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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2009 12:51:03 GMT
Twenty years ago today was the massacre in Tiananmen Square. It's very hard to believe it was that long ago. I remember exactly where I was on this day as I watched stunned at what was one of the single most horrific moments in history in my lifetime anyway.
I would imagine that security is very,very tight there today.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 4, 2009 15:33:37 GMT
Even though my brain knows that was in '89, it's hard to believe it was that long ago. In reference to the terminology of the event, I found this article interesting. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2009 5:00:07 GMT
One reason that I have the year of 1989 set in my brain for that is because it was the year of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. In addition to the traditional military parade in the morning, that year they had an evening parade of strange artistic floats designed by the artist Jean Paul Goude. Since the Tiananmen events had taken place just one month earlier, a float of a dark Chinese lantern was added, accompanied by hundreds of Chinese students in France walking bicycles in silence all around it. As the lantern passed, each section of the Champs Elysées went dark and the light only returned after it had moved along.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 5, 2009 5:33:56 GMT
My god, did you see that? It sends cold chills just reading it. What an incredible and fitting tribute.
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Post by tillystar on Jun 5, 2009 10:37:20 GMT
Wow, it gave me goose bumps on my arms as well. It must have been very haunting to watch.
I can't believe it is 20 years ago, but mainly from an entirely personal perspective. This means I have not seen one of my brothers for 20 years. He was in Beijing studying, he had just arrived days before Tiananmen Square and we were all so worried. He was fine, but hasn't been back home since. Wow, I am shocked it is so long.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 5, 2009 13:15:39 GMT
Oh Tilly ~ your family must watch closely (& fretfully, I imagine) what goes on in China. Not to probe, but would it be very difficult for him to leave and go back?
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Post by tillystar on Jun 5, 2009 13:45:12 GMT
Yes, we always keep an eye out but not too worried. He is very happy and settled, has a family and teaches in a small village. He could come home and go back if he wanted, its just he doesn't want to. Which is fair enuff  I hope to visit one day. Oh imagine the picture thread  |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 5, 2009 14:10:41 GMT
I hope to visit one day. Oh imagine the picture thread  *passes hat for Tilly's air fare to China* Wow. Imagine how London of today would appear to your brother! I'm always interested in accounts of people who get completely absorbed into a culture profoundly different from their own. I know an American woman from Chicago who moved to Oaxaca in 1951 and has only been back to the States once. I think that was @1990, and she went with some of her kids to Las Vegas. (I don't remember why there, of all places.) |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2009 14:20:01 GMT
tilly, is this the same brother you spoke of in the other thread on the board,the one with the razor sharp tongue?
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Post by tillystar on Jun 5, 2009 14:35:24 GMT
You know, I never thought of that. Now I am thinking of all the things that are different and yes, wow would be so odd. Add to that the perspective or a 19 yr old v that of a 39 yr old... Las Vegas must have been a real shock for the lady you know as well! Nah, that one lives close by so I have to put up with him and his tongue all the time |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2009 19:03:41 GMT
My god, did you see that? It sends cold chills just reading it. What an incredible and fitting tribute. Not only did I attend that parade, but I was in the presidential tribune. One of my colleagues was married to a bodyguard of François Mitterrand and had obtained an engraved invitation for me. I had an invitation for 4 seats for the parade but only brought two friends with me -- they were VERY impressed. (It is nice to be able to impress one's friends on rare occasions, even if it is not important.) I had also attended the garden party at the presidential palace that afternoon and met the president himself. But that was a personal invitation with an identity check and search, just for me. But wow, the grub was excellent. I had bought a very expensive Kenzo jacket just for that event and still have it in my closet. (Wouldn't be caught dead wearing it in 2009, however. My god, the 1980's were in such bad taste!) |
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*passes hat for Tilly's air fare to China*