25 Years After Tiananmen Square

The image for many was unforgettable: A man, wearing a white shirt, black pants and carrying two shopping bags, standing in front of a line of Chinese army tanks, trying to block them from entering Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Whatever direction the lead tank attempted to go, the man stood in front of it, perhaps hoping to prevent what had happened the day before, June 4, 1989. That’s when the Chinese military violently cracked down on unarmed students and workers who had occupied the square for nearly seven weeks, peacefully demanding that the Chinese communist government reform. Though exact numbers are not known, news reports said hundreds of people were killed that day. On the 25th anniversary of what some call the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Cal State San Bernardino hosted the “Twenty-five Years After Tiananmen Square: A CSUSB Campus and Community Conversation.” Students and faculty gathered at the Cal State San Bernardino John M. Pfau Library on the events anniversary. The controversial discussion was moderated by political science Professor, Dr. Donovan Chau, and history Professor Dr. Jeremy Murray. June 4 marks the 25th anniversary of the event known to some as the “Tiananmen Square Massacre”. The event is known by many names including, “June Fourth Incident” and "89 Democracy Movement". The ambiguous names refer to the highly-controversial event that occurred in Central Beijing twenty-five years ago after weeks of peaceful pro-democracy protests. Troops stormed into Tiananmen Square killing and arresting hundreds of Chinese protesters. In comparison, Tiananmen Square is the Chinese equivalent to the American National Mall in Washington, D.C. Beginning in April 1989, nearly a million Chinese citizens gathered in central Beijing to protest for greater Democracy and the resignation of Chinese Communist leaders. For nearly four weeks protestors held daily vigils, marches, and chanted relentlessly. The discussion was a part of the Modern China lecture series, so Professor Murray gave a brief history lesson of China at the time to help lead the discussion, “One of the most important things we should remember is the diverse broad spectrum of opinions in not only China, but also within the leadership,” he said. Murray also touched on a major misconception about the topic: “The protestors wanted to be recognized as patriots, they were not trying to overthrow the government. A small radical group did, but most did not,” Professor Murray said. Following the death of the high-ranking official of the People’s Republic of China, Hu Yaobang, who shared the pro-Democratic political views held by the protestors. The protestors were fueled by government corruption, nepotism, inflation, job security concerns and restricted freedoms. Protestors gathered throughout the city and universities to demand changes: Measures against corruption, increase in education funding, increase in freedoms, anti-liberalism campaigns and to endorse the late leader Yaobang’s political views. “Something bad has happened”, Joyce Bopp, 87, was told when she arrived in Suzhou, China, when she arrived in 1989 as the Loma Linda University Dean of Allied Health. She arrived on a trip to South Beijing to assist in establishing the first School of Allied Health Hospital in the region. Bopp and her colleagues landed in Suzhou the night of June 3, the night before the raid in Tiananmen Square. Her hotel was only a few blocks from the square and upon arriving, Bopp recalls walking past the Chinese Communist Party headquarters where protestors were stacking bricks. “I thought, hm, they’re going to use those. I better get out of here,” she said. The protests were interrupted in the early morning of June 4, 1989 when Chinese security forces stormed into the square with heavy artillery and military tanks. Many of the students fought back by stoning the attacking troops, while many others resisted. Bopp’s hotel was stormed in bullets, “They shot out the entire front of our hotel, and luckily our rooms were in the back.” She recalls bullets flying everywhere, crawling on the ground and standing around a corner as troops shot at the hotel and hospital they were helping in. “I was crawling around on the ground, as the bullets surrounded her. I was looking for a bullet on the ground. I just wanted a bullet to take home,” she recalls. Bopp recalls hearing another story from a fellow Allied Health doctor from another institution: "He came to us and said that they (security forces) stormed into the hospital and shot all the patients (most were protestors) and all the doctors and nurses. He was really concerned and had not heard from his brother. “I felt so bad," Bopp said, his brother was killed in that attack. During the discussion, Chinese students expressed that the topic is very much taboo in China and their parents are very careful not to speak openly about the incident. Economic major Chinese international student, Rebecca Di, who has lived in America for nine months, believes, “I think it was an objective discussion,” she said. “I don’t think China wants to cover all the facts, but in the near future, I think China will review all the facts because it is the Chinese people who will benefit from Tiananmen Square.” Western reporters and diplomats estimated that at least 300 and perhaps thousands were killed during the attack. The events of the day have left a disputed toll, which is estimated to be between 500 and 2,600. Though much of the world will openly acknowledge the anniversary of the event, Chinese authorities have gone to great lengths to eliminate the protest, massacre and the photos of it from its history. It is not taught in schools and its images and information have been scrubbed and blocked from Chinese internet archives. Chinese citizens were banned from internet search engines or from gathering openly in any form to commemorate the anniversary. Only a handful of photos remain from the event. One iconic image that has made its mark is one of an unarmed man standing in front of military tanks attempting to block the raid of troops on protestors in the square. The man, dubbed "Tank Man" is seen as an unsung hero and the image remains, 25 years later, an iconic symbol of the events of that day in Tiananmen Square.