June 05, 2019

Andrew Campbell 

From April 1989, Chinese college students launched a mass movement for democracy in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, by means of the death of former Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, a beloved figure to pro-democratic Chinese students. 

However, from June 3, 1989 to early morning on June 4, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party ordered the troops with real weapons to forcefully suppress unarmed students and people gathering in Tiananmen Square and the streets of Beijing, which caused serious casualties.

It shocked the world and caused global uproar. It was called the "June 4th" incident. 

The hundreds of thousands of protesters gathering in Beijing and in other cities around China suffered grievously in pursuit of a better future. On June 4, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party leader, Deng Xiaoping, sent tanks into Tiananmen Square to violently repress peaceful demonstrations calling for speech freedom, human rights, and against corruption. 

Up to now, the death toll has still been unknown. On the one hand, the Chinese government uses high pressure to prevent all activities from recalling the incident. On the other hand, it tries its best to stop people from knowing the truth. In the past 30 years, the CCP has never had any introspection and apology on this matter.

Thirty years have passed, and the global media, including the BBC and The New York Times, have produced detailed topics to report on the June 4th incident. US Secretary of State also issued a statement on the 30th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square to pay tribute to the Chinese heroes and victims. 

However, the headlines of the official Chinese media are all "Xi Jinping's instructions on garbage sorting." It seems to imply that the old generation is not allowed to have the memory, and the new generation is not allowed to know the fact.

Photo:Webshot.