Posted by
EWRoss on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 8:00:00 AM
Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Now just another footnote in modern Chinese history, the lingering memory of that day for Americans who watched news coverage of the student protests is the picture of the lone Chinese man blocking a column of People’s Liberation Army tanks. As someone who lived and worked in China in the 1980s and who has an affinity for the Chinese people, I was greatly saddened by the event. China has changed dramatically since then, but the lesson Tiananmen taught me is that if tanks couldn’t crush the desire for political freedom in the hearts of the Chinese people, and they didn’t, Beijing’s brand of capitalism won’t either. As Chinese on Taiwan have demonstrated, democracy is not incompatible with Chinese culture. Sooner or later, most likely later, the Chinese people’s quest for political freedom again will come in conflict with communist rule.