25 Years Later

25 years ago today (I'm going to write cryptically to get by the potential censors) an event occurred that the Chinese Government does its best to treat as if it never happened.  It took place right in the heart of Beijing.  Here are pictures from a website that I saw some one post.  TSquare1 and TSquare2.  Oh and here's an awesome video (at bottom) of Tom Brokaw's 1989 secret bike ride.

Today, I went to the site of the event and this is what I saw.

It was like ANY OTHER day.  There was no extra security at all.  There were tanks here along Changan Boulevard 25 years ago. Today cars and buses.

The square itself.  Tourists and your regular police.  I knew that I wasn't going to see a huge memorial demonstration...but the fact that I saw NOTHING got me thinking.

Taking a selfie, I could only do a "4".  Couldn't figure out how to get show a "6."

If you watch to the end of Brokaw's video recollection, he ends by saying that the government "aka the party" knew that to stay in power and to retain political control it had to give something and it gave the people economic growth and the ability to attain personal wealth.  What people can read or consume in the media is tightly controlled and Brokaw wonders how long the people will be willing to settle for just that and when they will push back.....and Brokaw hopes that it won't be violent.

So I decided to ask Onions (a party member...I'm dating a member of the Communist Party.  WHAATT?) what his thoughts about this event was.  I was ready to be shocked and taken aback given the fact that his knowledge of the Great Leap Forward was summarized in about two sentences of his Chinese history textbook.  First off, he didn't want to talk about it because he believes that it brought great shame on the country.  I pushed him on this point and yes he agrees the the use of force by the government was wrong but he sincerely believed that it was necessary because the protesters were killing soldiers.  The big shame in his thinking is that the students who were at the event were encouraged by outside forces, namely the United States via a Taiwan proxy. Now remember, Onions is 32 years old, so 7 at the time of the event so he is exactly the demographic the party wants to make sure think in this manner.  And this article does a quick sampling to show that most Chinese students haven't even heard of the event.

So in retrospect Onions is the classic story.  Born in a southern province, went to college and is now making enough money to have purchased an apartment in Beijing.  He's made it.  He's living the modern China dream.  Plus he's never felt as if his rights of freedom of the press/speech have every been encroached on.  Now that he has access to my VPN, he uses it only to get on the American Abercrombie website.  He's happy.  So what's wrong?

So this makes me think about those students from 25 years ago.  What are they doing now?  What do they think?  Are they happy? Have they been successfully "bought off?"  They were demanding democracy.....but is what China has now good enough?  At the time, if they could have been given this current picture, would they have taken it?  I wonder.....because in many ways I've also swallowed the proverbial kool-aid.  I can't believe that I'm happy living here in a communist run country.

The last thing I want to address is the current situation in the far west province of Xinjiang.  The non-Han citizens of China (as I saw they are Chinese on a technicality) are being "bribed" by Beijing with economic development and growth.  But they aren't biting or satisfied.  The difference in my mind (and probably the popular sentiment) is the issue of freedom of expression in their language and culture. Beijing is trying to fit them into a "one size fits all" China and that's what they are upset about.  Also in a recent NY Times (again it's website banned in China) there was an article that catholic churches are being razed.  So this begs the question....will the people start to take action when their ability to express themselves (whether religion, to gender equality, to the ability to have kids) is denied them where it isn't trumped by economic happiness.

Shenyang Stopover

If it takes 24 hours to GET to Changbai Shan, it reasons that it takes the same amount of time to get back.  However, on our return to Beijing, Onions routed us through the city of Shenyang.  We had eight hours in town where we went to see China's OTHER Forbidden City and visit with one of Onions' friends from college.

Shenyang Gugong (aka Mukden Palace) or the Shenyang Imperial Palace.  I've now visited 23 of 45 UNESCO World Heritage sites in China!

The Shenyang Imperial Palace was built in 1625 by the Manchu's as their imperial palace as they ruled Northeast China from Shenyang.  However, when the Manchu's became the Qing Dynasty, they moved themselves to the Forbidden City in Beijing thereby making the Shenyang became a regional palace.

Modernization happens as the Shenyang Imperial Palace is located amidst the modern city and abuts a shopping mall.

One immediately sees the architectural similarities between the Shenyang Imperial Palace and the Forbidden City in Beijing.

I tried my best to look for differences.  Here's one where the animals on the corners of the roofs are here both yellow and green.

There is a part of the Shenyang Imperial Palace that is on a raised platform!  On this platform are many buildings and a courtyard.  I don't think the Beijing Forbidden City has this feature.  Until modern times, this platform was the highest point in all of Shenyang.

Most of the Forbidden City in Beijing has been renovated and given a new coat of paint.  Not here at the Shenyang Imperial Palace.

The Dazheng Hall is an octagon.  The Forbidden City in Beijing has only rectangular buildings.

Onions and his friend Wang, who works for China Southern Airlines.  When did Onions change shirts?

Changbaishan (aka Hey there, over there, North Korea!)

School's out for the summer and because we had a three-day weekend, Onions and I planned a trip to the "Crater Lake of China," called 长白山 which straddles the China-North Korea border up in Jilin Province.  It took some 24 hours by train and bus to get to the park (apparently they've opened an airport) but we got there.

The blue dot shows the location of where we stayed in Erbaihe.  The actual lake is 50km south RIGHT on the border with North Korea!

The two highlights of the park are the lake itself and the waterfall.  Onions and I accidentally were suckered into a waterfall hike.

This was it!  Seriously?  However, it was a REALLY nice walk in the woods.  Peaceful and quiet.  Very much like the Pacific Northwest.

But look closer and you'll see they've installed LIGHTS underneath the falls.  The Chinese love light shows and apparently the entire hike is lit up in colored lights at night.

Hugging a Korean Pine!

And here's the 长白山天池.  The lake surface itself was still frozen on June 1st.

And that's North Korea on the other side.  Hey Kim Jong-Un!

So where the snow is....North Korea!

I do have to report that yes, I got lots of pictures, but it's a total madhouse.  Chinese domestic tourism....

And it's not really a hiking experience.  Shuttle buses and vans take you to a parking lot and then then you stand in line and wait to climb less than a kilometer. 

HERE'S the waterfall!!  The only outlet from the lake is on the northern (Chinese) side of the lake and this is it.