6.4.1989. A traumatic day in China history. Chinese all over the world were devastated watching the massacre footage from the news.
Last night I watched a local documentary about the June 4th movement. It covers the view of today's young generation (HK high school and university students) on the massacre. It's sad to learn how ignorant they are about this important piece of China history. But it's even sadder for me to realize their twisted values.
"There wasn't a drop of blood shed on June 4, 1989."
"Maybe the students could have had made smarter decision and retreated on May 30. Then maybe the massacre could have had been avoided."
"If the democracy movement have had been successful, maybe China won't be that prosperous today."
Ignorance I can tolerate because it's the responsibility of our school system and the parents to educate these kids about this unerasable history, which only deserves a 1-page mentioning in their history textbooks. Distorted values I can't tolerate. Because it's not about whether the students had done everything right; and it's certainly not about how prosperous China is today. Unarmed students were mown down by gunshots and tanks!! That's an undeniable crime!!!
June of 1989. The first year I immigrated to Vancouver, I was 13. That year, my uncle, who's a top executive from TVB, was visiting us and staying at our place. My uncle would receive fax updates of the Tiananmen Square protest from the news team. During the critical hours of June 4, our fax machine didn't stop ringing. Breaking news were sent to our home by minutes. I was stunned by fear every time I heard the fax machine rang even though I was several thousand miles away from Beijing. That fear I can never and will never forget.
To my friends and cousins who had turned parents recently, and those who have young kids, hope you can pass on the truth of 6.4.1989 to the little ones. They need to know. They need to care.