The NYT found a photo of the iconic protester from China's Tiananmen Square that's never been published before.
Mr. Jones' angle on the historic encounter is vastly different from four other versions shot that day, taken at eye level moments before the tanks stopped at the feet of the lone protester. Wildly chaotic, a man ducks in the foreground, reacting from gunfire coming from the tanks. Another flashes a near-smile. Another pedals his bike, seemingly passive as the tanks rumble towards confrontation.
The photograph encourages the viewer to reevaluate the famous encounter. Unlike the other four versions, we are given a sense of what it was like on the ground as the tanks heaved forward, the man's act of defiance escalated by the flight of others.
Claudia Rosett was also on the ground that day, and during the demonstrations that preceded it:
Tiananmen was -- and is -- important because that spring of 1989 was the only time in the despotic, 60-year history of the People's Republic of China that the people themselves enjoyed the chance to speak, debate and assemble freely. What they did with that freedom, by the millions, was call peacefully for China's government to institutionalize those rights. They called for democracy and marched under banners bearing exactly that word. They asked for the right to choose their leaders and hold them to account...
And when China's rulers finally ordered the army to open fire and move in, these protesters tried desperately to hold their ground. Behind me as I ran into Tiananmen Square in those early hours of June 4 was a huge crowd -- ordinary citizens, not students -- who had poured into the streets, trying to stop the soldiers from reaching Tiananmen.
On one of the broad avenues leading into the square I had watched that crowd mount a last-ditch defense -- torching barricades, clutching bricks and bottles, facing into the gunfire. How many died on that road alone we still don't know.
Do yourself a favor and read Rosett's whole piece. She and Wendy Liu, a former Chinese citizen reach the same conclusion on this 20th anniversary of the crackdown. China looks and is different in many ways, and in many ways freer than it once was, but its refusal to acknowledge the tragedy at Tiananmen makes its improvements hollow. Writes Liu:
Look around in China, everything is new: high-rises, highways, shopping malls, restaurants, etc. Yet the forced silence over Tiananmen gives one the old feeling of the Cultural Revolution.
Tiananmen commemorations in China today are quiet and trepidatious, if they exist at all (Hong Kong is a different story):
"People remember this date because they want the Communist Party to take responsibility for the crimes it committed," said 53-year-old Qi Zhiyong, who lost a leg after being shot by troops near Tiananmen Square.
"It reminds them the party will resort to unbridled violence whenever it feels threatened."
In a bid not to rankle the wary authorities, the main public commemoration planned for Thursday will probably be silent.
Activist groups have called on citizens simply to wear white -- the traditional colour of mourning -- to honour those killed in the mayhem that erupted when tanks and troops rolled in to crush the protests.
Here, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution commemorating the crackdown and calling upon the Chinese government to openly investigate and release those imprisoned for their part in the demonstrations.
Three Tiananmen protesters visited Washington to reflect on China since their efforts:
Heralded as the "three heroes of Tiananmen" by the Chinese dissident circle, the young men pelted dye-filled eggs onto the ultimate symbol of Communist rule on May 23, 1989.
They desecrated an icon of the Communist Party at the very spot where Mao declared the People's Republic of China, but their act also ruffled student protesters who were distrustful of the outsiders from Hunan and informed on them to police.
After a long periods of imprisonment and upended lives, the three childhood friends met in Washington before the 20th anniversary of the protests.
Tiananmen protester leader Chai Ling, who hid from her government for 10 months before fleeing to the U.S., is now launching a $1 million humanitarian effort:
The $1 million pledge, made through the Jenzabar Foundation, a charitable and educational organization, will provide five years of financial support to help victims of the Tiananmen massacre; support the Truth Movement in providing an honest history of Tiananmen; support human rights activities in China and other countries; and support a democratic China.
