Saturday, June 5, 2010

Happenings at the 21st Anniversary

There have been many commemoration events, large and small, real and virtual, around the world during the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Here is an obviously incomplete list of the major occurrences, in no particular order:


  1. The good people of Hong Kong kept their annual tradition with an estimated 150,000 people attending a candle-lit vigil at the city's Victoria Park.
  2. "Tiananmen Mother" Ding Zilin and her husband made it to the spot where their son Jiang Jielian was killed on the night of June 3, 1989, at Muxidi, surrounded by heavy police escort and "protection." The couple stayed for 45 minutes and performed vigil for all known victims at that location that night. Ding Zilin fainted as she was leaving the scene.
  3. Wuer Kaixi attempted to turn himself in at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo and was refused by the embassy. He was eventually arrested by Japanese police for trespassing. He had tried a similar and unsuccessful tactic at Hong Kong last year.
  4. Chai Ling testified at the US Congress on the "forced abortion" policy by the Chinese government, calling it as "Tiananmen Massacre is happening ever day in China."
  5. Wang Dan organized a large-scale online commemorative gathering on Twitter.
  6. A book claimed to be the diary penned by Li Peng, the Premier during the movement and massacre, is published in Hong Kong.

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