Day: May 31, 2009

Wang Dan on Tiananmen in 1989: I’m proud
— “‘We lost a lot but we gained a lot too… I’m proud every time I think about it,’ Wang told AFP in an interview from Taiwan.”
— “Twenty years on he has no regrets over the tumultuous period that transformed him from a college student to a counter-revolutionary.”
— “Along with other student leaders like Chai Ling and Wu’er Kaixi, Wang led six weeks of peaceful protests from makeshift tents on Tiananmen Square, turning the movement into the biggest threat ever to Communist Party rule.”
— “‘We did not make sufficient preparation at the time,’ Wang said of his eventual capture and nearly seven years of imprisonment.”
— “A photo of Wang in Tiananmen Square epitomises youth in revolt. Microphone in hand, long floppy hair brushed away from big, round glasses, Wang thoughtfully harangues the crowd with a tense look on his face.”
— “At the time he was 20 years old.”
— “‘We are going to take back the powers of democracy and freedom from the hands of that gang of old men who have grabbed those powers away from us,’ Wang said in his first speech at the end of April 1989.”

(Communist China) Tiananmen mothers won’t let memory of their dead fade
— Reuters: “Twenty years after her teenage son was shot by troops near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Zhang Xianling is still trying to work out how many others died with him.”
— “‘China is on the road to democracy and the rule of law, but we don’t know how long that road will be … Before, I thought I would see the day, now I am not so sure,’ Zhang said in an interview in her comfortable living room, filled with books and her husband’s musical instruments.”
— “‘Now the economy is more developed. A lot of people just chase economic advancement, and don’t worry about politics.'”
— “Zhang’s son, Wang Nan, was a cheerful, bespectacled 19-year-old when he left a note on the night of June 3 to say he was going to join friends on Tiananmen Square.”
— “It took 10 days before his disinterred body was returned to his parents. His glasses were still on his face.”
— “Zhang founded Tiananmen Mothers with another woman, Ding Zilin, whose 17-year-old son was also killed. The group is trying to make a list of the dead and urge for a reassessment of the verdict that the movement was a ‘counter-revolutionary’ plot.”
— “They recently confirmed one more name, bringing their list of victims to 195. Zhang believes they have only identified about one-tenth of those killed.”
— “‘Our greatest hope is to be able to openly say it was wrong for the army to fire on people. Civil society should be able to participate in an investigation,’ Zhang said.”
— “Their quest is impeded by police surveillance, the mistrust of families of the dead and the demolition of Beijing’s traditional alleyways, which has scattered neighbors and made families harder to track down.”
— “The group issued a statement in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the crackdown calling for an investigation, compensation and prosecution of those responsible.”

Hong Kong: Thousands march in Hong Kong to mark Tiananmen crackdown
— AFP: “Thousands of protesters marched through Hong Kong today to commemorate the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing 20 years ago, including one of the leaders from Tiananmen Square.”
— “Organisers said around 5,000 people rallied through the streets of the city to mark the anniversary of the military crackdown, which left hundreds, possibly thousands dead following weeks of protests in the capital.”
— “Among the marchers was Xiong Yan, a leading student protester during the 1989 demonstrations who now lives in exile in the United States.”
— “He was surprisingly allowed into Hong Kong yesterday. ”
— “Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy legislator in Hong Kong  and one of the organisers of the annual march, said it was crucial that the city continued to mark the events of 20 years ago.”
— “‘We are the only place on Chinese soil that can commemorate June 4,’ he said.”
— “‘Hong Kong has become the conscience of China to remember … the crime of the Tiananmen Square  massacre and push the regime (in Beijing) to admit their mistakes.'”
— “An annual candlelit vigil on Thursday is expected to attract tens of thousands.”
— “Xiong Yan, who was put on a list of the authorities’ 21 ‘most-wanted’ student protesters after the occupation of Tiananmen was broken up, spent two years in jail before being smuggled to the US via Hong Kong.”
— “His entry was unexpected because of China’s sensitive attitude to any criticism of the crackdown. Other 1989 campaigners have been refused entry in the past.”
— “‘I was very surprised as I have tried many, many times to come,’ said Xiong Yan,who arrived on last night, the first time he had set foot on Chinese soil in 17 years.”
— “‘I hope in the future I can not only go to Hong Kong, but also to Beijing,’ he added. “

The uprising China would have us forget

— “In the early morning dew on April 4 this year, when 75-year old retired Shandong University professor Sun Wenguang set off in a hired taxi to the summit of Yingxiong Mountain to engage in his first legal act of public remembrance, he found he had acquired an escort of no fewer than nine police vehicles. As he decamped at the summit, he was greeted by a group of men in plain clothes: they threw him down a two-metre slope and set upon him for a good 10 minutes, breaking three of his ribs.”
— “Sun had made two errors. First, he had announced his intentions on bulletin boards around the university, an institution where he’s been harassed as a troublemaker for two decades now, ever since the upheavals of 1989. Second, he’d decided to exercise his new-found right to mourn by honouring the memory of China’s most famous non-person, former party secretary and premier Zhao Ziyang.”

China faces dark memory of Tiananmen
— AFP: “Authorities in China are bracing for the 20th anniversary of the deadly June 4 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, a pivotal moment that still haunts the nation.”
— “The way the government will likely mark the sensitive date on Thursday — with deafening silence — shows it is keenly aware of the emotional scars that remain after the army ended six weeks of peaceful rallies in central Beijing.”
— “China’s Communist leaders have made any discussion of the brutal quelling of the student-led demonstrations — in which hundreds, maybe thousands, were killed — taboo, but dissidents say the public could yet hold them accountable.”
— “‘People remember this date because they want the Communist Party to take responsibility for the crimes it committed,’ said 53-year-old Qi Zhiyong, who lost a leg after being shot by troops near Tiananmen Square.”
— “‘It reminds them the party will resort to unbridled violence whenever it feels threatened.'”
— “In a bid not to rankle the wary authorities, the main public commemoration planned for Thursday will probably be silent.”
— “Activist groups have called on citizens simply to wear white — the traditional colour of mourning — to honour those killed in the mayhem that erupted when tanks and troops rolled in to crush the protests.”

Estimated 150,000 Call for Democracy in Hong Kong
AP:
— “in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, a crowd chanted slogans calling for Beijing to own up to the crackdown and release political dissidents. Organizers estimated its size at 150,000, while police put the number at 62,800.”
— “‘It is the dream of all Chinese people to have democracy!’ the throng sang.”
— “Hong Kong is one of the few places in China where the events of June 1989 are not off-limits, because the territory — returned by the British 12 years ago — operates under a separate political system that promises freedom of speech and other Western-style civil liberties.”
— “‘Hong Kong is China’s conscience,’ Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Cheung Man Kwong told the demonstration.”
— “In the candlelight, speakers recalled the terrifying events in Tiananmen, where a military assault killed hundreds who had gathered for weeks in the square to demonstrate for freedom and even erect a makeshift statue of liberty. Those killed were eulogized as heroes in the struggle for a democratic China, their names read aloud before the crowd observed a minute of silence.”
— “‘Hong Kong is the only place where we can commemorate, and we have to repeat this every year so our younger generations don’t forget,’ said Annie Chu, 36, a Hong Kong tourism worker who says she has attended every vigil for the last 20 years”

See Also:

— Enormous crowds in Hong Kong for Tiananmen Square vigil

Daily Telegraph: Tiananmen remembered 20 years on
— “Fang Zheng’s last memory before he passed out was the sight of the bone popping out of his upper right leg as the Red Army tank rolled into him”
— “But he is convinced the protests were worth the sacrifice. ‘We exposed the brutality of the regime and we woke the consciousness of the Chinese people with our beliefs and courage,’ he said.”
— “And he is unperturbed by reports of apathy among Chinese students ahead of the anniversary. ‘The majority of young people don’t know what happened as there is no independent media,” he said. “We seemed apolitical before the 1989 protests and look what we achieved.'”