You are here

TIANANMEN 6-4-89 20 years of denial and continued repression!

10 posts / 0 new
Last post
Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
TIANANMEN 6-4-89 20 years of denial and continued repression!

It has been 20 years since elements of the 27th army group and others massacred thousands of workers, students, children, and other unarmed people on the streets of Beijing in the early days of June 1989. People must remember that the killings were not just limited to Beijing, but ocurred all over China. In the days that followed the initial massacre thousands more were murdered in quasi judicial killings all over China.

Even now the Chinese people cannot talk openly about liu si (June 4th). Bloggers are routinely arrested and web sites closed if the subject is broached. The Chinese people cannot even raise questions about the collapse of the schools in Sichuan last year!

WE AS TEACHERS HAVE AN OBLIGATION. NAY DUTY TO DISCUSS THIS EVENT WITH OUR STUDENTS!

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from eamador

Just heard on the news that the Chinese government has shut down "Twitter" and all blogs on the eve of the Tiananmen square incident. I will be discussing this today in my classes since we are exploring the change of philosophy during the Enlightenment and the antecedents to American democracy. What comes to mind was what we learned on our trip to China last summer (NCTA Summer 2008). Everyone has a cell phone and we were reminded that most of the grass roots organizations contact members through text messaging and phone calls. Even at our home visit in Xian the 15 year old was text messaging under the dinner table which made me feel right at home. I wonder if the government has any control over this form of communication? And people talk freely about issues although you won't see it published. The undertow is strong in China and it was remarkable how "un-repressed" the public seems to feel. Granted, as Clay admonished before our trip, "If you decide to wear a t-shirt with free Tibet on the front while standing in Tiananmen square, I am not obligated to visit you in jail, although the US Embassy probably will come to visit you." Having grown up during the cultural revolution period in China, it was fascinating to feel the openness of the people that I did not expect to feel. I have great faith in the people of China.

Regards,

Betse Amador

clay dube
Topic replies: 1894
Topic Posts: 604
Message from Clay Dube

The most comprehensive documentary on the movement is Carma Hinton's The Gate of Heavenly Peace. Hinton and her partners are known for their documentaries on Long Bow, a Northern China village and for Morning Sun, a film about the Cultural Revolution. Unfortunately the film is long, expensive, and not yet on dvd. And it's enmeshed in a lawsuit by a student activist unhappy with her portrayal.

Here's the film's outstanding website (documents, bios, many resources):
http://www.tsquare.tv/

Other films that are cheaper or more readily accessible include:
Sue Williams, "Born Under the Red Flag" (part of her Century of Revolution series):
http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=chinaacenturyofrevolution&mode=synopsis

Michael Apted, "Moving the Mountain" (details after the demonstrations)
http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Mountain-Jin-Ming-Zhang/dp/B000051XK4

Li Lu -- featured in this film is now a venture capitalist and helped put Warren Buffet in touch with BYD, a Chinese automaker. Wang Chaohua - also featured in the film, lives in Los Angeles and just earned her PhD at UCLA.

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from ggoldstein

I was watching a reporter from CNN in Bejing the other day. He was talking about the fact that police and undercover officials would not let him get near Tiananmen Square and were walkling around in front of him with umbrellas trying to block the camera. He was walking around while the men with umnrellas walked in front of him. At one point he touched and kind of clasped the edge of one of them with his fingers. It was all very surreal and comical. The reporter had no intention of real confrontation or real reporting on the events of the anniversery. He spoke in generalities and really only about how "They" did not want reporters or anyone else getting close to Tiananmen Square". I haven't seen any real reporting on the anniversery and nothing about the people who died, only pictures of that student in front of the tank which is more of a distraction than anything else. The Chinese government doesn't want the world or its people to know the truth and unfortunately the world seems ok with that.

GG

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from eamador

Very moving excerpts at http://www.tsquare.tv/film. I can't help but make comparisons to Tehran at present.

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from hgoehring

I cannot believe what I was hearing as well. There were definite similarities to what is happening in Iran. I am happy to see that all voices are not able to be stifled with the advancement of today's technology with facebook and twitter. It is hard to believe that people are still struggling with these issues in a life or death way.It is important for us to bring these issues before our students so they can begin to see the struggles it takes to gain the freedoms we take for granted.

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from mlee

You really see a lot of parallels with Iran...and the Chinese were sure to not mention much about the mess in Tehran as well...

clay dube
Topic replies: 1894
Topic Posts: 604
Message from Clay Dube

Hi Folks,
As some of you know, I can and sometimes do talk endlessly about what happened in Beijing and elsewhere 20 years ago. I'll refrain from picking it all up again here, but I think that it is important to note that 20 years ago, email was relatively new and Chinese students studying in the US and Europe latched on to it to share news and mobilize. China News Digest (now a website) is the descendant of that effort. Viewing that site (http://cnd.org/, there's an English link at the left) and one sees how ideas have changed since 1989.

Today I attended a talk by Wang Yunnan. She's the daughter of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party general secretary who opposed using force against the students and was removed from office and put under house arrest. I knew that she'd stick to the script, she heads one of China's largest art auction firms, but wanted to tell her privately how I respected her father. She's an impressive woman -- focused on building the firm. Like most people, she's moved on and focused on making money. It would be wonderful to hear her speak candidly about what happened back then, but it wasn't going to happen. We'll all need to be content (for the time being at least) with The Tiananmen Papers and Prisoner of the State, both amazing resources revealing much about how business is done at the top of the Chinese political pyramid.

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from mlee

...here is an interesting link from the NY Times in regards to the parallels...


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/us/02iht-letter.html

Anonymous (not verified)
Anonymous's picture
Message from ehernandez

One of the posters in my classroom is of the iconic photograph of the young man versus the tank. I have to admit that when I had put the poster up I had a vague understanding of the events but I did not fully understand the history an it was my students and their questions that prompted me to show some news clips from the time that discussed the image and the events that transpired at Tiananmen Square. It was also interesting when the events of 89 were discussed during the Olympics and some of my students were able to talk about the news reports in class the next day and share information.