Returning to Tiananmen: Seeking the Historical Truth of June Fourth in the Amnesiac People's Republic

The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited

Thirty years ago, they embraced passion and dreams and tried to change China.
Thirty years later, they are still enemies of their country, their lives shattered.

The Chinese Communist Party attempts to obliterate the truth with terror and lies, but the atrocities and pain it once committed will never be forgotten.

In September 1997, Zhao Ziyang, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who had been under house arrest for eight years, wrote to the top leadership of the CPC, hoping that at this critical moment before the end of the 21st century and the beginning of the new century, the June 4th Incident would be reassessed, that the facts would be sought, that justice would be done to these patriotic students, and that the false accusation of "anti-Party and anti-socialist" would be removed.

Today, more than two decades later, on the 30th anniversary of the June 4th Incident, the Chinese government's stance on the incident has not only remained unchanged but has become even more brutal and outrageous. Through a sweeping campaign, it seeks to completely erase this period of history from public memory. News blackouts, secret textbook revisions, the suppression of dissidents' personal freedom, pervasive censorship of news and online content, surveillance of Tiananmen Square on sensitive dates, and the provision of job security and career opportunities to those who compromise—human rights violations unimaginable in free and democratic countries—have become a daily reality for the Chinese people. As democracy leader Wang Dan has said, "black despotism" and "red terror" have silenced the vast majority of the people.

While stationed in Beijing, the author, Lin Mulian, was astonished to discover that not only were ordinary citizens silent about the Tiananmen Square incident, but even students at top universities, educated in rigorous academic training, were completely unaware of it. The author posed the world-famous "Tank Man" photograph to 100 students at four Beijing universities, and only 15 correctly identified its meaning. These 15 students either chose to avoid discussing this sensitive topic or internalized the official CCP ideology, believing that the military crackdown on Tiananmen was the correct response.

"I write about the price that collective forgetting exacts on an individual and a group. I also write about the price those who still remember pay for remembering June 4th." - Lin Mulian

Lin Mulian therefore decided to write "Return to Tiananmen: Pursuing the Historical Truth of June Fourth in the Amnesiac People's Republic." In this book, the author interviewed many people who directly or indirectly participated in the Tiananmen Incident, including student leaders Zhang Ming and Wuer Kaixi, Chen Guang, a soldier ordered to suppress the clearing, and Bao Tong, Zhao Ziyang's secretary; as well as the families of the victims, including "Tiananmen Mothers" Zhang Xianling, Ding Zilin, and Tang Deying from Chengdu. The book also records the deeds of Wang Dan, Chai Ling, Liu Xiaobo, and others, or their views on the June Fourth Movement. What they witnessed in the square, their subsequent imprisonment, exile, and resistance, the Chinese government's relentless surveillance and repression, and how, over the past thirty years, they have reflected on the movement, faced the intractable pain, faced gradual social marginalization and oblivion, chosen to compromise under state violence, or remained steadfast in their fight for the redress of June 4th...

"Return to Tiananmen" not only provides a historical retrospective of the Tiananmen Incident but also focuses on exploring the life experiences of those who participated in it after 1989. Through their lives, it depicts the Chinese government's systematic and widespread erasure of any historical memory related to 1989, June 4th, and Tiananmen. This collective amnesia is undoubtedly not only unfair to the participants but also a cruel and detrimental act. Their struggles, glory, and suffering are not only unacknowledged but even become taboo. However, the harm this collective amnesia has caused to Chinese society as a whole is immeasurable. In the specially included "Author's Preface to the Taiwan Edition," Lin Mulin points out, "When the memory of public events is suppressed, society is unable to hold those responsible accountable, reflect and repent, and hold those responsible accountable for their crimes. For some young Chinese today, ignorance is not only important but even necessary for self-protection." When a nation refuses to confront its own mistakes and flaws, unable to examine and reflect, moral decline seems inevitable. Looking at the various social and spiritual crises facing China today, the harm of denying June 4th and concealing the truth of history is truly fatal.

Award-winning record

※2014 Economist Book of the Year ※2015 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award Finalist ※2015 Lionel Gelber Award Finalist ※The New York Times Book Review: "One of the best analyses of the impact of Tiananmen Square on China since 1989."

Celebrity recommendations

Recommended articles: Wang Dan (leader of the June 4th student movement), You Mei-nu (legislator)
★Recommended by the "Don't Forget June 4th" movement: Wu Jiemin (Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica), Wang Hao (Writer, PhD in International Relations, Oxford University), Li Huiren (Director), Ye Hao (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, National Chengchi University), Yang Xianhong (Founding Chairman, Taiwan Alliance for Human Rights in China), and Cai Shiping (Writer, Senior Media Professional).

Positive media reviews

Andrew J. Nathan, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and editor of The Tiananmen Papers, said: "Mullen Lin pierces the internal inconsistencies of contemporary Chinese. Twenty-five years after Beijing's bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests, the Chinese government continues to force the country to forget its history, silencing those who remember it and paralyzing those who seek to explore it. But the truth never disappears; it only finds new outlets. The author allows the world to hear the voices of silent witnesses again, revealing the nightmare lurking beneath China's harmonious facade."

Orville H. Schell, Director of the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations, former Dean of the Berkeley School of Journalism, and author of "After the Rich Nation and Strong Military," said: "In 'Return to Tiananmen,' Lin Mu-lin beautifully presents the fruits of meticulous research, piecing together the lost fragments of the 1989 landscape and reminding us how a country unable to recall its past gradually became illusory and mistook the false for the true."

Paul French (columnist for China Economic Quarterly and China Economic Review, author of Midnight in Peking): "In 'Return to Tiananmen,' veteran journalist Lin Mulin skillfully weaves voices unwilling to be silenced into a force of resistance, taking us back to a crucial moment in modern China."

Huang Mingzhen (author of "Shenzhou's Grudge" and "Searching for Comrades"): "To understand how China is sowing collective amnesia to establish itself as the next economic superpower, you must read this book."

Shen Tong (one of the June 4th student leaders and author of Almost a Revolution): "A deeply moving book—thoughtful, insightful, and fearless. The characters and stories in this book reveal the many layers of China and remind us of the human sacrifices this country has made in its quest to become an emerging world power, hailed by many as a rival to Western democracy."

Adam Minter, Bloomberg News' Shanghai-based correspondent and author of "How Much Is a Ton of Trash Worth?" said: "The author recreates the scenes of 1989 with a deeply human touch that strikes us in the heart. She brings history to our present doorstep, allowing us to see ourselves as no different from the survivors and the complicit in shaping history and tragedy. 'Return to Tiananmen' is a completely original historical work that will change how people understand and feel about China in 1989."

The Economist: "Twenty-five years after the bloody crackdown at Tiananmen Square, new details continue to emerge. This NBC reporter puts the scattered fragments back into place, allowing Western readers and a new generation of Chinese who have known little about Tiananmen since 1989 to see what really happened."

The New York Review of Books: "The author bravely explores the truth... Her writing is full of warmth, switching effortlessly between specific life stories and the grand description of an entire era, interspersed with many poignant vignettes."

The Times: "Lin Mulian's book is filled with the lingering voices of those who have lived. They break the silence and unearth collective memories buried by the Chinese Communist Party. She also exposes another, lesser-noticed wound: the Chengdu crackdown. Chengdu's story may not be as famous as Tiananmen Square, but it's no less bloody."

The Literary Review: "This book reveals the methods by which China has subjected its 1.4 billion citizens to government censorship. Even Chinese students at the most progressive universities in the United States are now ensnared in the Communist Party's false patriotism, unable to accept that there might be another truth to their country's history besides the official Communist Party narrative."

2019-05-08

八旗文化

384

9789578654648