Realpolitik Books - II

The People's Republic of Amnesia

Tiananmen Square. Beijing. China. Witness to many monumental events in modern history of China.

1919: Students demonstrated here as part of May 4th movement. 

1949: Mao  proclaimed People's Republic on behalf of the people.

Chinese leaders inspected the People's Liberation Army in this square.

1989: Huge demonstration by chinese people led by students demanding democracy. The gathering ballooned to one million people on some days.

Gorbachev, who was visiting during this time, had to make a back door exit from the venue of his meeting which was on the edge of the square. 

June 4, 1989:  About 10,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians in Tiananmen, killing untold hundreds of people. The people retaliated violently. 

June 5, 1989: The famous "Tank man" episode happened when a single citizen stood in the path of tanks.

A quarter-century later, this defining event remains buried in China's modern history, successfully expunged from collective memory. 

The author reveals details about those fateful days, including how one of the country's most senior politicians lost a family member to an army bullet, as well as the inside story of the young soldiers sent to clear Tiananmen Square. She also introduces us to individuals whose lives were transformed by the events of Tiananmen Square, such as a founder of the Tiananmen Mothers, whose son was shot by martial law troops; and one of the most important government officials in the country, who post-Tiananmen became one of its most prominent dissidents. And she examines how June 4th shaped China's national identity, fostering a generation of young nationalists, who know little and care less about 1989.

For the first time, the author uncovers the details of a brutal crackdown in a second Chinese city that until now has been a near-perfect case study in the state's ability to rewrite history, excising the most painful episodes. By tracking down eyewitnesses, discovering US diplomatic cables, and combing through official Chinese records, the author offers an unforgettable account of a story that has remained untold for a quarter of a century. 

The international reaction to the brutality that happened in Tiananmen Square was subdued after a short while. I have a niggling suspicion that the emerging economic muscle of China was one of the reasons that no country really wanted to take on the Chinese political leaders of the day. The western superpowers were also engaged in the development in USSR, which was moving towards a major political upheaval under Gorbachev. Tiananmen incident remained a matter internal to China.

The author, Louisa Lim, has spent a decade covering China for National Public Radio and formerly for the BBC.

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Prabir