Remembering Tiananmen Square: What Does June 4, 1989 Mean in the 21st Century?
While the overseas Chinese sites and commentators have been abuzz with videos, pictures, and stories remembering that fateful day 23 years ago, there was an eerie silence on the Chinese blogosphere, punctuated by short bursts of coded messages with indirect references. Most of them disappear from cyberspace in matter of minutes, thanks to extra-diligent monitoring by relevant personnel at the various mainland-based social networking sites, but the few that avoid their meticulous reviews of new contents then go on to ignite a viral round of coded reply before the whole thread disappears.
Too many China-watchers have been doubting the emotional significance of "6-4," as it is commonly referred to in Chinese. And these guys certainly have a point. The years since 1989 could potentially be some of Chinese civilization's golden years if judged purely from the economic perspective. The economy managed to grow something close to 10% a year for two straight decades, and millions are pulled out of poverty and into the middle class, giving them the freedom to enjoy their new economic wealth by purchasing a whole array of high-tech gadgets unimaginable just years ago.
For nouveau-rich of contemporary China, 6-4 has become something akin to a scar that is scabbed over and covered by newly grown hair, after suffering a particularly damaging wound to the head. Yes, it was painful when it did happen, and the pain is definitely not something that will be forgotten easily, but they choose not to bring it up. After all, for anyone who does not know about the wound, no one can see the scar that still exists under all that hair. Inadvertently, these people who actually experienced the Incident as grown adults are helping the government erasing it from collective memory, by simply not talking about it.
So, that left us, the young, who was not born in 1989, or was too young to remember, a blank mind with regard to 6-4. Some will never find out what it was really about. Those on the mainland will never learn anything about it from schools or mainstream media, and few are curious enough to interrogate their parents and grandparents who are obviously not willing to teach that subject. Some, even when coming across detailed information from offshore sources, will remain indifferent. It is, after all, something they can hardly related to, growing up in the post-1989 economic boom.
Yet, the reality is that, 6-4 is not gone, and will never be. Just like that scabbed-over scar on the head, a haircut, sometime not too distant in the near future, is enough to bring it back on the surface, and when it does surface, people will question its origins, first innocently and out of pure curiosity. Perhaps by then, most people will truly forget, but just a few words from the few who do remember is enough for the collective to relearn all that harsh darkness and be so shocked that they will not again forget it for a long long time.
The memory of 6-4 will reemerge not because it has some serious political or economic implications (despite what people will say about stalled democratization) but because it represents the worst of cruelties that the Chinese race can inflict upon itself. Perhaps to the Chinese themselves, it is just another episode of mass political persecution so common during the imperial era, but for the international community, until China can properly recognize the sheer lack of humanity behind such a barbaric feudalistic behavior, the modern-day People's Republic can never been accepted as "modern."
And for us the Chinese across the world, until the political leaders can recognize that what they have done is, if not politically, at least morally anti-human, we as individuals will always have to be scrutinized by people of other races as partial barbarians capable of such acts. The heavy historical burden of the CCP, unfortunately, is shared with us, against our own will. Escaping the country does not alleviate hat pain, only worsen it. The outside world, unlike China, still deeply remembers and recites the Incident, through reports, videos, textbooks, and even satires.
That is the reason that we need to continue our remembrance, year after year, decade after decade. Until the damage done on 6-4 is officially recognized and be properly dealt with, no ethnic Chinese with the slightest bit of conscience, residing in any part of the world, shall have complete peace of mind. We will remind those who forget and those who do not wish to remember, that we, as a collective do not wish to be silent accomplices to one of the darkest spots in human history. A wound does not disappear when scabbed and hidden, it only does when it properly heals with no fear of reopening.
Too many China-watchers have been doubting the emotional significance of "6-4," as it is commonly referred to in Chinese. And these guys certainly have a point. The years since 1989 could potentially be some of Chinese civilization's golden years if judged purely from the economic perspective. The economy managed to grow something close to 10% a year for two straight decades, and millions are pulled out of poverty and into the middle class, giving them the freedom to enjoy their new economic wealth by purchasing a whole array of high-tech gadgets unimaginable just years ago.
For nouveau-rich of contemporary China, 6-4 has become something akin to a scar that is scabbed over and covered by newly grown hair, after suffering a particularly damaging wound to the head. Yes, it was painful when it did happen, and the pain is definitely not something that will be forgotten easily, but they choose not to bring it up. After all, for anyone who does not know about the wound, no one can see the scar that still exists under all that hair. Inadvertently, these people who actually experienced the Incident as grown adults are helping the government erasing it from collective memory, by simply not talking about it.
So, that left us, the young, who was not born in 1989, or was too young to remember, a blank mind with regard to 6-4. Some will never find out what it was really about. Those on the mainland will never learn anything about it from schools or mainstream media, and few are curious enough to interrogate their parents and grandparents who are obviously not willing to teach that subject. Some, even when coming across detailed information from offshore sources, will remain indifferent. It is, after all, something they can hardly related to, growing up in the post-1989 economic boom.
Yet, the reality is that, 6-4 is not gone, and will never be. Just like that scabbed-over scar on the head, a haircut, sometime not too distant in the near future, is enough to bring it back on the surface, and when it does surface, people will question its origins, first innocently and out of pure curiosity. Perhaps by then, most people will truly forget, but just a few words from the few who do remember is enough for the collective to relearn all that harsh darkness and be so shocked that they will not again forget it for a long long time.
The memory of 6-4 will reemerge not because it has some serious political or economic implications (despite what people will say about stalled democratization) but because it represents the worst of cruelties that the Chinese race can inflict upon itself. Perhaps to the Chinese themselves, it is just another episode of mass political persecution so common during the imperial era, but for the international community, until China can properly recognize the sheer lack of humanity behind such a barbaric feudalistic behavior, the modern-day People's Republic can never been accepted as "modern."
And for us the Chinese across the world, until the political leaders can recognize that what they have done is, if not politically, at least morally anti-human, we as individuals will always have to be scrutinized by people of other races as partial barbarians capable of such acts. The heavy historical burden of the CCP, unfortunately, is shared with us, against our own will. Escaping the country does not alleviate hat pain, only worsen it. The outside world, unlike China, still deeply remembers and recites the Incident, through reports, videos, textbooks, and even satires.
That is the reason that we need to continue our remembrance, year after year, decade after decade. Until the damage done on 6-4 is officially recognized and be properly dealt with, no ethnic Chinese with the slightest bit of conscience, residing in any part of the world, shall have complete peace of mind. We will remind those who forget and those who do not wish to remember, that we, as a collective do not wish to be silent accomplices to one of the darkest spots in human history. A wound does not disappear when scabbed and hidden, it only does when it properly heals with no fear of reopening.
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