• China.Parliament Passes Hong Kong Security Law
  • Anniversary.China makes the troubadour of the Tiananmen massacre disappear

Azza Zheng's question came a couple of days ago after first looking at the photo of the lonely man in front of the Tiananmen tank. I had never seen one of the most representative images of the 20th century, even if it was taken in the city where it has lived for 27 years. "Are you sure that happened here?" Was his first reaction.

The next thing he did was use the VPN on his mobile to jump over the great censorship digital wall of China and be able to Google what happened on June 4, 1989 : Chinese troops, armed with assault rifles and tanks, shooting at thousands of protesters in Tiananmen Square. An event that overwhelmed the world. But Azza had never seen or read anything about it.

"I have heard some rumors about some crazy people who wanted to overthrow the government with violence, but that ultimately stopped them," said the young woman after reflecting for a while. For her, the Tiananmen massacre was a sweetened and blurred rumor in some comic that they told her as a child. "Did that really happen in Beijing? Isn't it tampered with? I can't believe it's true," was his second reaction. After several minutes viewing videos and YouTube interviews with several of the then students who were present during the massacre, Azza's denial gave way to shock. There were no more questions. Just silence.

That night Azza went to bed mulling over the Tiananmen event. Early the next morning, she reunited her two roommates in her living room and watched an extensive BBC documentary with Chinese subtitles on the computer that not only showed the events of June 4, but the whole context to understand the true story of the terrible event. " My colleagues did not know anything either . They have been shocked," Azza said. "We still don't quite understand why it happened. And it seems incredible to us that we have never heard this story. But we must admit that it was an atrocity, a massacre , too cruel for those young people."

Living in collective ignorance is something that makes an intelligent people a meek and easy to manipulate flock. Studying the mistakes and barbarities of the past is essential to build the future. As long as that past is not as polluted and censored as the present.

Azza and her friends have lived their whole lives in China. But they have studied college careers, have good jobs, and traveled the world. They know the democratic ideals of the West. But they brag about their country's progress and are proud of their system. They speak good English and in their environment, both work and social, they surround themselves with many Laowais, as they call foreigners. Still, the first time they have seen the photo of the man stopping a column of tanks and have been aware of the bloody crackdown that occurred, it has coincided in the week that marks the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.

This Thursday, on the anniversary date, the entrances to the plaza are closed for any foreign correspondent . Not even one can get close to two blocks. China's great act of forgetting endures more than three decades later. Any commemoration of the victims is prohibited. Any reference to what happened in Chinese networks on the Internet disappears in a few minutes thanks to the machinery of automated algorithms and purgers. Any act of contempt can lead to prison sentences of up to three and a half years.

"The taboo on the Tiananmen massacre will never disappear. You will find no reference to it in any Chinese book. Many people do not know what happened. Those who were in Beijing at that time pretend they do not remember it. And the young people who have learned and they have seen videos bypassing censorship, they never talk about it in public out of fear, "explains a well-known designer from the capital who asks to remain anonymous.

Copying the idea that the 'BBC' had on the thirtieth anniversary, we went to a park in Beijing, the Ritan Park, and tried to stop the passers-by and show them photos on the mobile phone of that June 4, 1989. The translator who Accompanying is quite uncomfortable asking people if they know what happened. Most, both old and young, deny it, and seem to tell the truth when they are the ones who end up asking what those images are or why there are tanks in Tiananmen. Then when they start to hear the answer, they run away fast.

Few want to hear - or remember - the student-led protest movement that organized mass protests and sat in the heart of Beijing to protest corruption, inflation and call for democracy . The story that reached the West was that of Chinese leaders, led by Deng Xiaping, who ordered the army to shoot down the protests. Deng's image that has remained in China is that of a pragmatist who brought order to the economy and opened the borders to Western products. Its opening, after the dark years of the Mao Zedong Cultural Revolution, was key to making China the Asian giant and second world power. Deng was a reformist. In all but touching on the idea that absolute power must remain within the Communist Party.

In the spring of 1989 the people became impatient, there was corruption, inflation, and the people felt that the system was unfair. The students took the voice at street level. Although the Chinese government accused foreign correspondents of inciting the masses and causing riots. The final push to the protests came after the death of former Communist Party number two Hu Yaobang from illness, a liberal supporter of dialogue who had been expelled from the government two years earlier. Then came martial law and the images that young Azza and her friends saw a couple of days ago for the first time: the Chinese army deploying the tanks and gunning down the million people who had occupied Tiananmen.

Today we still don't know how many actually died on June 4. There are those who speak of thousands. Others, such as the one who was mayor of Beijing during the revolt, Chen Xitong, said that about 200 were killed. And some reports, such as that of the Red Cross, count at least 727 deaths.

The Chinese government has never asked for forgiveness for the massacre. But some of the relatives of those killed who are fighting so that their memory does not disappear do not forget it. This is the case of the Tiananmen Mothers, an organization made up of relatives of victims of the massacre. This week they issued a letter asking China to tell the truth: "The Government bears inescapable responsibility for the damage inflicted on all citizens through the bloody tragedy of that year. They must be legally accountable to the people."

Vigils Persecuted in Hong Kong

For the past 31 years, a mass vigil has been held in Hong Kong every June 4 in honor of protesters killed by Chinese troops in Tiananmen. Instead, this time, the ex-colony police have banned people from concentrating as they used to in Victoria Park. Hong Kong was the only place on Chinese soil where mass commemorations were held on each anniversary of the massacre.

The official excuse to ban the vigil has been that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, no more than eight people can gather together. Although many believe that the new security law passed last week in Beijing, which threatens the system of semi-liberties enjoyed by this special administrative region, has had a lot to do with it. In addition, the controversial hymn law is voted on in the local Parliament today , which will punish disrespect for the Chinese anthem. Any insult or whistle may carry a penalty of three years in prison or a fine of HK $ 50,000 (€ 5,800).

More than 3,000 riot officers have been deployed throughout the city to prevent protesters from bypassing the ban on a mass vigil. Whoever wants to take out a candle and remain silent for the victims of Tiananmen, must do it alone. Something that many of the pro-democracy protesters who have been protesting on the streets of Hong Kong for almost a year have opposed. Many have warned that nothing will stop them from honoring together today those who were gunned down during one of the great massacres that China insists on hiding.

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