A Matter of Historical Perspective

8/11/15

Zhengyang Men Gate - at the opposite end of Tienanmen Gate & the former southern entrance to the Inner City 

In Chinese, Tian’an Men means Gate of Heavenly Peace – that translation alone, hints at the very distinct perspectives we Westerners have of that locale vs. how the Chinese see it. First built during the Ming Dynasty in 1420, Tiananmen Square originally served as the entrance to the Imperial City (not directly into the Forbidden City). It separated the commoners from the imperial court and Chinese noblemen. It didn’t really become controversial (at least not for Westerners) until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 at this very spot by Mao Zedong, commemorated by a giant portrait of Mao hung on the gate. The only reason I know anything about Tiananmen Square – and I assume it’s the same for most Americans – was the protests that took place there in 1989. Eggs were thrown at the portrait, which sent the protestors to prison for 17 years! (Makes me rethink all the times we t.p.’d houses in high school…) But clearly, egg throwing wasn’t the worst of it. Close to a million students are estimated to have occupied the square for a couple months, protesting government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech. The whole thing culminated when protestors blocked the military from entering the square and they opened fire, causing a massacre of an untold number of unarmed civilians (it’s estimated anywhere between hundreds to thousands) and the installation of martial law in the city of Beijing. 

Tienanmen Gate - northern entrance to the Imperial City (which surrounds the Forbidden City)

Guard post in Tienanmen Square 

Love the family of tourists in this photo

The reason I even mention this brief history lesson is to highlight how different historical events can be manipulated and skewed, depending on who’s telling them. Of course, the Communist government in China has controlled the dissemination of information and propaganda in China for a long time, so much so that today in China, the student demonstration and resulting massacre at Tiananmen Square is known merely as the June Fourth Incident. [NN: Well good thing Cat didn’t write this while we were still in China or we might have been in trouble just for using the term “massacre” to refer to the “4^th Incident”.] Just trying to ask our tour guide what his understanding of events were during that time and what he was taught in school made him very uncomfortable. He didn’t want to talk about it, even warned us of talking about it in public (in his defense, there were guards & security cameras EVERYWHERE). But later, on the bus (and out of ear/camera shot), told us that he was not taught much about the protests in school and couldn’t really say what had happened other than students were protesting the corruption, they attacked the military and the military had to retaliate. Now the government refuses to refer to the event directly, nor will it comment on whether it was a good event or a bad one. Interestingly, we did find out that the iconic "tank man" image we’ve all seen about Tiananmen Square didn’t actually happen in the square itself, but rather in front of an international hotel nearby. And the journalists staying at that hotel, including the one who took that picture, were all prevented from leaving the hotel by Chinese military in order to confiscate their film and documentation. The only reason we in the West ever saw that famous picture was because the guy who took it had the foresight to hide it and instead gave up “dummy” roles of film to the soldiers.

China National Museum

Great Hall of the People

Mao's Mausoleum

Mao's commissioned Statue to the People

There were a lot of museums and government buildings surrounding the square – including a mausoleum with Mao’s tomb in it! – which, sadly, we did not get a chance to see. [NN: It is a very popular attraction with locals as well so there were huge lines to see it.] Next trip to Beijing… right? ;P

LOTS of security cameras