Wang Dan

 Wang Dan was the main leader in the protests and hunger strikes that took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989. After the massacre, he became the most wanted man in China, because he was so prominent in the Tiananmen Square protests. He never fled China like the others; he saw that as admitting defeat. Instead, he went in to hiding. He got arrested in July of 1989, and was sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment. He got really sick, and was sent to the states and has been staying there ever since. He was nominated for the nobel peace prize. 

Wei Jingsheng

Wei Jingsheng shares his experience of the protests within the film and explains how China can become a democratic society. He also tells of how the student leaders were sometimes doing things the wrong way and how the years of imprisonment have helped him rethink and thoroughly understand what he had done.
Wei was transferred to a labour camp in Qinghai where he protested about the conditions of his imprisonment and achieved some improvements such as access to books, magazines and newspapers and a colour television set. On the 14th od September, 1993, He was released from prison as a political gesture to persuade the International Olympic Committee to vote for China to host the 2000 Olympic Games. However, this action was useless and China lost to Australia. Wei is thrown into jail for another 14 years for trying to ‘overthrow the government’ on the 21st of November, 1995 and has his political rights taken for three years. During this imprisonment, Wei is awarded with the Olof Palm Prize for 1994, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Though and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Award. In the winter of 1997, he is deported to the US with Wang Dan. During 1998, He founds the OCDC and is presented with the Democracy Award by the National Endowment for Democracy. Wei is referred to as the ‘Chinese Mandela’ and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at least seven times since 1993. Nowadays, Wei continues to attempt to achieve human rights and democracy in China and is the chairman of the OCDC and the president of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation.

Wang Chaohua

Chaohua Wang was one of the key organisers of the protests. She was able to escape to Los Angeles while many of her friends were killed.
After going into hiding, Wang escaped to Los Angeles, leaving her six year old son behind. In LA, she worked as a cleaner while learning English to enrol in UCLA and began writing political essays on her own website. Soon, she received her MA and PHD degrees. Since leaving the mainland, the closest she has been to Communist China was at the Hong Kong International Airport where, in 2004, she met her son again. She is now an accomplished writer and editor living in Los Angeles with a second home in North London.

Wu'er Kaixi

Wu’er Kaixi’s role in the film was one of the most outspoken student leaders. He met with Premier Li Peng in May 1989 where he interrupted Li’s introduction stating that there are people being hungry in the square while Li was exchanging pleasantries. He also stated how Li was too late but was glad that he had come at all.
After the crackdown on the 4th of June, 1989, Wu’er Kaixi became the second most wanted out of the student leaders and was forced to flee to France. He then went to study at Harvard but was unable to graduate. He started in a family in Taiwan afterwards and continues to live there now. Kaixi has been the CEO of an internet Chinese article company, the vice general manager of a broadcasting company, COO of an internet incubation company and the co-founder of a multi-media management software company. Right now, he is running a Taiwan based Asia Pacific operation. On the 3rd of June, 2009, he went to Macau to turn himself in to Chinese authorities but was deported back to Taiwan. This year, he was arrested by the Tokyo police for forcing into the Chinese Embassy to turn himself in, in order to have a chat with the authorities of China. He was released in 48 hours without charge. Now he is still the 2nd most wanted student leader and currently resides in Taiwan, although he would like to return to the mainland to make things clear with the government.

Chai Ling - Then and Now

Chai Ling organized many of the hunger strikes and demonstrations that took place in Tiananmen Square during the protests of 1989. After the shoot out on June 4^th 1989, she fled the country for Paris, and from there was accepted with a full scholarship to Princeton University in the USA. She earned an honorary Masters degree in Political Science from there. She acquired an MBA at Harvard Business School in 1998. Since the making of the documentary “Moving the Mountain”, she now co-runs a software company entitled Jenzabar, with her husband, and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. She also started a nonprofit organization entitled “All Girls Allowed” which is aimed at exposing and stopping the human rights violations caused by the One Child policy in China. She has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Price twice.

Li Lu - Then and Now

Li Lu - At the age of 19, Li Lu part took in a revolutionary event in Chinese history, the Tiananmen Square incident. He was not one of the bigger leaders, but he did lead part of the movement, which earned him a number 14 spot on the Beijing most wanted list. Since the making of the movie “Moving the Mountain”, Li Lu has gone on to even bigger and better things. Now, he is now at the top of the financial industry. He is preparing to become one of the top investment managers in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio once Warren buffet steps down. 

Tiananmen Article

Being the leader of the People’s Republic of China is not a piece of cake, and when events like the Incident happen, it makes my job even worse.
I understand the student’s plea for democracy as many socialist governments such as Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria had collapsed and they were certain that corruption was present within the system. But the truth is that our country is strong and will never collapse as a Communist state and corruption is something that has never and will never happen.
Internationally, my reputation is being lowered due to this Incident. The Soviet Union claims that 10,000 people are dead. That is outrageous and unacceptable as a figure as we had ceased fire right after negotiations. There were only a total of 241 deaths, including the heroic soldiers who had lost their lives to rampaging students.
This may be a black spot in my life, but I am known as a great Marxist, great Proletarian Revolutionary, statesman, military strategist, and diplomat not for this but rather for my success in economically opening China to allow trade and manufacturing. I have opened up the door to China for outsiders, have great relations with the USA and the Soviet Union, and have also signed the agreement to revert Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese sovereignty. But people do not see the great achievements I have made, instead, they find every little flaw in me and aggressively protest. To err is human, and may I say, I am quite human.
Although I have ordered the clearing of the Square, the sole reason I have done this is because the students have gone overboard. If somebody must be blamed, it should be the students because they are the root of their own deaths. Hopefully someday, people will begin to see the greater picture in my point of view.


- Deng Xiaoping

Tiananmen Square Timeline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ


15 April, 1989 - Hu Yaobang dies due to illness
                        First students arrive at Tiananmen to protest.
One week after - 100,000 students marched into Tiananmen Square, a protest in honour of the man’s sympathy for student protests
26 April - Government editorials denounce student leaders as lier
4 May - The press joins the protests
12 May - Professors from Beijing University supported the hunger strike and offered a banquet as a ‘last meal’. Some students made their final will then as well.
13 May - Several hundred students begin a hunger strike
14 May - Elected student representatives begin formal talks with the government. But the broadcast was not materialised and thus the talks break down.
15 May - Gorbachev arrives in Beijing for the first Sino-Soviet summit since 1959. The welcome plan for Gorbachev at Tiananmen Square is cancelled
16 May - High ranking communist leader comes to talk with them
17 May - Largest demonstration - 2 - 3 million people.
18 May - Several student leaders are summoned by Li Peng for a televised talk at the Great Hall of the People, but nothing is achieved.
19 May - Hunger strike is called off due to leaked information about the government’s plan for martial law. A mass sit-in is declared.
20 May - Martial law was declared in Beijing
23 May - Troops pull back to the outskirts of Beijing.
24 May - The Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters is set up.
30 May - The Goddess of Democracy is unveiled.
2 June - Liu Xiaobo and others start a hunger strike at 5 pm
3 June - Troops are ordered to reclaim Tiananment Square at all cost. They begin to open fire upon people blocking the advancement of the army and also on people who are just shouting at the troops. Tanks and armoured vehicles move towards the centre of the city.
4 June - 1 am, troops surround Tiananment Square and wait for orders
             4 am, Liu Xiaobo and the other three men who began the second hunger strike negotiate with the troops to allow the students to leave the Square.
             5 am, thousands of students, teachers and supporters leave the Square at gunpoint.
             During this period of time, troops shoot two waves of fire.

A Chinese Perspective on the Tiananmen Square Incident: By Anisha Khosla

Is it possible that the Tiananmen Square “Massacre” was not a massacre at all? That it was nothing more than and incident, misreported and propagandized by the Western media so much that it evolved into a such said “massacre”?  The Chinese government may have been acting accordingly to the situation, with the best interests of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation at heart. As a representative of the Chinese government, I believe that this was the case. This was not merely a chance occurrence, the incident was likely to happen for months. During the months prior to the incident, from the death of Hu Yaobang to June 4^th, there had been a steadily increasing amount of protests taking place in the Square. The government announced martial law, and surrounded the city of Beijing with military. The troops were unable to get through the barricades of people that lined the streets. It is rumored that many of the troops were touched by the students, and in fact retreated from the streets. According to some research, the students rated more damage than the troops. “Over 1,280 vehicles were burned or damaged in the rebellion, including over 1,000 military trucks, more than 60 armored cars, over 30 police cars, over 120 public buses and trolley buses and over 70 motor vehicles of other kinds. More than 6,000 martial law officers and soldiers were injured and scores of them killed.” (The Truth About The Beijing Turmoil - Beijing Publishing House, 1990) This research also states that the troops suffered heavy casualties while trying to spare the innocent civilians.

 Around 1 am on the morning of June 4^th, the troops finally cleared the streets and entered the square. There, according to the observers, they waited for instructions from the government. By then, it is rumored that a large majority of the students had left the square. At 4 am, the army again offered the students a choice, to leave or to stay and face the consequences. This evidence proves that the army did not go in and just start blindly shooting at the students. They gave the students a chance to save themselves. Around 5 am, the tanks finally entered the square, shooting and attacking the students. Xiaoping Li, a former China dissident, who had been on a hunger strike on the square to show solidarity with the students, said: Some people said 200 died in the square and others claimed that as many as 2,000 died. There were also stories of tanks running over students who were trying to leave. I have to say I did not see any of that. I was in the square until 6:30 in the morning.” This here is further proof that the “Massacre” of June 4^th 1989 may not have been as severe as previously thought. 

The Rape of Nanjing Diary Entry - Anisha

The morning of December 13th was typical; cold, wet and grey. The air outside was smoky, and it just didn’t feel right. Streets were not alive with the sound of people as they usually were by this time. Something was very wrong. Under normal circumstances, I would go outside and look, but I was under strict orders by my parents to stay indoors. There had been a warning from the head of the city yesterday that there was and attack expected to occur soon by the Japanese army. We had received word about the Battle of Shanghai, and that worried the whole city.
So I was cooped up in the house with nothing really to do apart from stare outside at the less than appealing scenery. Before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep. When I awoke, something was terribly wrong. The house was eerily silent, no parents bickering, no siblings whining, nothing at all. I slowly drew the curtains open to a horrible sight. It was as if I had been asleep for days, not just a few hours. The scene outside had completely changed. It was still cold and still wet, but instead of the streets being deserted, there were soldiers, and prisoners, and bystanders. There was blood everywhere you looked. And as if that wasn’t enough to make me want to hurl, I recognized the face of one of the fallen. It was none other than my neighbor, Chin Shang. That was when it hit me; this was the attack that we had been warned about. The Japanese had done this terror. And it didn’t look like they were done yet. There were still men in strange looking uniforms going into houses. I realized that one was coming near my own home, so I hid underneath the couch, where no one would look to find me. I heard the men come in and look around. They spoke in a strange language, similar sounding to my own, yet different somehow. The men searched for something for about 5 minutes and then left. I slowly emerged from my hiding spot, my heart racing. I quickly grabbed what little I needed and headed out the back door. I needed to find my family.
The weeks that followed were brutal. The killings and rapes continue, and the bodied piled up along the sides of the roads. I had been living in Nanjing my whole life, so I knew my way around to know where to look. I refused to let the possibility that they may be one of the many dead around me enter my head. I looked for them day and night, narrowly avoiding the soldiers. Every time I saw someone I recognized, it was like a kick in the stomach. On one occasion, I saw little Sue Quing on the sidewalk, dead. The image is forever cemented into my mind, and to this very day, it still haunts me. How the Japanese could do such cruelty I have never been able to comprehend. How any human being could be capable of performing such violence is beyond me, but I suppose there isn’t really anyone I could ask about it.
It had been a few weeks of searching when I finally found someone I knew who was not dead or on the brink of death. It was my father. He gravely explained to me how my mother had been unable to find and warn me (seeing as I had been asleep in an unlikely place). The soldiers had stored into the home and raped her, then performed a gruesome murder. They had taken away my younger brother and sister as well. My father had tried to stop them, but they simply beat him up for it. He was knocked unconscious and was lucky not to have been murdered. Ever since he had been looking for me.
I was devastated to hear about what had happened to my mother and younger siblings, but relieved to finally reunite with my father. From there, together we decided rather than to risk losing each other again, we would head to safety by train and find somewhere safe to stay until the danger has passed. We successfully made it out of Nanjing and into communist territory. We have been here since.

Diary Entry of a Soldier on the Long March - Don

Dear Diary,

It is the forty second gruelling day on this march to the north. Although Mao is back in charge, and our spirits are lifted from his leadership, I’m still worried about the rest of the journey, we had just past through a treacherous marsh where many of my comrades had sacrificed their lives for the sake of the revolution. Although we would have stopped to mourn for our great loss, we must continue upwards for our revolution and freedom! Another soviet force has taken control near the northern territory of our motherland and Mao’s plan to destroy them is on the roll as we continued to march without hesitation.

Just before this march, I was also in the great retreat from the north, led by Otto. Now was the time to avenge all the comrades maimed, drowned and frozen on the way back. Many of my friends and brothers souls now wander the wastelands of the north because of the evil Guomindang soldiers’ set-up attacks. If only we hadn’t carried so many weapons! What use were the mortars of anyway? It only held us down as we navigated through deadly areas! I believe it was a correct choice to suspend that useless Otto that lead to the deaths of over half of our comrades of the great Red Army. This time, however, we are ready to storm and destroy all that stands in our way. I, no I mean, we as a gathered power led by Mao can reclaim our control over the northern territory and be victorious!

Lin

Truth Exposed: What Really Was the Long March?

As told for years, the story of the 200,000 soldiers who participated in the Long March is a great one. But how much of it is truth? And how much of it is as brave and valiant as they say? According to the article "The Long March, the true story behind the myth" by Sun Shuyun (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/syndicate/20060615dy02.htm), not everyone was a happy volunteer for the job. Young children such as Huang Zhiji were blackmailed into joining the march. The Red Army had arrested his father, and refused to release him unless young Huang joined with them on the March. Many ran away from the March, but many others also stayed, in fear of being shot by the Red Army. According to the article, many soldiers suffered badly while on the March, and of the 200,000 who set out, less than half reached the final destination. When asked, some of the survivors don't even know what drove them to walk the12,500 km. So what exactly was so great about the Long March?

Anisha Khosla

Diary Entry of a Soldier on the Long March

Day, night, walking for what we believe in...

I am a peasant soldier, and I am on this march for my family. I refuse to live in poverty any longer, and same as all of the other people on this march, I believe that a classless society where the wealth is shared would be better for China. 

The past few weeks have been sheer torture, nonstop walking every day. The hours blur into days and the days blur into weeks. I’m not exactly sure how long we have been walking, but from what I heard, Mr. Otto Braun is no longer leading us. The leadership has gone back into the hands of Mao and Zhu. I personally think that this was a wise decision. Mao did make some mistakes in the past, but he was always a far better leader than the German. I don’t see how we all were supposed to trust the betterment of the country of China in the hand of a foreigner. Everyone in the Communist society knows that Mao Zedong has no ulterior motives, and only wants what is best for the country, as the rest of us do.  He believes in equality throughout, sharing the wealth, and a classless society. All 80,000 of us that are following him on the road to Yanan, believe that too.

The day-to-day life is horrible. If I didn’t firmly believe in the fact that switching to a Communist government would greatly benefit China as a whole, I wouldn’t be here right now. I have not slept on a proper bed in weeks, and it is cold. There are many people on this march, and I have watched my friends die of starvation and diseases picked up along the way. At least one person dies a day it seems, if not more.  All of my loved ones have stayed at home. They too believe in communism, but the little ones are only a few years old, and they most likely would not have survived the journey, so they have stayed in my house with my wife, and my parents. We have never been particularly wealthy, and with ideas like the Land Law, proposed by the Communists, we would be able to own property and benefit in the wealth of others. I am here now fighting for what I believe in. I know that the days will be long, but I am willing to make the effort to push though it, so that my children will not have to grow up in the same poverty I suffered in. I believe in a new China, where the wealth will be shared among, and the power is in the word “we”, not the word “I”. I, along with many others, am marching to Yanan in hope of living this dream.

溥儀故事 Puyi's Story

載灃生下清末帝，
慈禧亡兩歲登基。
數年後被逐出宮，
後來蹤影是個迷。

Puyi, the Last Emperor, is born in the family of Prince Chun, the regent of China
Empress Dowager Cixi’s death caused Puyi to rise to the title of Emperor at the age of two.
After two separate periods of ruling, Puyi was finally surrounded in the Forbidden City and then forced to leave by warlord Feng Yuxiang in 1924
Afterwards, he would not be seen again for a few years. Even his shadows will seem like a mystery, until the Japanese make him the ruler of Manchukuo.

China: Qing to Mao Until Now Timline

Click to see larger picture!

Yuan Shikai Obituary

This past week, an influential member of the Chinese government has passed away. To some, this comes as the loss of the first President of the Republic of China. To most though, it comes as a relief. Yuan Shikai was a fine man for the first half of his life. He served as the Chief Military Commander in north China under the rule of Empress Dowager Cixi. He was dismissed from that position when Regent Prince Chun came to power in 1911. Yuan was recalled from retirement near the end of that same year in order to aid in the rebellion that was brewing within the Chinese borders. He was made the Commander-in-Chief of the armies and he was ordered to crush the rebels by all possible means.  Yuan made a deal with the rebels that, in return for their support, he would use his power to persuade Prince Chun and the Emperor to give up the throne and make China a republic. Using his great influence, Yuan kept his side of the deal and soon enough, China was a Democratic Republic and he was named President. It was at this point that his career took a turn for the worst. After a few months, the power got to his head. He didn’t like having to share his power with a Parliament made up of mostly people from Sun Yat-Sen’s party, the political party that was against his own. He decided to simply get rid of the need fro a Parliament altogether and crown himself Emperor. Many Chinese opposed the idea of another Emperor. They had gotten rid of Emperor Piyu in the hope of starting a republican democracy. Now, the president of that democracy had decided to name himself Emperor. The Japanese too were not very pleased with the idea of another Chinese emperor. The Japanese sent Yuan a list of Twenty One Demands that included control of many of China’s factories, railways and ports. The Japanese threatened war on the Chinese if they did not meet the demands in a timely manner. Yuan was such a cowardly man, afraid of a war with Japan that he met the demands of the Japanese government, making him even more unliked within his own people. Shortly after this, Yuan’s own army rose up against him and rebelled. Yuan terminated his plans to officially become emperor shortly after that. He died this past week of a stroke, though some say it was from the sadness of a broken heart. It is still a matter of opinion as to weather he was a good man or not. All that we know is that he did change the course of China’s history.