Remembering Tiananmen, June 1989

[Tom Paine 1949]

There is much that can be said about what led up to, and what followed, the famous and bloody repression of the Tiananmen protests in 1989. This 2006 PBS special tries to show what actually happened in those terrible days:



[Since this video was made, up until very recently at least, the economic development of the country has continued and most workers’ wages have dramatically improved. Nevertheless political and major civil rights have not improved, and the lot of immigrant workers from the countryside remains very tough. I lived in China from around 2006 until 2014.]

 

[Uncensored2008]

You see the protesters as the villains oppressing the PRC, right?

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

P.S. To our moderators: Can we have a separate forum dedicated to China?

We have them for other countries that are not nearly so important.

I myself would be more inclined to post more frequently on China if there were such a forum where posts could be easily found in the future.

 

[TheParser]

Yes, we can never forget that man who stood in front of the tank. We can only imagine what happened to him -- and to the tank commander who refused to run him down!

Those students were naïve. They never dreamed that their government would send in troops to mow them down.

I am 83 years old. When I was young, everyone felt so sorry for China. It was so weak and was bullied by Europe and Japan.

I never thought that I would live to see a China that is so strong and feared as the current China. I wish that it could also be a democracy, but I guess that's asking too much.

 

[Hawk1981]

Johan Lagerkvist of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs wrote this five years ago, and it's still the case now:

Europe, the Americas and China’s neighbors, eager for economic gain, have been complicit with Chinese leaders, and “Global complicity in supporting authoritarian capitalism in China and elsewhere has led to China’s modern dominance of global politics.” But China’s success may be short-lived. As he concludes, “Suppressed memories want to return, and they will – in subtle and sublime ways.”

 

[CrusaderFrank]

There is much that can be said about what led up to, and what followed, the famous and bloody repression of the Tiananmen protests in 1989. This 2006 PBS special tries to show what actually happened in those terrible days:



[Since this video was made, up until very recently at least, the economic development of the country has continued and most workers’ wages have dramatically improved. Nevertheless political and major civil rights have not improved, and the lot of immigrant workers from the countryside remains very tough. I lived in China from around 2006 until 2014.]

The protester and tank driver were likely tortured for years before they were killed by the Progressive ChiComs.

 

[Unkotare]

There is much that can be said about what led up to, and what followed, the famous and bloody repression of the Tiananmen protests in 1989. This 2006 PBS special tries to show what actually happened in those terrible days:



[Since this video was made, up until very recently at least, the economic development of the country has continued and most workers’ wages have dramatically improved. Nevertheless political and major civil rights have not improved, and the lot of immigrant workers from the countryside remains very tough. I lived in China from around 2006 until 2014.]

When I lived in China in the early 90s, the impact of it was still very fresh. It was not spoken of out in public. A few of my graduate students eventually trusted me enough to show me some photos of them and their friends (many no longer living) in Tienanmen Sq. They kept these photos very, very secret because if a CCP student rep on campus ever got wind of them being there, they would have disappeared.

 

[Unkotare]

... They never dreamed that their government would send in troops to mow them down.
....

Yes they did.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

When I lived in China in the early 90s, the impact of it was still very fresh. It was not spoken of out in public. A few of my graduate students eventually trusted me enough to show me some photos of them and their friends (many no longer living) in Tienanmen Sq. They kept these photos very, very secret because if a CCP student rep on campus ever got wind of them being there, they would have disappeared.

Interesting. If you don’t mind my asking, what were you doing in China in the ‘90s? Teaching?

 

[Unkotare]

When I lived in China in the early 90s, the impact of it was still very fresh. It was not spoken of out in public. A few of my graduate students eventually trusted me enough to show me some photos of them and their friends (many no longer living) in Tienanmen Sq. They kept these photos very, very secret because if a CCP student rep on campus ever got wind of them being there, they would have disappeared.

Interesting. If you don’t mind my asking, what were you doing in China in the ‘90s? Teaching?

Yeah.

 

[whitehall]

Reasonable Chinese soldiers apparently decided that it wasn't prudent to smear a college kid all over the pavement and the international media went wild with meaningless propaganda designed to propose a new reasonable Chinese regime that never happened. Who could have envisioned that a scant five years later under the Clinton administration the U.S. would use similar tanks against American citizens to crush a quirky religious compound in Waco Texas and kill 80 people with poison gas and the American media would justify it?.

 

[theHawk]

And here we are 30 years later and Democrats can’t stop kissing CCP ass.

They can’t wait for a Quid Pro Joe Regime, then they will get to take millions more jobs and pay off the Bidens with a little kickback cash. Like old times.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Yes, we can never forget that man who stood in front of the tank. We can only imagine what happened to him -- and to the tank commander who refused to run him down!

Those students were naïve. They never dreamed that their government would send in troops to mow them down.

I am 83 years old. When I was young, everyone felt so sorry for China. It was so weak and was bullied by Europe and Japan.

I never thought that I would live to see a China that is so strong and feared as the current China. I wish that it could also be a democracy, but I guess that's asking too much.

China weak and bullied. Uh, Mao Zedong and his Communist party murdered millions and after North Korea invaded South Korea, murdering and raping along the way, they sided with North Korea's invasion of the South, even though the UN sided with South Korea, whose government didn't want to be invaded. They forced their way into Tibet and continually challenge borders along Vietnam and India. The former Chinese Nationalist government maintains their own island, Taiwan and are always being threatened by China. They violated the China/UK agreement regarding Hong Kong and let's face it, are a threat to Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines and Japan. Plus, they are also trying to stifle international shipping lane movement to those same nations. The only bully in the neighborhood has, since its Communist creation, been China.

 

[TheParser]

Yes, we can never forget that man who stood in front of the tank. We can only imagine what happened to him -- and to the tank commander who refused to run him down!

Those students were naïve. They never dreamed that their government would send in troops to mow them down.

I am 83 years old. When I was young, everyone felt so sorry for China. It was so weak and was bullied by Europe and Japan.

I never thought that I would live to see a China that is so strong and feared as the current China. I wish that it could also be a democracy, but I guess that's asking too much.

China weak and bullied. Uh, Mao Zedong and his Communist party murdered millions and after North Korea invaded South Korea, murdering and raping along the way, they sided with North Korea's invasion of the South, even though the UN sided with South Korea, whose government didn't want to be invaded. They forced their way into Tibet and continually challenge borders along Vietnam and India. The former Chinese Nationalist government maintains their own island, Taiwan and are always being threatened by China. They violated the China/UK agreement regarding Hong Kong and let's face it, are a threat to Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines and Japan. Plus, they are also trying to stifle international shipping lane movement to those same nations. The only bully in the neighborhood has, since its Communist creation, been China.

Hi,

When I referred to a bullied China, I was referring, of course, to China's brush with European powers and Japan in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Since the Reds took over, China has been the bully. (After the Vietnam War, China had a skirmish with Vietnam, which chased the Chinese forces back across the border. Delicious!)


Have a nice day!