Much has already been said in the 20 years since the Chinese government’s heavy crackdown on a series of student-led demonstrations in and around the area of the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. A good part of my past month or so had been spent digging up those materials, reading and watching everything I could find about the events leading to June 4, 1989, the day when tanks rolled in crushing bodies underneath them, and the military fired at the protesters made up mostly of unarmed students and workers. Until now, 20 years after, the death toll remains a mystery. The Chinese Red Cross initially reported that 2,600 died, but retracted allegedly under pressure from the government. Some journalists estimated that the number could be as high as 7,000. The official tally, however, concluded that less than 300 died and 7,000 were injured.
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you know what's funny, i actually kept the time magazine from 1989 about the tiananmen square tragedy. i was 8 years old at the time and though i didn't understand what it was about, i kept it for the image on the cover and forgot about it for more than 10 years.
ReplyDeletefast forward around 2003, i was cleaning up my room and boxing up all my grade school to high school stuff, and i came across the time magazine from 1989. it felt so weird since i remember just looking at the pictures when i was 8 but not understanding what it was really about. i thought i lost the magazine and it was pretty surreal to resurface just like that. felt like it time traveled. anyway, when i come home, i'll show it you. it's still in pretty good shape but the pages are kinda yellow already.
also, i know the younger chinese generation have no clue about the main issues of tiananmen since it's edited from the history books. i watched this documentary 2 years ago on deng xiaoping, how he even encourages revolts from time to time during his rule. i'll ask cai if she remembers the title, but it explains deng xiaping's rise to power, his relationship with mao zedong, and what could have possibly led to the tiananmen massacre.