#Tiananmen36: Remembering the Tank Men

 "The heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut, and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot." - Pico Iyer

A Nonviolent moment: Tank Men face off in Beijing on June 5, 1989

On June 5, 1989 in Beijing, following the Chinese Communist Party's massive and bloody crackdown  on thousands of Chinese students and workers on June 3rd and 4th after six weeks of protests that began in Tiananmen Square and spread across 400 cities in China something remarkable happened in the midst of all the horror and terror. 

A man risked all to protest what had taken place. Wearing a white t-shirt, black trousers, and carrying what appeared to be a shopping bag he walked out on the north edge of Tiananmen Square, along Chang'an Avenue and faced down a column of Type-59 tanks.

Wider perspective of Tank Men protest with full column of tanks

 

Jianli Yang, a Tiananmen Massacre survivor and former Chinese political prisoner and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China in his important 2022 article in Newsweek provides the full significance and context of what happened.

"I was near Tiananmen Square in the early morning on June 4, just as gunfire began. At one point, I was so close to the soldiers that I shouted to them in their trucks and told them not to shoot. We even sang songs that every Chinese knows, trying to touch their hearts. But when they received the order, they just opened fire. I saw many killed, including 11 students who were chased and run over by tanks on that fateful day."

Photos appeared of what remained after a tank ran over a student, and this is what Tank Man was in danger of becoming.

Human body crushed to pieces by PLA's tanks.

 In the video of the confrontation, the lead tank tried to drive around him, but the lone man repeatedly ran in front of the tank to prevent its passing. The tank driver turned off his engine and the rest of the column of tanks followed suit. 

The protester climbed on top of the tank and began to talk with him. Eventually he climbed back down and the tank driver turned the engines on but the protester once again blocked the tank column.

Jianli makes a powerful observation about this dynamic between the two men in the same OpEd in Newsweek.

"The Tank Man photo was taken the next day, on June 5, the morning after, when the massacre was still ongoing. By any measure, this image is one of heroism. But how many heroes do we see?

Nearly nine years after the picture was taken, the writer Pico Iyer said: "The heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut, and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot."

Not only did the driver refuse to kill, but he undoubtedly disobeyed orders and risked—and perhaps received—punishment in order to save a countryman's life."

We do not know the identities of either Tank Man, or what happened to them, but we do know that for one moment, in the midst of a blood bath perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party, humanity and dignity triumphed over repression in this particular case.

For more information visit:

Standoff At Tiananmen
How Chinese Students Shocked the World with a Magnificent Movement for Democracy and Liberty that Ended in the Tragic Tiananmen Massacre in 1989
http://www.standoffattiananmen.com/

Virtual Museum of China '89
http://museums.cnd.org/China89/

http://www.cnd.org/June4th/

Screams for help at China's secret 'black jails' - 27 Apr 09 AlJazeera
https://youtu.be/NsN4-A1G5zc

Seeking Justice, Chinese Land in Secret Jails / NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/world/asia/09jails.html

A piece of red cloth by Cui Jian (music video - song sang by him in the Square)
https://youtu.be/l8UPST1ZKSw

Frontline Documentary Tankman
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

Tiananmen Square Massacre: 36 years later still no justice or freedom.

 “This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2010

 

Thirty six years ago the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 and occupied Tiananmen Square for months was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators were shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called "People's Liberation Army."

 A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed. The Chinese Communist regime still defends committing this massacre, and is punishing those who seek to remember and observe the date.

George Orwell wrote in "As I Please" in the Tribune on February 4, 1944 that "[t]he really frightening thing about totalitarianism is not that it commits 'atrocities' but that it attacks the concept of objective truth; it claims to control the past as well as the future." 

We are witnessing this attempt to silence the victims, erase and rewrite the history of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and the crackdown and massacre that began on June 3, 1989 through social media and in the real world. People are being arrested for engaging in silent, nonviolent protests in remembrance of students and workers murdered by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on orders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Making this known is the most effective method to combat it by amplifying the voices of those impacted, and who continue to demand justice. Below is the 2025 declaration by the Tiananmen Mothers, translated by Human Rights in China. 

The Tiananmen Mothers have issued the following statement on the 36th anniversary of the June Fourth (Tiananmen) Massacre. Read the English version here, translated by HRIC: https://t.co/KhwPP02FeJ pic.twitter.com/97y1d0ZCEA

— 中国人权-Human Rights in China (@hrichina) May 29, 2025

The Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote that "[t]he struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."  This is the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party in its effort to erase the mass protests, months long occupation and crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and across China. It is also why we must remember and honor courageous Chinese dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo martyred for his commitment to nonviolence and democracy.

If you are in the Washington DC area then join the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation on June 4 at 8:00pm at the Victims of Communism Memorial located on the corner of New Jersey and Massachusetts Avenues to honor the legacy of the brave men and women who stood for freedom, and paid the ultimate price, at their annual Tiananmen Square Massacre candlelight vigil 

Please also share over social media documentary information on what happened. For example, the three hour 1995 documentary, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, provides an over view of the entire protest, and its context in Chinese history, and it is available online. The BBC in 2019 provided a more concise synopsis of the crackdown which is shared below.  

#Tiananmen35: Remembering the Tank Men

"The heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut, and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot." - Pico Iyer

Nonviolent moment: Tank Men face off in Beijing on June 5, 1989

On June 5, 1989 in Beijing, following the Chinese Communist Party's massive and bloody crackdown  on thousands of Chinese students and workers on June 3rd and 4th after six weeks of protests that began in Tiananmen Square and spread across 400 cities in China something remarkable happened in the midst of all the horror and terror. 

A man risked all to protest what had taken place. Wearing a white t-shirt, black trousers, and carrying what appeared to be a shopping bag he walked out on the north edge of Tiananmen Square, along Chang'an Avenue and faced down a column of Type-59 tanks.

Wider perspective of the Tank Men protest with the full column of tanks

Jianli Yang, a Tiananmen Massacre survivor and former Chinese political prisoner and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China in his important 2022 article in Newsweek provides the full significance and context of what happened.

"I was near Tiananmen Square in the early morning on June 4, just as gunfire began. At one point, I was so close to the soldiers that I shouted to them in their trucks and told them not to shoot. We even sang songs that every Chinese knows, trying to touch their hearts. But when they received the order, they just opened fire. I saw many killed, including 11 students who were chased and run over by tanks on that fateful day."

Photos appeared of what remained after a tank ran over a student, and this is what Tank Man was in danger of becoming.

Human body crushed to pieces by PLA's tanks.

 In the video of the confrontation, the lead tank tried to drive around him, but the lone man repeatedly ran in front of the tank to prevent its passing. The tank driver turned off his engine and the rest of the column of tanks followed suit. 

The protester climbed on top of the tank and began to talk with him. Eventually he climbed back down and the tank driver turned the engines on but the protester once again blocked the tank column.

Jianli makes a powerful observation about this dynamic between the two men in the same OpEd in Newsweek.

"The Tank Man photo was taken the next day, on June 5, the morning after, when the massacre was still ongoing. By any measure, this image is one of heroism. But how many heroes do we see?

Nearly nine years after the picture was taken, the writer Pico Iyer said: "The heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut, and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot."

Not only did the driver refuse to kill, but he undoubtedly disobeyed orders and risked—and perhaps received—punishment in order to save a countryman's life."

We do not know the identities of either Tank Man, or what happened to them, but we do know that for one moment, in the midst of a blood bath perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party, humanity and dignity triumphed over repression in this particular case.

For more information visit:

Standoff At Tiananmen
How Chinese Students Shocked the World with a Magnificent Movement for Democracy and Liberty that Ended in the Tragic Tiananmen Massacre in 1989
http://www.standoffattiananmen.com/

Virtual Museum of China '89
http://museums.cnd.org/China89/

http://www.cnd.org/June4th/

Screams for help at China's secret 'black jails' - 27 Apr 09 AlJazeera
https://youtu.be/NsN4-A1G5zc

Seeking Justice, Chinese Land in Secret Jails / NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/world/asia/09jails.html

A piece of red cloth by Cui Jian (music video - song sang by him in the Square)
https://youtu.be/l8UPST1ZKSw

Frontline Documentary Tankman
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

Tiananmen Square Massacre: 35 years later still no justice or freedom.

  “This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2010

Thirty five years ago the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 and occupied Tiananmen Square for months was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators were shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called "People's Liberation Army."

 A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed. The Chinese Communist regime still defends committing this massacre, and is punishing those who seek to remember and observe the date.

To commemorate the 35th anniversary of June 4th, Yi Bao has specially translated five memoir articles by Mr. Zhou Duo, one of the four gentlemen of Tiananmen Square, into English for the convenience of English readers. Please feel free to share! Part 1https://t.co/2CjDKM99UI pic.twitter.com/3zrDLROg0y

— YiBao English《議報》英文 (@yibao_en) June 2, 2024

George Orwell wrote in "As I Please" in the Tribune on February 4, 1944 that "[t]he really frightening thing about totalitarianism is not that it commits 'atrocities' but that it attacks the concept of objective truth; it claims to control the past as well as the future."

On this day in 1989, the People’s Liberation Army opened fire on civilian protesters in Tiananmen Square. Revisit @JiayangFan’s remembrance of the event, which occurred when she was a a young child in Chongqing, China. https://t.co/fu2itksbZv pic.twitter.com/UyZIBdFwNw

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) June 2, 2024

We are witnessing this attempt to silence the victims, erase and rewrite the history of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and the crackdown and massacre that began on June 3, 1989 through social media and in the real world. People are being arrested for engaging in silent, nonviolent protests in remembrance of students and workers murdered by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on orders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Making this known is the most effective method to combat it.

June 2: a bunch of 🇨🇳 CCP tankies — Chinese Americans / 🇨🇳 nationals — ferociously yelling “long live the communist party!” and “bog off and go back to Taiwan!” offensively harassed people commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre in Flushing, NYC. pic.twitter.com/cHspFOMpxR

— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) June 3, 2024

The Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote that "[t]he struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."  This is the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party in its effort to erase the mass protests, months long occupation and crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and across China. It is also why we must remember and honor courageous Chinese dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo martyred for his commitment to nonviolence and democracy.

Hong Kong Christian newspaper runs blank front page ahead of Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

🔗 https://t.co/Dr588HP3b3 pic.twitter.com/fK86dYsLkr

— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) June 3, 2024

#Tiananmen34: Remembering the Tank Men

“We persist in our three demands as always: truth, compensation, and accountability — on the 34th anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre.” - Tiananmen Mothers, May 27, 2023

Nonviolent moment: Tank Men face off in Beijing on June 5, 1989

On June 5, 1989 in Beijing, following the Chinese Communist Party's massive and bloody crackdown  on thousands of Chinese students and workers on June 3rd and 4th after six weeks of protests that began in Tiananmen Square and spread across 400 cities in China something remarkable happened in the midst of all the horror and terror. 

A man risked all to protest what had taken place. Wearing a white t-shirt, black trousers, and carrying what appeared to be a shopping bag he walked out on the north edge of Tiananmen Square, along Chang'an Avenue and faced down a column of Type-59 tanks.

Wider perspective of the Tank Men protest with the full column of tanks

Jianli Yang, a Tiananmen Massacre survivor and former Chinese political prisoner and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China in his important 2022 article in Newsweek provides the full significance and context of what happened.

"I was near Tiananmen Square in the early morning on June 4, just as gunfire began. At one point, I was so close to the soldiers that I shouted to them in their trucks and told them not to shoot. We even sang songs that every Chinese knows, trying to touch their hearts. But when they received the order, they just opened fire. I saw many killed, including 11 students who were chased and run over by tanks on that fateful day."

Photos appeared of what remained after a tank ran over a student, and this is what Tank Man was in danger of becoming.

Human body crushed to pieces by PLA's tanks.

In the video of the confrontation, the lead tank tried to drive around him, but the lone man repeatedly ran in front of the tank to prevent its passing. The tank driver turned off his engine and the rest of the column of tanks followed suit. 

The protester climbed on top of the tank and began to talk with him. Eventually he climbed back down and the tank driver turned the engines on but the protester once again blocked the tank column.

Jianli makes a powerful observation about this dynamic between the two men in the same OpEd in Newsweek.

"The Tank Man photo was taken the next day, on June 5, the morning after, when the massacre was still ongoing. By any measure, this image is one of heroism. But how many heroes do we see?

Nearly nine years after the picture was taken, the writer Pico Iyer said: "The heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut, and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot."

Not only did the driver refuse to kill, but he undoubtedly disobeyed orders and risked—and perhaps received—punishment in order to save a countryman's life."

We do not know the identities of either Tank Man, or what happened to them, but we do know that for one moment, in the midst of a blood bath perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party, humanity and dignity triumphed over repression in this particular case.

For more information visit:

Standoff At Tiananmen
How Chinese Students Shocked the World with a Magnificent Movement for Democracy and Liberty that Ended in the Tragic Tiananmen Massacre in 1989
http://www.standoffattiananmen.com/

Virtual Museum of China '89
http://museums.cnd.org/China89/

http://www.cnd.org/June4th/

Screams for help at China's secret 'black jails' - 27 Apr 09 AlJazeera
https://youtu.be/NsN4-A1G5zc

Seeking Justice, Chinese Land in Secret Jails / NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/world/asia/09jails.html

A piece of red cloth by Cui Jian (music video - song sang by him in the Square)
https://youtu.be/l8UPST1ZKSw

Frontline Documentary Tankman
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

 

Tiananmen Square Massacre: 34 years later still no justice or freedom.

 “This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2010

Thirty four years ago the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 and occupied Tiananmen Square for months was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators were shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called "People's Liberation Army."

 A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed. The Chinese Communist regime still defends committing this massacre, and is punishing those who seek to remember and observe the date.

In Hong Kong, commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre with white flowers, signs, or a hunger strike lead to arrests.

It's a poignant example of eroding free speech and political rights. Charges of 'sedition' could result in lengthy imprisonment. https://t.co/tUpJR5YWKg

— Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) June 3, 2023

 George Orwell wrote in "As I Please" in the Tribune on February 4, 1944 that "[t]he really frightening thing about totalitarianism is not that it commits 'atrocities' but that it attacks the concept of objective truth; it claims to control the past as well as the future."

We are witnessing this attempt to silence the victims, erase and rewrite the history of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and the crackdown and massacre that began on June 3, 1989 through social media and in the real world. People are being arrested for engaging in silent, nonviolent protests in remembrance of students and workers murdered by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on orders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Making this known is the most effective method to combat it.

PLEASE SPREAD: Imprisoned #HongKong human right defender and lawyer #ChowHangTung #鄒幸彤 is put under solitary confinement as she goes on a 34-hour long hunger strike today to commemorate the #June4th #TiananmenSquareMassacre.
"Victoria Park is where candlelight is lit." pic.twitter.com/Vuc1nRPeFi

— Frances Hui 許穎婷 (@frances_hui) June 3, 2023

The Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote that "[t]he struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."  This is the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party in its effort to erase the mass protests, months long occupation and crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and across China. It is also why we must remember and honor courageous Chinese dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo martyred for his commitment to nonviolence and democracy.

My performance artist friend Sanmu just got arrested in Hong Kong, he was trying to perform on the street on June/3 to commemorate 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, during his arrest, he yelled “, Hongkongers have no fear! Don’t forget June 4th!” pic.twitter.com/itYnfDiSii

— Kacey Wong (@KaceyWong15) June 3, 2023

Last night participated in a candlelight vigil hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation where I listened to eyewitnesses who were present in the square in 1989, and those persecuted today for holding vigils in remembrance.

Some of my photos fm @VoCommunism’s candlelight vigil in Washington, DC, ahead of the 34th annv of the #TiananmenSquareMassacre of pro-#democracy students by the #CCP/#CPC & #PLA on #4June 1989. 1/4#六四 #34週年 #China #HK #Tibetans #Uyghurs #NeverForget #FreePoliticalPrisoners pic.twitter.com/IgstLp5fih

— Dan Garrett (@DanGarrett97) June 3, 2023

This blog will continue to do its small part by sharing the 2023 declaration by the Tiananmen Mothers, and translated by Human Rights in China.

Tiananmen Mothers: “We Persist in Our Three Demands as Always: Truth, Compensation, and Accountability 

— On the 34th Anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre” （Statement）

Essay by the Tiananmen Mothers

May 27, 2023

HRIC Note: On the 34th anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre, the Tiananmen Mothers have authorized Human Rights in China to publish this essay. See our website for more information on June Fourth and the Tiananmen Mothers.

[Translation by Mi Ling Tsui]

The year 2023 marks the 34th anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre that unfolded on the night of June 3-4, 1989, on the ten-mile-long Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, the capital of China.

Though 34 years have passed, for us, family members of those killed, the pain of losing our loved ones in that one night has tormented us to this day, in a nightmare that has never let go. In a time of peace, the Chinese government flouted the world’s condemnation and brazenly mobilized the nation’s military power against unarmed students and ordinary people, in a massacre that shocked the world—the June Fourth Massacre. We, families of June Fourth victims, will not relinquish our determination to seek justice for our loved ones every single day that the authorities refuse to make public the truth about the massacre—until justice is done.

Since the 33rd anniversary of June Fourth, in 2022, seven members of our group have passed away (one of them died of old age and physical decline in the first half of the year, and the other six died in the second half of the year). Every time we heard the news of the passing of a fellow family member, we were struck with great sorrow, especially because we could not visit the families of the deceased immediately due to pandemic restrictions. Our hearts are heavy, with no relief.

As we commemorate our loved ones on this 34th anniversary of June Fourth, we honor the deceased family members here—in order to restore history, bear witness to how the victims were killed, recall the harm and suffering inflicted on the victims’ families by the troops who perpetrated the massacre, and so that people can know their misery and remember their desire and unwavering determination to defend their lawful rights and seek justice for their loved ones. Although their lives are gone, their final wishes are still with us.

[ Full document here ]

Signers (116)

#Tiananmen33: Remembering the Tank Men

"Seeking government accountability for the massacre in accordance with the law is our legitimate right. For 33 years, we have been pursuing the three demands of “truth, compensation, and accountability” in a peaceful and rational manner, calling for a dialogue with the government through the legal process to resolve the issues related to the June Fourth massacre." -  Tiananmen Mothers, June 1, 2022

Nonviolent moment: Tank Men face off in Beijing on June 5, 1989

On June 5, 1989 in Beijing, following the Chinese Communist Party's massive and bloody crackdown  on thousands of Chinese students and workers on June 3rd and 4th after six weeks of protests that began in Tiananmen Square and spread across 400 cities in China something remarkable happened in the midst of all the horror and terror. 

A man risked all to protest what had taken place. Wearing a white t-shirt, black trousers, and carrying what appeared to be a shopping bag he walked out on the north edge of Tiananmen Square, along Chang'an Avenue and faced down a column of Type-59 tanks.

Wider perspective of the Tank Men protest with the full column of tanks

Jianli Yang, a Tiananmen Massacre survivor and former Chinese political prisoner and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China in his important 2022 article in Newsweek provides the full significance and context of what happened.

"I was near Tiananmen Square in the early morning on June 4, just as gunfire began. At one point, I was so close to the soldiers that I shouted to them in their trucks and told them not to shoot. We even sang songs that every Chinese knows, trying to touch their hearts. But when they received the order, they just opened fire. I saw many killed, including 11 students who were chased and run over by tanks on that fateful day."

Photos appeared of what remained after a tank ran over a student, and this is what Tank Man was in danger of becoming.

Human body crushed to pieces by PLA's tanks.

In the video of the confrontation, the lead tank tried to drive around him, but the lone man repeatedly ran in front of the tank to prevent its passing. The tank driver turned off his engine and the rest of the column of tanks followed suit. 

The protester climbed on top of the tank and began to talk with him. Eventually he climbed back down and the tank driver turned the engines on but the protester once again blocked the tank column.

Jianli makes a powerful observation about this dynamic between the two men in the same OpEd in Newsweek.

"The Tank Man photo was taken the next day, on June 5, the morning after, when the massacre was still ongoing. By any measure, this image is one of heroism. But how many heroes do we see?

Nearly nine years after the picture was taken, the writer Pico Iyer said: "The heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut, and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot."

Not only did the driver refuse to kill, but he undoubtedly disobeyed orders and risked—and perhaps received—punishment in order to save a countryman's life."

We do not know the identities of either Tank Man, or what happened to them, but we do know that for one moment, in the midst of a blood bath perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party, humanity and dignity triumphed over repression in this particular case.

For more information visit:

Standoff At Tiananmen
How Chinese Students Shocked the World with a Magnificent Movement for Democracy and Liberty that Ended in the Tragic Tiananmen Massacre in 1989
http://www.standoffattiananmen.com/

Virtual Museum of China '89
http://museums.cnd.org/China89/

http://www.cnd.org/June4th/

Screams for help at China's secret 'black jails' - 27 Apr 09 AlJazeera
https://youtu.be/NsN4-A1G5zc

Seeking Justice, Chinese Land in Secret Jails / NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/world/asia/09jails.html

A piece of red cloth by Cui Jian (music video - song sang by him in the Square)
https://youtu.be/l8UPST1ZKSw

Frontline Documentary Tankman
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

Tiananmen Square Massacre: 33 years later still no justice or freedom.

“This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2010 

 

Thirty three years ago the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 and occupied Tiananmen Square for months was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators were shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called "People's Liberation Army."

 A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed. The Chinese Communist regime still defends committing this massacre. 

George Orwell wrote in "As I Please" in the Tribune on February 4, 1944 that "[t]he really frightening thing about totalitarianism is not that it commits 'atrocities' but that it attacks the concept of objective truth; it claims to control the past as well as the future."

We are witnessing this attempt to silence the victims, and rewrite the history of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and the crackdown and massacre that began on June 3, 1989 through social media.

The Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote that "[t]he struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."  This is the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party in its effort to erase the mass protests, months long occupation and crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and across China. It is also why we must remember and honor courageous Chinese dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo martyred for his commitment to nonviolence and democracy.

Last night participated in a candlelight vigil hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and on Saturday, June 4th starting at 11:00am in Rockville, MD free Chinese will hold a Freedom from Tyranny Rally. 

On this #June4th, we will be setting up a HK booth at the Memorial Rally in Rockville, Maryland to promote #HongKong & our recent events. Our director @frances_hui will also appear at the rally as a speaker. Please join us! https://t.co/mlWjXruVT9 pic.twitter.com/jHxfgaRwGS

— We The Hongkongers (@wethehongkonger) June 3, 2022

This blog will continue to do its small part by sharing the 2022 declaration by the Tiananmen Mothers, and translated by Human Rights in China.

Some Tiananmen mothers hold up photos of their loved ones

For Fairness and Justice, We Will Persevere: On the 33rd Anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre

The Tiananmen Mothers

 

[Translation by Human Rights in China]

Thirty-three years ago, a brutal tragedy of unparalleled savagery occurred in China, sending shockwaves across the nation and around the world. The ruling Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, in complete disregard of the lives of the hundreds of thousands of students and common people along the ten-mile Chang’an Avenue, used the military to indiscriminately murder innocent people in the capital city of Beijing with live ammunition. The armed forces aimed their guns at them and even drove tanks to crush the crowd, killing and injuring thousands.

This government-led massacre caught Beijing residents completely off guard. At around 10 p.m. on June 3, under cover of darkness, martial law troops rode tanks and armored vehicles from all directions toward Tiananmen Square. On their way, they sprayed students and residents with gunfire and chased after those trying to escape, leaving heavy casualties in their wake. Early the next morning, on June 4, when student protestors evacuated from the square in files and walked to Liubukou in Xidan, the army unleashed poisonous tear gas with paralyzing nerve agents, causing the students and residents at the scene to collapse on the ground, unable to move due to difficulty breathing and a feeling of suffocation. A row of tanks ran over the fallen crowd, killing or seriously injuring more than ten students on the spot.

Among the 203 victims we have found so far are 61 undergraduate and graduate students from various universities, 14 elementary and middle school students, and 14 missing persons. The youngest was only 9 and the oldest 66.

In April and May 1989, millions of students and common people joined marches, petitions, and protests, exercising the rights conferred to Chinese citizens under the Constitution and the law—these were lawful acts that did not violate the Constitution whatsoever. From beginning to end, the movement upheld the principles of peace, rationality, and non-violence. Up until the military crackdown, the entire social order had been stable. This stability was conscientiously maintained by the students and other members of the public in the nation’s capital. The students and the public in the demonstrations were simply demanding an end to corruption and official malfeasance, freedom of speech, disclosure of officials' assets, and the establishment of a mechanism for civil society to monitor the integrity of government officials.  None of these demands deviated from the constitutional framework. When the two sides disagreed, the protestors did nothing more than ask the government for a reasonable resolution within the scope of the Constitution and the law: through the legal process, consultation, and dialogue.

But the ruling CPC and the Chinese government completely ignored the people’s reasonable demands and chose a course of action completely contrary to modern civilization. They abused their power to savagely and brutally kill and crush their own citizens with bullets and tanks, and subsequently launched a fascist-like nationwide probe, hurling the whole society into a state of terror and putting everyone in danger.

We cannot help but ask: Did the student movement, which merely offered suggestions to help the ruling party and government to serve the people with greater integrity, really warrant military suppression and arbitrary killing of innocent citizens? As the student protests spread from Beijing to the whole country, they became a way for the people to express their good wishes for the government. And what is your definition of “the people”? Do the people become the enemy once they put forth a recommendation? The Chinese ruling party and government then went on to absolve themselves from their murderous crime and responsibility under the guise of “quelling counter-revolutionary riots”—isn’t it too cruel?

Sending the army to slaughter students and civilians in peacetime is undeniably an atrocity against humanity. In the face of the vibrant lives shot to death in the June Fourth massacre, the unilateral, fact-denying characterization and rhetoric of China's ruling party and government are pale and devoid of humanity. They will not withstand the test of history.

Over the past 33 years, 64 members of our group of bereaved family members of June Fourth victims have passed away. This year we have had two more deaths, Yin Min and Liu Qian. Liu, the oldest member of our group, died in late April this year, at the age of 97.

Seeking government accountability for the massacre in accordance with the law is our legitimate right. For 33 years, we have been pursuing the three demands of “truth, compensation, and accountability” in a peaceful and rational manner, calling for a dialogue with the government through the legal process to resolve the issues related to the June Fourth massacre.

We appeal to your conscience on behalf of the families of those killed. For fairness and justice, we will persevere.

Signers (120)

Remembering Tiananmen: Tankman 31 years later

The power of one person to make a difference

Tankman

Following the June 4, 1989 crackdown and massacre on June 5th one man stood up to a line of tanks involved in the Tiananmen Square slaughter to express his moral outrage and blocked the column.

He stands alone blocking the tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Blvd. in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989.  The picture above was taken by Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener.

The 2004 Frontline Documentary Tankman explored the significance of this act, and attempts to discover what happened. Below the documentary available online:



Below are two videos beginning with a song by Chinese rocker Cui Jian who played a concert for the students in Tiananmen Square during the protests and prior to the crackdown, and the documentary, The Gates of Heavenly Peace (both in English and Chinese) that provides a fuller context. 


In memory of those who stood up for their rights, lost their lives and for those still unjustly imprisoned today in China.

Tiananmen Square Massacre at 31: Bearing Witness and Standing with Hong Kong

#RememberingTiananmen

Thirty one years ago the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called "People's Liberation Army." A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed. The Chinese Communist regime still defends committing this massacre.

Mass hunger strike, Tiananmen Square 1989. Photo is by a friend who wants to share it anonymously. I first tweeted it last year. Now, on eve of 31st anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre, it's even more important to remember those days of peaceful protest, and those ideals. pic.twitter.com/J6nEFg12OB

— 马建 Ma Jian (@majian53) June 3, 2020

The Chinese Communist regime still refuses to apologize for the June 3rd-4th, 1989 massacre when thousands were killed on the orders of the dictatorship.

As the virus continues 2 plague the wld, we once again observe the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. All should be reminded by the 2 tragedies 31 years apart of the lesson:the difference made by freedom is often that btw life & death. #TiananmenVigil @StateDept @StateDRL pic.twitter.com/JO00w1KDUu

— 楊建利 Yang Jianli (@yangjianli001) June 2, 2020

For thirty years tens of thousands of citizens in Hong Kong would gather in June to remember and bear witness for the victims of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Looking the other way at the crimes visited on tens of millions of Chinese nationals is now threatening many more lives around the world following the coronavirus coverup and the active complicity of the World Health Organization. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was right "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."


The failure to hold China to account has led to a global pandemic that is killing hundreds of thousands of people and crashed the global economy.

This year, for the first time, using the pretext of COVID-19 the gathering to remember in Hong Kong was banned.

We in the free world will continue to bear witness, demand justice and stand with Hong Kong.