June 4 marks the 28th anniversary of what has come to be known as the “Tiananmen Square massacre,” when Chinese troops opened fire on unarmed civilians, mostly students, bringing a sudden and bloody halt to the protest movement for reforms which is referred to by the Communist Party as “June 4th Counter-Revolutionary Rebellion.” But now that name in a toned down version is referred to as the “June 4th Incident.”

 Since the entire morbid event is massively censored in China, only people who were there at the event or lost someone dear live with painful memories of the event but for the present generation it just remains stories shared by their parents and relatives. Thousands died as protesters demanding liberalization were met with extreme force.

Each year Chinese activists try to dodge police and censors to commemorate the event. Countless people come out on the streets in Hong Kong to tell people that they have not forgotten the 4^th June killings, much to the chagrin of Mainland China. A couple of years ago Hong Kong held vigils in memory of Tiananmen dead that  attracted over 100,000 people, many who made the trip from mainland China. Of course, it did not go well with China. Attempts to discuss, commemorate and demand justice for what happened have been forcefully curbed, with no public discussion allowed. Since 1989 many people have been imprisoned for commemorating events or questioning the official line.

The morning after the mayhem

On June 5, 1989, the morning after the Chinese military violently suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests, this picture of the ‘Tank Man’ symbolic of David and Goliath sent shockwaves throughout the entire world. The sheer strength of this photo — one unarmed man, alone and helpless against several tanks — struck a chord with the entire globe, except for China’s leaders. Today, 28 years later, we still don’t know who that man was and what happened to him, since the entire thing is massively censored in China.

The Chinese authorities began to hunt down those involved in the demonstrations. Thousands of people were detained, tortured, imprisoned or executed after unfair trials charged with ‘counter-revolutionary’ crimes. The Chinese government has never acknowledged the true events surrounding the Tiananmen massacre. It remains a taboo topic in China, with authorities banning all mention of the protest even today.

Where is the iconic protestor of the 20^th century?

 One thing for the young or old, that has endured is the image of the “Tank Man” seared in the public memory, a brave face of defiance of an oppressive regime. Twenty-eight years later, his identity is still a mystery. He is called simply Tank Man. Every year on the anniversary of the crackdown, Chinese bloggers pay homage to him with imitations and parodies of the face-off.

This ordinary man in black trousers and white shirt carrying shopping bags in each hand had the most awe-inspiring guts to block the path of the tanks, even as they gunned their engines. He climbed onto the first tank banging on the hatchet and he appeared to speak to the soldiers inside. When he stepped back down in front of the tank, two men ran into the street and pulled him away. Nobody knows if those two men were Chinese security or some well meaning people who wanted to keep him out of harm’s way. The confrontation became one of the most enduring images of the pro-democracy, anti-corruption protests that swept China that year.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy Movement in China said in 1998 that it had obtained official party documents that showed authorities had no idea what happened to him. In a 1990 interview with Barbara Walters, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin said he couldn’t confirm whether the man was arrested or not. He broke from speaking to Walters through an interpreter and said in English, “I think never, never killed.”

Photographers recall that single defining moment

There was not just one “tank man” photo. If for some reason you have doubts of credibility, mind you there was no photoshop those days! Four photographers captured the encounter that day from the Beijing Hotel, overlooking Changan Avenue (the Avenue of Eternal Peace), their lives forever linked by a single moment in time. ‘I think his action captured peoples’ hearts everywhere, and when the moment came, his character defined the moment, rather than the moment defining him.’ said Charlie Cole, one of the photographers

Denials and Disbelief

There are still the naysayers and the conspiracy theory guys and China of course who still deny the Tiananmen Square massacre and blame the US for fomenting the Tiananmen Square protests.

Still to this day, within the Communist Party, they say that the United States and “Western imperialist forces” are continuing to plot to bring down the Communist Party of China. So, in some ways the experience of Tiananmen Square was a seminal experience that the Party had, that it used to convince itself that America wanted to take China down.

There are all kinds of speculation about the Tank Man’s disappearance.  Some say he quietly slipped back into a life of anonymity or migrated to Taiwan, whereas other believe that he was executed by a firing squad or is still serving a prison term. Whatever it may be, the Tank Man is immortal with an iconic status in the pages of world history.

Suren Rao [email protected]