“Great Wall With Gates” by Zhang Hongtu (2009), http://www.momao.com/
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32nd Anniversary of June Fourth: A Historic Moment to Make A Difference
Thirty-two years ago, hardliners in the Communist Party of China made the cold-blooded decision to crush citizens’ voices and mobilize the People’s Liberation Army against the Chinese people, killing and maiming unarmed, peaceful protestors demanding the fundamental conditions for a healthy society: a clean government and political liberalization. Protestors and bystanders alike were shot in the head, chest, back; chased into alleys and stabbed; and crushed under tanks by soldiers obeying orders from the higher-ups.
During the crackdown, a passerby saw an angry crowd carrying on a broken plank the bullet-riddled, lifeless body of a nine-year-old boy, Lü Peng—the youngest known June Fourth victim, to date. He later described what he witnessed and felt in a 2004 essay (collected in HRIC’s “Unforgotten” project):
The sun shone mercilessly on his little face, pale and wretched, and that perplexed look on his small face felt to me like a colossal indictment. When those people carried him, it seemed they were carrying a hope that was shot dead, and that dashed hope was giving way to boundless despair. . . . I didn’t know what the meaning of life is if there is no dignity? . . . The people cried, and then they voiced their anger. I cried, but was no longer able to feel anger. I kept thinkin...
June 03, 2021