I have titled yet another post with an idiom, and don't worry it's not a trend. It just seemed such an appropriate title for my post. Last Thursday was June 4th, the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing. Now, I am no expert on the issue and be
ing only three years old at the time, don't pretend to have any insight on the event. But, being in China, on the anniversary of such an event, you might think that this day was of importance. You couldn't be more wrong. It is the ignorance, the absence of the event in China that was quite shocking to me last week.
ing only three years old at the time, don't pretend to have any insight on the event. But, being in China, on the anniversary of such an event, you might think that this day was of importance. You couldn't be more wrong. It is the ignorance, the absence of the event in China that was quite shocking to me last week.First of all, it shouldn't have been. I didn't expect it to be in the news or anything, but the absolute ignorance of it still surprised me. Coming up to the anniversary, the Internet was tightened (although this was never 'officially' attributed to the anniversary). In the two or three days coming up to the event, the blocking was extensive, which shows the extent of the government's control (and worry) about what information Chinese can access. Because it controls almost all of the television in the country, and print media isn't close to anonymous, the Internet is the easiest and best way for unapproved material to enter the People's Republic. The control of all the information available to Chinese citizens is the key to the situation that so surprised me.
On the 4th, and the day before it, all of the news sources I read had at least one article on the anniversary of the massacre. BBC News and the world edition of the New York Times dedicated their headline story to it. So, if an American visiting Western news sites was inundated with information about the event, it would seem reasonable that the anniversary was the top topic in China. No. Not at all. Other than in Hong Kong (which is in China but isn't really Chinese) there was barely a whisper of the event. Dissidents were jailed, or moved out of town, websites were blocked, newspapers were warned that mention of it meant certian punishment (there are lots of 'lost' journalists in China) and the state controlled news agency of course didn't mention it.
Here in Changzhou, our friend Steve knew about it, and joked at Thursday night poker that 'oh yeah, today is the day of the June 4th incident' (as it's known here). But Steve has spent a lot of time with foreigners and isn't exactly enamored with the Chinese government. Dave had a chat with one of his more informed and politically conscious students, who had a pretty good amount of knowledge about it. But that was about the extent of the knowledge of the people I talked with. Most students know that something happened on June 4th in the late '80s, and that's it.
A very good of mine, the head of the student branch of the Communist Party for the English department (and member herself) had no idea that anything important happened on June 4th, 1989 in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. I asked her in both English and (broken) Chinese, but she honestly had no idea. I put a related message on QQ, a Chinese chat program, and a few of my students asked me about it. They had the customary response, either no knowledge, or a bit of knowledge that "something" happened. All of my students have very detailed knowledge about the Rape of Nanjing/Nanjing Massacre in 1937, when during the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese ruthlessly killed close to 300,000 residents of Nanjing, most of them unarmed and non-military. When mentioned, they are eager to note that it is important to remember history, and to forget it would be disgraceful and a betrayal.
Yet, when the
government (via the army) opens fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing probably a thousand (maybe more) of its own citizens, this isn't important to remember. It blows my mind that the citizens can passively allow this horrid event, and important marker in modern Chinese history, to simply fade away. I try not to fault my students too much, because the authoritarian Communist Party is very controlling, and it's hard to remember something you have never heard about. But, on the whole, the older generations of Chinese society, as many analysts have pointed out, seem to have made an agreement with the government. It can limit and encroach on human rights, as long as the economy and personal wealth grow. This seems like an unethical bargain to me. But, I have never faced the poverty and instability of life that most middle aged and elderly Chinese have. It's easy to point out the more developed flaws in a country (free press) when I've never had to face food, water, or shelter insecurity. Nonetheless, I feel strongly about this, it is absolutely unacceptable, and not "harmonious" or "democratically reforming", that educated adults like my senior English major friends, are prevented from knowing about the most important events in the last quarter century of China's history. I hope that things will change, and have tried to, considerately, tell as many of my friends here about the importance of knowing and discussing accurate history. But, to be honest, as the above article comments, the future doesn't look to bright for the free press, and thus, free knowledge in China. (Pictures of a much more peaceful-and monitored-Tiananmen Square)
government (via the army) opens fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing probably a thousand (maybe more) of its own citizens, this isn't important to remember. It blows my mind that the citizens can passively allow this horrid event, and important marker in modern Chinese history, to simply fade away. I try not to fault my students too much, because the authoritarian Communist Party is very controlling, and it's hard to remember something you have never heard about. But, on the whole, the older generations of Chinese society, as many analysts have pointed out, seem to have made an agreement with the government. It can limit and encroach on human rights, as long as the economy and personal wealth grow. This seems like an unethical bargain to me. But, I have never faced the poverty and instability of life that most middle aged and elderly Chinese have. It's easy to point out the more developed flaws in a country (free press) when I've never had to face food, water, or shelter insecurity. Nonetheless, I feel strongly about this, it is absolutely unacceptable, and not "harmonious" or "democratically reforming", that educated adults like my senior English major friends, are prevented from knowing about the most important events in the last quarter century of China's history. I hope that things will change, and have tried to, considerately, tell as many of my friends here about the importance of knowing and discussing accurate history. But, to be honest, as the above article comments, the future doesn't look to bright for the free press, and thus, free knowledge in China. (Pictures of a much more peaceful-and monitored-Tiananmen Square)
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