Tiananmen Square Anniversary

1. ana
   June 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am

   THE whole world is celebrating the Chinese heroism of 20 years ago... Too bad red terror is still in place in China...

2. Justin
   June 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am

   It is quite remarkable how a government can so totally erase or distort a historical event such as Tienanmen Square.

   Many of the younger generation who were children 20 years ago don't even know about this episode of China's history.

3. Mr. Jones
   June 4th, 2009 at 9:03 am

   The winners get to write the history. And, in this case, its very, very sad.

   To me, this only reminds us how precious our civil liberties are in this country, and how many people died to provide these liberties. And now we're seeing these freedoms erode in front of our eyes (from both the left and right).

4. Gauldar
   June 4th, 2009 at 9:57 am

   Should you ignore history, it will just repeat itself.

5. chet
   June 4th, 2009 at 11:03 am

   Here's a fun exercise for class:
   Do a google image search of "Tiananmen Square" on google.com and then on google.cn. Can you spot the difference?

   The great firewall is a scary thing.

6. Gauldar
   June 4th, 2009 at 11:24 am

   at google.cn try putting "Tiananmen riot".

7. Gauldar
   June 4th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

   Even bloggers are attempting to use code and alternative words to avoid being sniffed out by programs searching for key words, but unfortunately still being rooted out and shut down one at a time. This is one incident the world won't allow them to forget.

8. Christophe
   June 4th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

   Tank Man is a poignant documentary.

   When is the world going to boycott China's products?

9. The El Bee En
   June 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

   I agree with "Mr. Jones" instead of sending the PLA yo suppress us we use "legal" means like the Patriot act, and REAL ID. A side note: has the man who was either on his way to work, or going about his day-to-day business who confronted the row of tanks ever been identified? DOes anyone know what became of him. He is the original person to say "WTF, army guys, WTF!"

10. chet
    June 4th, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    @ The El Bee En

    No, the man's identity was never conclusively established. There are rumors that he was executed or that he is in hiding in Taiwan, but no real solid information.

11. Jess
    June 4th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    It's just terrible that they died in vain and accurate accounts of what they went through may never be released...the Great Firewall should come to an end, but is this a possiblity?? And how long before an event like this occurs again?

    This video asks the question, Will China ever progress in democracy? http://www.newsy.com/videos/tiananmen_s_taboo_twenty

12. Justin
    June 4th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    I wonder if Neatorama was banned before this in China because I bet it is now!

13. Suhan
    June 4th, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    What makes this kind of ironic is the students protestig on that day were actually there advocating for more traditional communism and more control, not the democracy that we speak of.

    There is no doubt in my mind that china will progress to democracy someday, but in evolutionary steps rather than revolutionary. Instability cause by a sudden shift would ripple around the economic world. Also, the chinese culture has been ruled by a dictatorship for the past 2000 years, and during the period before the 19th century china was the leading technological civilization on earth.

    So here's to hoping they'll bring back some of that tech prowess they used to be so good at.

14. vonskippy
    June 4th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    It's not just China. You'd be amazed at what they teach (or more accurately DON'T teach) Japanese kids about WWII.

15. mikos
    June 5th, 2009 at 2:17 am

    @Suhan

    Maybe some day a far time away... But imho different cultures/countries are better suited for different regimes and such things do not change easily or quickly. For instance, Russia like China has deep rooted needs for "strong leaders" and historically always tended to gravitate towards the forceful rule of the few. Calling it a democracy does very little in terms of how people are actually are governed. Furthermore, I would postulate that given or forced upon the freedoms of a western democracy such countries would quickly fall into chaos and potentially cease to exist unless reverted to the original scheme of rule. As recent examples you may think of Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places where external or renegade internal force suddenly decided to change the rules of the game (for whatever reason). The reality imo is that governments arise from the people, and its the people who make the collective decision as to whether they will like to be governed with the stick or with the candy. So saying "oh, the poor Chinese, their government is soooo evil" just does not add up for me.

16. mikos
    June 5th, 2009 at 2:20 am

    previous not_@Suhan but whoever Its late... i dont read what other people write

17. double edged sword
    June 5th, 2009 at 8:00 am

    vonskippy,

    Or the USA, for that matter. You would think we were a country of Captain Americas by our MSM.

18. Kalel
    June 5th, 2009 at 11:40 am

    The good China is only for guests.

19. Hans
    June 8th, 2009 at 3:19 am

    We need freedom though we are in a cage now!but it will be breaken someday. We will keeping going no matter how much blood and lives will gone!

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