History: Tiananmen Square Massacre and Beyond

Last week, as I was heading to the University of Calgary Olympic Oval to see a car show with my pal, I saw the Goddess of Democracy erected at the MacEwan Student Centre. It is the fiberglass copy of the Goddess of Democracy in Beijing, which was destroyed by the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army on June 4, 1989. There was a wreath sitting in front of the statue, which is placed by the Chinese students at the University of Calgary. 

Hong Kong is the only part of China that has democracy (One could argue that Macau has some). Each year, people in Hong Kong take part in a candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park to commemorate those who died during the military crackdown on the pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Sqaure. It has been 23 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre. What have we learned? 

                                       Photo taken by Keiyan Ng. 

                                 He has granted me permission to use it.

  

Last year, China has overtaken Japan as the second-biggest economy in the world. At its current rate, China will overtake United States as the biggest economy in the world in a decade. Some people have credited the economic growth in China to the crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Tiananmen Square protests is also known as June Fourth incident among Chinese. It was a series of pro-democracy demonstrations in or near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, which began on April 15, 1989. It ended with military suppression on June 4th, which turns the 'protests' into 'massacre.'

1989 is a year of revolutions. It marks by the Fall of Communism in the Eastern Europe. Communism governments were losing legitimacy and the Chinese government was not exempted. By the late 1980s, the inflation in China were high, there were limited career prospects for students and the corruption among the Chinese Communist party elites were rapidly growing. There were a lot of anxiety among the protesters, as they called for social equality, freedom of press and media, economic reforms accompanied by political reform and most importantly democracy. The movement lasted for about seven weeks. At first, the Chinese government attempted to appease the protesters through concessions. However, ultimately, the party elders resolved to use force to suppress the movement. Hundreds, possibly thousands of protesters got ran over by the tanks or being shot and killed. It remains the darkest day in modern history of China.

                         Photo belongs to http://wooferten.blogspot.ca/

23 years later, China has transformed into a economic powerhouse. Almost every country is eager to do business with them. Yet there remains no democracy in China. China remains a nation of no freedom of press, freedom of speech (Facebook is banned in China).  Dissidents are regularly being monitored, harassed, arrested or even beaten to death. The Chinese officials are as corrupted as ever. About $180 billion U.S. dollars that had gone from the Chinese Treasury, had been taken overseas by corrupt officials. Recently, a pregnant woman could not pay fine for having her second child (see one-child policy) and was forced by the government officials to have late-term abortion. This incident have sparked international condemnation and outrage. Also, some business owners in China tend to have poor ethics and conscience. Counterfeit products, contaminated food like tainted milk powder are rampant in the marketplace. Infamous art theorist Andre Malraux once said, "Humanism does not consist in saying: ‘No animal could have done what I have done,’ but in declaring: ‘We have refused what the beast within us willed to do.' This is what makes us 'the soul of the world.' Without a soul, we are not human anymore.    

It has been 23 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the Chinese government still calls the Tiananmen Square massacre a counter-revolutionary riot (Hays, 2012). Many of the cold-blooded still claim that there were no bloodshed in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. A corrupted central government creates corrupted officials. The corrupted officials bully the peasants and so forth. As long as China remains as a single-party state, tragedies and bogus events will continue to occur. Only a revolution like the one in Egypt in 2011 could possibly save China from the brink of self-destruction. While trading with China to make a buck, Canadians need to realize that the Chinese Communist Party is a barbaric totalitarian government and should be overthrown like any former communist states. Be careful when bribing the Chinese officials, as I am sure no one wants to end up like British businessman Neil Heywood!        

References: 

Hays, J. (2012). Democraticchina.org. Retrieved from www.democraticchina.org/ArtShow.aspx?AID=28197