A Beijing Gathering Memorizing Tiananmen Massacre

According to the web site China in Perspective, more than a dozen citizens in Beijing gathered today to recall the 1989 student movement and memorize those who died in the massacre. Among them are mothers who had lost their children in the event and movement participants such as Liang Xiaoyan and Pu Zhiqiang.

Talking about 1989 in Beijing

It is a sensitive and dangerous time, but a group of courageous people held an open symposium in Beijing recently to discuss the 1989 student movement.

The symposium was held five days ago on May 10. It was Mother's Day. The group saluted Tiananmen Mothers and held a moment of silence for the victims of the massacre.

Among the speakers is Zhou Dou, who as one of the hunger strike "Four Gentlemen," played a critical role in negotiating the final withdraw from Tiananmen Square, and Liang Xiaoyan, then a teacher from Beijing Normal University. Most of the speakers and attendees were participants in the movement twenty years ago.

Beijing Intellectuals Meet and Talk "Conflicts and Reconciliation"

A group of intellectuals in Sydney, Beijing and other places have formed a new private think-tank for "Chinese Reconciliation". Their stated mission is to help the growth of the weak democratic forces and the civil society and help the Chinese government on the road of correcting past mistakes, apologizing, reestablishing truth, clarifying responsibilities, compromising, and towards a constitutional democracy. All in the name of reconciliation.

The group had just held its first "Conflicts and Reconciliation" symposium in Beijing, attended by more than 20 intellectuals. Twice they got kicked out of their reserved meeting spaces due to suddenly discovered "booking errors" of the respective hosts. But nonetheless the meeting was carried out with no further harassments.

Prominent names from the 1989 movements, including Chen Ziming, Zhou Duo, and Liang Xiaoyan, attended the symposium.