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| 2007 Tiananmen Square Massacre Memorial (Photo credit: javacolleen) |
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Tank Man/Tiananmen Square
incident, and if you haven’t,
perhaps this picture will look familiar.
Known as the June 4th
massacre, in 1989 Beijing, Chinese students protested in Tiananmen Square. At the time, the Communist leaders of China
were beginning to implement some capitalist reforms. Communist ideals or a
command market refers to the government owning and controlling prices for
businesses, while capitalist ideals or a free market refers to private
ownership and private decision for pricing. Things were dismal for university
students of the time, with few job opportunities, and a professor named Fang
Lizhi further motivated the students to protest with his speeches on human
rights, freedom, and separation of powers. Hu Yaobang, General Secretary, took
a soft approach to dealing with protestors in December 1986, and was therefore
greatly liked by reformers. At his death in April 1989, mourners gathered in
large numbers to erect shrines and give speeches about Hu, and one such
gathering place was Tiananmen Square. The crowd, viewed as obstructive, were
dispersed by police.
Upwards of four
thousand students marched into the Square starting on April 17th,
and protests began in earnest. But our focus lay on June 5th, in the
aftermath of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forcibly clearing out
protestors and ending several lives. The PLA, still clearing people out on June
5th, encountered a man who is known only as Tank Man today. Carrying
two grocery bags, the man stood by himself in front of a row of advancing tanks
in order to get them to stop.
He proceeded to step
in front of the tanks as they attempted to go around him and effectively
brought the column to a stop. He then climbed on top of the tanks, and
according to videos, seemed to have a small conversation with a crewman of the
first tank, before stepping off and resuming the standoff. Shortly after, two
figures in blue ran out from the crowd forming and pulled Tank Man out of the
way, allowing the tanks to resume on their path.
The public is still
not completely aware of Tank Man’s identity or even the identity of those who
pulled him away. But his ‘actions’ against the tanks have landed him as a
figure of courage and admiration.
Sources: Wikipedia,
Investor Words, PBS
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