June 4, 1989: concurrent with major changes in Eastern Europe, China too was on the verge of major change...or so it seemed. For weeks before, hundreds of thousands of people had converged on Tiananmen Square, looking for change.Instead, they got tanks. And the counter-revolution was televised.
I had a conversation with a student yesterday who is (rightfully) psyched to be going to China later this summer on a school trip--it's going to be an experience of a lifetime for him, no doubt (at least until his next trip, when he stays there even longer!). When I brought up the June 4 anniversary, though, and the government tactics (reported by NPR) to cordon off social networking internet sites in an attempt to nip any reprise in the bud, I didn't get much of a response.
In some ways, it's natural--he was one year old when that happened, while I was going into my junior year of college. Still, that past informs the present, and is important in helping to contextualize China (and the world) in 2009...
I haven't seen this yet myself, but a little Google action turned up this link to an episode of PBS' Frontline on China & 1989. Check it out, and maybe even let me know what you think?
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