China Begins to Rediscover Its Voice

Twenty-one years ago, tens of thousands students and their supporters, from blue-collar workers to scholars, from street vendors to newspaper reporters, went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, asking for democracy and an end to corruption.

The communist regime responded with tanks and guns. Afterward, all Chinese media uniformly condemned the peaceful protesters as “anti-revolutionists” and praised the soldiers who fired at the citizens as heroes—“guards of the republic.”

For 21 years, the media in China has been extremely quiet about the June 4 massacre. It’s a taboo for anyone to mention in public. Read more.