Tiananmen 1989: Truths and Fictions

I just finished teaching a summer course on Modern Chinese History. It was a rewarding course, and I hope that students were able to challenge some of their previous biases and assumptions about China. One of the final events we learned about in the course, whose anniversary just passed on June 4th, was the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989, which was widely covered by the foreign media. This was largely due to the fact that a large foreign media presence was already in Beijing to cover the historic meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping and the normalization of relations between the USSR and the PRC. Foreign journalists quickly between more focused on the burgeoning student movement in Tiananmen Square, however, and stayed on after Gorbachev returned to the USSR.

Now, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, like many historical events, is one that the West interprets in a way that confirms its preexisting biases. Thus, the United States in particular sees the Tiananmen Square Massacre as a united student movement for Western-style liberal democracy that was violently crushed by an uncaring Communist government who wants to hold onto as much power and authority as possible. For many years, this fit with the US-promoted “modernization theory” – that if a society “modernizes” (urbanization, industrialization, education, etc.) and adopts a market economy, then political democracy must inevitably follow at some point.

Fortunately, since the end of the Cold War, there has emerged a much more vigorous debate on the many problems with modernization theory. Yet our views of many historical events, especially in non-Western countries, continue to be heavily clouded by this viewpoint. And there is no better example of a recent historical event incorrectly interpreted by the West than Tiananmen. Below is a music video that, while well-intentioned, exemplifies well many of the false assumptions that the Western media made about what actually happened on June 4, 1989. (It is very hard for me not to roll my eyes when listening to the lyrics.)

What’s wrong with this video:

Assumption #1: This was a united all-student movement.

Truth #1: Although it was student-led at the beginning, particularly after the students began their hunger strike in late May, many workers, teachers, policemen, doctors, etc. also joined the movement. Certain groups, such as the Beijing Workers Autonomous Union even joined the students in the square. In addition, protesters had many different agendas, and students in particular disagreed over how best to respond to government efforts to ease the tension. The moderate faction of students was willing to seek a compromise with the CCP leadership, whereas the other radical faction refused to budge – part of the reason for the tragic ending to the story.

Assumption #2: The students were all campaigning for Western-style liberal democracy.

Truth #2: Above all, students were protesting corruption in the government. Both they and the industrial workers in the protests were indignant at the “fat cats” in government that were accumulating wealth by underhand means. They called for more transparency and accountability in government. Other demands were for the reevaluation of Hu Yaobang, the pro-student president of the PRC who was forced to retire in 1986, and the rehabilitation of political victims from earlier campaigns in the 1980s. While there were students protesting for “democracy,” hardly anyone was calling for the overthrow of the government or even institutional change; rather, “democracy” in this sense meant greater government accountability and more freedom of speech and the press. The “prodemocracy” label was mostly conferred by the Western media and by students who, in talking to the media representatives, overstated the “democracy” element because they knew it would gain more coverage and sympathy abroad.

Assumption #3: The “Tiananmen Square” Massacre

Truth #3: There were very few, if any, deaths in Tiananmen Square, and few students died, either. The majority of the casualties were of citizens in Beijing. When the PLA had first entered Beijing on May 20th under the direction of party hard-liners, an estimated 1 to 2 million Beijing citizens stood on the streets to stop the soldiers and convince them not to act against the demonstrators in the square. PLA troops were pulled back temporarily, but when they entered Beijing again on June 4th, citizens blocked the streets to the square again, and many died. By the time the PLA reached Tiananmen Square, it had already been evacuated.

Assumption #4: The big, bad CCP acted as a united, authoritarian monolith to brutally crush dissent.

Truth #4: From the beginning of the student-led protests, there was a good deal of waffling in the CCP leadership as to what, exactly, should be done. The whole decade of the 1980s had been characterized by political dissent, starting with the Democracy Wall of 1978 and continuing with massive student demonstrations in 1986. There were two major factions in the CCP at this time – the older, Maoist conservatives, led by Li Peng, who favored more Party control over both the economy and politics, and younger (40s and 50s) pragmatists such as Hu Yaobang (forced to retire in 1986) and Zhao Ziyang (placed under house arrest on May 24, 1989) who were not only in favor of opening up the economy, but also were more conciliatory towards student demands. Deng Xiaoping was more of a pragmatist in terms of opening up the economy, but became more conservative on political reform over time.

Assumption #5: This was a local movement in Beijing.

Truth #5: The movement started in Beijing but quickly grew to encompass major cities across the country. On the anniversary of the May Fourth, 1919 Movement, it is estimated that over 1.5 million students from 500 colleges nationwide joined in the protests. This number had doubled to roughly 3 million by the end of May.

Assumption #6: “Now it’s up to you and me to help them fight for democracy.”

Truth #6: No it’s not. As someone once told me, “good intentions are dangerous things.”

Of course what happened on June 4, 1989 was tragic. It is tragic, too, that all memories of this event have been whitewashed from the Chinese media and history textbooks. People remember, of course, but they cannot write about it or post about it publicly.

HOWEVER, it is all too easy for us as Westerners – and I include myself in this category – to look at events like Tiananmen 1989 as if looking in a mirror, seeing only what we want to based on our own cultural, social, and political experiences. The ideals of liberal democracy are wonderful, don’t get me wrong. But we must not boil all history down to an inexorable crawl towards it.

 

My Chinese Family 我的中国家庭

In the past ten years, I have traveled to quite a few different places in China and gained many valuable experiences, seeing a variety of new places and tasting a plethora of different cuisines. Yet the most valuable experience for me has been meeting one of my best friends, Katharine (冯静), and gaining a Chinese family. Her grandmother calls me “我的美国孙女,” or “my Chinese granddaughter,” and I am treated like family when I go to visit.

Family photo from around 10 years ago.

Every time I come to China, I make sure to go with Katharine to her hometown in Zhengzhou (郑州，capital of Henan province in central China) to visit her grandparents (Yeye 爷爷 and Nainai 奶奶, paternal side), mother, and father. Katharine’s extended family all lives in Zhengzhou, so I have met her father’s two sisters and their husbands, her cousins, and her cousins’ children, as well as relatives on her mother’s side of the family. Most of Katharine’s dad’s family will come over to visit when I am in town, and there is usually a karaoke outing involved at some point in time as well! The most I got to see Katharine’s family was when I had the privilege of visiting during Chinese New Year – it was a week of non-stop family visits, eating, and red packets (红包)  – even though I was 22 at the time, I still received red packets with money from all Katharine’s relatives! Yeye and Nainai love to watch the CCTV New Years gala, so on New Year’s Eve we watched the extravagant festivities while making dumplings.

My husband and I with Yeye, Nainai, Katharine, and Katharine’s mother and aunt.

There are certain aspects of Chinese life I have learned about from staying with Katharine and her family that I would have not learned otherwise. For instance, I always need to wear slippers in the house, and socks in the winter – otherwise Nainai will scold me. Before bed at night in the wintertime, it is common to wash and soak one’s feet in hot water, and one showers less often then. There is never cold water – it is always boiled. You fold up your blanket (usually a duvet) and put it at the end of the bed in the morning rather than spreading it out over the bed. You must always wear enough clothes indoors – when my husband visited with me last week, Nainai continued to fuss over him because he was only wearing a T-shirt. Most importantly, as a guest in a Chinese home, you cannot do anything to help clean up – if I tried to clear dishes or wash anything, I would immediately be met with a round of protests. You will not be able to pay for anything either – even among family members, people fight over the bill.

Regarding eating habits, breakfast is often leftovers from dinner the previous night. Unlike in the United States, it is usual to share a variety of dishes that are put in the center of the table – one only has a small individual plate, and continuously picks up food with chopsticks from different dishes. Drinking shots of Chinese liquor (白酒, baijiu) is common – when you toast, though, it is a sight of respect to lower your cup below that of your toasting partners. Yeye particularly likes to take shots with guests. Coffee, although becoming more popular among millenials, is not found in most homes (unfortunately).  Also, Nainai will never be convinced that you are full. One of my first impressions of visiting Katharine’s family was Nainai continuously putting food on my plate, saying “你吃得太少了，多吃一点儿吧!” (you haven’t eaten enough – eat more!). Nainai also always sends me away with more food then I can properly carry!

Yeye and Nainai when they got married – Katharine’s grandmother was 18, and grandfather was 20.

Zhengzhou is not a very touristy city, but is quite large – it has over 7 million people, and is growing both demographically and economically. Historically, it was the capital of China’s ancient Shang Dynasty, and is not far from Kaifeng, which was the capital of the prosperous Song Dynasty. As Katharine’s dad explained to me, Zhengzhou historically has been and continues to be a very important railroad center for China – railroads going North and South, East and West all traverse the city (in that sense, it is rather like the Chinese equivalent of Chicago). In homes in Zhengzhou, the local dialect, called Henanhua (河南话，which literally means “Henan speech”) is spoken, although children all learn standard Mandarin (普通话，putonghua) in school. Luckily for me, although the tones are a bit different and the slang is unique, Henanhua is one of the closer dialects to standard Mandarin, so I can pick out most of it. Katharine’s parents and grandma can speak standard Mandarin, but Nainai prefers to speak to me in Henanhua!

 

My husband and I with Nainai.

One of my favorite places in Zhengzhou is the park near Katharine’s home, Renmin Gongyuan (人民公园，or People’s Park – there is a park of this name in most Chinese cities). Originally built in 1951, it boasts an array of amusement park rides and facilities, including a water park and ferris wheel, as well as many garden areas, walking paths, and exercise grounds (with unique Chinese exercise machines). Many people gather at the park to socialize and exercise, so during the day it is usually quite crowded. You will see many groups dancing to different music styles from blaring stereos, as well as pairs or small groups practicing badminton or jianzi (剪子，kind of like Chinese hackey-sack). I played quite a bit of badminton in the park, and was introduced to jianzi – although my soccer experience came in handy, it took a bit of time to get used to.

Part of the staged cavalry battle at Qing Ming Shang He Yuan.

This week, I was able to bring my husband to Zhengzhou for the first time and introduce him to the whole family. Although Dillon doesn’t speak much Chinese, that did not prevent him from having a lot of fun with the family and trying many delicious local dishes. We traveled for about an hour and a half to visit Kaifeng’s Qing Ming Shang He Yuan (清明上河园), a historical amusement park. As detailed above, Kaifeng was one of China’s ancient capitals – it was the capital of about 7 different dynasties, including the Song. There is a Song Dynasty scroll painting that is considered the longest painting in China – the painting details the daily activities of different sectors of people, and it is the best clue historians have into life at the time. The amusement park is modeled around interpretations of the scroll and includes costumed actors in Song-style garb, tasty treats, and a variety of different performances, including reenactments of a cavalry battle and a naval battle.

The park entrance by night.

As always, I was sad to leave Zhengzhou, as I know it may be a year or so before I can see my Chinese family again. But at least there is Skype, WeChat, and other modes of instant communication now. Plus, we will need to come back for Katharine’s wedding sooner or later!