Chinese Censorship In China
He said it so casually, as if he never gave it a second thought. “It is no big deal. Everyone was there.” How did it take 19 years for this to come out? “Well were you scared?” How was this not one of his back-when-I-was-younger stories? “Not really.” How could he not want to tell us about how he was at Tiananmen Square in 1989? My dad just happened to be apart of one of the most important moments in Chinese history. Yet, he was acting like it was just something he decided to do because he was bored. “Dora, could you pass me a napkin?”
All I ever knew about the incident came from maybe a paragraph in my middle school history textbook. I can still remember the half page of text, that explained, in so many non descriptive words, how there was …show more content…
However, I must proceed as a conformist and address this part of the media. Westerners tend to look down upon the people of China with pity as we report on all the injustices perpetrated upon them. Indeed, it is shocking that “Chinese Communist party authorities, fearing a threat to their legitimacy, forbid open discussion of the so-called June 4th incident in the country’s media and on its Internet” (China). Especially in the case of Tiananmen Square, the media has proven to be lethal to it’s commemoration. As Wu’er Kaixi, an exiled dissident puts it, “the state-owned media is tightly censored, and anyone who attempts to spread dissident views will be arrested and their family mistreated. It’s no wonder that most Chinese don’t even contemplate speaking out” …show more content…
Wearing a tucked in white button down shirt that was surprisingly clean after a few days of protesting, my dad blended into the crowd. Yet as he stood up straight on the hood of the bus, everyone could not help but want to listen to what he had to say. With a cigarette smoldering in between his fingers, my dad read one of his poems to the crowd. As he began, the sound of people running interrupted him. Suddenly the square was agitated by a soft vibration. My dad climbed off his makeshift pedestal just in time to catch a glimpse of the tanks getting in formation. He crushed his cigarette with the sole of his worn boot and headed in the direction that everyone was running from. At least that is what I like to
All I ever knew about the incident came from maybe a paragraph in my middle school history textbook. I can still remember the half page of text, that explained, in so many non descriptive words, how there was …show more content…
However, I must proceed as a conformist and address this part of the media. Westerners tend to look down upon the people of China with pity as we report on all the injustices perpetrated upon them. Indeed, it is shocking that “Chinese Communist party authorities, fearing a threat to their legitimacy, forbid open discussion of the so-called June 4th incident in the country’s media and on its Internet” (China). Especially in the case of Tiananmen Square, the media has proven to be lethal to it’s commemoration. As Wu’er Kaixi, an exiled dissident puts it, “the state-owned media is tightly censored, and anyone who attempts to spread dissident views will be arrested and their family mistreated. It’s no wonder that most Chinese don’t even contemplate speaking out” …show more content…
Wearing a tucked in white button down shirt that was surprisingly clean after a few days of protesting, my dad blended into the crowd. Yet as he stood up straight on the hood of the bus, everyone could not help but want to listen to what he had to say. With a cigarette smoldering in between his fingers, my dad read one of his poems to the crowd. As he began, the sound of people running interrupted him. Suddenly the square was agitated by a soft vibration. My dad climbed off his makeshift pedestal just in time to catch a glimpse of the tanks getting in formation. He crushed his cigarette with the sole of his worn boot and headed in the direction that everyone was running from. At least that is what I like to