June 4, 2014 will for many mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. What it should actually mark is the anniversary of one of the more spectacular UK black information operations — almost on a par with the mythical Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The original story of Chinese troops on the night of 3 […]
don't know if it's just this page or if the whole domain is banned
There was a crackdown—it didn’t, however, occur at Tiananmen Square like some of the more colourful sources claim. Rather, it was around the city, and the country generally. The square itself was evacuated.
There were also attacks from those protesting, with petrol bombs. You can find similarly gruesome photos of burnt soldiers strung up.
If you want a fairly non-partisan account, I’d suggest the documentary The Gate of Heavenly Peace. It’s both banned in China and sued by the protesters, so it’s pissed off both sides.
Otherwise, Qiao Collective has a shorter take that’s fairly sanguine.
Basically, June 4th is complex, and a contradictory mess of rapid economic liberalisation, opposition to that liberalisation, support for further economic and political liberalisation, foreign influence stoking the flames, power struggles both within the party and generationally, and heavy doses of revisionist history and unreliable narrators.
It was deeply unfortunate, and a result of material conditions and individual choices at the time, but it doesn’t define modern China any more than the excesses and atrocities of the USSR, Cuba, or even the Paris Commune, define them.
The ‘no massacre’ crowd is a bit overzealous.
There was a crackdown—it didn’t, however, occur at Tiananmen Square like some of the more colourful sources claim. Rather, it was around the city, and the country generally. The square itself was evacuated.
There were also attacks from those protesting, with petrol bombs. You can find similarly gruesome photos of burnt soldiers strung up.
If you want a fairly non-partisan account, I’d suggest the documentary The Gate of Heavenly Peace. It’s both banned in China and sued by the protesters, so it’s pissed off both sides.
Otherwise, Qiao Collective has a shorter take that’s fairly sanguine.
Basically, June 4th is complex, and a contradictory mess of rapid economic liberalisation, opposition to that liberalisation, support for further economic and political liberalisation, foreign influence stoking the flames, power struggles both within the party and generationally, and heavy doses of revisionist history and unreliable narrators.
It was deeply unfortunate, and a result of material conditions and individual choices at the time, but it doesn’t define modern China any more than the excesses and atrocities of the USSR, Cuba, or even the Paris Commune, define them.
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