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In June of 1989, an unnamed man stood in the way of a long line of tanks, hoping to stop them from entering Tiananmen Square. His act of self-sacrifice for freedom captured the imagination of the world, and at the same moment, he unknowingly became the symbol of the single event which changed my life.
A few miles away, hundreds of student demonstrators, most sick and exhausted following a two-week hunger strike, stubbornly stood their ground. Despite warnings from the Chinese government, they intended to continue their protest and stay in the square until their seemingly simple request, freedom, was met.
I sat in front of the TV while bloody scenes of the final hours in Tiananmen Square invaded my eight-year-old eyes. On the morning of June 4, 1989, the Chinese government sent its army, armed with tanks and machine guns, to occupy the Square. While forcefully ending a peaceful demonstration for democracy, soldiers injured and brutally killed hundreds of innocent students and civilians. I was too young to realize this was a turning point for China, and could impact my life in Hong Kong, thousands of miles from Tiananmen Square. The anxiety I saw in the eyes of many adults, however, told me something terrible was happening.
Only a year before my family had received a letter from the U.S. Immigration Department. It was a letter we had been awaiting for over ten years, which would allow us to move to the United States. It stunned my parents and forced them to make a decision. The letter arrived at a time when the feelings toward the 1997 Communist takeover were positive. There was still faith in China's promise which assured Hong Kong of freedom and right to self-government. Businesses were growing and the economy was stable. Giving up a comfortable life to start over in a new country seemed like quite a leap, so my parents delayed the move. Nevertheless, we knew the door would not be open forever; our visa would be good for one year. Within that year things changed.
Hong Kong went into panic when the guns started firing and the tanks started rolling in Tiananmen Square that June 4 morning. The world watched in disbelief as Chinese soldiers killed Chinese students, but the most disbelieving of all were the people of Hong Kong. "How could this be happening?" and "How am I going to get out before the communists take over in '97?" seemed to be on everyone's lips. People realized their freedom would be in jeopardy once they were placed under the rule of China. The situation in Tiananmen Square scared my parents into reconsidering emmigration, and suddenly, moving to the U.S. became a golden opportunity. My family arrived in Seattle on September 2, only three months after the Tiananmen Square Incident.
Saying goodbye to friends and family as a child was hard, but the circumstances made it almost unbearable. The atmosphere was horrific and gruesome images were everywhere - in magazines, newspapers and TV. Pictures of demonstrators, bands tied around their head or arm with "Give me democracy or give me death" written on it, lying dead or dying on the sidewalk, became daily reminders of what had happened. All the blood and death proved too much for me, and before long I learned to forget everything. The only clear image of the incident that remained was this picture. The sight of this man, silently willing to sacrifice his life for freedom, made me realize the amazing power of one, and the tremendous amount of love and courage a human heart can contain.
http://www.geocities.jp/momotaro9000/tenanmen.swf
昨日からきちんと議論したいニュージーランド在住の中国人の方がこのブログに訪れてきています。
荒らしの中国人も相当多かったようですけれど…。
歴史認識という意味では自虐教育できちんとした近代史を教えていなかった「日本の歴史教育」の弊害というのもありますが大戦という「歴史が動いたとき」日本がとった「欧米によるアジア支配」に抵抗して起こるべくして起きてしまったというものでもあったと思います。
もちろん戦争は起きない起こさないというのは理想です。
戦争被害を声高にあげる国でだって戦争の功罪はあるはずです。
うまく文章にまとめる事は出来ませんが1989年というごく近いときに中国で起きた天安門事件について日本人も中国人ももっと考察するべきだと思います。
幸い今の日本は「言論の自由」が許される環境にあります。
戦争の不幸は言い出したらきりがありません。
自然に母国を誇りに思うことと強制された愛国心とは全く別のものです。
一連の韓国、中国の暴動騒ぎを念頭に入れてこの英文の手紙を読んでください。これは天安門事件当時に香港に在住していたある中国人の少女の手紙です。
後半のムービーは天安門事件の海外で報道された映像です。
この事件を教えられていない現在の中国人を不幸と思うか幸福と思うかは手紙を読んで映像を観た人それぞれが考えてみてください。
追記
教科書問題の理解しやすい映像があったので張っておきます。
中国人、韓国人の人にも是非見て欲しいです。
http://www.vipper.org/vip1581.swf
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