[FanWriter45]

Good lord, has it really been that long?

It's the 20th anniversary of Tianamen Square. The week that, among many many other acts of that Chinese revolt against the communist system there, the world was treated to the sight of one lone man standing firm against a row of tanks. (If there was ever a guy whom I admire... one whom I would instantly label as an "honorary American"... that's him!

My personal memory of the event was that the news kept breaking in on the season finale of "Beauty and the Beast" as the Chinese government began the assault on the people in the square. I was upset about the interruption, but I kept wondering if we were about to see an atrocity comitted on worldwide TV: the possible murder of thousands of demonstrators.

[horatio]

China's slow road to free markets and democracy has turned out to be the wiser choice than the quick Russian attempt.

[MonsieurHood]

Originally Posted by horatio

China's slow road to free markets and democracy has turned out to be the wiser choice than the quick Russian attempt.

China, the country that's been making history since before there was any history.

[Botany Bay]

I remember it quite vividly, because the news about the massacre started the weirdest year in history of the past 60 years: 1989.

First the protests and strikes in Poland, then the massacre in China, Hungaria opening its borders to Austria, hundreds of east-german citizens making their way to the west. Mass protests in Leipzig. Gorbatchev visiting East-Berlin, arguing for reforms of the eastern block. And finally the fall of the wall.

China still calls what happened on Tiananmen Square "an Incident". You know, like in the opening scene of The Undiscovered Country, when Praxis has exploded and the Klingons call it an incident?

[horatio]

Originally Posted by MonsieurHood

China, the country that's been making history since before there was any history.

Indeed. As far as I know, the Chinese have done far less horrible things in their history than most of the Western nations have in the last two centuries.
Let them progress on their pace, no need to push them.
The Russians have adopted out political and economic mainstream ideas and look where they are now. Fast forwarding to a free market system means cleptocracy and when they run out of natural resources, any wealth they have will vanish while the Chinese economic posperity and growth is sustainable.

[Zardoz]

Who could have predicted when we were kids that China would go capitolist, or that the USSR would cease to exist.

[Botany Bay]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

Who could have predicted when we were kids that China would go capitolist, or that the USSR would cease to exist.

Who would have dared to seriously proclaim the Cold War would just end, just like that? No bullet fired, no bombs dropped. The biggest weapons arsenal in human history, all useless. The biggest political, strategical and ideological conflict in human history and it ends like a usual day in a museum, when the waiter simply turns off the lights. Decades of propaganda on both sides, decades of hate and fear and all that remains is the man with the mop sending the last visitor home.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by Botany Bay

Who would have dared to seriously proclaim the Cold War would just end, just like that? No bullet fired, no bombs dropped. The biggest weapons arsenal in human history, all useless. The biggest political, strategical and ideological conflict in human history and it ends like a usual day in a museum, when the waiter simply turns off the lights. Decades of propaganda on both sides, decades of hate and fear and all that remains is the man with the mop sending the last visitor home.

I was very happy the cold war ended with no bloodshed.

[jerhanner]

The oddest thing happened to me in Tianamen Square in the mid 80's... I was taking pictures of the Mao photo over the gate and this Chinese guy walks up to me. He points at the camera and then to himself over and over and over. I tried to use sign language to show that it wasn't a Polaroid and I wouldn't be able to give him a copy. Finally I took his picture with the Mao painting in the background. He shook my hand and walked away.
For the life of me I still can't figure it out.

[DammitJim]

Originally Posted by FanWriter45

(If there was ever a guy whom I admire... one whom I would instantly label as an "honorary American"... that's him!

oh great, insult the man why don't you??

good grief, what kind of twaddle is that? reminds me of that stupid McGyver episode where he raids the Chinese embassy to steal the "only video footage" of the events in Tiananmin Square. And they had the gall to use the actual news footage!!!

but that's for another thread, I suppose!!

but, yes, hard to believe it's 20 years. it brings back a lot of memories.