Suddenly I remember Molly telling me I can never be with a Japanese guy. I asked her why, and she said because she saw how worked up I was when we were working on our history project, regarding WWII, Japanese Occupation in Hong Kong, the Nanjing Massacre.
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For several months there has been so much commotion in Hong Kong regarding the Incident on the Fourth of June, 1989 at Tiananmen Square, China. I cannot refer it as a “Massacre” yet because this part of history hasn’t been officially recognized; no full records of the actual happenings and the number of deaths is still unclear.
I’ve heard several debates and was frustrated; those old politicians who so immediately disregard others’ opinion because they weren’t quick enough to say “the Chinese government are murderers” and attempted to see the whole incident in a different light; those university students who weren’t mature enough to comprehend the views of both government and the people, or simply saw it as another story; the many minutes or even hours arguing on semantics on referring an historical event that has yet to be recognized, let alone put in words.
My thoughts, as another simple twenty-two-year-old (I wanted to refer myself as a university graduate, but then university hasn’t helped me form any of my conclusions; don’t want to blame them for my simple ideas).
First, I think it is important to look from different perspectives of the two parties involved in the June Fourth Incident in order to understand why certain decisions were made and to make your own judgment. I think enough was said about on how brave those university students were when they openly made their discontent of the current government known out of patriotism, but were repaid by being attacked in the middle of the night by a fully armed army, firing around even though people were already running away from the square, and had military tanks ran over them. What the government did was obviously wrong and cruel and no one deserved it. Nevertheless we should still try to see things from the government’s side. It might not register as a cold-blooded decision to them when they ordered the troops to enter the city.
At that moment of history, while Chinese students and civilians all over the world were trying to urge the PRC to reform in terms of politics, market, speech… etc, the Chinese government saw the two-month protest of students as a threat to the normal operations of the country and must be stopped. China, not exactly famous for being open-minded and big about the rights of the people, were not comfortable with such “western” ideas those university students were proposing. Those politicians were old Chinese-father types with an authoritarian complex, and like many Chinese families when dealing children when they were disobedient or step out of the line and the father felt their authority was being threatened, they saw corporal punishment, Fear, was the way to go.
If we look back into Chinese history (or basically world history), those in power usually chose to use fastest and easiest way to stop things getting out of hand; they needed a sense of control and naturally saw violence and suppression as the solution to create a momentary stage of “peace”. Even now the world is still using war as a way to getting peace, using weaponry as a way to create a harmonious society… so with the heat up, the top guys in China decided that not only do they have to stop the protests, but they have to create a fear so great that people won’t start things up again.
It is crucial to know what was done was nothing new throughout history. Not saying that makes their decisions right, but it makes it understandable and the people involved cannot be entirely put in to blame. We are currently judging history with a modern perspective, which might not be fair; what we see as basic rights today were rare privileges. So what the student body was asking for were quite a lot at that stage. The government saw the protests as a threat to the country’s operation; they cannot see what those university students were doing was just trying to get their voices being heard, out of the love for their country. Those university students did not understand how difficult it is to run a country, were too fast into taking their western counterparts experience as an example and protested for their rights. At the same time, there were no means for the people’s voices to be heard and to be dealt with seriously by the government other than creating a stir.
The problem was that the government was too slow into accepting new ideas and were too comfortable into exercising their power to a point that they cannot see what they did was inhumane; the student body was too fast into asking for so many things that were unheard of throughout Chinese history, didn’t take to account that those in power were their grandfathers and fathers who are stubborn and cannot bear their authority to be challenged. Negotiation was not a concept that the older generation grasps well when dealing with the younger generation whom they also believe knows less. One side too stubborn to really listen, another was not yet mature enough to know how to make their dreams realized without being headstrong, and because what they did was out of patriotism and for the good of the country, they thought it is automatically justify what they did. Actions from both sides were understandable but what both did wrong was they thought they knew better; both didn’t recognize the fact that they were dealing with people with emotions and traits, not just the operations of a country.
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My mother (and many others) thought people today are wasting their time on demanding the Chinese government to officially address the Tiananmen Square Incident. There were several ideas: 1. People today are dwelling over the past, and did not see the importance of an apology. They say we should see the establishment of China today and focus on the future; 2. the whole world knows about June Fourth someway or any other (because it was broadcasted at that time), and the politicians knew it was wrong and have learnt their lesson; 3. In the past emperors has done terrible stuff, like Qin Shi Huang who unified China and had people build the Great Wall, was responsible of killing everyone who opposed him and burning valuable scrolls and literature. No one has asked him or China to apologize for his actions; 4. China is never going to apologize or make it officially know just because people demand it, so we might just as well accept it and move on.
First the past always comes back to you, and we aren’t talking about a person that will die within a hundred years, but a country which unless some maniac decides to destroy the world *cough*, is going to be around for a very long time. Whatever happens to that country moulds it and what to us humans is a decade or two, means only a few microseconds of a country’s life cycle. Looking in the bigger picture, addressing June Fourth is not only doing justice to those who were killed, but also essential to China’s growth. If we let the government go without owning up to its mistakes, hiding its flaws, choosing what it wants to accept as its life story… it’s unhealthy. I’m not looking for a public apology, but don’t treat it as a taboo subject and prosecute anyone who dares to mention it. There are times you can admit you made bad decisions, but that does not necessarily amounts to an apology because maybe you think you did what you had to do under certain circumstances. As I’m not a politician, it’s probably beyond my ability to understand why they didn’t explore other possible solutions to that period of mayhem. My biggest problem is why they want to mess with their history.
Regarding the lessons learnt the incident in Tiananmen Square, I see China today has learnt to make any large scale gathering that was not authorized by the officials illegal; it has learnt not to allow anyone to publicly oppose the government’s decisions in case it stirs up something big; the government has learnt to filter information, books, news and everything that may give ideas to their people that their country isn’t perfect. These were the “mistakes” China made, from allowing the protest to start from the first place. Are these the twisted lessons we want China to learn? The difference between Qin Shi Huang and June Fourth, is that what he did were recorded down and learned by every Chinese. Also, he was a monarch, one single being with selfish wants; his grasps of the people dies with him and he probably didn’t know better. Supposedly the formation of a government was to combine the minds of the able and come up with better ways of guiding their country to a better future; a government lives well longer than a king and should be all about serving the country. When several heads came up with the conclusion that the peoples’ voices should be drained by firepower, there is a problem. No one is denying Qin Shi Huang has done great things, but no one is saying he didn’t make mistakes. Why should the PRC government be any different?
It has just been 20 years since June Fourth, no one knows the actual facts, and most youngsters today really don’t care about history. Today the world probably has already forgotten about it, leaving only a group of people in Hong Kong, who mostly compose of people over thirty, to remind all Chinese outside China about it, and get the younger generation to care about something they have not experienced so that they can continue to insist June Fourth to be officially recognized. So obviously it isn’t enough to leave this part of history known. If the government doesn’t want people to fabricate the truth and make China look worse than it already is, then take control of the story. I’ve asked this question and turns out I’m not alone, is that if China wants Japan to officially recognize Nanjing Massacre, they should understand and set an example and address June Fourth.
So maybe China will never accept it as part of their history, but if Hong Kong people today don’t make a big deal out of it, this in a way is allowing the PRC government to get away with things and I believe any country, not only China, would make a habit out of it if no one complains loudly. Those public mourning, protests and education are necessary if people don’t want to give up all their power to the government, and they should not be regarded as a waste of time. Hong Kong is playing a bigger role in this than people realize, because Hong Kong (and probably Macau) is the only region that belongs to China and is still “allowed” to say something about it (as long as those activist don’t go to Mainland China and has no desire to join the PRC government body).
Regarding June Fourth, I thought what happened was almost inevitable; culture played a big part of how has happened and what is happening now, but what’s most important is how we deal with it today. I don’t expect the PRC to apologize for their actions (I think up to now they still think what they did was necessary…), but what I want is them to officially accept what they’ve done, not treat it as a taboo subject and have it officially taught in schools as part of Chinese history. History might be written by those in power and it does not reflect the entire truth, but at the very least the story is known.
If the PRC government thought what they did was necessary, then don’t treat it as a shameful tale and try making everyone forget all about it; if they knew what they did was mass murder, then face it. Whether we like it or not, that is going to be part of our history forever and hiding from our past can do us no good. Just because people are pointing out problems of the current situation of their country doesn’t mean they want to overthrow the government; it just means they care and want the country to turn better, not worse.
