The silence surrounding the events of Tiananmen Square has become increasingly intense, especially now that twenty years have gone by. The peaceful protests by students and intellectuals, who, starting in April 1989, invaded the streets of Beijing asking for greater democracy and economic reform ended tragically with the massacre of June 4th. It is certainly not easy to reconstruct in detail all that happened during that period, such as the decisions taken by the government, tension between the leaders, different points of view, the students’ mood and any real possibility of change this movement may have gained. In spite of all this, the most serious mistake possible was to set these events aside, hide them from the scrutiny of the Chinese people and consider them isolated events of the past with no consequences on the present. This has been a mistake because not addressing a problem does not mean it is solved, but simply postponed. 

And so, every year since 1989, memories of the Tiananmen Square massacre return. The government tries to skirt the issue, to increase controls and implement restrictive measures to impose silence, while the Chinese who remember these events feel the need for remembrance, for commemoration and above all the need to discover the truth. The younger generations instead know little and often learn about what happened only when travelling abroad. Is it possible that after twenty years the Tiananmen Square massacre is still a taboo? According to the government the answer is definitely yes, and for a very simple reason. Admitting to a mistake and stating one was wrong means looking weak in the eyes of the Chinese people and would threaten the party leaders’ hold on power. Hence, as the fateful anniversary approaches, the government has adopted restrictive measures already implemented during the Beijing Olympic Games last year.

In particular, the government has decided to take action on two fronts. It has re-established the anti-terror measures at Beijing airport and intensified control over the Chinese media. Special agents with machine guns and dogs control the three airport terminals, while special x-ray instruments check the car parks and inspect the contents of suitcases in search of bombs or drugs. As far as the media are concerned, censorship of all information concerning the Tiananmen Square massacre is certainly not a novelty. When typing in key words in online search engines, Chinese citizens have always had to deal with millions of blacked out web pages and brief messages announcing that their internet connection is suddenly down. Rules have become even stricter as the 20th anniversary approaches. Dissidents have been placed under house arrest and forbidden to speak to the press, and attempts made by the local press to write on this subject have been silenced and all debates or events commemorating the incidents that took place on June 4th have been systematically avoided.

As an example, this happened with the 20 Year Anniversary of China/Avant-Garde Exhibition, an exhibition of contemporary art commemorating an important exhibition held in 1989 at the Beijing National Art Gallery. Police appeared at the inauguration and forbade the organisers to hold this event. The organisers were annoyed and observed that 1989 is still an extremely delicate date for the authorities and this lead the curator Gao Minglu to say that “the system is still antiquated and conservative. Twenty years have gone by but nothing has changed.” Even a public ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of Hu Yaobang, Party Secretary until 1987, but above all considered a great reformer, was not held. The government has not yet decided whether to rehabilitate him due to the close links between his liberal political and economic ideas and the Tiananmen Square student movement.

The Chinese however have not forgotten and when possible make their voices heard. One of the most active movements is The Mothers of Tiananmen, a group of women most of whom lost their sons in June 1989. Founded by Ding Zilin in 1991, this association is illegal in China, but its members continue to work actively in their quest for the truth and have formally asked the Chinese state to abolish the “state secret” and to “with an act of courage and responsibility” make known the exact number of those killed in Tiananmen Square. The list drafted by the Mothers of Tiananmen is long and incomplete, although names are added every year and there are attempts to trace families. In addition to the students and intellectuals who died, one must not forget the hundreds of dissidents still imprisoned in China today, accused of subversive anti-government actions. The conflict between the people and the government continues, a government that, with its impressive security measures, wants to control and repress all dissent and all debate on controversial subjects, such as the protection of human rights that would oblige the authorities to address one of the saddest days in its history and still a unsettled present.

Translation by Francesca Simmons