In 1989, the Chinese government used weapons of war against unarmed pro-democracy protesters in Beijing. Despite this, Chinese apologists deny that this massacre ever occurred. One of the eyewitnesses they cite to support their denial is Nicholas Kristof, an American journalist who was actually present during the event. Kristof watched as soldiers opened fire on the crowds in Tiananmen Square, leading to widespread and brutal violence. Although some protesters did turn violent, the troops were the only ones with guns. The death toll was estimated to be between 400 and 800 in Beijing alone, with thousands more injured.
Unfortunately, the Chinese government has been successful in rewriting history and erasing this event from public memory. They manage to do this in part by co-opting language, using benign terms to refer to events like the Communist revolution and their policies which led to the worst famine in world history. However, such rewriting of history is not unique to China and happens in many other countries. Myanmar, for example, denied the existence of the Rohingya ethnic group before unleashing genocide against them. Even in the United States, there are ongoing culture wars over the teaching of history.
Despite the Chinese government’s attempts to erase the Tiananmen Square massacre from public memory, there is hope that suppressed history will eventually re-emerge. Kristof has seen this happen in other countries, such as Taiwan, where a 1947 massacre of protesters was once unmentionable but is now honored in a park. In the meantime, the only thing we can do is honor the truth and try to prevent forgetting, which serves as a potent weapon for those who would control the future by controlling the past.
