The Chinese government censors all mention of June 4, 1989, when scores of students were killed by army troops ordered to clear Tiananmen Square from demonstrators. Few Chinese students today know the outlines of the tragedy. (June 3)
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VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:
TWENTY FIVE YEARS LATER, CHINA HAS YET TO CONFRONT THE MEMORY AND LEGACY OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE TRAGEDY OF JUNE 4, 1989.
RECORDS OF EVENTS IN TIANANMEN SQUARE ARE ABSENT FROM TEXTBOOKS AND CLASSROOMS.
MENTION OF THE STUDENT MOVEMENT IS SCRUBBED OFF CHINA’S INTERNET AND EVEN MISSING FROM CHINA’S OWN VERSION OF WIKIPEDIA.
LU QIU-XUAN HEARD ABOUT TIANANMEN FROM HER MOTHER WHO WAS AT A BEIJING HOSPITAL AND SAW THE CONTINUOUS FLOW OF INJURED STUDENTS.
(SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Lu Qiuxuan, Student – Beijing Foreign Studies University:)
“I have never ever heard my teacher talk about June 4. Never ever. In our textbooks, this never was mentioned. And, there was no explanation.”
(VOICE OVER)
(UPSOUND – Protesters)
(VOICE OVER)
CHINA’S GENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE 25-YEAR-OLD EVENT APPEARS RANDOM.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Lu Qiuxuan, Beijing Foreign Studies University:
“In all of Chinese history there is nothing to compare to this. So many people are not willing to spend time reflecting on this event.”
ANY EXPLICIT MENTION OF JUNE 4TH ON CHINA’S DOMESTIC INTERNET IS CENSORED AND MANY FOREIGN MEDIA SITES ARE BLOCKED.
SOME ARE LOOKING TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES to UNDERCUT GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP.
(SOUNDBITE: (English) FU KING-WA, Hong Kong University:)
“We have new technologies like the encryption technologies, search engine technologies that may help Chinese citizens to have more power.”
(VOICE OVER)
SOME CHINESE RECOGNIZE THE POLITICAL SENSITIVITY AND AVOID THE TOPIC.
OTHERS BELIEVE MORE FREEDOMS ARE COMING AND PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS WILL BE INEVITABLE.
(SOUNDBITE: (MANDARIN) Wang Jiaying, Student – Beijing Foreign Studies University:)
“There will be one day when we will be able to talk about this openly, like all the topics in history we can’t talk about. Censorship of the past has happened and we now know it has happened because we can talk about it objectively.”
(VOICE OVER)
25 YEARS ON, MANY FIND IT EASIER TO FOCUS ON CHINA’S ECONOMIC FUTURE INSTEAD OF PAINFUL EVENTS IN THE PAST.
TOM RITCHIE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
