Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
To me the price for that symbolic message has been far too high. The creeping capitalism has caused more change in China, than the massacre. It also has no huge meaning to the inner side of Chinese society, and is made a big thing of only in foreign nations. when the government seals off the square on birthday of the massacre, most Chinse seem to think of that as a natural thing.
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There's a lot of unqualified statements in your post (not all of which I have quoted).
I didn't know they sealed off the square, but I would say that if the events in the square are no big deal to the Chinese then why seal off the square? Besides, I've seen recent interviews which indicate that the events of 1989 are,
today, a highly taboo subject in China among the current generation of Chinese teenagers. An interviewer showed Chinese students those famous photos of the student before the tank. They all looked blank. One
whispered "1989" under his breath, and the others all looked away from him. The interviewer then asked them whether they knew what the photos were about, and they turned to the interviewer and gave answers like "No idea, some sort of military parade or something? I don't know." None of them asked the boy what he meant by "1989" and the boy himself claimed he had no idea what was being depicted in the photos.
For an event to be so well known (by children who were not then alive) and yet still taboo after 20 years suggests to me that it has had a fairly profound impact on that culture. It's certainly not "no big deal" as you make out.