Remembering Tiananmen: 18 Years Later
June 4, 2007
You would think that Tiananmen Square, literally translated "The Gate of Heavenly Peace" would be known throughout the Western world as some type of refuge where people from around the world hold hands singing kumbaya. Instead, it's known for the student protests that happened 18 years ago today.
Often known in Chinese as the June 4th Movement and in English as the Tiananmen Square Incident (or Massacre), even eighteen years later, reactions to this day remain quite mixed.
Within Mainland China, coverage of this event or coverage simply didn't exist. In the
comments section of a post on
Time.com's China Blog, several readers criticized Time and "the mainstream media" for even bothering to cover this event at all.
Reader Wei Xiang writes "What impresses the most in China since 89 is how much the Chinese have changed the mentality(what are today's ups/downs on the stock market?), while the western correspondents are still repeating the same clichés every year." He continues to say that the U.S. is still stuck in a Cold War mentality.
By contrast, many throughout the world continue to value the signficance of the day. In
Hong Kong about 28,000 (according to police, but organizers said 55,000) gathered in Victoria Park for a vigil remembering the day.
In Tiananmen Square itself, however, events were generally uneventful.
Marisa Buchanan of MSNBC's WorldBlog writes that the most striking thing about activities in Tiananmen Square was the lack of increased security or any noticeable sign of political activity. She does, however, share her encounter with a 17-year-old Chinese girl who wasn't even alive during the initial protests. Despite her youth, she was approaching foreigners to ensure they remember the date.
This video from the Associated Press juxtaposes images from Tiananmen Square today, versus those of 18 years ago. It's quite striking to contrast the calm of June 4, 2007 with turbulent June 4, 1989. But often the best way to improve the future is to remember the past and to learn from it.
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