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Tiananmen Square: The Tank Man
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Friday 16th May 8:30pm This program reveals the mystery behind the stance of one unarmed man before a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, in what represents one of the most startling and confronting acts towards sovereignty ever filmed.
- 23 Comments | Join the discussion
On June 5, 1989, one day after the Chinese army’s deadly crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing a single, unarmed young man stood his ground before a column of tanks on the Avenue of Eternal Peace. Captured on film and video by Western journalists, this extraordinary confrontation became an icon of the struggle for freedom around the world.
Tianamen Square: The Tank Man draws on interviews with Chinese and Western eyewitnesses and asks who “was the Tank Man?” What was his fate? What does he mean for a China that today has become a global economic powerhouse?
The events of 1989 began as a student protest in Tiananmen Square, the symbolic central space of the nation and spread throughout much of the rest of the country. Several weeks later, when the government sent in the army to end the demonstrations, the citizens of Beijing poured into the streets in support of the students. The demonstrations, witnessed by the rest of the world, ended in a massacre on the night of June 3-4, when the government sent the troops into the city with orders to clear Tiananmen Square.
Almost 20 years after these events, the educated elite who led the protests have benefited from China’s rapid economic growth, but many Chinese workers still face brutal working conditions and low wages. In face, some experts see the emergence of two Chinas: one modern, wealthy and urban; the other rural, poor and disenfranchised. There is evidence that unrest among workers and peasants is growing; in 2005, there were more than 87,000 “civil disturbances” in the country.
“China is on a knife’s edge,” says Dr Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch. “If we in the West are not aware of this, the leaders in Beijing are very much so, and this is their top concern. They know that the stability is very fragile.”
The Chinese government has responded to this threat by cracking down on dissent, and on the media. The regime has managed to erase the Tank Man’s image from Chinese memory. Central to the regime’s efforts to control access to information, is its filtering of the Internet, a complex undertaking that raises serious issues about the role of Western IT companies in China’s censorship strategy.
The identity of the Tank Man remains a mystery, but the symbolism of his act of defiance continues to have a powerful impact. “That story … is not getting weaker because of time. Because we don’t know who he is, it’s actually getting stronger,” says Professor Xiao Qiang of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley. “In the long frame of history … human freedom, courage, dignity will stay and prevail, and that’s what that picture will testify (to) forever.”
topComments (23)
Previous 10 |
03 Jun 2008 14:18 AEST
From: Balmain
STOP MISleading your audiences
Chinese goverment gave student 1 month to evacuate from Tiananmen Square. But those hypocritical western people offered free coke, lemonate and free tent in order to make those innocent students to stay there longer. those basters are using chinese student to overthrow goverment and seize power because they treat China as the biggest threat to them. You'd ask youself few things, WHY those chinese scums all living in the america? WHO is financing and protecting them behind all these? and WHY?
29 May 2008 12:37 AEST
From: Canberra
Stop Whinging
I thought this documentary was excellent. For those complaining and whinging, if you didn't like it or if you thought it was insensitive to the Chinese due to the current earthquake disaster, you shouldn't have watched it. Simple as that.
23 May 2008 23:49 AEST
From: melbourne
it's a positive message
The tank man's stand against brutal oppression is the same story of courage and spirit that the Chinese people show in the days after the earthquakes. Some people commenting here should be less paranoid about other people's interest in their country and see that even events that have some negative elements can also have great positive messages that the whole world can relate to. Like every government the Chinese one is deeply flawed, but the people are rich in character, that's the message here.
20 May 2008 9:01 AEST
From: QLD
Chinese human rights record
China has made some good moves on economy but will need a lot more to improve on human rights record. Chinese government should learn hard to make its people live happily & in harmony. It's very important to learn how to treat their people and Tibetans like human beings as ruler. They don't just need daily food but it's the value of freedom for speech, justice and respect for dignity that matter. The whole world likes to see China and communist countries to treat their people their best.
19 May 2008 15:46 AEST
From: Snail
Where can i find the video???
I missed the program and I want to watch it very much~ Is there anybody who can tell me where can I watch it or download?
18 May 2008 22:38 AEST
From: pennant hills
long road to improvement
Documentaries in SBS are often nice to see. Unfortunately, I missed it. I am chinese and think that China still has a lot to improve on. Let's not use bad examples of other countries to justify what the people are suffering in China. This is important. Can you imagine the Australian court putting a person in jail because he/she is only expressing a view which feels offensive to the government, and the judge or attorney general justfiies by saying that China is doing the same thing ?
18 May 2008 22:21 AEST
From: melbourne
everyone deserves freedom
considering what it was like in 1989, compared to the China nowadays, everyone has to admit that things are improving. although there are heaps of problems still, inequalities, pollutions, strictly censored media etc etc, Rome is not built in one day. both us Chinese and the rest of the world need to work towards a better future together, and, be patient at the same time. btw, i want to state that china does not equal to communism, everyone in the world deserves democracy. go, da tank man!!
18 May 2008 1:46 AEST
From: Perth
CHINA IS NOT JUST ABOUT TIANANMEN SQUARE
It would be alot more informational if SBS could broadcast what China is today, than what it was 20 years ago. So stop your anti-communist propoganda and show the audience modern China rather than dwelling on the past. About the question of Tibet, it has been a part of China even before white Australians stole the land from the Aborigines. We will give up Tibet if you all pack up and head back to Europe. http://youtube.com/watch?v=zjVOXpoBv3k
17 May 2008 10:36 AEST
From: Sydney
great doco!
Thanks SBS for another excellent documentary. It is such a poignant time for these topics to be reviewed, when the eyes of the world are on China. I wish that all Chinese and Tibetans will one day have the freedoms of democracy and human rights.
17 May 2008 10:07 AEST
From: Glen Waverley
Tank Man
I congratulate SBS for your courage to remind us of theTiananmen Square massacre and what the Chinese communist regime is capable of. They are as ready to massacre the Han Chinese as they are to torture and kill the Tibetan people so long as they feel that their absolute rule is threatened. During the Beijin Olympics, let's remember all the brave Chinese and Tiebetans who fought for freedom and human rights, and were executed.
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