Tiananmen 1989 and The Capitol January 6, 2021
A friend gave two books to me two years ago. “Beijing Spring” and “The Truth about the Beijing Turmoil.” Book cover photos above.
Today, at her request, I am mailing them back to her. Why?
When we talked yesterday, she told me that several friends recently have become quite vocal in claiming that Tiananmen 1989 did not happen, or was a western media fabrication, or was a justified action by the government to put down insurrection and protect society. Would I send these to her so she could graphically show her “friends?”
I also recommended “Children of the Dragon” which is available on Amazon, and which she has just purchased.
The two books that she gave me show starkly different perspectives, one a photo essay of the actual carnage that the Chinese government brought against the demonstrators, the other, also largely photos, published by the Beijing Publishing House that uses many photos, captions, and text to paint an alternate reality to the same events. The reality of how the government response transpired is equally revealing: there was serious debate inside the government: whether to condone and support more freedoms, or to stamp out the protest. The stamping out won the day.
That was China, where I lived from 2006 to 2011. And we see now that, despite the hopes of a better future, entrepreneur success, government’s relative hands off (except when a Party operative was involved to help manipulate deals and make money!) when I was there, the China of today has doubled down on stamping out any opposition.
Today in America, I fear that if “Republicans” have their way, their alternate reality of 21/1/6 in Washington DC may also one day dominate the view of that day of infamy unless Americans wake up. It is not lost on me that it was Rupert Murdoch in the early 2000’s who sent media experts from FOX to China to train CCTV and others on how to more effectively create and deliver their message and propaganda.
