24 May 2009

What do the Chinese know about Tiananmen Square?

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Most people, especially the young, have no idea what happened on June 4, 1989. The web, and search engines in particular, are sufficiently censored to make it very difficult to access reliable information about the event. Of course, if you're really motivated you'll find a way around it. Automatic filters for example are more efficient in Chinese than foreign languages, so if you type the key words in English on Google China we get a few pages coming up with the real story. Web users have also found a way to avoid prohibited texts getting picked up by moderators on discussion forums. One of the techniques is to write so that read from left to write (which is the normal way to read Chinese), the text says nothing, but if read from top to bottom is about the massacres.  (The Observers)

The secret memoirs of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party leader ousted for opposing the military crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, exploded into the open, four years after his death. More on The Independent


Tiananmen Square Massacre: The Tank Man

With the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square approaching, Chinese authorities have stepped up surveillance of activists and human rights workers.  People have been detained and threatened with violence for pursuing their legal rights. More on NowPublic

(Chinese video)