May 1989. An unexpected act of defiance came from General Xu Qin Xian. You won’t find his name in Baidu. On 20 May 1989, General Xu Qin Xian 徐勤先, commander of the 38th Division of the People’s Liberation Army received orders to use force to clear protesters on Tiananmen Square.
General Xu resolutely defied those orders. He proudly declared that even he his head were to fall, he would not be a sinner for generations to come “宁愿杀头也不做千古罪人”. One doesn’t need to perform heroic deeds to become a hero. One can also refuse to perform misdeeds even under threat.
General Xu was replaced and it was not till 3 June that they authorities found a military commander willing to open fire on the protesters.
After being court martialed and imprisoned, Xu was placed under house arrest for 30 years. He passed away in his hometown in Hubei Province in 2021, age 85.
Let’s backtrack a bit. When China took its first baby steps towards opening and reform, Deng Xiaoping gave the people many outlets to vent their anguish and hatred for Mao after his disastrous 27-year rule. But Mao was an icon for the CCP. Without this icon, the Party would have no history, no roots, no grounding. His image had to be protected just like that of a certain Southern Song emperor.
In 2011, two Yue Fei 岳飞 descendants, Yue Jun and Yue Haijun, along with six members of Yue Fei’s clan, protested Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Museum’s Qin Hui statue, which indicates that even after centuries, the Yue family still hates Qin Hui and his conspirators for their ancestor’s plight.
Of course, it wasn’t Qin Hui but the Emperor Song Gao Zong who really wanted Yue Fei dead. The Gang of Four would take Mao’s place in the dock.
You simply can’t do this to an emperor or someone who acted like an emperor – dead or alive.
Anyway, China entered an economically and politically vibrant era after Mao’s death. While Deng Xiaoping was always in the limelight, China’s chief reform architect was actually Hu Yao Bang 胡耀邦. But along with development and progress, Chinese people were becoming better informed and more aware of their rights. Protests and demonstrations were commonplace. The situation made the hardliners very nervous. The Party felt threatened. Hu was blamed for the “chaos” and forced out of his office as Secretary General of the CCP. Succeeding him was Zhao Zi Yang 赵紫阳.
Hu Yao Bang died in 1989. Many reform minded students mourned his death and staged protests, demanding Hu’s “restoration” 返平。
Students gathered at Tiananmen in response to an editorial criticising them for commemorating Hu Yao Bang. Soon, the protest grew in size until the whole square was occupied.
You can read the details on Wikipedia. I won’t go into them. The issue that bothers me now, is the attempt to erase this tragic episode from history. Many young Chinese people have absolutely no knowledge of the tragic events. Even more disappointing are today’s old folks who saw the atrocities on TV and condemned the crackdown suddenly developed amnesia. The convicted denies his guilt and the jury who convicted him earlier is suddenly persuaded to believe the opposite.
No, I’m not some 崇洋媚外 person who adopts the simplistic “Western” perspective. The movement, seen by the simple folks as a pure and noble act, is a bit more “sophisticated” than meets the eye. The then famous student leaders were the stars of the whole movement. But this was very different from the May Fourth movement of 1919. The average protester in 1989 was unable to even get close to the leaders’ inner circle – the command HQ on the square. The Tiananmen community was actually a microcosm of rank-conscious China.
Suffice to say that not all of the leaders had the same endgame in mind. The famous Wuerkaixi was actually a 红二代。His Uyghur parents were CCP members. He was the youngest Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution. At age 9, he could recite from Mao’s little red book. So why was he even involved in a movement that could threaten his career path? Because he had greater ambitions. Rumour has it that he sneaked out for supper in the middle of the hunger strike. His ultimate aim was to be recognised as a national hero, thinking that the protest could be ended with negotiations with the CCP leadership. He had miscalculated. He didn’t expect them to open fire.
Characters like Chai Ling had even wished that the authorities would open fire, sacrifice a few “pawns” and bring the revolution to the next level. The most despicable character has to be songwriter Hou De Jian, creator of the song 龙的传人. A Taiwanese, he defected to the mainland in 1983. After taking part in the Tiananmen protests, he sought refuge in foreign embassies and bargained with the authorities for leniency. While the majority of followers on Tiananmen Square were sincere about pushing political reforms in China, some of the protest leaders were little more than opportunists.
Following Hou De Jian’s assertion that no one was killed on the square, Beijing Normal University lecturer Liu Xiao Bo also denied the massacre in front of TV cameras in exchange for leniency. Of course, there was plenty of evidence to the contrary coming from the mass casualty situations in Beijing hospitals. Liu Xiao Bo behaved himself for a while and perhaps because his conscience was aroused later in life, Liu decided to relive his former ideals, becoming the most vocal critic of Mao and the CCP in the early 2000s. For his sincere and persistent strife against injustice and defence of human rights in the face of threats, he would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison, dying in 2008.
As for his former comrade Wuerkaixi, he did little for the movement except for the occasional drama of offering himself to the Chinese authorities. In 2011, Hou surprisingly resurfaced in Beijing to perform in a concert. In an interview that year, Hou stated, “Human rights in China are not what I am most concerned about now.”
Liao Yi Wu 廖亦武 was not a protester. He was not even at the square but he read poems in support of the protesters at his factory. Liao’s biggest regret after being released from prison was not that it was still the same old authoritarian system governing China, but the death of the democratic movement. Some of his former comrades had struck gold, operating nightclubs and KTV lounges. Some were were selling pirated handbags, watches and VCDs. Liao was urged to get on with his life. His minder, a law enforcement officer, even suggested that he sold fake Levis jeans. Liao was resolute and defiant. He was an unsung hero, faithfully adhering to his goal, getting into trouble again and again, trying to interview witnesses and documenting events on that day. His would turn out to be a lonely voice.
How things had changed after Tiananmen. There was fast and easy money to be made. Nobody seemed to be interested in freedom and democracy anymore. No wonder some people believe that the protesters had been paid by 境外势力 since they could be so easily bought over by 境内势力. As long as people are materially fulfilled, there is little impetus for another revolution.
Just look at the former supporters of the Tiananmen protesters. Money not only talks, it changes minds and causes amnesia.
An opportunity for China to democratise has been missed on 4 June 1989. Regardless of whether you agree with the actions of young and virile Chinese youths on Tiananmen Square back then, it is immoral to erase this tragic episode from the history books. Famous or not, there were true heroes who laid down their lives on that day, refusing to be bribed or coerced even till this day. Our conscience should not allow us to forget the heroes, the villains and the hypocrites. May all those who had fallen rest in peace. May all who gave selflessly for their democratic ideals be recognised and remembered.
New Book!
