the crowd, running over the students and innocent by-standers.
By the morning of June 4, 5000 were dead, and the square was swept clean. Hundreds and thousands are still kept in prison and torture camps or exiled to this day.
Beijing then declared victory against "counter-revolutionary insurgents".
The world reacted with shock and horror. Beijing ignored them and stood firm.
Now 16 years later, many people have forgotten. Or led themselves to believe that China is now a more politically open country than in 1989.
Right.
Back to main page.
posted by Yoong Family at
6/01/2005 01:31:00 pm
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5 Comments:
Yes, I remembered that event very well. I was in college at the time, and was following the news very closely via newspapers and magazines. When the end came, I was completely shocked by the response of the Chinese government.
Although I totally opposed what the government did (and still do), as I grew older I also came to appreciate the fact that China being a such a large and complex country, a breakdown of the Communist government's grip would have spelt chaos. Witness the fighting and bloodshed that happened after Yugoslavia and the USSR disintegrated.
We continue to live in an imperfect world, and can only look to the Higher One above to set things right.
By
Pat, at 6/01/2005 03:45:00 pm
wildcharm - by any chance was the earlier book you mentioned by Lynn Pan?
Pat - Well said.
By
Yoong Family, at 6/01/2005 03:50:00 pm
i think the younger ppl will remember the tiananmen better since it was shown on TV almost everyday. the nanking one happen in the 30's, so probably the older ppl remember it, and also the chinese educated.
By
Yoong Family, at 6/01/2005 04:40:00 pm
i bought Lynn Pan's sbook for a present to a friend, but i haven't read it. One day if i have some money i'll definitely read that one. What's the book by Nien CHen called, wildcharm?
By
Yoong Family, at 6/01/2005 08:19:00 pm
ok i'll look out for it the next time i'm at borders/mph.
By
Yoong Family, at 6/03/2005 06:29:00 pm
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